Learning From Your Friends’ Careers: Valuable Insights Beyond Your Circle
In our careers, we often focus on mentors, industry experts, or professional networks for advice and inspiration. However, one of the most valuable sources of career wisdom can come from a place we least expect—our friends. We tend to think that because they are in different fields or have different career goals, their experiences won’t offer much insight. But that could not be further from the truth. Friends often have a unique perspective that, when embraced, can significantly impact your own career progression.
The Hidden Value in Your Friends’ Career Journeys
While we might not always agree with the career choices our friends make, there’s a lot we can learn from their journeys. They may have faced challenges, discovered strategies, or developed skills that can apply to your own professional growth—even if they are working in a completely different industry.
When friends share their career stories, whether it’s navigating a promotion, overcoming a tough challenge, or making a bold move, there are lessons to be learned. It’s about recognizing the transferable skills, unique approaches, and fresh ideas that can be applied to your own career, no matter the industry.
Hospitality-Specific Insights: Learning From All Sectors
Insights from friends in other fields can be incredibly beneficial. For example, a friend working in marketing might share how they build brand loyalty, an essential concept in hospitality. Similarly, someone in project management could offer insights on organizing complex tasks efficiently, a skill that’s valuable for managing large hotel events or operations.
Learning about soft skills—such as communication, emotional intelligence, and time management—from friends who have honed these abilities in different industries can give you an edge in your own career. Moreover, the resilience, adaptability, and creativity that people cultivate in various professions can inspire you to approach problems in new and innovative ways within the hospitality space.
The Power of Perspective: A Lesson in Growth
The key insight here is simple: sometimes the most valuable career lessons come from unexpected sources. By observing and reflecting on your friends’ experiences, you might discover new ways to solve problems, improve relationships, or build your career path. While we often look to formal mentors for guidance, friends offer something different—they provide authentic, down-to-earth advice that is rooted in real-life experiences.
Real-Life Example: Bridging Industries for Growth
Take, for instance, Sarah, a hotel manager who, after a conversation with her friend Priya, a software developer, discovered how much the tech industry values “agile” project management. Priya's company was using agile techniques to quickly adapt to changes and improve workflow efficiency. Inspired, Sarah introduced agile principles into her own hotel team to improve collaboration, reduce delays, and increase guest satisfaction. Though Priya’s field was completely different, Sarah was able to transfer the method to her hospitality environment for tangible results.
Actionable Step: Start the Conversation
To tap into the career insights of your friends, initiate a “career chat.” Set aside time to talk about each other’s career journeys, challenges faced, and lessons learned. The goal is to share experiences, not necessarily solve each other’s problems. You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn just by listening to their perspectives.
In these discussions, try to focus on:
• What skills have they developed that could be useful to you?
• What strategies or mindsets have helped them overcome professional challenges?
• How can you apply their advice to your own career path?
By engaging in these conversations, you open yourself up to new ways of thinking and approaching your own growth. These friendly exchanges could be the key to unlocking new strategies and ideas for advancing in your hospitality career.
In our careers, we often turn to mentors or industry experts for guidance, but one of the most valuable sources of career wisdom can be found in our friends’ experiences. While their career paths might be different from ours, there’s much we can learn from their journeys. By having open conversations with friends about their challenges and successes, we can uncover transferable skills, innovative strategies, and fresh perspectives that could make a real difference in our own professional growth. Whether it’s learning about emotional intelligence, adaptability, or resilience, the insights we gain from our friends can be just as impactful as advice from a seasoned mentor.