Admired Leadership Field Notes

Share this post

All Leaders Are in the Hospitality Business

admiredleadership.substack.com

All Leaders Are in the Hospitality Business

Admired Leadership
Mar 9, 2022
19
9
Share this post

All Leaders Are in the Hospitality Business

admiredleadership.substack.com

Great leaders think more about hospitality than customer or client service. This distinction is critical. Customer service focuses on delivering an exceptional product or service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is the degree to which a customer or client believes you are an advocate for their experience. In other words, the customer comes to believe you are emotionally on their side. As restauranteur Danny Meyer likes to say, “Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you.” 

Leaders are in the hospitality business, whether they think they are or not. The best leaders always advocate for others in a consistent way: they promote actions and policies that make people feel special. When hospitality is a central value, customers and team members alike feel respected by the choices leaders make. 

Shifting from a service to a hospitality mindset requires leaders to understand what it means to feel welcomed. No one feels like a stranger or an outsider when hospitality reigns supreme. Inviting people into the conversation and including them in the experience is what hospitality is all about. When leaders act with hospitality, everyone around them feels important. Maybe that’s why they call it “customer delight.” When attempting to achieve “delight” in everyday experience, leaders champion hospitality. 

Are you delightful? 

9
Share this post

All Leaders Are in the Hospitality Business

admiredleadership.substack.com
Previous
Next
9 Comments
Susan Moran
Mar 9, 2022Liked by Admired Leadership

What a super variable to add to the list of great leadership indicators! It's a word that fits perfectly on the list and yet, as much a I enjoy it and know when it's missing in an experience, I never thought to add it into my thinking on leading. Thanks, AL!

Expand full comment
Reply
5 replies by Admired Leadership and others
Jeff Matlow
Writes By Title Only
Mar 10, 2022Liked by Admired Leadership

I LOVE this mindset. Hospitality is the new customer service.

Expand full comment
Reply
2 replies by Admired Leadership and others
7 more comments…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Admired Leadership
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing