Lesson 4: Study a Worthy Rival | Will Guidara

Leadership expert Simon Sinek once said, “Traditional competition forces us to take on an attitude of winning. A worthy rival inspires us to take an attitude of improvement. The former focuses our attention on the outcome, the latter focuses our attention on process.” It’s a sentiment restauranteur Will Guidara used to his advantage when co-managing his 2017 Best-in-World restaurant Eleven Madison Park. In this video, he shares that story and encourages you to identify and examine your professional adversaries to ignite innovation and inspiration in your team. Worthy Rival: A respected competitor Try your worthy rival’s product regularly. Journal about your experience: What did you enjoy? What didn’t you enjoy? Why? Use what you discover to examine your own product or service. Let your competitor inspire experimentation. © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Will Guidara: Will Guidara is the author of the National Bestseller Unreasonable Hospitality, which chronicles the lessons in service and leadership he has learned over the course of his career in restaurants. He is the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which under his leadership received four stars from the New York Times, three Michelin stars, and in 2017 was named #1 on the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. He is the host of the Welcome Conference, an annual hospitality symposium that brings together like minded people to share ideas, inspire one another, and connect to form community. A graduate of the hospitality school at Cornell University, he has coauthored four cookbooks, was named one of Crain's New York Business's 40 Under 40, and is the recipient of WSJ Magazine's Innovator Award.