People are often surprised when I tell them I studied engineering.
On the surface, engineering and boutique hospitality couldn't seem more different.
One is built on calculations.
The other is built on relationships.
One deals with systems.
The other deals with people.
Yet the more years I spend in hospitality, the more I realise engineering prepared me for it in ways I never expected.
During my conversation with Sarah Riley, she asked how I make decisions so quickly.
It's a question I hear often.
The answer goes back to engineering.
One of the first lessons I learned was that waiting for perfection usually means waiting forever.
In engineering, we relied heavily on the 80/20 principle.
Reach roughly eighty percent confidence.
Move forward.
Learn.
Improve.
Adjust.
Trying to achieve one hundred percent certainty before acting often delays progress without significantly improving the outcome.
That lesson became invaluable when moving to Brazil.
I didn't speak Portuguese.
I didn't know the local systems.
I had never operated a hospitality business in another country.
Had I waited until I understood everything, CasaJOMO would never have opened.
Instead, I kept asking,"What's the next problem to solve?"
Engineering also taught me to think in systems.
Guests don't experience breakfast, housekeeping, check-in and maintenance as separate departments.
They experience one journey.
If one part of the system fails, the entire experience feels different.
Hospitality isn't a collection of isolated tasks.
It's an interconnected system.
That's exactly how engineers think.
Every decision affects something else.
Sarah and I also discussed decision fatigue during the interview.
She mentioned how successful people simplify small decisions to preserve energy for important ones.
I smiled because I'd been doing something similar for years.
A small wardrobe.
Simple routines.
Fewer unnecessary choices.
The more mental energy I preserve, the more I can invest in guests.
Engineering also taught me something even more important.Problems are rarely personal.
They're puzzles.
If a guest isn't happy, I don't immediately ask,"Who's to blame?"
I ask,"What part of the system created this experience?"
That mindset changes everything.
It removes emotion.
It encourages curiosity.
It leads to better solutions.
Perhaps the biggest lesson engineering gave me is confidence in uncertainty.
You don't need every answer before you begin.
You simply need enough information to take the next thoughtful step.
The rest reveals itself through experience.
Looking back, I no longer see engineering and hospitality as unrelated careers.
One taught me how systems work.
The other taught me why they matter.
When you combine the two, you don't just create an efficient business.
You create a place where people consistently feel cared for.
And ultimately, that's exactly what good hospitality is—a beautifully designed system that quietly allows human connection to flourish.