A Big MAC (donald’s) Life Lesson from Founder Ray Croc

A Big MAC (donald’s) Life Lesson from Founder Ray Croc

Thousands cover the landscape from New York to California, from Londonto Tokyo. It doesn't matter how young or old you are, chances are good that you've walked into one, most likely more than once. And regardless of what you think about its image and impact, no one can argue that McDonalds isn't a mega success in the world of business.

The point of this McDonalds's story isn't about what they serve over the counter each day, nor does it have anything to do with the debate over where these restaurants should and should not be located. No, this story is different.

It's one of dreams and inspiration. And the leading role is played by its legendary fountainhead, Ray Kroc.

With the World Series getting underway soon and the Olympics right around the corner, we are constantly reminded that greatness often begins at an early age. We hear of children becoming athletes only years after they learn how to walk, about young stars working decades to reach the pinnacle of their sport.

This theme, success being achieved by those who started at an early age, is found in much more than sport.

Busting the Myth

Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates of Microsoft and Phil Knight of Nike, both beginning their drive toward success at an early age, lead us to believe that all success follows this path.

And if success in life requires an early start, millions around the world have already missed their chance. But then a man named Ray Kroc comes along and gives us hope. He gives us proof that an early start isn't as important as a deep desire to make the most of our lives.

When most people believe their life is winding down and heading for retirement, Kroc was just beginning to create one of the most successful businesses in history.

To begin working toward his dream at twenty years of age would be quite amazing given the size and success of his company at the time of his passing. Thirty or forty years old would be almost ridiculous.

So how old was Ray Kroc when he took the first step toward growing McDonald's into a worldwide phenomenon?

52.

Even now I can't believe it. But it's true, and it gives hope to every single person out there who feels that their time has passed. As long as you're alive and breathing, your time will never pass.

But the history of Ray Kroc and his decision to achieve a dream late in life is about much more than age. It's about a lesson we all must learn if we are to be truly happy and successful.

What's the Real Lesson?

What I want to do with this post more than anything else is to get one point across: you must take all that you are at this moment and make the most of it.

Excuses about age, time, money, economy, and every other item we throw into the mix to help us feel better about putting our dreams on hold will end up killing our hopes for a happy and fulfilling life.

Ray Kroc teaches us that age is never an issue when it comes to getting what you really want in life. Use his story to inspire action if you are at an age when you felt that your time had passed. But this is only one example. If you look hard enough you will find a story like Kroc's that shatters every excuse we hide behind. People from every walk of life, facing extraordinary odds, have achieved great things and created truly amazing lives. Proof that you can do it as well.

Before I get to the heart of today's point we want to mention one of the most important aspects of goals. What if you don't know what you want? Few situations in life are as confusing and frustrating as wanting a happier, more successful life but not knowing how to make it happen.

More people than you think have trouble in this area, and it's because the majority of us have never been given the tools to uncover our true goals. There are specific steps you can take that will bring to light the goals that will give you everything you want and more.

An Exercise to Inspire Success

It's time to take what we have learned and put it to use. If you're human, you probably have a few excuses that you tell yourself about why you can't do something about your goals today. Perhaps the time isn't right or the time has already passed. Maybe the money isn't there or the people around you just won't support your plan. Whatever it is, we want you to make a short list of the most powerful excuses you tell yourself.

When you have them, we want you to do something a little different than usual. Instead of writing down all of the reasons why your excuses aren't true, we want you to act as if you're giving advice to a friend who has told you about his or her goal but ends it with the excuses you use for putting off following through. Think about it. What would you tell your best friend if he or she came to you and said...'I really want to (goal), but I can't because (excuse).'What would you say to change their mind? What would you say to motivate them past their excuses and onto success?

When you know what you would say to them, say it to yourself and follow through.

How Much Do You Want It?

The reason for this role reversal is simply that we are great at giving advice but rarely as good at taking it ourselves. By changing the roles you can get your best advice out of your head and hard to work for you and your future.

When it comes down to it, you've got to ask yourself how much you want to change your life, how much you really want to achieve your goals. If they are worth it, which we know they are, put an end to the excuses and follow Ray's lead.

Accept the facts of your situation and move ahead with an unwavering confidence. You may not end up selling billions of hamburgers to millions of people around the world, but you will do something much more important -you will live your best life.

