San Diego, California Jun 21, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Hospitality loses people faster than almost any other industry. Burnout runs high, turnover hovers between 70 and 80 percent a year, and most organizations answer the same way every time: more training, tighter standards, and more pressure to perform. Much of this was building for years, and COVID brought it into full view. A new book from Randy Haveson and Kat Nisson makes a different case. Exceptional service does not start with better scripts or forced smiles. It starts with the internal experience of the people delivering it.
Published by Press 49, “Worth at Work: An Inside-Out Approach to Confident Teams and Exceptional Service” (June 30, 2026) examines why traditional training so often falls short on service and retention, and shows how confidence, connection, and team cohesion get built from the inside out.
"It's nearly midnight, and your best front desk agent is running on fumes," the book opens. "She's trained, she's talented, and she's one difficult guest interaction away from updating her résumé. She doesn't need another script. She needs to remember that she matters."
Haveson and Nisson argue the issue reaches well beyond hospitality. The book speaks to anyone in a high-demand, service-oriented role, including healthcare, transportation, retail, customer experience, and other public-facing work where emotional labor is hard to sustain.
"Organizations have spent years answering exhaustion and disengagement with more processes, more training, and more pressure," said co-author Randy Haveson. "But service excellence is human work at its core. People cannot keep pouring into others when they feel depleted themselves."
Drawing on decades of experience in hospitality, transformation, counseling, and leadership development, the authors offer a practical framework for building confidence, psychological safety, emotional resilience, and stronger team dynamics. The book hands readers a set of tools they can put to work right away: the "bully voice" and the "best friend voice" that shape how people talk to themselves, the difference between self-esteem and ego, the "energy ball" for tracking how personal energy is spent and restored, the four dimensions of self, and the "We Over Me" approach to collective confidence.
Taken together, these ideas reframe how organizations approach leadership, culture, and the everyday work of serving people.
"Today, service is no longer just about what you do," said co-author Kat Nisson. "It's about how you show up while doing it. The quality of someone's internal experience shapes every interaction they have with customers, guests, patients, passengers, coworkers, and teams."
“Worth at Work” is written for frontline professionals, leaders, managers, trainers, and organizations that want a more human and more sustainable path to service excellence. Volume pricing is available for corporations, associations, leadership teams, and bulk orders.
Praise for “Worth at Work”
"’Worth at Work’ challenges the industry to look deeper, making a compelling case that exceptional service does not come from forcing people to smile harder, but from creating environments where people feel valued, supported, and grounded from the inside out." Steve Carran, Co-Founder, Modern Hotelier Podcast & Media.
"Haveson and Nisson have identified and captured the essence of what is required to consistently deliver exceptional service. ‘Worth at Work’ is a must-read." Brenda Tscharner, People & Culture Hospitality Leadership Consultant.
Book Details
Title: “Worth at Work: An Inside-Out Approach to Confident Teams and Exceptional Service”
Authors: Randy Haveson, MA, and Kat Nisson, MLIS, CPCC
Publisher: Press 49 Publication date: June 30, 2026
Format: Paperback, 292 pages
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-953315-69-4
eBook ISBN: 978-1-953315-70-0
Price: $19.99 paperback, $9.99 eBook
Available: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart.com, and wherever books are sold
About the Authors
Randy Haveson, MA, has spent his career building toward one idea: people are at their best, at work and in their relationships, when they know they matter. It is the foundation of WORTH@WORK, where he helps service organizations, from hospitality to customer service, move past burnout and turnover to a place of value and internal worth. His own path gave him a rare understanding of what service work asks of people. He trained as a counselor, earned more than 500 guest compliments as a greeter at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort, and was recognized for building one of the most effective university health education programs in the country.
He is a TEDx speaker and the author of “Party with a Plan” and “Becoming Your Own BFF,” and his work has reached audiences on CNN, Fox News, and campuses including Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, and Brown. For Randy, this is personal. He has been in recovery for more than 40 years, and discovering his own worth is where the work began.
Kat Nisson, MLIS, CPCC, spent more than two decades in public service, leading teams and serving communities through libraries and nonprofits. She knows what frontline work asks of people, and what it quietly costs them, and that experience sits underneath everything in “Worth at Work.” She has spent years as a ghostwriter, helping other authors shape nonfiction books on subjects from narrative cookbooks to mental health and autism resources.
As the VP of Everything at WORTH@WORK, she works alongside Randy Haveson to bring his self-worth philosophy into real workplaces, building the systems, scripts, and frameworks that bring exceptional service and humanity together. She holds a Master's in Library and Information Science and is a Certified Professional Career Coach credentialed through PARWCC. “Worth at Work” is the first book to carry her own name, and she is glad it is this one.
For media inquiries, review copies, or to schedule interviews with the authors, please contact:
Press 49
Attn: Media Relations
4980 S. Alma School Rd., #2-493
Chandler, AZ 85248
833-PRESS49 (833-773-7749)
info@press49.com
About Press 49
Press 49 is an award-winning hybrid publishing company founded in 2019 that provides a full suite of publishing services to new non-fiction authors. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Press 49 designs, creates, and enables the distribution of high-quality trade books and eBooks to expand brands and solidify professional speakers, business coaches, real estate experts, consultants, and business owners as contenders in their industries.
Press 49 always looks for exciting new books and go-getters to join the company’s family of authors.
For more information, please visit: www.press49.com
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