We had our MarCom Society Book Club discussion last week on Will Guidara's "Unreasonable Hospitality," and honestly, I'm still thinking about it.

If you haven't read it yet, here's why you should pick it up:

Takeaway 1: There's a difference between having a process and being hospitable.

Kevin nailed this in our discussion. You can walk into a hotel where you're greeted by name at the front desk. Great. But you reserved under your name, so of course, they know who you are. That's just a system.

Then there's the hotel where the guy at the door has memorized the morning's check-in list and welcomes your family by name before they even reach the desk. That doesn't happen by accident. That happens because it's genuinely part of who he is.

We do a lot of "greeting by name" in schools. We have our processes. But are we actually hospitable? Or are we just following a script?

Takeaway 2: This isn't just another business book. It's showing up everywhere in education for a reason.

Rebecca mentioned that every time she asks someone in education, "What are you reading?" this book keeps coming up. There are groups of school heads running book clubs on it right now.

Why? Because we finally have language for something we've always known matters, but couldn't quite name. Hospitality isn't customer service. It's not being nice. It's the intentional work of making people feel seen, valued, and cared for in ways that are genuine and specific to them.

That's literally our job. We just forgot to call it that.

Read this book. Seriously. It'll change how you think about every interaction in your school.

Buy It Now

What's the last business book that actually changed how you work? Please reply and let me know.

Thanks,
Brendan

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