At the time, I had no idea the Four Seasons was the first truly American fine-dining restaurant. Or that the elegant, mid-century modern interior was so iconic, it would eventually be designated a landmark by the City of New York.

I read this out loud to a friend at the airport while we waited on our flight and some people nearby were listening and they all bust out laughing. One guy said “my parents ran restaurants. That was ridiculous what you just read.” Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world Guidara makes his nonfiction debut with an enthusiastic guide for leaders [and asserts] sage advice about leadership.”– Kirkus Review Fair enough, but Daniel and I weren't laughing. It was an honor to be recognized as one of the fifty best restaurants in the world; we knew that. Still-in that room, we had come in last place.Essential lessons in hospitality for every business, from the former co-owner of legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park. It was a huge honor to be invited. The 50 Best awards had begun in 2002, but they'd become immediately meaningful in the industry. First of all, they were decided by a jury of a thousand well-regarded experts from around the world. And nobody had ever considered before how the best restaurants on the planet ranked against one another. By doing so, the awards gave these restaurants a push to become even better when they might have been content to rest on their laurels. One of the five best management books I have ever read. Plus, it is the most engaging and entertaining – by a wide margin. This is, flat out, not a book to miss.”– Roger Martin, writer, strategy advisor and management thinker Will gives us the best reason to be unreasonable—the people we serve. His approach to hospitality is novel, noble, and not at all exclusive to the restaurant industry. If you want to revolutionize the way you do business, you need this book!”— DaveRamsey, bestselling author and radio host Imagine every famous chef and restaurateur you've ever heard of milling around, drinking champagne and catching up with friends-and not one of them was talking to us. I'd never felt so much like a freshman at a new high school trying to figure out where to sit in the cafeteria, not even when I was a freshman.

Unfortunately, these skills have never been less valued than they are in our current hyperrational, hyperefficient work culture. We are in the middle of a digital transformation. That transformation has enhanced many aspects of our lives, but too many companies have left the human behind. They've been so focused on products, they've forgotten about people. And while it may be impossible to quantify in financial terms the impact of making someone feel good, don't think for a second that it doesn't matter. In fact, it matters more. Most of the chefs on the 50 Best list had made their impact by focusing on innovation, on what needed to change. But as I thought about the impact I wanted to make, I focused on the one thing that wouldn't. Fads fade and cycle, but the human desire to be taken care of never goes away. In dining rooms, in conference rooms, and in all corners of hospitality, Will Guidara has made a career out of going above and beyond, giving people what they want, even when they don’t know they want it. This book puts his story, and more than a few of his trade secrets, in your hands.”— Questlove The techniques that Spanish chef Ferran Adriˆ pioneered at El Bulli introduced molecular gastronomy to the world. RenŽ Redzepi championed foraged and wild-caught foods from the land and water surrounding his Copenhagen restaurant Noma, and a local food movement was born. And if you've eaten out or walked down the aisles of your local grocery in the last ten years, you've felt the impact those innovations have had on my industry and beyond. I want to do some more reading or listening or learning about Guidara, but overall, I was impressed by the practices in this book. I am ecstatic to begin to look at moments through this lense. While I am not a Michelin rated restaurant, nor do I run one, I find myself with opportunity to create moments often. What might I do to elevate them?I had given away thousands of dishes, and many, many (many) thousands of dollars’ worth of food by that point in my career, and yet I can confidently say that nobody had ever responded the way that table responded to that hot dog. In fact, before they left, each person at the table told me it was the highlight not only of the meal, but of their trip to New York. They’d be telling the story for the rest of their lives.” In moments like this, in an effort to not look bad in front of their team, leaders tend to brush mistakes under the rug, foolishly hoping that everyone will forget they’ve happened. Instead, I once again stood up in pre-meal to take responsibility and apologize.”

Before we brought out their final savory course, I admitted to the guests that I’d been eavesdropping: “We’re thrilled you chose us for your last meal in New York, but we didn’t want you to go home with any culinary regrets,” I said, as the kitchen servers set the artistically plated hot dog sections down at each place. They freaked out. Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner and a group of “foodies” departing New York with a dirty water hotdog in their fine-dining restaurant At the reception afterward, we ran into Massimo Bottura, the Italian chef of Osteria Francescana, a Michelin three-star based in Modena-and number six on the list (not that we were counting). He saw us, started laughing, and couldn't stop: "You guys looked pretty happy up there!" I now believe the best interview technique is no technique at all: you simply have enough of a conversation that you can get to know the person a little bit. Do they seem curious and passionate about what we're trying to build? Do they have integrity; are they someone I can respect? Is this someone I can imagine myself-and my team-happily spending a lot of time with? My leadership in education is grounded in building a “culture of culture”, which is so resonant in this book, as Guardia so engagingly reflects on the impact of investing in peopleUnfortunately, what we couldn't have possibly known (because it was our first year at this event, and because we were the very first restaurant called) is that when they call your name, they're also projecting your image onto a gigantic screen at the front of the auditorium, so that everyone can see you celebrating your win. Let me start by saying that I'm not in the hospitality business, but have certainly worked in service and have a service-oriented career, so I'm kind of the audience, but not also really for the book. I was just... whelmed. Chefs gathered at different conferences around the world, but there wasn't a single one for the people who worked in the dining room. So we set out to create a space where like-minded, passionate people could form community, trade ideas, and inspire one another-and, in so doing, evolve our craft. There's a long-standing debate in my profession as to whether hospitality can be taught. Many leaders I respect believe it can't; I couldn't disagree more. In fact, in 2014, I founded a conference for dining room professionals with my friend Anthony Rudolf, who was at the time the general manager of Per Se, with the intention of doing just that. It felt like "The Art of Gathering" in its emphasis of elevating a moment. The cost of experience was well-defined. I learnt so much about the return on investment in people. Throughout this book, I felt supremely reminded of Gift Economy, as the author spoke on the Hospitality Economy - citing it often as the guideline. Guidara justified this extravagant generosity by using a 95/5 practice in his budgeting; he was stringent and disciplined in the 95%, leaving room for dreaming and creativity in the 5%. Not only did he create "legend" moments for the customers at EMP, but he asked his employees to join in as "dream leaders," actively taking stake in turning a moment into magic.

Guidara explores how innovation and investing in teams can have a profound affect on the experiences of those within an organisation and who are served On one level, it's absolutely ridiculous to call any restaurant "the best restaurant in the world." But the importance of the 50 Best list is that it names the places that are having the greatest impact on the world of food at a given moment in time. His hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more—not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner We spent the next couple of hours moving through the five stages of grief. We'd staggered out of the auditorium in denial-had that really happened? Then we got mad-who the hell did they think they were? We breezed through bargaining and spent the better part of the bottle on depression before settling into a state of acceptance. In this book, Will Guidara shows us how to lead and to serve at the next level by building a foundation of hospitality, and creating a people-first “working together” culture. It’s an inspiring book for businesses in every industry.”– Alan Mulally, former CEO of Boeing and Ford

We had a radical idea of what the guest experience could be, and our vision was unlike any other out there. "You're not being realistic," someone would invariably tell us, every time we contemplated one of our reinventions. "You're being unreasonable." But before I had the experience to let the conversation flow, one of my favorite questions to ask was, "What's the difference between service and hospitality?"