# #255 - Hospitality Meets Gareth Rees - Mindset, Misfit & Misunderstood

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320/255-hospitality-meets-gareth-rees-mindset-misfit-misunderstood
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320/255-hospitality-meets-gareth-rees-mindset-misfit-misunderstood.md
Podcast: [Hospitality Meets... with Phil Street](https://stenobird.com/podcast/hospitality-meets-with-phil-street-122320)
Published: 2026-05-13T19:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.hospitalitymeets.co.uk/
Audio file: https://pdcn.co/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/d410a197-cdf2-427d-b163-f63067211cc3.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3765

## Resource

This week, I sat down with Gareth Rees, and this is one of those conversations that feels properly important. Not just for hospitality… but for how we think about people, performance, and what “doing a good job” actually means Gareth now runs ADHospitalityD, with a mission to educate the industry on neurodiversity, breaking down misconceptions, supporting individuals, and helping businesses create environments where people can genuinely thrive. But his story starts where many of ours do… On the floor In this episode, Gareth and I get into… Growing up in hospitality with both parents in the industry Falling in love with the buzz (and chaos) of a busy service at a young age Originally planning a career in sports… before hospitality pulled him back in Working his way through the industry via the Exclusive Collection grad scheme Why understanding the full guest journey matters in leadership Stepping into a Head of Department role, and suddenly hitting a wall The shift from doing the job to enabling others to do it Struggling with admin, pressure, and expectations, despite loving the industry Discovering ADHD later in life and what that explained The concept of interest-based vs importance-based nervous systems (game-changer 👀) Why traditional productivity advice doesn’t work for everyone Adjusting ways of working to suit how your brain actually functions And ultimately… turning that experience into a mission to support others Some cracking quote-ables from Gareth “We need to value the strengths, but appreciate the struggles” “I wasn’t failing… I just hadn’t been set up in a way that worked for me” “At Head of Department level, your output changes, and that’s where it hit me” “I could do the job… but I couldn’t do it the way everyone else expected” “You don’t ‘fix’ this, yo…

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## Transcript

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