The First Person You Lead

January 21, 2026 / Written By: Stephany Wilder I Featured On: EmpowerHER Hospitality Collective

Staying Grounded When the Ground Shifts: A Hospitality Leadership Perspective

Uncertainty is destabilizing, particularly in the hospitality industry.

It disrupts focus.
It interrupts sleep.
It pulls attention in a dozen directions at once, even as teams, guests, and partners still expect steadiness.

In this industry, we’re trained to lead outward, to stabilize the room, the team, the moment. But before we can do that well, there’s quieter work that has to happen first.

The first person you lead is yourself.

Composure isn’t the absence of stress.
It’s the decision to stay grounded inside it.

Self-leadership means resisting the urge to overreact.
Allowing clarity to arrive before action.
Holding boundaries around what you know, what you don’t, and what hasn’t been defined yet.

It means choosing steadiness over speculation, even when pressure is high, and uncertainty feels personal.

This isn’t passive.
It isn’t avoidance.
It’s intentional restraint.

And it’s hard.

I’ve lived this. And while I haven’t always been steady, experience has taught me which reactions are deserved, and which ones only create more noise.

Sticking to the facts.
Asking clear questions.
Not being afraid to advocate for myself while navigating uncertainty.

In hospitality, we ask leaders to stay calm for their teams, clear for ownership, and composed for guests, even when things feel unstable behind the scenes.

That same standard applies inward.

When we lead ourselves with patience and clarity, we show up stronger for everyone else. And when the ground shifts, that internal steadiness becomes the foundation on which everything else rests.