Oct

29

Context Book: Setting the Table

October 29, 2009 |  Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Setting the Table Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business

Danny Meyer opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985. He now runs the Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) which includes several award winning restaurants in New York City.

Throughout his career Meyers has wondered “Who ever wrote the rule that … ” and then he challenges some long held restaurant tradition. Librarians constantly need to adapt to the changing world of information to stay relevant and to provide great service. Creativity, flexibility, and adaptability are the new Library buzzwords.

There are several lessons that Librarians can learn from Meyers. The first is that Librarians and Libraries can learn a lot from their community (patrons and non-patrons alike). If the Library gives people a chance to make suggestions, offer complaints, and communicate – they will. Any information that comes in will make the Library a better place.

Meyer writes, “in the end, what’s most meaningful is creating positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”

The book is a must-read for anyone in a leadership/management position. It is readable and provides tangible, down-to-earth advice for anyone working with or serving other people.

Here are some words of wisdom from the book:
1. Hospitality is a team sport. (p.16)
2. … willingness to overcome difficult circumstances is a crucial character trait in my employees, partners, and restaurants. (p.49)
3. Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel. Service is a monologue–we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top. (p.65)
4. Three hallmarks of effective leadership are to provide a clear vision for your business so that your employees know where you’re taking them; to hold people accountable for consistent standards of excellence; and to communicate a well-defined set of cultural priorities and non-negotiable values. (p.187)
5. I’m a bottom-up manager who subscribes to the concept of “servant leadership,” as articulated by the late Robert Greenleaf. (p.196)
6. … am I being perceived by this caller as an agent or a gatekeeper? An agent makes things happen for others. A gatekeeper sets up barriers to keep people out. (p.245)
7. I have always believed that networking builds stronger relationships that can lead to good luck for a corporation. (p.255)

Inspired by Dan Mauller’s animoto video, I decided to try and make my own.


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