Learnings from Will Guidara, drawing from his bestselling book Unreasonable Hospitality, his TED Talk, and various interviews.
On the Definition of Hospitality
- "Service is black and white; hospitality is color."
- Learning: Service is the technical delivery of a product (getting the right plate to the right person). Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes the recipient feel.[1][2][3]
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "People will forget what you do; they’ll forget what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel."
- Learning: Guidara frequently cites this Maya Angelou quote as the "wisest statement about hospitality ever made."[4]
- Source: Goodreads Quotes
- "Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters."[5]
- Learning: You cannot have excellence without intentionality in the small details.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Hospitality is a selfish pleasure."
- Learning: Being kind to others makes you feel good. It is a sustainable fuel source because the giver gets as much out of it as the receiver.
- Source: Simon Sinek's "A Bit of Optimism" Podcast
- "Unreasonable hospitality is the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect."
- Learning: Doing the "reasonable" thing is what everyone else does. To stand out, you must go beyond what is required.
- Source: TED Talk: The Secret Ingredients of Great Hospitality
- "Whatever you do for a living, you can choose to be in the hospitality business."
- Learning: This mindset applies to doctors, real estate agents, and tech support, not just restaurants.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Fads fade and cycles cycle, but the human desire to be taken care of never goes away."
- Learning: Bet your business on human connection, which is timeless, rather than on trends.
- Source: McKinsey Author Talks
- "Don't just serve them dinner; serve them memories."
- Learning: The product is a commodity; the memory is the true value proposition.
- Source: TED Talk
- "One size fits one."
- Learning: Stop trying to systematize everything for the "average" customer. Tailor the experience to the individual standing in front of you.
- Source: Simon Sinek Interview
- "Be present. It sounds like a cliché, but it’s essential."
- Learning: You cannot spot opportunities to delight someone if you are distracted by your to-do list.
- Source: TED Talk
On The Rule of 95/5
- "Manage 95% of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5% 'foolishly'."
- Learning: This is Guidara's famous "Rule of 95/5." Extreme discipline in the majority of your finances earns you the right to be "irresponsibly" generous in the moments that matter.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "The 5% is where the memories are made."
- Learning: Customers don't remember that you saved money on paper towels; they remember the free hot dog you ran out to buy them because they mentioned they hadn't tried one yet.
- Source: Fast Company Interview
- "Money is a tool, not the goal."
- Learning: Profit is necessary to stay in business, but it should be used to fuel the mission, not just sit in a bank account.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "If you aren't managing the 95%, you'll never have the money for the 5%."
- Learning: You can't be generous if you are broke. Cost control enables creativity.
- Source: McKinsey Author Talks
- "Generosity is an investment, not an expense."
- Learning: When you give a guest a gift, you are marketing your brand more effectively than a traditional ad campaign.
On Leadership & Management
- "Praise in public; criticize in private."
- Learning: This builds trust and safety. Public criticism humiliates; private criticism coaches.
- Source: The Growth Faculty
- "Praise with emotion; criticize without emotion."
- Learning: When correcting someone, stick to the facts (black and white). When praising, use feeling (color).
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Manage the person, not the title."
- Learning: A "manager" isn't a robot; they are a human being with specific insecurities and strengths.
- "Sometimes the best time to promote people is before they are ready."
- Learning: If you wait until they are 100% ready, they may have already checked out. Stretching people shows you trust them.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Your team can’t be excellent if you’re not holding them accountable to the standards you’ve set."
- Learning: Being "nice" isn't about lowering standards. True kindness is helping your team be great.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Consistency is one of the most important and underrated aspects of being a leader."
- Learning: If your mood swings wildly, your team will spend their energy managing your mood rather than serving the customer.
- Source: The Growth Faculty
- "A leader’s role isn’t only to motivate and uplift; sometimes it’s to earn the trust of your team by being human with them."
- Learning: Vulnerability is a strength. Admitting "I don't know" or "I messed up" builds loyalty.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "The way you do one thing is the way you do everything."
- Learning: If you cut corners on the small stuff (like organization in the back office), you will eventually cut corners on the big stuff (guest experience).
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "You cannot demand excellence from your team if you are not giving them the tools to be excellent."
- Learning: Frustration often comes from a lack of resources, not a lack of effort.
- "Trust is the currency of leadership."
