Careers blog: How Your 'Unreasonable Hospitality' Can Be Your Greatest Career Asset

Alumni Careers Manager Konstantina Dee talks about bringing the human element back to professional life in an increasingly automated world:

When was the last time a random act of kindness brought you to tears?

Recently, while on holiday in Cambodia, I found myself enjoying a beach with the finest sand, the warmest sun, and the most crystal-clear sea. It was a perfect day until... My husband and I decided to walk to a nearby shop for cold drinks. I was loving the warmth of the sand on my feet, a welcome contrast to the cold, grey UK weather I’d left behind.

But as I stepped off the sand and onto the tarmac, the reality hit. The road surface was seriously hot, far beyond what my bare feet could endure.

Unwilling to go back to our umbrella for my flip-flops, I began a frantic, overly dramatic "shade-hop." My plan was to zigzag across the road, running from one patch of shadow to the next, making a bit of a scene about my burning soles. The first stop was the shade of a tiny roadside shop where a young girl was snuggled in a hammock.

She watched me, laughing at my "crazy" hopping. I laughed back, breathless.

I braced myself for the next 15-metre dash across the boiling tarmac. But as I recovered in the next patch of shade, I felt a presence behind me. It was that little girl. She had run after me, carrying two enormous foam slippers. Without a word of English, and without me ever asking for help, she placed them on the road in front of me and gestured for me to use them.

She didn’t want money. She didn’t expect a TripAdvisor review. She simply saw a human in a moment of distress and intuitively knew what I needed because she was paying attention in the moment.

This moment stayed with me as I finished Will Guidara’s brilliant book “Unreasonable Hospitality”. Guidara, the man behind the world-famous Eleven Madison Park, argues that in a world of "operational excellence" and "service design," we often forget the human element.

We are taught to be efficient. In 2026, we are surrounded by AI-driven "personalisation at scale" like Spotify playlists, Amazon suggestions, and automated LinkedIn "Congratulations!" messages. But these are algorithms. They are what Guidara calls "Service”, and it is black and white, however he is clear that “hospitality is colour”.

Whether you are in finance, consulting, or my world of coaching, our "product" is the service we deliver. Our real asset is how we make the recipient feel and how we demonstrate our hospitality. In a crowded, high-tech market, "Unreasonable Hospitality" is what makes you memorable. It is what gets you the second interview, the referral, or the lifelong client.

As we enter the new UK tax year and the fresh energy of Spring, I invite you to integrate three of Guidara’s pillars into your professional life:

1. The 95/5 Rule: Be 95% disciplined with your operations, your KPIs, and your overheads. But leave 5% for "reckless generosity." This is the budget for the gesture that makes no "business sense" but makes all the "human sense."
2. Listen for the Subtext: True hospitality isn’t giving people what they asked for; it’s giving them what they didn't know they needed because you pay attention. Like the girl with the slippers, are you watching for the "burning feet" your clients or colleagues aren't mentioning?
3. High-Touch over High-Tech: A handwritten note or a text saying, "Good luck with the new role tomorrow, I'm thinking of you," is worth more than 1,000 automated messages. True personalisation doesn't scale. It’s "one size fits one."

My challenge to you this month is to lead with “high-touch”.  Spend a little too much time on a gesture. Over-invest in a relationship. Be "unreasonable." Because at the end of the day, we aren't just in the business of transactions and outcomes, we are in the business of people.

Discover more about Alumni Careers Support.