Inspiring Trailblazers: The 2025 Weekly Monday Morning Huddle Project

In my day to day, I am a Marriott Operations Manager, specifically for the Courtyard brand. While we happily accommodate all travelers, our design is geared toward the trailblazer. Optimal work space in the lobby area, indoor/outdoor seating options, and the bistro are just a few examples of the comfort afforded to our creative guests.

Creative is just one word used to describe the trailblazer personality.

Others include:

• Curious
• Fearless
• Persistent
• Teachable

Trailblazers are goal-orientated and hard-driven souls who have a vision and are unafraid of embarking on challenging tasks to forge a new path. They are the future leaders and trendsetters with fire in their footsteps paving the way for like minds, inspiring similar actions catered to personal experience.

Sometimes equated to a steamroller, barrelling through with excessive heat, a trailblazer can get a bad rep, but the persistent one can counter this negative attribute by remaining teachable.

Teachable- even the best leaders are teachable and this humble trait is not only necessary, it's contingent upon all future successes, especially if one is serious about developing rapport, building trust, and maintaining working relationships.

In a nutshell, the trailblazer must remain empathetic and open-minded while on their journey of impacting widespread growth.

Use the fire as a torch for others or burn all bridges.

I prefer the torch.

My role as a Marriott Operations Manager requires ensuring all guests receive a warm and welcoming stay by overseeing staff, coaching, and adhering to particular brand standards. While holding a leadership role, I report to higher-ups who, in turn, coach and lead me, which further develops my skills.

Am I a trailblazer?

Yes, an inquisitive one with an adept child's eye vision of the world.

And this vision I embrace, an ever eye of wonder, is the motivation for Vocal Media's New Year, New Projects Challenge.

Combining a common workplace practice with my writer's flair, I introduce a personal series for 2025.

A Vocal Media project incorporating one part inspiration from nature and one part pick-me-up words from yours truly is the name of the game for a personal experiment this year.

Rolling Out The Monday Morning Huddle

A huddle is common among sports teams, pumping players up before hitting the field.

On the work front, morning stand-ups, meetings, or huddles are common practices to get employees amped for a productive work day.

In either scenario, the huddle is a brief meeting where team members come together to put their heads together to create unity. Whether a quick overview or a focus on a key element, the conversation uplifts, motivates, and inspires all involved.

Encouraging words, a highlight, an acknowledgment, a confirmation- all are verbal cues that make people feel valued and included.

During my twenty years of employment in hospitality, the morning huddle has been vital to my leadership style.

Gathering for a few minutes daily before production begins allows my team and I an opportunity to connect in a relaxed meeting and set the pace for a fresh day focused on new ideas, goals, and strategies.

Assigning tasks, while important, comes across better when all are involved.

A smile and a pleasant demeanor, along with encouraging words set the groundwork for comradery and reciprocation.

To simplify matters, if this were a sports team, I would be the players' greatest cheerleader-always rooting for them with the long-term goal being not winning a game but winning at life.

My ideology surpasses all expectations involving hotel scores, number crunching, and corporate demands; it's to cheer for and help develop the personal trailblazer in each employee.

Yes, the curious soul living inside each one of them!

In my current situation, my team is relatively new, but so am I as I enter the six-month mark at Marriott. Furthermore, my role as Operations Manager is a step up from the previous Housekeeping Manager, involving finer details and more responsibility.

A trailblazer's dream and duty to do more...

And it just so happens that I am inspired to adapt my learnings to the writer in me, the creator who is determined to keep evolving.

Hence, the Monday Morning Huddle is born, here, on Vocal Media.

What does it all entail?

It's simple, yes, really; my weekly series will feature on Monday mornings as a short read (400-600 ish words) estimating a three-minute read time.

The purpose: a pick me up to kick off the new week, which for many folks, Mondays mark the beginning of the work week.

As a shorter read, the huddle is ideal for the busy person who may not have a lot of time to spare, yet welcomes the idea of a virtual meeting not work-related.

NO- no office politics, compliance regulations, overbearing boss tactics, or career goal data here.

It's not that kind of meeting.

Remember, I said it's a morning huddle?

Think back to my cheerleader bit above.

The aim is to lift spirits, raise energy levels, and put smiles on faces through not sports or work-related topics but nature instead.

Yes, nature!

Nature has always been a source of solace, from childhood playing on acres of land to running through wooded trails as a high school Cross-Country runner to the current-day sanctity of meditative moments.

Nature Inspirations and Spiritual Inclinations

Nature provides us with daily inspiration, whether it's beautiful seasonal blooms, sky scenes, or silly animals going about their business.

The above photos were all taken by me throughout the last year and each situation afforded me a moment of joy.

My Monday morning huddle will favor personal photos paired with snippets of insight drawing spiritual links to nature sightings.

A year ago, I hosted a Monday Morning Huddle on another writing platform and it was one of my happiest creative joys. I ran a small spiritual publication and although it did not have a large following (300 followers) the connections I formed through reader comments were priceless.

Inspiration connecting a meeting of the minds with strangers in a virtual space- absolutely beautiful!

Reflections on the everyday things busy people miss, things right under our noses and found in nature.

Yeah, I think many of us overlook the obvious in the hustle and bustle of our everyday reality.

And sometimes the confusion we experience can be simplified by returning to the basics- the basics right outside our windows, the basics found in quiet walks in the park, the countryside, and so on.

As a spiritual person and nature lover, I often turn to the outdoors when life goes astray and draw parallels to signs and symbols living and breathing in nature's subtleties.

Rolling out the Monday morning huddle on Vocal Media will equal personal photography paired with little tidbits, analogies, spiritual boosts, folklore, magickal references, and equated symbolism to heighten the reader's mindset as a new week begins.

Simple inspiration, a different outlook, a fresh perspective- how cool is that?

And never in a lengthy read.

Busy is as busy does, but people thrive more when they slow down a little- just because

2025 is set to be a game changer for me, especially after an emotionally taxing 2024.

I have many miles left to run; I am a trailblazer, but I am also a student open to learning new things and new experiences.

My creative series: the Monday Morning Huddle is my way of affording a virtual space for readers to feel uplifted through the blessings of nature. Sure, work is work; dedication and persistence pave the way to brighter paths, but a return to natural scenarios sets afire in our hearts, and that blaze is rewarded in our spirits.

I look forward to story-related comments and forging new connections. We truly can learn a lot from each other and the greatest gift is the inclusive quality by way of genuine interaction.

Stay tuned for the first edition of the Monday Morning Huddle debuting on January 13!

Thank you for reading and thank you Vocal Media for providing this challenge. Whether one is leadership ready, a trendsetter, or a more casual laidback type, a trailblazer of some sort lives inside us all. It need not be eccentric just suited to oneself! Find your calling; follow your path!