Walk before we run

Greetings from Virtuoso Travel Week! I am normally an early riser, up at around 4:30 every morning. The first thing I notice now, and this may be the result of my compilation of injuries over the years, is that my bones are a bit stiffer these days. And, I have to remind myself to walk more slowly before I start to run. Every morning when I get up, like most of you I’m sure, I have an agenda in mind for the day – whether it’s driven by a written list or by practiced routine. It’s my purpose for the day.

The travel industry is no different. Last week, the U.S. Department of State dropped the Level 4 global travel ban, returning to ranking each country individually. While most of us recognized this as a small step of little consequence, I believe the larger message was missed. This was our industry waking up in the morning after suffering a series of body blows that needs to heal. We need to ensure that we have our purpose set for the day, the week, the month, the year, the decade. Does this mean rewriting your business plan? Well, maybe.

As your business begins to wake up, you need to make sure that you have a clear purpose of what you intend to achieve. You need to have controls in place to ensure that you never violate them for the sake of a transaction. You would never do something in a day that goes against the moral fiber you woke up with, so why would your travel business.

So as a collective industry, we need to look at the move by the state department as an alarm clock going off in the morning. Let’s not try running a 10K straight out of bed. You walk first, letting your stiff body warm up. Make sure the moral fiber of your business, your higher purpose, is amplified, not muted.  It’s one of the many things that makes me proud of our team. With over 25 new programs, four new collections, a whole new virtual system, and countless more new initiatives, our moral fiber remains intact. Begin exploring what’s new at Big Five here.

And, by the way, how do take your Peruvian coffee?

P.S. Watch the video to the very end. The bloopers are totally not approved!