Ray Kroc could have used his age as an excuse to pass by the opportunity that brought him unimaginable success. He could have shrugged his shoulders and lowered his head in defeat.

Instead, he grabbed life by the horns and plowed full speed ahead toward the dream he was unwilling to pass by.

To your greater success,

Peter Mclees, LMFT

Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

11 Positive Ways to Deal with Negative People

By putting in just a little effort up-front, you can better deal with the difficult people in your life. 

Theodore Roosevelt said, “The single most important ingredient of success is knowing how to get along with people.” 

Of course, Roosevelt never met that annoying guy in accounting you have to deal with every week, did he? And he certainly didn’t have your in-laws.

Funny thing, it seems that even the folks we find particularly difficult to deal with have friends, spouses, and social lives. So it’s clear that someone is able to get along with them. Why not us? By putting in just a little effort up-front, by taking the high road, you can better deal with the difficult people in your life. Here’s how:

1.      Identify their negativity

Just what is it about them that you find so “difficult?” Think back to the original situation when you officially classified them as such. Make sure that your assessment is the result of a pattern of demonstrated behavior, and not the result of a single interaction upon which you’ve been focusing. Once you’re sure there’s a pattern, come up with a few examples
.

2.      Think about their overall goals

They may be difficult, but they’re still human. They have goals and objectives, and in most cases “being difficult” is not one of them. Consider what overall goals are driving their “difficult” behavior. Is that guy in accounting who annoyingly nags you for additional receipts just trying to drive you nuts, or does his pending promotion require that he collect flawlessly accurate documentation? Sometimes reflecting on the goals that affect a person’s “difficult” behavior can provide enough insight to make them tolerable.

3.      Consider their possible fears

We all have fears, even if we don’t realize what they are. Some folks fear not getting work done on time. Others fear criticism. Or they are afraid they’ll be taken advantage of. These fears impact our behavior, even to the point of being perceived as “difficult” to some folks. If you consider that your “difficult” person actually has some fears that drive them, you might just see that person in a different light.

4.      Observe their strengths

Perhaps the office assistant is “difficult” at times, but she’s a little easier to take when you realize that her natural affinity for details and organization actually makes your life easier in some ways. Or think about your “difficult” team leader whose confidence and assertiveness enables her to successfully negotiate a deadline extension on your behalf. What strengths does your “difficult” person bring to the table and how do those strengths provide value to the organization?

5.     Look at the “flip side” of those strengths

Our strengths are positive, right? Most of the time they are, but sometimes they can be over used—and an overextended strength can be at the root of your “difficult” person. For example, self-confidence is a desirable strength. But when it’s overdone, we see that same person as cocky. To better understand your “difficult” person, assess what is annoying you and look for the strength behind it.

6.      Figure out their motivators

As Dr. Phil might say, “What’s their currency?” Is maintaining a harmonious family top priority
Or are they mostly driven by career accomplishment? Does their competitiveness define them
Or is it most important to them that everyone just get along? Is what motivates them contributing
to what you’re assessing as being difficult?

7.      Note their reaction to stress

Apply enough stress, and you’ll see a person’s behaviors change. Consider if the “difficult” behaviors you’re seeing are a result of stressful situations. Someone who inspires enthusiasm in others may become glib or appear superficial when under a lot of stress. Under stress, a supportive, dependable team player can become detached, inflexible, and even stubborn.

8.      See their perspective

Perform all of the steps above, and you’ll likely have a pretty good idea of that “difficult” person’s perspective on the world. And seeing that perspective brings some “aha” moments. “Oh, that’s why he got so worked up when I didn’t reply immediately….” Now, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still exhibiting difficult behaviors that you might need to address at some point, but you probably understand them better now.

9.      Consider your own behaviors

Now that you’ve dissected the “difficult” person, you must consider your own behaviors and how that person likely perceives them. It’s never fun to think that we might be contributing to the problem, but you must take a look at the possibility that perhaps they see you as “difficult.”

10.      Empathize

This step is easy if you’ve actually done each of the prior steps. Once you see things through another person’s perspective and understand their behaviors better, empathy seems to come more naturally.

