Have Conflicting Goals?-Applying Unreasonable Hospitality & Excellence to Your Business 

Unreasonable hospitality and providing excellent products can be great conflicting goals to have.

Why Have Conflicting Goals?

Let’s be real: every entrepreneur loves a good, straightforward plan that’s easy to follow. But what about when your goals are contradictory, almost pulling you in two different directions? It sounds like a nightmare, right? Most of the time it is. But, guess what? That chaos might just be the catalyst for the most innovative, industry-changing ideas you’ve ever had. Conflicting goals breed creativity, when you pick them right and execute them well. They force you to look at your business from different angles and challenge the status quo. So, if your radical goals aren’t just a tiny bit conflicting, maybe it’s time to rethink your approach.

Where Does Unreasonable Hospitality Come From?

If you’ve ever heard of Unreasonable Hospitality, the concept originates from a book by Will Guidara. In it, he argues that hospitality is more than just a nice gesture—it’s a strategy that can elevate your business to heights you never thought possible. It’s the idea that going above and beyond for your customers isn’t just a one-time thing; it’s a relentless commitment to creating an experience that’s so good, your customers can’t help but share it. The kind of service that feels personal—like the server who remembers your name, anticipates your needs before you speak, and makes you feel like you’re the most important person in the room.

You might think it’s just for restaurants or hotels, but no—unreasonable hospitality applies to everything. It’s not about perfection, it’s about heart. The best businesses are the ones that treat every customer interaction as an opportunity to make them feel extraordinary. And in today’s competitive market, it’s the companies that embrace this level of hospitality that will pull ahead of the pack.

Why Does It Matter Here?

Unreasonable hospitality isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s an imperative. Why? Because people remember how they were treated. And in an era where customer loyalty is hard to come by, going the extra mile can mean the difference between a one-time sale and a lifelong fan. But it’s not just about hospitality—it’s about excellence in everything you do. The two go hand in hand. Your customers are looking for both: great service and a high-quality product or experience.

Why Be Unreasonably Hospitable and Excellent in Your Work?

So here’s where things get interesting: when you mix unreasonable hospitality with excellence, you’re setting yourself up for a killer combination. But here’s the thing—these are conflicting goals. Unreasonable hospitality demands that you pour your heart into every customer interaction, making every moment count. Excellence, on the other hand, requires consistency, precision, and perfect execution. You can’t always be everywhere at once, and you certainly can’t give everyone 100% of your energy at the same time.

But that’s the beauty of conflicting goals. When you juggle these two forces, you’re forced to think outside the box. You can’t just half-ass it in either department. You need to go all-in on both and figure out how to make them work together. And that’s where the magic happens. The balance between hospitality and excellence becomes the foundation of an innovative, disruptive business that stands out.

Conflicting Goals That Breed Innovation

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Well, conflicting goals create the same kind of necessity. Here are a few examples of how conflicting goals can breed innovation:

• Amazon: The company wanted to provide insane customer service while being an efficient machine. That’s a conflicting goal. So, what did they do? They innovated by creating systems (like Prime) that drastically improved both speed and customer experience.
  
• Apple: They have a goal to make their products perfect while keeping them user-friendly. That’s tough. But, by embracing the tension, Apple continues to innovate with products that are both beautifully designed and intuitively functional, elevating their brand to new heights.
  
• Zappos: They made it their mission to provide exceptional customer service while operating an online-only business model. That’s not an easy task, but by blending hospitality with logistics, they became known for one of the best customer service experiences out there.
  

These are the types of companies that thrive by blending seemingly contradictory goals and making them work in harmony.

Set Big Goals and Champion Them

Here’s the bottom line: don’t shy away from conflicting goals. Embrace them. Set ambitious, even contradictory goals, and then commit to them. It will force you to innovate and problem-solve in ways that you’d never expect. It might get uncomfortable, but that’s where the growth happens.

Unreasonable hospitality and excellence aren’t mutually exclusive. They can (and should) go hand-in-hand. So, go ahead, set your big, bold, conflicting goals. Then, attack them with everything you’ve got. When you do, you’ll find that your business doesn’t just thrive—it transforms. And that’s the kind of innovation that can change your industry.

Go set some big goals, champion them, and watch the magic happen. You’re about to create something truly special.