Narrator: Imagine being at the top of your game, celebrated in your industry, only to be publicly humiliated on a global stage. In 2010, restaurateur Will Guidara and his chef-partner Daniel Humm stood in a London auditorium as their restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, was named to the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. But as the names were called from fiftieth place upwards, they waited, and waited, until finally, their name was announced: number 50. Dead last. As their disappointed faces were broadcast on a giant screen, a rival chef mocked them. That moment of failure, however, became the catalyst for a radical transformation. It forced them to ask a new question: what if they stopped focusing only on the food and instead applied the same rigor and creativity to how they made people feel?

This journey from a well-regarded New York restaurant to being crowned the best in the world is the subject of Will Guidara’s book, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect. It reveals a powerful philosophy that extends far beyond the dining room, arguing that true success in any field comes from creating extraordinary moments of human connection.

Narrator: Guidara begins by drawing a critical distinction between service and hospitality. Service, he explains, is technical and procedural. It’s about getting things right—delivering the correct order, on time, to the right person. It’s competent, efficient, and, as one job candidate memorably told him, "black and white." Hospitality, on the other hand, is about emotion. It’s the "color" that fills in the picture. It’s the art of making people feel seen, welcomed, and cared for. While service is a monologue where the business dictates the experience, hospitality is a dialogue where the focus is on how the other person feels.

This philosophy was born from a desire to move beyond mere excellence. Guidara realized that while many restaurants could achieve technical perfection, few could create a genuine sense of belonging. He challenged the rigid, often impersonal rules of fine dining, such as the unspoken law against a manager leaning on a table to have a warm conversation with a guest. He argued that if a rule didn't enhance the guest's feeling of being cared for, it deserved to be broken. This shift from a task-oriented mindset to an emotion-oriented one became the foundation for every decision that followed.

Narrator: The humiliating experience at the World's 50 Best awards led Guidara and Humm back to their hotel room, where they scrawled a new, audacious goal on a cocktail napkin: "We will be Number One in the world." This wasn't just a dream; it became an intentional, guiding vision. Guidara argues that intentionality is the engine of transformation. It means every decision, from the grandest strategy to the most mundane detail, must be made with a clear purpose.

To articulate this purpose, they looked to an unlikely source: a restaurant review that said their establishment needed "a bit of Miles Davis." Intrigued, Guidara studied the jazz legend and identified eleven words that defined his ethos: cool, endless reinvention, forward-moving, fresh, collaborative, spontaneous, vibrant, adventurous, light, and innovative. These words were printed on a large sign and hung in the kitchen, becoming a constant reminder of the "how" behind their goal. This wasn't just a mission statement; it was a cultural touchstone that empowered the entire team, from dishwashers to managers, to contribute to the vision. By making the strategy accessible to everyone, they fostered a sense of collective ownership and purpose.

Narrator: Guidara understood that a leader’s vision is powerless without a team that embodies it. To build this team, he prioritized attitude over experience, famously stating a policy to "Hire the Person, Not the Résumé." He believed technical skills could be taught, but a genuine, caring nature could not. To ensure this, every new hire at Eleven Madison Park, regardless of their previous experience, started as a kitchen server. This entry-level position served as a cultural immersion, weeding out those who lacked the humility and team-first mentality required.

This foundation of trust was reinforced by giving employees ownership over their passions. When Guidara noticed a staff member named Kirk Kelewae was a beer aficionado, he put him in charge of the entire beer program. Kirk transformed it from an afterthought into one of the best in the country. The same was done for coffee, tea, and even the restaurant's china and glassware. This approach did more than just improve the restaurant's offerings; it made it "cool to care." It created a culture where passion was celebrated and employees were empowered to contribute their unique talents, fostering a powerful sense of collaboration and pride.

Narrator: The core of Guidara's philosophy is the concept of "Unreasonable Hospitality"—the remarkable power of giving people more than they expect. This isn't about grand, expensive gestures for VIPs; it's about creating legendary, personalized moments for everyone. The most famous example of this is the "hot dog legend." Guidara overheard a table of European tourists lamenting that they had visited New York’s finest restaurants but had never tried a classic street hot dog. On impulse, he ran out to a street vendor, bought a hot dog, and had the chef plate it beautifully. He presented it to the guests, saying, "We didn't want you to go home with any culinary regrets." The guests were floored.

This single, spontaneous act became a legend within the restaurant, inspiring the team to find their own opportunities for unreasonable hospitality. To make this scalable, Guidara created the "Dreamweaver" position—a staff member whose sole job was to listen for clues and orchestrate these magical moments. They developed a toolkit for recurring situations, like a partnership with Tiffany & Co. to provide crystal flutes for engagement toasts, which the couple could then take home. By systemizing generosity, they ensured that these seemingly improvisational acts could happen consistently, transforming the restaurant from a place of transactions into a stage for unforgettable human experiences.

Narrator: The relentless drive to be the best in the world created immense pressure. Guidara and his team pursued excellence with a "One-Inch Rule," a reminder to maintain focus until the very end of every task, because losing focus at the last inch could compromise all previous efforts. This perfectionism, however, had to be balanced with humanity. Guidara learned this lesson when a server corrected a guest who complained his steak was rare, insisting it was technically medium-rare. Guidara realized that in hospitality, "being right is irrelevant." The guest's perception is the reality that matters.

This human-centric approach also applied to the team. In a high-pressure environment, staff needed support. They developed a simple, non-verbal signal—touching one's lapel—to ask for help without feeling embarrassed. They also instituted the "Deep Breathing Club," a quick technique to manage stress in the moment. Guidara learned that a leader's ambition must be tempered by an awareness of the team's well-being. True, sustainable success required not just a commitment to excellence, but a deep and abiding commitment to the people who made it possible.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Unreasonable Hospitality is that the most valuable product any business can offer is not a thing, but a feeling. In a world increasingly focused on efficiency and transactions, the greatest differentiator is a genuine, human-first approach. Will Guidara’s journey proves that focusing on making people—both customers and employees—feel seen, valued, and part of something special is not a soft skill, but the ultimate business strategy.

The book challenges us to look beyond the conventional metrics of success and ask a more profound question. It’s not just about what you do, but how your work makes others feel. So, what would it look like if you chose to be unreasonable in your own life and work? What could you achieve if you committed to giving people just a little more than they expect?