You might wonder what a book about restaurant hospitality has to do with a language school. As it turns out, we have a lot in common! I had an unforgetable dinner at 11 Madison several years ago (on someone else’s corporate account thank you very much!) and was blown away by the hospitality experience. It stuck with me and was the beginning of a years-long journey to bring the essence of that hospitality to my school. I was so excited when this book came out so I could get an inside view of the thinking and philosophy behind that memorable experience. And this year, our leadership inspiration book was Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. My colleagues at ABC Languages and I use these ideas daily not only to better serve our students, but also to better serve our teachers and each other. We regularly ask ourselves “Is this Unreasonable Hospitality? How can we get closer?” I recommend this book to everyone but particularly to my colleagues in education. Education needs more joy and a hospitality approach is one way to achieve that! Thank you Will Guidara for sharing the knowledge!

By Elizabeth Zackheim, co-founder of ABC Languages.