Navigating Career Change: Practical Advice for Finding What's Next for You in Hospitality - Anna Blue

Josiah: Over the past month, layoffs in the U.S. hit their highest level since the pandemic. So many are dealing with the impact of this and figuring out what's next. So how do you navigate these times of change and figure out a path ahead when the road isn't really clear? Today we're joined by Anna Blue, a seasoned leader in hospitality and beyond. She joined us on the show last weekend for a really important conversation I'll link to in the show notes if you missed it. But here in this episode, she opens up about her own career transition. She talks about the difficulty of stepping away, the challenge of choosing where to make an impact next, and the surprising power of saying, I don't know yet. Whether you're facing a layoff, a leap, or just rethinking your next chapter, this conversation is going to meet you right where you are and help you figure out how do you move forward with purpose. Let's get into it. 

[intro] 

Josiah: You've done incredible work leading the AHLA Foundation. I'll link in the show notes to a previous conversation that we had when you were in that role, because it gives people a little bit of a sense of many of the things that you were thinking about in that capacity. And now you're involved in a number of things. You're in a moment of transition as we're recording now. I wonder if you could share with our listeners a little bit about some of the things that you're thinking about in this moment.

Anna: Absolutely. You know, I will say, yeah, it is really important for me to acknowledge that the position I am in is one of privilege, right? I have the opportunity to take some time. I have the opportunity to sort of assess and see what is best. And when you have so many people losing their jobs right now and, you know, every day when I hear in the news this X number of thousands of jobs have been eliminated, those aren't jobs. Those are human beings. And the data point is always focused on the job and not the person. And so with that being the context of coming into this sort of this time of "fun employment," as I call it, figuring out what is next. It's like my performing as a solo artist and my fun employed, like temporarily retired. I'm still trying to figure out what the right thing is. But I have the privilege of time and knowing that I can, you know, do some paid speaking and I can consult and do some other things that I'm really excited about doing. But that is not the case for everybody. And I don't take that for granted. Last year at Forward through the AHLA Foundation, Malaika Myers, who's the CHRO for Hyatt, incredible human being. She talked about something from stage that I think about a lot, especially right now. And that is sort of this knowledge of of being highly like of knowing that I am highly employable. Right. And so there is. And again, that goes back to the privilege. Of course, when this transition first happened, it was it's scary. There is you know, you don't know what's going to come next. I have a family and all of those things. And at the same time, I know I can go out and find another job pretty quickly, but have sort of some time to to figure out exactly what I want that to be and exactly what good I want to do in the world right now. And there's a lot of good that needs to be happening in the world. And so that is a lot of what is on my mind is sort of where I want to lend my expertise as somebody who has built a career on doing good and trying to positively impact companies, humans, cultures, communities, all of those things when there is so much need right now. And also that work can be all-consuming and very hard to continue to give yourself to, especially when the world – and we've seen this a lot of times over the past couple of decades, you know, when the world is pushing so hard to do bad and you want to do good. And so that can be – so I'm being mindful of that, I think, for the first time in my career and like where do I actually want to give of my whole self? Can I give of my whole self right now? And all of those things. Yeah, but I'm also just learning so many things about people. People have come up to me and like, oh, yeah, this same thing happened to me or, you know, when I took some time or I was at a really toxic company and I just left and then I had to figure out X, Y and Z or it led me to this. And I love hearing those stories. It's been really cool to just hear how other people manage this moment in their lives.

Josiah: I'd love to unpack all this a little bit more. I think going back to what you said, you could get an incredible job overnight. You could just jump into something and whoever gets to work with you is going to be incredibly lucky. I do appreciate some of the topics that you mentioned that you're processing right now. And I wonder if you could unpack some of those a little bit more. And then if we get super practical, because I think there's a lot of people that navigate this moment, and I'm curious because you're having so many conversations, I'm curious what you find just even tactically to be most useful in having some of those conversations. But just going back to some of those questions, either could you expand on a little bit more on what you shared, or are there anything Any other questions or things you're sitting with right now as you evaluate, you know, how do I spend my time that maybe our listeners would benefit from?

