We can learn many things about leadership from the commercial kitchen.
In his new "Stir the Pot" podcast, Chef Hugh Acheson (Atlanta's Empire State South) interviews Chef Tom Colicchio (New York's Gramercy Tavern) and, together, they marvel at how effective Chef Jose Andres is at leading massive disaster-relief efforts.
Acheson said Andres' success as a leader is that “he’s thinking like a chef when he goes into a (disaster) situation,” since great chefs know how to adapt to radically shifting conditions and make decisions in the throes of crisis. They do so every shift. Acheson added that good chefs "excel at triage." They know how to be present and work in the moment to moment, sometimes averting crises and otherwise responding to them well.
Colicchio said that great chef's are true problem solvers, of necessity. "You're catering some big event and you're stuck in a hallway somewhere with a Bunsen burner and you just have to figure things out," he said. Isn't so much of effective leadership collaborating with your team in the moment to figure things out?
In his new "Stir the Pot" podcast, Chef Hugh Acheson (Atlanta's Empire State South) interviews Chef Tom Colicchio (New York's Gramercy Tavern) and, together, they marvel at how effective Chef Jose Andres is at leading massive disaster-relief efforts.
Acheson said Andres' success as a leader is that “he’s thinking like a chef when he goes into a (disaster) situation,” since great chefs know how to adapt to radically shifting conditions and make decisions in the throes of crisis. They do so every shift. Acheson added that good chefs "excel at triage." They know how to be present and work in the moment to moment, sometimes averting crises and otherwise responding to them well.
Colicchio said that great chef's are true problem solvers, of necessity. "You're catering some big event and you're stuck in a hallway somewhere with a Bunsen burner and you just have to figure things out," he said. Isn't so much of effective leadership collaborating with your team in the moment to figure things out?
Image courtesy of Royce Carlton.