Cosmos and Avalon Waterways’ Giles Hawke stresses the importance of looking for new opportunities to avoid becoming complacent
Readers of Travel Weekly may have discovered recently that I will leave my current role and move to a new position in a different business over the coming months.
Coming to this decision after seven years with Cosmos was not an easy one at all. I have worked with colleagues in the UK and internationally at a high level of intensity over this period and developed friendships and trust with them, as well as formed a real sense of purpose and direction over what we are all setting out to achieve.
This got me thinking about the process of developing careers, ourselves and our business contacts and relationships.
Life is ever-changing and we have to keep looking for opportunities to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. That may mean taking on extra tasks and responsibilities in our current role, looking for a new role in our existing organisation or getting the development we need by moving elsewhere.
Many of us do all of these during our career and relish the opportunity that each approach brings.
Standing still isn’t an option over time – you risk becoming stale, complacent or blasé and not giving the best of yourself.
Fresh thinking
I have always taken the view that I would rather work with someone dedicated, committed and good at their job for three years than someone who is just coasting along for five years. It’s natural for people to change roles and move companies – it’s part of the career and business cycle. It can be inconvenient for employers and disruptive in the short-term to a business, but it ensures fresh thinking, helps people maintain their energy and focus, and ultimately ensures a healthy business.
If everyone stayed in the same role and the same business for very long periods of time, how would we get new ideas and challenge existing ways of doing things to ensure continual improvement and progress? Early on in my career I regarded people changing company or role as a bit of a betrayal; now I see it as a necessary and valuable part of the development of a business.
People business
I’ve also learnt that the relationships you form in one place will be valuable in the future. One thing that those of us who might be classed as “industry veterans” know well is that this is a relationship business.
Travel is about experiences but, more than anything, it is about people. That isn’t to say I have never fallen out with anyone or had robust discussions, or that we all love each other all of the time, but it is important that we all treat each other with respect, understand differences and try to work together, whether we are the chief executive of a massive company or a junior apprentice. You never know who may end up being your customer, your boss or your next direct report.
In all of my roles I have developed amazing friendships with the people I have worked closely with, and still keep in touch with most of these people even if I don’t now work directly with them. The messages of support I have had from people I have interacted with throughout my career over my recent announcement that I will be joining Celebrity Cruises have been heart‑warming and humbling.
So as I look to help with the transition to my successor in my current role and say au revoir to my amazing team, I also have one eye on the future: to the excitement of starting to work with a new highly professional team, and to the challenges and opportunity that this will offer the business I leave, the business I join and myself personally.