Lessons from Will Guidara

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
Guidara writes that whatever you do for a living, you can choose to be in the hospitality business -- you have the privilege of joining people as they celebrate their most joyful moments and the chance to offer consolation in their most difficult ones. [23]
"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
Guidara's rule: praise with emotion, criticize without emotion -- when correcting someone, stick to the facts, but when praising, let the feeling show. [24]
"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." [21]
"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." [22]
Guidara's maxim: the way you do one thing is the way you do everything -- he wanted handwritten notes to guests to be just as thoughtful and beautifully presented as the food itself. [25]
"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
Guidara calls this the best lever for culture change: a daily thirty-minute meeting is where a collection of individuals becomes a team. [26]
"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.
Guidara writes that slowing down wasn't just about nurturing the team in the moment -- it was about building a more solid foundation for the future, so that when the team needed to speed up again, their minds and hearts were in top shape. [27]

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.

Sources

Lessons from Will Guidara

On the Definition of Hospitality

On The Rule of 95/5

On Leadership & Management

On Culture & Teamwork

On Creativity & Experience Design

On Personal Growth & Mindset

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