Uncensored CMO: The Guide to Unreasonable Marketing from the Creator of the World’s #1 Restaurant – Will Guidara

Host: Jon Evans
Guest: Will Guidara
Date: November 5, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Uncensored CMO dives deep into the concept of “Unreasonable Hospitality” with Will Guidara, the restaurateur who famously led New York’s Eleven Madison Park from #50 to #1 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Drawing from his bestselling book, Will shares lessons that transcend hospitality and illuminate how any business—especially marketers—can find a competitive edge by designing transformative customer experiences and fostering memorable connections. The conversation ranges from practical examples in service innovation to philosophical musings on leadership, culture, and the power of persistence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Hospitality in Business

• Hospitality as Competitive Advantage:
  • Service vs. Product: Will stresses that over-focusing on product features can lead marketers astray; the real differentiator is how you make people feel.

    "Every single brand on the planet... can benefit from thinking as much about their service and their customer experience as they do about the product itself." (A, 00:12)

  • "Marketers are in the hospitality industry, simply by looking at what they do through a slightly different lens... Those who do have the greatest competitive advantage." (B, 04:42)

Emotional Resonance and Storytelling

• Driving Emotion Over Information:
  • Will and Jon discuss the unforgettable impact of advertising that goes beyond information—using the example of a Microsoft Super Bowl ad about accessibility.

    "You don't remember whatever the processing speed was... But I knew it was Microsoft and I knew they made me feel something deep in that moment." (A, 07:58)

• Story as Word of Mouth:
  • Small, thoughtful gestures become stories customers repeat, building brands through organic advocacy rather than traditional marketing spend.

    "Every dollar I ever spent on unreasonable hospitality was far more impactful than any dollar I ever spent on traditional marketing." (B, 25:34)

The Genesis and Ethos of Unreasonable Hospitality

• Why “Unreasonable”?
  • Will explains his pushback against the publisher’s concerns over the book’s title, arguing for the value of being “unreasonable” in pursuit of awe and connection.

    "No one who has been remarkably successful at anything was not unreasonable... You need to be unreasonable to see a world that does not yet exist." (B, 08:35)

• From #50 to #1: Climbing with a People-First Focus
  • Learning from chef-led restaurants, Will and his team decided to become "unreasonable in pursuit of people"—relentlessly focused on the emotional needs of guests.

    "We were going to be unreasonable in pursuit of people and relentless in pursuit of the one thing that will never change: our human desire to feel." (B, 13:14)

Transformational Principles & Practical Innovations

• Reverse Benchmarking (“Reverse Benchmarking,” 17:33)

  • Instead of copying competitors’ strengths, seek opportunity in their weaknesses; for example, rather than matching Per Se’s wine list, match their weak spots like coffee and beer, turning them into differentiators.

• The 95/5 Rule

  • Ruthless expense management (95%) makes room for “over-the-top” gestures (5%) that create disproportionate impact—e.g., an extravagant gelato spoon or a memorable gift.

    "We managed our money like maniacs, 95% of the time... so that we could earn the right to spend it foolishly 5% of the time." (B, 27:55)

• Power of Small Gestures

  • Stories like saving a guest’s forgotten champagne at home and leaving them a welcoming gift demonstrate the scalable value of thoughtfulness. (B, 24:07)

• Pain Point Purge & Service Innovation

  • Systematically identify customer pain points and creatively transform them into moments of delight (e.g., sign language for water orders to speed up service).
  • Innovating the check presentation: pairing the bill with an open bottle of cognac creates surprise and generosity, reframing an otherwise transactional moment.

    "If you want to create a culture of hospitality, try to make sure that the experience feels, even in the slightest bit, like you've just invited someone to your house for dinner." (B, 48:31)

Tension as Creative Fuel

• Leveraging Contradiction for Innovation
  • Will embraces tension—between classic/modern, product/experience, control/surprise—as a crucible for new solutions (e.g., a menu offering only main ingredients, requiring dialogue).

    "If you can sit in that tension, success comes because of it, not in spite." (B, 38:26)

The Human Element: Hiring & Culture

• Hiring for Chemistry
  • Will's “first date” philosophy: forget the resume, focus on connection, trust, and cultural fit with the broader team.

    "If you prioritize capacity over chemistry, I believe you're making a big mistake." (B, 65:04)

• Fostering Collaboration & Empathy
  • Break down silos through intentional cross-training and regular meetings focused on “how and why” rather than just “what”.

Persistence and Growth through Adversity

• The Value of Persistence
  • Citing Calvin Coolidge and personal experience, Will attributes much of his and the restaurant’s success to unwavering persistence—continuing to show up and learn from failure.