Anna: Absolutely, you know, I'll tell you a funny story. When all of this sort of transition was happening, I hadn't quite left yet, but it was imminent. And I got an email from my youngest daughter, she's 10, from her school about chaperoning a field trip. And I have not ever been able to chaperone a field trip. I have traveled for work, I am in these roles that have been all-consuming, and AHLA Foundation was no different. And so, I looked at her and I said, hey, do you want me to chaperone your field trip? And she turned to me and she very thoughtfully and with no intention to be offensive at all said, I don't know that that's really your style. And so I'm doing a little bit of figuring out, like, if I can live a well-balanced life or whatever that means, right, because work is very important to me and social justice and doing right by the world is really important to me and having an impact is important to me and my family is important to me. So if I can create, if I can recreate something, what do I want that? Like, what do I want my style to be? Do I want to be the mom that chaperones field trips? And I am, by the way. And so, you know, where do I want to lean in? And I've been spending a lot of time with that because suddenly when, like, your world is spinning 8,000 miles an hour and it stops, it's like, oh. Where do I want to spend my time? And where do I want to spend my talent? And what is actually making me excited right now? And so yeah, a lot of people do want to work with me. And again, it's an incredible privilege and testament to the career and the relationships that I built. And people are saying, oh, come and help us with this. Or we want you to come build with this. And so I'm paying attention to what's making me excited. And some of it is in hospitality. I've only been in the industry for two years, but I absolutely love it. And I the one thing I believe is I can do a lot of good here. I very much believe that. And so but it has to be the right kind and the right company and all of those things. And so there are some projects that. are temporary that I'm really excited about. But really, it's just learning what is now making me excited instead of being in something and getting excited about it. Like, what is the thing that's like, oh, when I get off the phone and I'm like, yes, I want to do that or like, oh, that sounds cool. But I don't think that's for me right now. And really just paying attention to, like, who is working Anna at 47 years old? Like, who am I and who do I want to be and how much of myself do I want to give? And it's been it's been a lot of journaling and learning and talking through with my girlfriends and trying to figure it out.

Josiah: That sort of reflection is so important, but I love what you said about what makes you excited, right? And I find for myself that that's such an important question because we might, sometimes if I'm journaling too much or like there could reach this point where it's very intellectual, right? But I think there does reach this moment where you're either emotionally excited about this thing or you're not. And you know that right after you get off the phone or after you leave a meeting. And I think, I recently made a career transition myself and I took the role that I did because I was so excited by it. And I felt like this is something that I would love to do. It wasn't just like, this is strategically important, all that. There's something about that emotional excitement. I love that. It's a great question for our listeners to ask themselves, even when you're in a role, honestly. I think this isn't just a transition question, but life is short. So if you're not waking up every day and saying, I'm excited by this, maybe it's time to look for something else.

Anna: Yeah, absolutely. My dad gave me career advice so, so many years ago now, but I think about it a lot. And it's like one of the two pieces of advice in my career building that I've really held on to. And what he said is, there are three things that you want to look for, whether it's in a role you already have or a role that you might consider going to. And it's the money, the people that you get to work with, and the work that you are doing. And if you get all three of those, congratulations, like hold on to that with everything you have. If you have two out of three, that's great. That can still very much be the place for you. And maybe you love the people. And coming from the nonprofit, I've often loved the people and loved the work. but the money's a little iffy, right? And like, that's honest with nonprofit work. And so, you know, but if you only have one out of the three, that is not the place for you, right? If you don't like the people that you are doing this work with and you don't like what the work is, but the money is good, that is still a lot of yourself that you're sacrificing. And it is a great litmus test. It's easy to sort of, you know, where am I with those three boxes? And so I think about that as I think about my next step as well.

Josiah: I love it. Before we go, I would love to get super practical. And I think you've shared some very practical things around journaling, talking with friends. You mentioned conversations across the industry. Let's dig into that specifically, because I think everything starts with a conversation, right? And I've seen you at a number of conferences, which are great opportunities for conversation. I guess very tactically, what have you found most helpful in having these conversations?

