When the Tide Goes Out…

When the tide goes out, you can see who has been swimming naked. Share on X

That is what popular wisdom says, and I completely agree. Day-to-day experience proves me right in this respect. I think the worst thing is not suddenly realising that you were naked, or in other words, acknowledging your own shortcomings and the ineffectiveness of what you have learned—or unlearned—so far. The worst thing is thinking that you are actually fine with what you are wearing. It is paradoxical to see the difference in the level of rigour with which some hotels approach issues as vital as Marketing, Strategic Planning, or simply their online presence. While some fight every day to improve and optimise their market positioning, manage their prices, content, reputation and so on, others simply wander around the market naked, thinking that the tide is hiding their shame—or simply that nobody is looking. I do not know; sometimes I think it is a generational issue in certain management models, but when I see young people calmly walking around naked as well, I start to worry. Could it be that they like seeing themselves that way? What is the point of talking and talking... writing and writing, if afterwards a great majority enjoy swimming naked without giving it much importance?