Welcome back to another World Business Forum NYC 2023 Series episode from Stories from the River. Host Charlie Malouf leads the conversation with returning guests Heather Greenwood and Brian Deckelnick, Sr. Director of Supply Chain at Broad River Retail, as they unpack the insights from Will Guidara's presentation. Will was the former co-owner and GM of the #1 rated restaurant in the world, Eleven Madison Park in NYC, and he chronicled his restaurant's journey to becoming the best in the world in his book "Unreasonable Hospitality."
Will received a paperweight from his Dad (who was also a restaurateur) when he was a kid that said, "What would you attempt if you knew you couldn't fail?" Will still has that paperweight today and reflects on that question to pursue big goals in his life without the worry of potentially failing preventing him from pursuing them. Another statement from Will's presentation is that adversity is a terrible thing to waste and that adversity can drive our competitiveness and can be channeled for good.
Will stated that he doesn't have the superpower of being a professional athlete or a world-class chef, but that his superpower is hospitality. He said that he wanted to be unreasonable in his pursuit of people.
Will spent a lot of time talking about the pre-meal Daily Huddle and the power of the twice daily repetition from these meetings involving everyone in the restaurant.
In their pursuit of being the best restaurant in the world, Will described their approach to brainstorming with everybody empowered to share. That's how they came up with 120 customer touchpoints and opportunities to make the ordinary extraordinary. Will says that people today are collecting touchpoints like memories. He says that raindrops make oceans. Will says that generosity begets generosity, assymetrically, and that small gestures can yield significant results.
In overcoming obstacles when a customer experience turns negative, Will says that moments of tension are the moments to lean in. He says that bad experiences are the best ones if you can come back from it and that customers will be forgiving based on how you recover. These turnaround experiences can leave the lasting imprint for the customer.
Will says that you can put in systems to be prepared for both fall downs or memorable moments. They hired someone in the position of Dreamweaver to systematize and curate ideas to be able to bring them to life. They used pattern recognition and listening to customers in the restaurant to create one size fits one gestures, because every customer is one of one. This led to the creation of the Hospitality Toolkit, which helped them to be ready for these moments. In their attempt to systematize improv, so to speak, they wanted to make experiences worth collecting. Like Maya Angelou said, "People won't remember what you say, but they'll remember how you made them feel."
Not only did Will want to make his customers feel special, but he also explained how he wanted to inspire his people at Eleven Madison Park and make sure that each of them knew that they mattered and that their ideas had value. Will said that the secret to recruiting and retention was restoring purpose in the work with generosity, graciousness, and hospitality, and helping people understand the nobility in service. Will said that you need to help people understand how their work inspires others.
Will said that business needs more "Awesome" in it, and he's trying to bring back "Awesome." He's trying to create magical worlds in a world that needs more magic.
In the Q & A portion, here were the key takeaways.
On trusting people, Will said that the more responsibility you give someone, the more responsible they become.
On spreading positivity, Will said to have your positive energy impact others and not the other way around, through consistency and repetition.
On customer service, Will says, "No guest left behind."
On mistakes, Will said that with the Peak-end Rule, mistakes present the best opportunity to recover and gain a fan for life, because they will remember how you leave it.
On connecting with guests, Will says the informality must be earned. Earning informality comes from presence, humor, and vulnerability.
On decision making and execution to get things done, Will said that design by committee doesn't work. He said that you can brainstorm by committee, but someone has to be responsible for making the decision and executing.
On interviewing people, Will suggests less structure and more connection where he's trying to answer the question, 'Is this someone I'd want to spend time with?' and 'Is this someone my team would want to spend time with?'
References from this episode:
"Unreasonable Hospitality" by Will Guidara - https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com
Netflix documentary series "7 Days Out" episode featuring Eleven Madison Park restaurant - https://www.netflix.com/de-en/title/80207124
Eleven Madison Park - https://www.elevenmadisonpark.com/
"The Power of Moments" by Chip and Dan Heath - https://heathbrothers.com/the-power-of-moments/
"The Motive" by Pat Lencioni - https://www.amazon.com/Motive-Leaders-Abdicate-Important-Responsibilities/dp/1119600456
"The Invisible Leader" by Zach Mercurio - https://www.zachmercurio.com/books/
FX's original series "The Bear" - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14452776/
This episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mv_g0FImztc
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