11.  Speak their “language”

Armed with new insights about your “difficult” person, adapt your communication approach to better match their perspective on the world. If they value accuracy and high-standards, responding to them from that view shows respect to their feelings. Making this effort can help you head-off conflict and avoid triggering the “difficult” behaviors they’ve demonstrated in the past.

These 11 steps take a little effort. You may be questioning why you should have to do anything—after all, he’s the difficult one! Well, a very wise person—who I at one time considered particularly “difficult”—once told me that I had a choice: I could take the short-term pain or I could take the long-term pain.

There are three roads we can take when dealing with others. The low road, the middle road and the high road.

The Low road is treating others worse than they treat us.

The middle road is treating other the same as they treat us

The high road is treating others better than they treat us.

Take the high road because it’s the most fulfilling one.

To your greater success,

Peter Mclees, LMFT

Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

A Profile in Positive Leadership

Jerry was the kind of guy you loved to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “IF I WERE ANY BETTER, I WOULD BE TWINS!”

He was unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason why we waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there listening to the employee and telling them how to look at the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive, up person all the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry you have two choices today. You can chose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim, or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes complaining to me, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can help them create a solution, I choose to help them see the positive side of life.’

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said “Life is about choices. When you cut away the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good or bad mood. If you find yourself with an attitude that is not what you want, you can choose another one. You can’t choose a positive attitude everyday. True. But you do choose some type of attitude everyday. 

The bottom line: It’s your choice how to live your life.”

I reflected in what Jerry said. Soon thereafter I left the restaurant to go to an out of state university. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door, Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared, I asked?” “Absolutely,” Jerry replied.

Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

 “What did you do?” I asked.

 

“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘BULLETS!!’

 Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

 Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his nurses and doctors, but also, because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have a choice to live fully.

Peter Mclees, LMFT

Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

10 Surefire Ways to Create a Team of Winners

Want to be an excellent leader? A truly inspirational, effective agent of your team’s success? There is literally nothing harder – or more important – in the world of work. That’s why effective leaders are so rare in real life.

If that discourages you, them maybe you don’t have what it takes to lead after all. If it motivates you instead? Well, then, here are a few tips to take it from “in charge guy/gal” to “excellent leader !”

1. Repeat after me (to your team): “My job is to help you be successful by making your job easier.”

No, your job is not to give them the day off to shop while you finish up their work for them. But your job as leader – your only job, as leader – is to remove impediments and provide the tools for your people’s success. Take the obstacles out of their way and give them the resources so they can do the important work of your company: serving your customers!

2. Foster friendships among your staff.

After work socialization is important – it is! But nothing builds camaraderie and team spirit like shared success as the result of shared struggle. What’s your team’s greater goal? What significant challenges are you confronting that all of you can be proud of overcoming together?

3. Reward for the big things. And the medium things. And even the itty-bitty little things.

We like praise. We want recognition. One winner-takes-all vacation or mega-bonus for the year’s top performer is great and all, but how about a $5 Starbucks, or even a made-up certificate from your printer, because someone filed her report on time? 

4. Push them.

People of quality want to be good at their jobs. Kindly help them to improve. …Kindly, but maybe not gently.

5. Release the “Just Enoughers” to other “opportunities.”
We all know the “Just Enoughers.” Employees that do just enough to avoid getting fired. No one likes to work with slackers – except other slackers. Redeploy them sooner than later. As the old saying goes, “If it’s inevitable, make it immediate.”
 

6. Hire slowly and caaaaarefully!

Show your current team members and your new recruits that not just anybody belongs on your team. If you want to build an elite group, hire top performers. You’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs as you vet the talent pond.

7. Give them something important to get up for in the morning.

Remember number 2, with the part about shared challenges? Pick a lofty goal. Then make pursuit of that the rallying cry of your team. Change lives, change how business is done; don’t just settle to change who wins this year’s sales contest. 

8. Talk up your people to others.

Talk your team up to your peers, to their peers, to your boss and her boss and heck, to the security guard, too. Be proud of each of them, and share that pride with anyone who’ll listen. Word will filter back to them, and as it does, it will have have a major impact. 

9. Expect the world of them.

Establish with your team how highly you respect and admire them. Expect big things from them. They will live up to your image of them, no matter what it takes.

