Here's how you can use self-awareness to advance your career in the hospitality industry.

I am a tenacious problem solver. I like to meet challenges with asking open ended questions that stimulate new creative thinking. As a former therapist I learned how to open up clients. New out of the box thinking creates solutions. There is a solution for every issue.

Understanding your strengths and how to market them is essential to advancing in hospitality. Not every leader is great at every facet of their industry; however, great leaders understand their soft spots and hire high performers to fill those gaps. Run toward what makes you special and admit when you need help.

Mentorship is one essential avenue for advancing in any field. Identify someone within your organization or externally whom you admire both personally and professionally. Invite them to coffee and ask if they would provide meaningful mentorship to you. I could not have gotten where I am in my career without the invaluable insight of my mentors, and, as leaders, it is incumbent upon us to provide mentorship opportunities to the next generation.

It is a true fact that receiving feedback will always make me pay close attention to certain things that I am probably doing without even noticing. Unconscious and automatic actions are part of our daily basis and the feedback on actions that need improvements is essencial to mastering our performance.

Emotional intelligence is such an important facet of good leadership, and one that is often overlooked. Leading a diverse workforce comprised of many generations means a one-size-fits-all approach to management is not conducive to leveraging results. We have to understand how to meet our associates where they are if we want to draw the best performance out of them. Investing in our associates' overall well-being and emotional health will provide strong leaders dividends as they increase buy-in and retention across the board.

Emotional intelligence is the key to success in both personal and professional life. Being able to deal with a delicate situation keeping control of emotions in an appropriate way is essential to achievements.

Self-awareness is the foundation for building strong relationships, providing exceptional service! Understanding your communication style prevents misunderstandings. Recognizing your role in team dynamics fosters collaboration.

I encourage young leaders on my team to think of leadership as a muscle or an exercise: it must be practiced daily. Leaders are only as good as their last day, and this is likely what your associates remember. We must continue to evolve to meet the needs of our operations--whether that's embracing new technology or even reconsidering how we manage certain segments of labor or our operations.

Knowing your achievements is mandatory to get to the point of desire and setting goals will make the journey shorter. It is essencial to understand some paths are a bit longer but the organization and perseverance will make you get there

From my experience, there are 3 great ways to advance your hospitality career and gain self awareness: “Jumping in the cold water” - take that opportunity, push through the hard surface, live in a different country, apply for that job even if you don’e think you are ready, accept that being courageous starts with being vulnerable. Welcome the necessary people in your life, those who teach you the difficult lessons, give you the harsh feedback. Debrief everything! Through introspection, with your mentor or life partner, define what you learnt, see how you evolved and use that for the next career move!