9 Leadership Lessons from Food Network Chefs

If you watch enough Food Network shows like Iron Chef or Worst Cooks in America, a picture of what leadership is about begins to emerge.

What separates iconic chefs like Bobby Flay, Masimaru, and Cat Cora from millions of competitors around the world is their leadership ability. It’s evident their behavior, their character, everything they do. Never mind they they’re on TV. They may as well be cooking in one of their restaurants or mentoring an up-and-coming sous chef.

Restaurants deliver product and service like another business. But make no mistake. The cooking business is a fiercely competitive battleground that breeds great chefs who are also great leaders.

The 9 Leadership Lessons

1.  Compete to win but respect your competitors. Business is about creating raving fan customers. It’s about market share. But that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t respect your competitors.

2.  Success is about managing and mentoring people. The way chefs move up is by hiring talented cooks and training them to be sous chefs so they can someday run one of their many restaurants.

3.  Results matter. It’s what the customer thinks of the product or service that counts. That’s what creates repeat business and loyal customers. You may think you’ve come up with a brilliant dish, but if the folks don’t like it, you’ve failed.

4.  You’ve got to know the business. Steve Jobs isn’t just a brilliant marketer. Warren Buffet isn’t just a smart investor. Bill Gates isn’t just a great software coder. Just like these iconic leaders, every great chef has a head for the business.

5.  Experience is overrated. Even young chefs like Bobby Flay—when he was first starting out—exuded such instincts and passion for what they do that you know in a heartbeat they’re going to be successful. That’s why people follow them.

6.  Learn from failure and move on. Failure is how we learn and grow. Failure teaches us how to do things differently. How to do things better. Great chefs don’t dwell on their mistakes. They reach down deep and do better next time. After all, there’s always another meal.

7.  Focus on core strengths. Great chefs grow this business around their core. For Flay it’s southwestern. Paul Prudhomme is a cajun master. You can probably guess Mario Batali’s speciality. There are lots of ways to diversify without going to far afield.

8.  Innovation matters. Nobody has ever been successful in the restaurant or cooking business by just doing the same stuff as everyone else. Sure, execution is critical, but innovation and creativity are also requirements for success.

9.  Work hard, play hard. Even while competing at an extraordinarily high level, these chefs never lose their sense of humor and, when it’s over, they celebrate and congratulate each other on a job well done. That how it should be.

All the success!

Peter Mclees