One of my favorite things to do is to read about Hospitality; how they became well-known and what their secrets were.
The book I’m currently reading is called “Unreasonable Hospitality” from Will Guidara. I can’t tell you how amazing this book has been so far; inspiring, full of hope, and honest about the sacrifices needed for success.
What struck me the most was how much he talks about treating and managing staff in a way that leads to their satisfaction. What he did at Eleven Madison Park was exceptional! The way he made time for daily meetings, made each and every one of them feel heard and understood, and how much he cared.
This is a part of the book: “There was a lot to be done to make the restaurant better, but there would be no point in doing any of it if the people who worked there didn’t love coming to work. If I couldn’t succeed in getting hearts and minds on board for the bigger project, then a grand vision of a push toward excellence would be dead on arrival.”
This made me wonder, actually. How can you truly make people feel good about working for someone else? Isn’t it that we all try to work for ourselves and avoid 9-5 jobs?
Well, here’s what I think:
Gaining enough experience and being able to take the lead every once in a while, and make a decision that can affect an organization is what’s valuable and what’s essential in order to grow and be able to take a step further. That’s what we can give to an employee to keep them happy which leads to keeping guests happy which leads to keeping ourselves happy as managers.
What happens then? What if they get SO experienced and creative and decide to leave the organization?
Congratulations! You made new managers! Then it’s time for you to teach new people to do that. That’s what a manager does. A great manager grows the whole industry, not just their own team — by teaching, sharing, and inspiring the next generation of leaders.