Unreasonable Hospitality | Book Review 

“The human desire to be taken care of never goes away.” (p. 4)

Will Guidara’s timely work, subtitled The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, provokes many memories for this reviewer. Like the author, working in restaurants from age 14-17 formed many lasting memories. Guidara believes it’s time for every one of us to start being unreasonable about hospitality, and that this idea can result in a seismic shift if it extends beyond restaurants (p.4)

“Endeavor leaving any place or situation better than when found,” a significant phrase from my Personal Leadership Philosophy, reflects my years working in restaurants. Guidara includes many similar lessons from his success in the hospitality industry. This review is a compilation of Guidara’s highlighted reflections, in essence, forming his leadership philosophy.

An Unreasonable Hospitality Leadership Philosophy

A leader’s responsibility is to identify the strengths of the people on their team, no matter how buried those strengths might be (p. 66). 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 (p. 164). You need to be as unreasonable in how you build your team as you are in how you build your product or experience (p. 83). If your business involves making people happy, then you can’t be good at it if you don’t care what people think (p. 90). It may not be possible to do everything perfectly, but it is possible to do many things perfectly (p. 120). Run toward what you want, as opposed to away from what you don’t want (p. 54).

As a leader, you have to use every single tool in your kit to build morale and keep it high (p. 152). Creativity is an active process, not a passive one (p. 224). Knowing less is an opportunity to do more (p. 78). Language is how you give intention to your intuition and how you share your vision with others (pp. 91-92). No aspect of your business should be off-limits to reevaluation (p. 143). You must be able to name for yourself why your work matters (p. 99). If you don’t create room for the people who work for you to feel seen and heard in a team setting, they’ll never be fully known by the people around them (p. 145).

The way you do one thing is the way you do everything (p. 72). Do less, and do it well (p. 158). Identify moments that recur in your business, and build a tool kit your team can deploy without too much effort (p. 210). Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters (p. 22). Establish a regular rhythm for giving praise (p. 68). A daily thirty-minute meeting is where a collection of individuals becomes a team (p. 71). Luxury means just giving more; hospitality means being more thoughtful (p. 214). New traditions work only if they’re authentic – if they fill a real purpose and satisfy a real need (p. 146).

Let your energy impact the people you’re talking to, as opposed to the other way around (p. 28). If you take care of your managers and give them what they need to be successful, you put them in a better position to take care of their teams (p. 41). Make sure people who are trying and working hard have what they need to succeed (p. 75). Often, the perfect moment to give someone more responsibility is before they’re ready (p. 110). When that external affirmation comes, direct it to the party responsible (p. 151).

Just because a few regulars love an employee doesn’t mean they should be allowed to erode the foundation of everything you’re trying to build (p. 39). Don’t take credit for other people’s work (p. 150). Sarcasm is always the wrong medium for a serious communication (p. 140). If you’ve corrected a guest because you don’t want them to think you’ve made a mistake, you’ve made a much bigger mistake (p. 128).

Start with what you want to achieve, instead of limiting yourself to what’s realistic or sustainable (p. 238). Manage 95% of your business down to the penny; spend the last 5 percent “foolishly” (p. 46). The value of a gift isn’t about what went into giving it, but how the person receiving it feels (p. 213). You don’t want to have a hundred keys; you win when you end up with only one – the key to the front door (p. 117). Sometimes the best time to promote people is before they are ready (p. 233).

Nobody knows what they’re doing before they do it (p. 220). Don’t cannonball. Ease into the pool (p. 64). You’re going to mess up. When you do, apologize (p. 70). It isn’t the lavishness of the gift that counts, but its pricelessness (p. 209).

The first time someone comes to you with an idea, listen closely, because how you handle it will dictate how they choose to contribute to the future (p. 116). You’re not always going to agree with everything you hear, but you’ve got to start by listening (p. 64). But you cannot establish any standard of excellence without criticism, so a thoughtful approach to how you correct people must be a part of your culture, too (p. 137). Criticize the behavior, not the person. Praise in public; criticize in private. Praise with emotion, criticize without emotion (p. 68). Praise is affirmation, but criticism is investment (p. 140).

Summary

The final takeaway:

As you grow, you can’t lose the very thing
that gave you the opportunity to grow (p. 226).