Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / The Importance of Seizing Opportunities Ep. 99

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The Importance of Seizing Opportunities Ep. 99 · Chef's PSA Podcast

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  Hello Chefs, This is Chefs PSA Podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andre Natera. On today's episode, we're going
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  to talk about missed opportunities.
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  Stay tuned. This episode is brought to you
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  by Old Style Sausage. As a Chef, I've been using Old
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  through most major distributors in the US.
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  If you're looking for great sausage products, look no
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  further than Old Style Sausage. Go to oldstylesausage.com to
• 0:54
  find out more. So before we get started, I'm
• 0:56
  going to give you a brief update on several things, so bear with
• 0:59
  me #1 If you want to support the show, you know what to do.
• 1:02
  Go to chefspsa.com. You get books, merch, other
• 1:06
  things like that. You get this one, This one just
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  came out, This hoodie. This hat says just cook.
• 1:11
  Books that I've written including Kitchen, Art of War,
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  Culinary Leadership, Fundamentals, Line Cook,
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  Survival, Manual, How Not to Be the Biggest Idiot in the
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  Kitchen, and Bad Sue, Good Chef. Speaking of Bad Sue, Good Chef,
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  I am currently writing the sequel to that book and it is
• 1:28
  all but done. I just have to finish the last
• 1:31
  chapter and I have to tell you I'm very happy with the book so
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  far. I've sent it to a couple of chef
• 1:35
  friends, One of them said it gave him anxiety, another one
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  said that's me, that was me coming up in the kitchen.
• 1:42
  I've enjoyed writing it. I'm having a little bit of
• 1:45
  trouble with the last chapter because I'm not sure how to
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  close this book because so far I've really enjoyed writing it.
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  That'll be out very soon. I think I could wrap it up next
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  week. So within a week or so the book
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  will be out. Go look for it.
• 1:56
  Bad cooks everywhere. It's the journey of a new cook
• 2:00
  going through multiple kitchens. The other thing, if you listen
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  to last week's episode, it was our first guest Centered Chef's
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  PSA podcast with the guest pastry chef Casey Doody.
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  Really good episode. It's a lot longer than the
• 2:12
  current ones that I do that are anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes.
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  These are going to be about an hour long.
• 2:18
  The ones that are guest center, I have a lot of guests lined up
• 2:21
  for the next few episodes. At least the next 10 guests are
• 2:24
  lined up. But I will say this, they are a
• 2:26
  little bit more lengthy to edit so I'm hoping I could get one
• 2:30
  out every other episode. But the truth of the matter is
• 2:33
  there may be weeks that I have to go 2 weeks before I could put
• 2:36
  out the guest centered episode just because the amount of time
• 2:39
  it takes to edit those videos. Last thing I want to update you
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  all on is if you are in Austin, TX and you want to support a
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  good cause, a group of chefs all from El Paso, TX are cooking at
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  Bacalar Restaurant. Gabrielis Restaurant, Top Chef
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  18 winner including myself. We're going to be coming
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  together to form like Voltron and cook for El Paso Family
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  meal. It's an organization that I'm a
• 3:01
  part of. So if you want to come out and
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  see me and you want to try some good food and support a good
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  cause, May 29th El Paso Family meal, come check us out, eat
• 3:10
  some good food, meet some cool chefs.
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  Anyway, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the
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  like and Subscribe button. If your list on Spotify or Apple
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  or Amazon or anywhere else, make sure you leave five stars.
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  Nothing less than five stars. It's a five star podcast.
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  By the way. If you have any of my books on
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  Amazon, leave five stars too. Nothing less than five stars on
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  Amazon. It's going to be less than five
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  stars. Don't leave it anyway.
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  Today's podcast missed opportunities, taking advantage
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  of opportunities as chefs and as cooks.
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  We're presented with opportunities all the time for
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  new jobs, to attend events, to hire people, to do something
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  really special in our career. And as cliche as it sounds, you
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  miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
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  I don't know if Gretzky said that or Michael Jordan said
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  that, but that's definitely, definitely a sports quote and
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  I'm going to share a story with you.
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  There was a hotel in Vancouver. It was the Fairmont HH van, as
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  it's known, in Vancouver, Canada.
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  And they were without a chef, and this had to have been around
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  2010 or 2011. And they sent me up to be the
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  interim executive chef at this hotel in Vancouver.
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  And I got to tell you, I fell in love with that hotel.
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  It was old. It was historic.
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  The kitchens were massive. You know it was.
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  It had a a basement where they had the Garde Manger kitchen,
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  old school, Garde Manger kitchen, old school pastry
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  kitchen Downstairs, upstairs you had multiple kitchens, including
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  a restaurant kitchen, a banqueting kitchen, and here I
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  was sent up to be the interim chef while they were looking for
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  a chef. When I went up there, I went up
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  there really wanting the job and I went up there with the idea of
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  if I prove myself that I'm the man for the job, they will offer
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  me the job. So after some time being there,
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  it was time to go home. They hired a chef, They're
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  bringing them down and I was going to go back home.
