When was the last time you deeply listened to someone else? When was the last time you deeply listened to yourself?

Hilary Illick, senior faculty member at the Hoffman Institute, joins Dan Ryan to discuss open-hearted listening, #sustainability, creativity, and more on this new episode of Defining #Hospitality! Listen to this episode now!

Check out some takeaways from this episode below:

• The Hoffman Institute’s approach to hospitality is by meeting everyone with a deep unconditional welcome. Nonjudgemental listening gives people the opportunity to speak their truth. 
• Teaching a disruptive student requires patience and listening. While it’s not good for the group if one student requires the majority of a teacher’s attention, what a disruptive student wants most is to be understood and soothed. 
• Sustainability is something that’s being taken more into account in hospitality now, especially as investors begin to see the positive impacts both economic and environmental, and it’s important to consider as we continue to build into the future. 
• “I don't think we can underestimate the power of open-hearted listening. Actually. I think. I think we really needed as kids, we all needed to be heard and seen and understood. And as adults, if we can give that experience to each other of actually really listening to someone, how they're feeling, what they're up against. Very often people come to their own solutions. It's like the body, the body heals itself, the body's this miraculous healing organism. And so is the psyche. If given the proper care, I think we heal ourselves really well. And often when I'm deeply listening, people are making suggestions that they might not even hear themselves saying about their own solutions.”
• “I think the creative process is a process of deep listening. Actually, you're listening to spirit, you're listening to the creative muse. Michelangelo said, “David was in the stone.” He didn't think “Oh, I’m gonna make this man out of the stone.” He worked with the stone. He was actually listening to the contours of the rock to make this incredible statue.” - Hilary Illick
• You have to create for your audience. “Who’s your psychographic? Who's the ideal person or people that you want walking through and smiling and laughing and being their best selves in this place?” - Dan Ryan
• There’s so much neuroplasticity in the brain that it’s always possible to change and improve as a person. The brain is constantly rewiring itself and reforming, “You can absolutely regenerate right now” - Hilary Illick
• The inequities in our world need to be discussed with open hearts and active listening. 
• Writing can be a tremendous method of regenerating yourself, especially in conjunction with meditation and self-reflection. Like travel or new experiences, writing can be its own terrain of discovery.
• Hilary’s most craved food - fresh green vegetables - “They make me feel cared for”
• Hilary’s advice to her younger self: It’s trial and error. You’re not supposed to be someone, you already are who you are. You just need to listen to yourself to find out. 

Quote of the Show:

20:52 “I don't think we can underestimate the power of open-hearted listening. Actually, I think we as kids, we all needed to be heard and seen and understood. And as adults, if we can give that experience to each other of actually really listening to someone, how they're feeling, what they're up against. Very often people come to their own solutions. It's like the body. The body heals itself. The body's this miraculous healing organism. And so is the psyche. If given the proper care, I think we heal ourselves really well. And often when I'm deeply listening, people are making suggestions that they might not even hear themselves saying about their own solutions. “ - Hilary Illick

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-illick-263035158/
• Company website: https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/
• https://hilaryillick.com/about/

Shout Outs: 

17:10 - The Graduate in New Haven CT, Hotel One in Brooklyn NY

19:50 - Danny Meyer’s Hospitality Quotient

24:37 - Arthur, on PBS

40:17 - Warren Rustand’s 10-10-10 system

45:31 - Bob Hoffman: “I’m changing the world one person at a time.” 

Ways to Tune In: 

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2XOJvb6mGqEPYJ5bilPX
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/defining-hospitality-podcast/id1573596386
• Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGVmaW5pbmdob3NwaXRhbGl0eS5saXZlL2ZlZWQueG1s
• Podbean: https://www.defininghospitality.live/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrpt8C461L_9n_6vezzZtkQ