10. Be worthy of their effort.

Want to really be the best, most effective leader ever? Work to improve yourself every day, in every way that is important to your team’s success. In order to lead a group of champions to new heights, you as leader must be worthyof the team’s time and energy. And that’s a lot more than we have room for in one blog post.

You will never be as good as you can be as a leader. But every hour of every day, if you’re sufficiently devoted to the success of your team, you can improve. Keep at it, and your people will start bragging about you – to their peers, your peers, your boss and her boss. And yes, even to the security guards.

When it percolates back to you how admired you are by those you serve as leader… you’ll be infinitely prouder than if they told you themselves! 

All the success!

Peter Mclees, LMFT

Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

Walt Disney On Casting an Energizing Vision

One of the great dreamers of the 20th century was Walt Disney. Any person who could create the first sound cartoon, first all-color cartoon, and first animated feature-length motion picture is definitely someone with vision. 

In my opinion, Disney's greatest masterpieces of vision were Disneyland and Disney World. And the spark for that vision came from an unexpected place. As Larry Taylor wrote in Be an Orange, "Back when  Walt's daughters were young, he took them too an amusement park in the LA area on Saturday mornings. His girls loved it and he did too. Walt was particularly captivated by the carousel. 

As he approached it, he saw a blur of bright images racing around to the tune of energetic calliope music. But when he got closer and the carousel stopped, he could see that his eye has been fooled. He observed shabby horses with cracked and chipped paint. And he noticed that only the horses on the outside row moved up and down. The others stood lifeless, bolted to the floor. 

Disney's disappointment inspired him with a grand vision. In his mind's eye he could see an amusement park where the illusion didn't evaporate, where children and adults could enjoy a carnival atmosphere with out the seedy side that accompanies some circuses and traveling carnivals. His dream became Disneyland. Walt's vision could be summed up as, 'No chipped paint. All the horses jump.'"

Look Before You Lead
Vision is everything for the leader. It is utterly indispensable. Why? Because vision leads the leader. It paints the target. It sparks and fuels the fire within and draws him or her forward. It is also the firelighter for others who follow the leader. Show me a leader without vision and I'll show someone who isn't going anywhere exciting.

Crafting Your Vision
When creating a vision, a leader must have an understanding or where the organization is and where it needs to go. The vision of the business gives it energy. It motivates employees in the direction of the corporate strategy. It is the image that a business must have of its goals before it sets out to reach them. It describes the aspirations for the future, without specifying the means that will be used to achieve the desired outcomes.

A vision can be looked upon as the beginning of the organization's story. It creates purpose for the team by focusing them on what they need to work together on to achieve success. It includes the motivation and plan to encourage improvement and achievement.
The success of your vision is determined by how well it fulfills five basic requirements:
1) Provides future direction
2) Expresses a customer benefit
3) Is realistic
4) Is motivating
5) Must be fully communicated, and consistently followed and measured

A vision should be a short, succinct, and inspiring statement of what the organization intends to become and achieve at some point in the future. The intentions listed in the vision should remain broad, all-inclusive and forward-thinking. While there are no specific formulas for creating a vision, there are principles and guidelines for building one. To begin the development of your vision, follow this simple three-step process:

1) Think of all the things that might be possible for your store in a given time frame.
2) Write down as many ideas as you can.
3) Edit the list to what you are willing to commit to.

By going through this brainstorming exercises, your mind becomes open to areas of new possibilities. This is essential to developing a vision because, after all, a vision is putting into words the goals and desires of the future which is yet unforeseen state of existence.

One of my favorite stores is Trader Joe's. It has been for over thirty years. A Harvard Business Review article described Trader Joe's vision as,"Transforming shopping from a chore into a culinary treasure hunt."That vivid and imaginative sentence beautifully captures my first and most recent shopping experiences at Trader Joe's.

The more powerful and vivid your vision, the more opportunities occur to create strategies necessary to your business success. Building a vision is actually only one part of the larger activity--developing the governing ideas for the enterprise, its vision, mission and business plan. It is an essential starting point of building a winning team. A vision not consistent with values that people live on daily basis will not only fail to inspire enthusiasm, it will generate blatant cynicism

Communicating Your Vision
Once developed the vision must be supported and communicated to all team members. Surprisingly, many leaders develop a vision, which they believe to be the best vision for their organization, but find out that their employees are unaware of it. This result is not necessarily due to how the vision was created, but, instead, how it was communicated and understood by members of the team.

