I work with leaders who genuinely care about their teams. And I imagine that you probably do too. You say the right things. You run the engagement survey. You book the team building day at the winery. But if I were sit with one of your people and ask them for an example of the kinds of things you do that makes them feel seen, what is the likelihood that their answer would make you feel proud of yourself and happy for them?

"The question isn't whether you care, it's whether your team can tell."

In 2010, Will Guidara was running lunch service at 11 Madison Park when he overheard tourists saying they had eaten at every fine restaurant in New York but never had time for a proper hot dog.

He slipped outside, bought a two-dollar hot dog from a street cart, and had his chef plate it with Michelin-level care. The tourists did not remember the tasting menu. They remembered the hot dog.

Guidara later said: ‘No one had ever reacted to anything I served them better than they reacted to that hot dog. It wasn’t about the food. It was about listening.’

The Idea

Here is what I see when a leader closes that gap. They stop treating belonging as a programme and start treating it as a way of being with their team.

Guidara did not have a hot dog on the menu. He heard something, went and got one, and had his chef plate it like it mattered. That is the whole move.

Here is what this means for you. Belonging is not a quarterly initiative. It is a signal that fires in small moments: the meeting where you remembered what they said last time, the message that arrived the day they needed it, the question that showed you had thought about them before they walked in. Those are your hot dogs.

Guidara’s line afterwards is the part I want you to carry. The tourists’ reaction had nothing to do with the food. It was about listening. What your team picks up is not what you provide. It is that you noticed enough to prepare at all.

The one thing

The single thing to try this week

Here is what I would try this week. Pick one person on your team. Before your next meeting with them, take three minutes to think of something specific you have heard them say in the last month. Reference it in the meeting. Do not make it a big moment. Just show that you carried it with you. See what happens.

The smallest act of preparation tells people more about how you lead than any policy. The question I would leave you with is not whether you care. It is whether your team can tell.