Unreasonable hospitality, excellent advice for the living, subjective age + let your body talk
May 19th 2023
I just returned from a quick nip down to Barcelona, Spain - or rather, as the locals would want you to remember, Catalonia.
It’s been a couple of decades since my last visit, and despite the apparition of the giant futuristic sail that is the W Hotel, Barcelona remains to my untrained eyes, relatively unchanged.
What did surprise me, though, in the narrow winding streets of Barri Gòtic (the gothic quarter) and El Raval, down to Barceloneta, is how the city has a beat. Almost like multiple soundtracks, every square has its own busker; every store or restaurant delivers its musical selections in a surprisingly touching cacophony. It should have annoyed me, but it didn’t. Dare I say that the Spanish have good taste, albeit eclectic, in their soundtracks? In any case, it’s been a moment since I’ve left a city with my hearing positively tickled. Cheers to multi sensorial experiences.
This trip to Barcelona came right on the heels of a leisurely visit to Milan for a conference that had me relatively bored, despite being IRL. Luckily for me during the slow journey by train between Geneva and the Lombard capital, I devoured a new book, one which I’m likely to talk about again and again. More on that below. As such, today’s digest comes in a slightly different form. I hope you enjoy!
As always, thank you so much for reading me, I really appreciate it. Have a good one.
Until next week,
Much love,
LOOKING OUT
Quote: (pick your favourite)
‘Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters. To do something with intentionality means to do it thoughtfully, with clear purpose and an eye on the desired result.’
or
‘If you explain the why along with the what, you’ll be surprised how many of these impossible ideas your team can bring to life.’
― Will Guidara
UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY HAD ME HOOKED
Have you ever heard of a dream weaver? Not a dream catcher, no, I’m not talking home trinkets, I am referring to a unique position, one created by the team of uber-famous New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park (also known as EMP for short) as part of their unreasonable (and exceptional) approach to hospitality.
I came upon the book title (kind of a catchy one too) in the 400-strong WhatsApp thread of women who, like me, attended TED earlier this Spring. As I’ve shared here before, the check-in itself for the conference felt like a reveal: so personal, smooth and delightful. Someone chirped: “I bet they (TED) read Unreasonable Hospitality.” That comment didn’t fall on deaf ears. I promptly bought the book, so impressed I was with my experience.
I know a thing or two about how to put together an event. You may not remember this about me, but there was a time when I was a global head of communications at Christian Louboutin and at that point in my career, I caught up with the rest of the fashion industry and organised several press trips. The goal was all about experience, storytelling, and creating something exceptional, around… a factory visit. Don’t laugh, I do find factories, shoe factories in Italy in particular, quite mesmerising. Let’s just say though that the press, as a group, and the Brits and the Americans in particular, were a tough bunch to look after. Some would say for good reason, they were (some still are) sent off right, left and centre by their editors, raking in the miles and wasting sleep, more than occasionally writing about what I can only assume were uninspiring collections and products. I get it. There are worst jobs however.
My team and I had a quest, or a mission, to create surprise and delight for them. On more than one occasion we succeeded, generally because we leaned into empathy heavily. You see we really tried to put ourselves in the shoes of our guests, not so much to anticipate their needs (though yes, that’s important too) but rather to create this ineffable feeling, the one that comes with thoughtfulness, and not because we wanted to get something out of them (namely an article) but because, at the risk of repeating myself, we were being thoughtful. We were trying to shine a light on the artisans, the skills, the product but also the local food, culture, and its people. Sigh. It was some of the most complicated yet exciting things I’ve had the pleasure to work on. It’s not often that as a business person, a head of comms, that you get to create this kind of immersive and memorable experience.
Now I gather that they (TED) have indeed read the book and were like me immensely inspired by Unreasonable Hospitality. The story is beautifully told by author and entrepreneur Will Guidara, who recounts his experience in hospitality and restaurant management, since his teenage years. A crescendo is felt throughout, which culminates when Will shares the process that took Eleven Madison Park, first a decent high-end brasserie, to the coveted spot that is the number one restaurant in the world.
The clincher, in case you wonder, isn’t just the exceptional quality of the food, but how Will, and his partner, chef Daniel Humm, unleashed creativity beyond the kitchen and into the rest of the restaurant, empathetic and tuned into both staff and clientele. Their success became a paradigm-changing dining experience that transformed the industry as a whole.
The main protagonists, Will and Daniel, as related by the former, come across as personable, talented, perfection-obsessed humans who make lots of mistakes on their way to the top. Yes, that makes them very relatable. I simply couldn’t put the book down1 for the almost four hours of my journey home on that Sunday. The author, who is no longer involved with EMP, was signed to Simon Sinek’s Optimism Press, and the famous speaker has this to say about Will:
“Most people think of hospitality as something they do. Will thinks about service as an act of service—about how his actions make people feel. And he recognized that if he wanted his frontline teams to obsess about how they made their customers feel, he had to obsess about how he made his employees feel. The two cannot be separated: great service cannot exist without great leadership.”
It’s not just a feel-good story, spoiler alert, this ends in a hospitality divorce (see, it would really make a great TV show), and yet it’s inspiring, in a ‘I want to take action now I’ve read this’ kind of way. Of course, I had took a detour while reading to check out Eleven Madison Park’s IG, which looks wonderful, as I hoped it would. Though it’s been knocked off the 50 Best list, I’d quite like to visit one of these days.
Until I take that trip to NYC, I can’t wait to sit down at my desk on Monday, and start to ponder how I can bring some Unreasonable Hospitality into my life and work. Watch this space.
Discover the book here.
Will gave a TEDx talk about the secret ingredients to great hospitality, which you can watch here.
Simon Sinek interviewed him on his podcast too. Listen here.
LOOKING AROUND (new)
I absolutely adored this interview of Wired co-founder and most fascinating human Kevin Kelly, by his fan, Tim Ferriss. I’m keen to check out his latest book too, called Excellent Advice for Living. Kelly offers a handful of examples over the course of the interview, and I may have to listen to it again, to let it permeate. I’m a fan too I guess.
In other news, I love fonts. If you don’t love them, you will read this with a smirk, thinking I’ve gone crazy. But if you are font-obsessed too, you will thank me after you discover the quest undertaken by former Apple designer Jony Ives to perfect his new company typeface. Read about it here.
Completely unrelated and perhaps not at all useful, but full of magic, discover a short list of the fifty most beautiful small towns in the world, according to Condé Nast Traveller. Good for the soul, if your soul aspires for slow living and/or for a holiday. Discover here.
My father’s first wife, Rebecca, told me once, with a twinkle in her eye, that despite being near eighty years old, she felt like a teenager inside. She was quite an exceptional woman, who had enlisted herself to support a women’s NGO at 75. I reflected the other day that I feel (and likely behave like someone) at least ten years younger than the age showing on my passport. So this article about subjective age and how we feel younger as we get older is on my reading list for the weekend. Apparently, that’s actually a good thing for our health. Read here.
In my first ever coaching training, I came to have a conversation with my shoulders. I wasn’t high and yes, it was during the pandemic, but it was a shockingly direct and perhaps life-changing exchange.
Later I heard about other techniques that delve further into the body, and I’ve been meaning to try SE, short for Somatic Experiencing, for a while now., even contemplating traveling to Zürich to train with the founder of this body-first therapy, Dr Levine. So this other piece is on my list as well: ‘Want to Fix Your Mind? Let Your Body Talk.’
Will recorded the audio version himself and he has a very warm speaking voice. I rarely recommend audio over book, but treat yourself to this experience.