- Learning: Without trust, speed slows down and costs go up because you have to verify everything.
On Culture & Teamwork
- "Hire the 'Dream Weavers'."
- Learning: Look for people who get joy out of making others happy. You can teach technical skills (how to clear a plate), but you can't teach caring.
- Source: Simon Sinek Interview
- "It’s a cliché that culture can’t be taught; it has to be caught."
- Learning: New hires learn more by watching how the team acts when the boss isn't looking than by reading the employee handbook.
- Source: The Growth Faculty
- "A daily 30-minute meeting is where a collection of individuals becomes a team."
- Learning: Regular communication (pre-shift meetings) creates alignment and shared purpose.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Make sure people who are trying and working hard have what they need to succeed."
- Learning: Support your "A" players relentlessly.
- "The best way to respect and reward the A players on your team is to surround them with other A players."
- Learning: High performers hate working with low performers. Keeping a "B" or "C" player demotivates your "A" players.
- Source: Goodreads Quotes
- "Language is how you create a culture."
- Learning: Create a shared vocabulary (e.g., calling problems "opportunities" or complaints "feedback") to shape how the team thinks.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Criticize the behavior, not the person."
- Learning: "You were late" is a fact. "You are irresponsible" is an attack on character. Stick to the behavior.
- "We’d all be better leaders if we could tap back into what it felt like to be led."
- Learning: Empathy for the employee experience is crucial for management.
- "Collaboration is the foundation upon which Unreasonable Hospitality was built."
- Learning: The best ideas (like the hot dog story) often come from the frontline staff, not the owner.
- "Start with the answer 'Yes', and work backward."
- Learning: When a guest asks for something difficult, assume it is possible and try to figure out how, rather than looking for reasons why it can't be done.
On Creativity & Experience Design
- "No one who ever changed the game did so by being reasonable."
- Learning: Disruption requires doing things that seem illogical to the status quo.
- Source: Global Leadership Summit
- "We have an opportunity—a responsibility—to make magic in a world that desperately needs more of it."
- Learning: Elevate your work from a transaction to a mission of bringing joy.
- Source: Global Leadership Summit
- "Creativity is an active process, not a passive lightning strike."
- Learning: You must schedule time to be creative. At Eleven Madison Park, they had "Dream Weaver" meetings specifically to brainstorm ideas for guests.
- "The Hot Dog Story." (The core learning)
- Learning: Guidara overheard guests regretting they hadn't tried a NY hot dog. He ran out, bought one, and had the chef plate it beautifully.
- Takeaway: Listen for what isn't being asked for, and deliver it.
- Source: TED Talk
- "Systematize your kindness."
- Learning: If you want hospitality to scale, you need systems (like checking Google for a guest's picture before they arrive) to ensure it happens consistently.
- "Excellence is the accumulation of thousands of details."
- Learning: There is no silver bullet. It's doing 100 small things 1% better.
- "Slowing down to speed up."
- Learning: Sometimes you need to pause the operation to fix a systemic issue, which allows you to move faster in the long run.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
On Personal Growth & Mindset
- "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
- Learning: This question was taped to the wall at Eleven Madison Park. It encourages boldness.
- Source: Unreasonable Hospitality
- "Run toward what you want, as opposed to away from what you don’t want."
- Learning: Offensive play (pursuing greatness) is better than defensive play (avoiding failure).
- Source: Medium Takeaways
- "Confession: I’m a perfectionist."
- Learning: Acknowledge your nature, but don't let it paralyze you. Use it to drive standards.
- "It is hard to be the best version of yourself when you are trying to be someone else."
- Learning: Authenticity resonates with customers. Don't copy another business's style; find your own.
- "You're going to mess up. When you do, apologize."
- Learning: Recovery is often more important than perfection. A sincere apology can turn a disgruntled guest into a loyal fan.
- Source: The Growth Faculty
- "Take what you do seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously."
- Learning: You can be elite and world-class without being stuffy or arrogant. Fun is a component of hospitality.
- Source: TED Talk
- "Adversity is a terrible thing to waste."
- Learning: Use crises (like a kitchen equipment failure or a bad review) as a rallying cry to improve systems and team cohesion.
- "Hospitality is a dialogue, not a monologue."
- Learning: It’s not about projecting your will onto the guest; it’s about listening to them and responding to their needs.
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