By Doug Baarman

Recently, I had the pleasure of stepping away from my meeting and event planning world to enjoy my daughter’s high school graduation.

Graduation is defined as: “a person who successfully completed a course of study or training.” From my personal experience, it is a time of transition in our lives; an ending and a beginning at the same moment.

As I listened to the speakers during her ceremony and reflected on my high school graduation, I had a few thoughts:

• On graduation day, we are full of hope and have big dreams for our future.
• We have the energy and passion to pursue these goals.
• We are confident that nothing will stand in our way and we will achieve our dreams.
• We promise to stay positive and pick ourselves up when we fall short of our goals.
• On graduation day, we embrace the responsibility that is given us during this transition.

Often times as we progress through life, we get caught up in being ‘busy’ and forget the hope, energy, confidence, promise and responsibility that we had on graduation day. As professionals in the hospitality industry, are we still full of hope and pursuing our dreams with energy and passion? Are we confident in what we are doing, keeping our promises and accepting the responsibilities given us?