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  So the general manager of that hotel takes us out to dinner and
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  he's sitting across from me and he says I have to ask you one
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  question. Why didn't you apply for the
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  job? We would have loved to have had
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  you as our executive chef. And my heart sang because in my
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  mind, I was thinking, I demonstrated that I was the
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  person for the job. I and I said that to them.
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  I said I wanted the job. I thought you all would offer it
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  to me. And he said to me, we didn't
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  offer it to you because you didn't apply.
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  We thought you didn't want it. So the fact that I sat there
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  quietly trying to demonstrate that I was the person for the
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  job prevented me from getting the job because I never spoke up
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  and said I wanted it. To this day, that one haunts me
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  a little bit because I think Vancouver is such a cool city
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  and at that time I really wanted to be the chef of that hotel.
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  I thought it was a beautiful hotel, old historic smack dab
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  downtown Vancouver. If you know that hotel, you know
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  what I'm talking about. It would have been a fun job at
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  the time. They were going to renovate the
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  restaurant and I missed it because I never spoke up and
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  said I wanted it. Sometimes you're presented with
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  opportunities and I can tell you as a hiring chef, sometimes
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  you're looking for the next sous chef or the next exec sue or
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  whatever the case may be someone that you're going to promote.
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  And a lot of times that person is in your kitchen and you may
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  be that person, but sometimes you don't promote those people
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  because they've never expressed interest in getting promoted.
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  You just think they're content as to where they are AT.
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  And maybe in their own mind, they think they're not ready.
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  And so you don't approach them because you think they're not
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  ready and they're not expressing interest.
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  So you're going to pass it on to someone else from outside the
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  organization, and you bring in an outsider who maybe was a bad
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  fit. And you turn over two or three
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  sous chefs when the right person was in your kitchen the whole
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  time. But they never expressed
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  interest because they were hoping that you would tap them
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  on the shoulder and say you're it.
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  I can tell you as an executive chef, you got a lot on your
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  plate. You're thinking about a lot of
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  things and you don't know what's in everyone's mind.
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  And you have to assume that the people that want to move up are
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  letting it be known to everyone that they want to move up.
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  If you're in this position and you want to move into sous chef,
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  one of the best things that you could do is tell people that you
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  are interested in moving up. Because if you're keeping that
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  to yourself and hoping and wishing that you're going to get
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  discovered, it doesn't work that way.
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  You have to create your own luck.
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  You have to seize opportunity when it presents itself.
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  Those people in garage bands that are playing in their garage
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  hoping that an A&R is going to drive by someone from a record
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  label and they're going to say, Oh my God, do you hear that
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  music coming from that garage? Let's go sign them.
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  It doesn't work that way. I had a guy that was extremely
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  talented, used to work with me. He was one of the best cooks in
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  the kitchen, super switched on with food, and the only thing he
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  wanted to do was work under Gordon Ramsay.
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  And this was, I don't know, about 2007.
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  And he would talk about Gordon Ramsay.
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  He would watch all those shows. He wanted nothing more than to
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  work under Gordon Ramsay. And he was a good, he was a very
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  good chef. I would always tell him, why
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  don't you just go try out? Why don't you just go apply for
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  his restaurants in Vegas or wherever he had restaurants at
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  the time and just try to go work in one of his kitchens.
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  He also, Oh no, I'm not good enough.
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  I'm not good enough. Anyway, that guy, that super
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  talented cook, is still a super talented cook, never moved up
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  because he always had this idea in his mind that he wasn't good
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  enough for the next position. I look back at that time because
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  I knew he was. I knew that he was one of the
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  best cooks in the kitchen and that he had it.
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  But what he lacked was confidence and he didn't take
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  advantage of opportunities and he was unwilling to change the
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  circumstances. People underestimate how many of
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  their problems that they're facing right now can be solved
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  by taking action to solve them. Unfortunately, we sometimes live
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  in this idea of complaining about our problems or doing
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  nothing about our problems and just sitting back that they will
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  fix themselves. Problems usually don't get fixed
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  on their own. One of the most important things
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  that you need to do as a chef, as a cook, as a culinarian, is
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  to create action towards the desired result that you want
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  sitting around waiting that you're going to get discovered.
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  That a celebrity chef is going to walk into the kitchen and tap
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  you on the shoulder and say come work for me is very unlikely
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  that that's going to happen. As that old expression goes, the
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  harder I work, the luckier I get.
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  Those limiting beliefs are usually self-imposed and what
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  I've noticed in my career, the biggest difference between the
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  people that move up quick in their career as a chef or
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  whatever the case may be, is usually the ones that are
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  confident enough. It's almost, it's almost dumb
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  confidence sometimes because they're not good yet, but they
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  think they are, and they're willing to try, and they're
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  willing to go apply at the place that they want to go work.
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  A lot of people want to be great chefs, but they're afraid to go
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  work in great kitchens because they don't want to be second
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  best. If you want to be the next Renee
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  Rzeppi, you can't be afraid to work in Noma.
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  You have to be willing to take the risk.