Anna: The thing that I've learned very quickly is I need to be able to answer the question, what do you want to do next? And I am not ready to answer that question. Because that is really people jump right into, you know, I hear all of the lovely Like this is this is a blessing in disguise. This is going to be so great for you. And, you know, you hear all of those same things are like people are going to snatch you up so fast. You're going to leave Hunter with a job, which I didn't want to leave Hunter with a job. But, you know, all of those things. And then it's like, so so what do you want to do? And I'm like, I. I'm still figuring that out. In hospitality in particular, for me, what I do is so specific that there may not be the right place in hospitality for that or it may just be on the consulting side as companies are trying to figure out what to do with the chaos as we just spoke about. Um, that has been a lot of this journey and process for me too. It was a little bit of just mourning the industry because I've only been in the industry for two years. I didn't build my entire career on this. I've built my career on doing good. And, and there is a lot of good I could do in the industry, but that doesn't mean that the right opportunity is going to be available. And so that's been part of the process. And maybe it's, it's a different industry or it's a different company or straight back into, into nonprofit leadership. So that is definitely one piece is when you're going to talk to people, you have to be ready to answer what you want to do. And I don't know. Like, good. My answer is good. I want to do good. But like what that looks like every day, I haven't quite figured out yet. And, you know, tactically speaking, it is truly still just the relationships. You know, a lot of people that I've walked by at Hunter were like, Anna, I want to talk to you. And I will talk to every single one of them. And if I didn't make it, you know, to have that conversation with them at Hunter, I have already followed up by email because I think the relationship piece is the most important. It is what I have built my career on and I'm really proud of that. And you never know who, when the right opportunity does come up, who you need to call and who you need to call, who knows the other person to call to call the other person. And so, you know, I think always nurturing the relationships and the people that I love and the friendships that I've built are really important. But without being able to tell people what I want to do, it has actually been hard to have like tactical conversations because they're looking at me like, I want to help. I want to know who to introduce you to and all of that stuff. And I'm like, I don't know. Introduce me to anyone and that'll be a lot of fun.

Josiah: I know, I mean, certainly for you, Anna, but I think for our listeners, I think it's important to just be confident in the value you bring to a conversation. I think, you know, obviously as a human, but also just kind of professionally and thinking about all the perspectives that you have. And this is so clear with you. I think for our listeners who, you know, probably have done interesting things over their career, have seen interesting things, having these conversations, even, I appreciate you mentioning being upfront with this is a time of exploration. And I think for our listeners that might be navigating this too, if they're in a similar situation, just being upfront with that, but they've probably seen interesting things. And I think if they're having some of these conversations, that's where it could benefit both parties, right? I think the other person that they're speaking with, you know, could benefit from one of the things that they've seen and vice versa. And so just, I think being upfront and human about that seems like a good path.

Anna: Yeah, I would agree completely. And also asking questions, right? Take this as an opportunity, even if you don't think that there is a role for you in this company. I had a great conversation during Hunter with a member of the C-suite of a big brand. And so I asked him, you know, what are the types of roles? This is a company that has done a number of layoffs. Like, what are the types of roles that that you really are wanting to bring people in? Right. Like, where are the biggest gaps? Where are the holes? Where do you see the future of your company? Where do you see the future of the industry and where some of those opportunities might be? And it was really interesting. you know, to hear some of the things that I heard as people think about hospitality and experiences and sort of the experience-driven economy. And as people think about, like, the linkage between hospitality and good and community impact and sustainability and all of those things, and You know, so it depends on who you're talking to, right? Like what's keeping them up at night? And so even just asking questions, I learned so much during Hunter, probably more than I have any of the other conferences that I've been to because I asked more questions. I wasn't trying to pitch the foundation. I wasn't trying to get donors. I wasn't trying to do any of that. I was asking all of the questions. And it was really, really interesting to just hear where the industry is, what's keeping people up at night. what some of the challenges are, where they see the growth opportunities, and whether I could see myself in those opportunities or not, but I might know somebody else in the industry or not in the industry who I can be like, ooh, I know a person who could absolutely come do that for you, right? And that was just a cool dynamic to have.

Josiah: I love it. And for people that want to connect with you, would you suggest that they follow you on LinkedIn? What would be the best way to connect?

Anna: Yeah, message me on LinkedIn, certainly. Email me, text me, I don't care. I'll talk to anybody right now. It's my favorite thing to do and I have time. I have time to do it. I just took a vacation with my family. We just got back a couple days ago and it's the first vacation and I don't even know how long where I had no work emails to dig out. When I came back, I wasn't concerned about the number of meetings that I had waiting for me. There wasn't any of this like, oh, but if I just check in and look at teams, then I don't have to come back and, you know, do all of this stuff. I could actually be fully present. And that was such an incredible gift. And so, yeah, right now I will talk to anybody. Absolutely. And I'll even give you the contact email that you can send out when you push this out.

Josiah: Incredible. We include some links in the show notes and thank you so much for taking time to chat.

Anna: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.