In order to effectively communicate your vision for your store, you must be able to explain the what, how, why, and when. By keeping your team informed, you build trust which in turn empowers your people. Visions that are truly shared take time to emerge. They grow as a by-product of interactions and require ongoing conversation.

There are four steps needed to communicate a vision:
1) Share you vision and how it will benefit the organization as a whole.
2) Show how the achievement of the vision will benefit each team member.
3) Share your plan of action as a leader including what each team member can expect from you.
4) Share your expectations.

Supporting Your Vision
To energize team members to work towards and share the vision requires more than a sign on the wall or statement on a business card. It is more than just telling your team what you do (and they) need to do too. Nothing happens by magic. As their leader, you need to live the vision and values, be seen living them, and constantly communicating them to your team.

Your team must understand the vision--the reasoning of the vision. They must own the vision. Owning the vision is the natural process that evolves from genuine for a vision. Only can the team realize the vision, and more importantly experience the reward of seeing the vision become a reality.

Many visions never take root and spread--despite having merit. Visions can only spread through reinforcement of increased clarity, enthusiasm, communication, and commitment. As people talk, the vision grows clearer. As it becomes clearer, enthusiasm builds.

Enthusiasm spreads faster by early successes in pursuing the vision. Success of the vision causes people to talk about it, which in turns brings better clarity to the vision thus generating more enthusiasm. And the cycle repeats itself again.

Vision is long term. People need a "guiding light" to navigate and make daily decisions. Visions need to challenge people, evoke a feeling that draws people towards wanting to be part of something very special.

If you lack vision look inside yourself. Draw on your natural gifts and desires. Look to your calling if you have one. And if you still don't sense a vision of your own, then consider hooking up with a leader whose vision resonates with you. Become their "partner." That's what Walt Disney's brother, Roy did. He was a good businessman and leader who could make things happen. But Walt provided the vision. Together they made an incredible team.

The story goes at the opening dedication of Walt Disney World, one of the speakers shared , "It's a shame that Walt passed on before he could see his dream come true." Mrs. Disney arose and said," If Walt hadn't seen it first, the rest of us wouldn't be seeing it now."

Keeper: "You can only seize what you can see."

 All the success!

Peter Mclees, LMFT
Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

Want to improve engagement? Learn from Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon loves his job. And it shows! He loves to make people laugh and he likes being a member of a creative team, working with writers and honing his craft.

That is a good lesson for anyone in management: Share your enthusiasm for what you do!

Life is tough, goes the adage, but work does not need to be so hard all the time. Research reveals that employees look to management to help provide meaning for what they do. One of the best ways managers can do this is to generate enthusiasm

Here are some suggestions on how to spread enthusiasm:

Speak up. Employees need to know their supervisor cares about the work. Some managers are very vocal; they are like middle school coaches, always teaching and always spreading cheer. Other managers are soft-spoken preferring to chat one to one with employees about what they do and how it matters to the team. It doesn’t matter which approach you choose–but employees need to hear it from you.

Show employees their work has meaning: To take satisfaction in your work, you need to know it has meaning. Help your employees discover the meaning by connecting their work to the mission. Talk about how what they do makes a difference. You can have them visit customers to see how their product or service performs, for instance.

Celebrate the outcomes. When things are going well, make certain you mark the milestones. Spring for a lunch for the team, or have an after-work social hour. Spread the atta-boys and atta-girls around by praising people for individual actions they took to help the project succeed. [If you don’t tie the praise to specific actions, it loses impact.]

The Limits of Enthusiasm

Obviously, managers who do not like their work, or the people in it, will not do well at generating a positive mood in the workplace. No workplace is perfect; and work is hard. But that cannot be an excuse for badmouthing “the corporation” or dissing “management.” We are all responsible for finding satisfaction in our work. And if the work we do does not measure up, it may be a sign we would be happier doing something else.

Generating enthusiasm is not always easy but managers who can generate a sense of excitement about making a positive difference can create a work environment where people actually want to belong.

 

All the success!

Peter Mclees, Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping companies create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

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.

9 Lessons from Top Chefs

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 tan 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, M.S. MFT

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores, plants, distribution centers, Ports and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/