Significant Career Lesson From a Vice President of Hotel Operations at a Hotel and Casino
Tommy's significant career lesson centers on leveraging unique skills to create opportunities: "if you're naturally good at something...you can marry the two," illustrating how their passion for technology, combined with a hospitality career, allowed them to fill a "huge void" in the industry, accelerating their advancement by creating innovative technological solutions within the hotel sector.
Technology Integration, Hospitality Management, Career Advancement, Problem-Solving Skills, Entrepreneurship
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Tommy Harris
Vice President of Hotel Operations
Large Hotel & Casino Brand
University of Nevada Las Vegas / 2022
UCLA / MBA - Expected graduation June 2024
Psychology
Hospitality, Restaurants & Events
Operations and Project Management
Honors Student, Worked 20+ Hours in School, LGBTQ
Video Highlights
1. Combining passions: Tommy's career success stemmed from merging his passion for hospitality with his natural talent in technology, creating unique opportunities and accelerating his career.
2. Identifying and filling voids: By recognizing and addressing technological gaps in the hotel industry, Tommy carved a unique path for himself, highlighting the importance of innovation and problem-solving.
3. Leveraging unique skills: Tommy's unique combination of hospitality expertise and technology skills gave him a significant competitive advantage. This emphasizes the value of developing specialized skills to stand out in a competitive field.
Transcript
What is one lesson you have learned that has proven significant in your career?
For me, what's significant is if you're naturally good at something that might not directly relate to your career. In some cases, you can combine the two. I'll speak to my own experience because it's most significant to me.
My passion has always been hospitality. However, I've also had a strong interest and passion for technology, including computers, programming, device management, and other technology-related areas.
As I grew in the hospitality industry and moved up, I found I could create opportunities for myself. I was able to infuse technology into hospitality, filling a significant void. This void existed because people either didn't know about it, didn't want to know, or some other reason.
Filling that void accelerated my career faster than anything else. It was about identifying a missing piece, having a solution, and not only solving it but adding to it.
Hotels are becoming increasingly technologically advanced. This includes in-room systems for communication, lighting, drapery control, TV systems, and remote access. The technology aspect in hospitality right now is like an open frontier with so much opportunity.
For those who have an interest and a natural knack for technology, like I did, it really works. It allowed me to use both passions to create my own path.
While I followed a traditional path for a while, eventually, the company needed me more than I needed them. This isn't about arrogance, but about having value, a skill, or a uniqueness that makes you different.
If you have something that few people know or can replicate, or if they can but aren't interested, you can use that to your advantage. It can accelerate your career and potentially lead to entrepreneurship.
This is all about identifying voids in operations. Many hotels run similarly, with variations based on their category. Ultimately, they are just boxes with rooms.
What you bring to the table is what differentiates one hotel from another, and its employees. The technology component was definitely impactful for me and gave me a significant advantage.