Most people running a hospitality business look fine from the outside. Keeping the shifts running, holding the team together, showing up every day. But underneath, a lot of them are exhausted, isolated, and wondering how much longer they can keep going.
Lead Well is for those people.
Hosted by Trevor Hill, founder of award winning restaurant Ojo Rojo, each episode goes into the inner world of hospitality leadership. The pressure, the burnout, the identity. Built from real experience by someone who has been through the worst of it.
Story Series Chapter 4 | The iPad, The Hostel, The Girl
This is chapter four of a series where Trevor reads through the book he's currently writing.
The book doesn't have a name yet. What it does have is a story. From the version of Trevor before any of this started, through Central America, through jungle roads and hostel bars and a chance meeting that changed the shape of his life, and into building a business he had no idea how to run.
Chapter four is what happened after the concept for Ojo Rojo was born in a hostel bunk bed. A ranch in the Belizean jungle. Twenty two dogs. A moment of stillness in a field with a horse. An island off the coast of Belize where Siobhan flew out for her birthday. A thought on a balcony. And a venue in Bournemouth that two people on two different continents sent him a link to within twenty four hours of each other.
The chapter is called The iPad, The Hostel, The Girl.
This series releases before the book is finished. Listener feedback shapes what makes the final version.
This episode was originally recorded for The Lead Well YouTube channel. If you'd like to watch as well as listen, search The Lead Well Channel on YouTube.
New chapter every fortnight. Regular episodes in between.
1 Oct 2026
Burnout Doesn't End When You Start Feeling Better
Two weeks ago I spent ten days in silence. On day six, eating lunch, I caught my mind composing the sentence I'd use to describe the lunch to someone later, and realised I'd been doing that with everything for the better part of a decade.
This episode is about where that pattern came from, which turns out to be the worst years of running my business, and what it says about how long burnout actually lasts. The rehearsed conversations with staff and suppliers and people I owed money to. The constant scanning forward for what was coming. A mind doing exactly what it was built to do, and then never being told the emergency had ended.
It's also about why finding something like this years into recovery isn't a step backwards. You only find the next layer because you cleared the one before it.
If you've ever rehearsed a conversation that hadn't happened yet, over and over, this one is for you.
Originally recorded for The Lead Well Channel on YouTube.
More at trevorhill.uk
24 Sept 2026
Story Series Chapter 3 | Wherever You Are, There You Shall Be
This is chapter three of a series where Trevor reads through the book he's currently writing.
The book doesn't have a name yet. What it does have is a story. From the version of Trevor before any of this started, through Central America, through jungle roads and hostel bars and a chance meeting that changed the shape of his life, and into building a business he had no idea how to run.
Chapter three is what happened when he actually got on the plane. A one way ticket to Cancun. Kept only a guitar and comic books. First night in Playa del Carmen. Learning to dive three times a day. Siobhan starting to reach out from Bournemouth. The loneliness. And a realisation on a beach that has stayed with him ever since.
Wherever you are, there you shall be.
By the end of the chapter, in a hostel bunk bed on the wrong side of a border crossing, the concept for the business he would build for the next decade was born.
This series releases before the book is finished. Listener feedback shapes what makes the final version.
This episode was originally recorded for The Lead Well YouTube channel. If you'd like to watch as well as listen, search The Lead Well Channel on YouTube.
New chapter every fortnight. Regular episodes in between.
Contact Lead Well
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Lead Well?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