    "Persistence is an under celebrated trait, and I think we need to seek it out in the people we surround ourselves with and focus on embodying it more ourselves." (B, 53:09)

• Never Waste a Good Crisis
  • Limitation (like the 2008 recession) can breed innovation and creativity. Cost savings adopted for survival can lead to profitability; adversity, when not wasted, becomes transformational. (B, 54:09)

Authority, Delegation, and Frontline Empowerment

• Bridging Authority and Information
  • Drawing from Japanese culture and leadership texts, Will and Jon explore the need to empower those at the “Gemba” (where the work happens).

    "To do anything of true greatness, especially within the world of hospitality, you need to bridge the gap between authority and information." (B, 35:46)

The Role of Fear and Audacity in Ambition

• Dream Audaciously
  • Inspired by his father’s gift (“What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”) and Jay Z’s maxim (“You can talk things into existence”), Will advocates for setting aspirational goals out loud, despite fear of failure.

    "If you don't say your biggest goals out loud for fear that you'll let people down if you miss them, you're unlikely to ever bring them to life." (B, 69:42)

Notable Quotes & Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 04:42 | Will Guidara | “Marketers are in the hospitality industry simply by looking at what they do through a slightly different lens… those who do look at it through those lens have the greatest competitive advantage.” | | 13:14 | Will Guidara | "We were going to be unreasonable in pursuit of people and relentless in pursuit of the one thing that will never change, which is just as we've been talking about our human desire to feel." | | 24:07 | Will Guidara | "If we are present enough to listen to what people are saying, if we care enough then to do something with what we've heard... you can do remarkable things." | | 25:34 | Will Guidara | "Every dollar I ever spent on unreasonable hospitality was far more impactful than any dollar I ever spent on traditional marketing." | | 27:55 | Will Guidara | "We managed our money like maniacs, 95% of the time... so that we could earn the right to spend it foolishly 5% of the time." | | 35:46 | Will Guidara | "To do anything of true greatness, especially within the world of hospitality, you need to bridge the gap between authority and information." | | 38:26 | Will Guidara | "If you can sit in that tension, success comes because of it, not in spite." | | 53:09 | Will Guidara | "Persistence is an under celebrated trait, and I think we need to seek it out on the people we surround ourselves with and focus on embodying it more ourselves." | | 69:42 | Will Guidara | "If you don't have that confidence, that conviction required to dream your biggest dreams out loud, it is very unlikely that you'll ever bring them to life." |

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Unreasonable Hospitality Defined / Origin Story: 08:26–14:12
• Reverse Benchmarking Concept: 17:33–20:31
• Champagne in the Freezer Story (Thoughtful Gestures): 23:36–24:07
• Pain Point Purge/Service Innovation (Sign Language, Cognac at Check): 46:28–51:05
• Rule of 95/5: 27:33–29:53
• Restaurant Smart vs. Corporate Smart / Delegation and Gemba: 32:20–35:46
• Hiring for Chemistry: 64:06–66:18
• Persistence, Learning from Crisis & Failure: 52:04–54:09
• Fear, Audacity and Goal-Setting: 69:18–71:00

Tone & Language

True to the “Uncensored CMO” ethos, the dialogue is candid and insightful, blending practical marketing wisdom with memorable, often humorous stories from the restaurant world. Guidara’s language is heartfelt, optimistic, occasionally irreverent, and always focused on human connection and real impact over industry jargon.

Memorable Moments

• “Caviar & Champagne Rescue”: Turning a minor customer mishap into a lifelong story. (24:07)
• The Cognac Check: A smoother experience closes the meal with joy, not just a transaction. (48:31)
• The 95/5 Rule: Frugality enables generosity—permission to "spend foolishly" on what moves people. (27:55)
• Unreasonable Acts as Marketing: Word-of-mouth beats paid ads, every time. (25:34)
• The Death Row Meal: Will picks In-N-Out burger—with wine—as his final dish, showing hospitality’s reach beyond fine dining. (61:00)
• Cult vs. Culture: Secret menus (Animal Style, Flying Dutchman) create belonging and in-group pride. (63:00)

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

• Expect an abundance of actionable insights on emotional branding, service design, and leadership.
• The episode is rich in stories, from high-stakes restaurants to fast food chains, all illustrating how hospitality and humanity can disrupt and elevate any business.
• Will Guidara’s frameworks—Reverse Benchmarking, the Rule of 95/5, Creative Tension—are explained through riveting real-life examples.
• There’s practical advice on hiring, culture-building, bouncing back from adversity, and reimagining customer experience for competitive advantage.

In Short:
The path to world-class marketing is paved not just with clever campaigns and product innovation, but with audacious acts of hospitality, relentless focus on customer feeling, and a culture that empowers and inspires at every level.

For more, see Will Guidara’s book “Unreasonable Hospitality” and find Jon Evans at Uncensored CMO on LinkedIn or X.