Now to Next...How To Have a Growth Mindset (while never forgetting who you are.)
Mar 13, 2025
In a few moments, I will take the stage to speak with a group of franchise owners in Texas.
The topic is "Now to Next".
How to have a growth mindset,not only for your business, but also for the major components within including your customers, your team, and yourself.
Things change.
How can we be ready and prepared in advance?
One simple word... NEXT.
What do you believe your customers need NEXT?
I enjoyed my experience at TWIN PEAKS Restaurants. Yesterday was my first visit.
They do SO MANY THINGS extremely well.
Terrific food that's well prepared & presented. Very attentive service, affordable pricing, and a comfortable atmosphere. How can they execute so well when so many other restaurant chains fail?
With their brand's commitment & strategy to grow, what could be NEXT for them to implement or for any other well established company? Twin Peaks was founded in 2005 & currently has approximately 115 locations.
What trends could be coming NEXT that you don't know about yet and what are you doing to learn?
After the conference, I discovered many members of this team continuing to learn and ask questions of the hotel staff, curious about the hospitality industry and trends their brand is experiencing.
What works?
What doesn't?
What are you hearing?
FRONT PORCH LIVING
I'll share an example. When my grandparents were alive, we would spend time on their front porch in the Summer because the house did not have air conditioning. From there, we would see and interact with neighbors and each other.
LIVING ROOM LIVING
I remember when my parents got "whole house air conditioning". Our first TV was a celebration of technology. We stopped living on the FRONT PORCH and began to move inside. Less interaction with neighbors and less focused family time.
BEDROOM LIVING
Today, people have migrated even further into their homes, into their bedrooms to play video games, use their smartphones, and disappear into loneliness.
Individuals Need SOCIAL INTERACTION
People Need COMMUNITIES.
My parents had three separate groups.
- Family at home
- Work at an office
- Social in groups, clubs, & their neighborhood.
Today, many of us
- Live at Home
- Work from Home
- Socialize at Home. (Movies, Games, Entertaining)
A report by CivicScience shares:
"33% of U.S. adults still report feelings of loneliness.
Notably, 57% of Gen Z adults (aged 18-24) report loneliness, indicating a unique generational disparity."
What can we do to improve this?
NEXT might mean
- Creating MORE OPPORTUNITY for people to connect
- Creating New Events at your venue to support a variety of COMMUNITIES
- Creating New Offerings that will attract specific groups and encourage INCLUSIONS
This is a great example of Authentic Hospitality.
Four people at Twin Peaks greeted us to make us feel welcome.
They were extremely busy.
Although no one was currently at the Hostess Stand when we arrived, we were greeted by four individuals.
Each one made eye contact, said hello, welcomed us, then one of them encouraged us to "please sit at any table you would like".
This was within the first 1-2 minutes of standing by the temporarily unattended Hostess stand.
The coffee shop that I regularly frequent not only knows my name...
THEY KNOW ME.
I don't go there for their coffee. (I do, but that's not the real reason I go).
I go to this particular coffee shop to "feel a certain way."
How you can apply NEXT thinking for your prospects
and clients?
- Identify what you are currently doing extremely well and ask yourself, "is this enough for the future"?
- Learn about future trends and what your customers might seek later that they don't know about now.
- #BeBamboo, embrace agile methodologies. By adopting agile frameworks, it will allow your teams to be more responsive to changes. This involves iterative development, constant feedback, and flexibility. By embracing agility, your company can swiftly adapt to market shifts and customer demands.
By implementing these strategies, your company will stay ahead & also build a robust foundation for the future.