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  Early on in my career, I was fortunate that I had mentors
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  that saw good things in me tap me on the shoulder and move me
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  up. But a lot of people aren't
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  fortunate like that. A lot of people are too afraid
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  to ask for help or too afraid to apply for the job that they
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  want. I know a lot of chefs.
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  I could think of someone right now that is trying to get a job,
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  but they haven't even applied for it.
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  There's someone out there listening to this podcast right
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  now that is upset that they're not getting promoted, but
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  they're also not applying for the job.
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  Life doesn't work that way. If the door is going to be open,
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  you have to make the effort to walk through it.
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  As my career was growing as a chef and I was going from one
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  chef job to the next chef job, there was a point where I hit a
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  little bit of a wall and I didn't feel like I was growing
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  fast enough in my career. So I had applied at this job in
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  Washington, DC And I'll never forget this interview because at
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  this point in time in my career, I thought of myself as very
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  humble and I would. I wanted to be very respectful
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  of all the chefs in the community.
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  And as I was interviewing at this job, they asked me, do you
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  think you're the best? It's an interesting question
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  because in my mind, did I think I was the best?
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  Maybe sometimes I did, other times I didn't.
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  I thought in my mind to have the potential to be the best.
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  But if I had to sit there and honestly say am I the best?
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  No, of course not. There's always someone better
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  than you. That's the reality of the
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  situation. When they asked me this
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  question, if I thought I was the best, I said no, I don't think
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  I'm the best. I think I have a lot to learn.
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  I think I'm still growing in my career and I gave this humble
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  answer because I didn't want to come across as cocky or
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  arrogant. Afterwards, the person that was
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  interviewing me came up to me and said why didn't you say
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  you're the best, we only hire the best.
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  And if you're not the best, we don't want to hire you.
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  And I responded back saying, I really respect your organization
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  and the chefs that have come through here.
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  There's a lot of really great chefs in the city.
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  And I feel like it would be insulting for me to sit here and
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  say I'm the best, knowing that there's some amazing chefs out
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  there in the world that I admire.
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  Their response to me was, we respect your humility, but we
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  only hire the best. It was an opportunity that was
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  right there for my taking. But my my humility almost
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  prevented me from getting the job.
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  And when I think about that moment, and I think about so
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  many moments where people go in with this humility or this
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  modesty, when it comes to your career, you're in the driver's
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  seat. You're player one.
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  No one's coming to save you. You have to be the one making
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  the tough decisions, taking action, going out and applying
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  for the job that you want, recognizing the opportunities.
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  When they open the doors, say yes.
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  One of my mentors says to me, you always say yes, but you say
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  yes, but it gives you an out. So yes, but we need to do this.
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  So you could say yes, but but say yes to these opportunities.
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  When they get presented to you, doors are going to open and you
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  have no idea where that door is going to lead to.
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  Don't let your fear of rejection prevent you from succeeding.
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  Don't sit there and wait for someone to come discover you.
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  Go out there and make your presence known.
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  You can use this podcast as an example.
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  I had a previous podcast called Run the Pass and I wanted to
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  start this podcast, Chef's PSA. I didn't know anything about
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  podcasting, and I could have sat there and waited for all the
• 13:02
  right circumstances for me to get good at editing and get all
• 13:06
  the equipment that I needed and for the situation to be just
• 13:10
  perfect before I started the podcast.
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  But in my mind, I'm like, screw it, let's just go and we'll
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  figure it out as we go. If you could watch some of my
• 13:17
  early podcast, the editing's really bad, the audio's not so
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  great. Maybe there wasn't even porno
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  music back then, but it was the idea that I needed to take
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  action because I know taking no action would never get me to
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  where I am now. The only way you're going to
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  learn how to do something is by doing it.
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  Action leads to result. Now I'll leave you all with one
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  last thing. One of the things that I used to
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  tell myself whenever I was afraid to do something, and this
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  has never steered me wrong, is if I was afraid to do something
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  for whatever reason, I would always tell myself on the other
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  side of fear is greatness, and that would push me to do it.
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  I didn't need motivation. I often get the question of
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  like, how do you get motivation? It's like I'm not motivated to
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  do some of the stuff. I do it because I know that
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  simply by doing is going to get me closer to my goals.
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  On the other side of fear is greatness.
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  That's my internal monologue. Maybe you could adopt that to
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  your internal monologue as well. Don't be afraid.
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  Create opportunities. And I promise you, on the other
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  side of fear is greatness. Anyway, you know what to do.
• 14:19
  If you're listening on Spotify, make sure you leave five stars,
• 14:22
  nothing less than five stars. If you're watching on YouTube,
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  hit the Like and subscribe button.
• 14:26
  Go to chefspsa.com where you get all the books, all the merch.
• 14:30
  Subscribe to my sub stack. On the sub stack I have
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  exclusive podcast just for sub stack paid members as well as
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  discounts on the merch. You get 15% off of your sub
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  stack paid subscriber in addition to getting all my
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  ebooks for free. And when I release bad cooks
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  everywhere, the ebook version will be for free for all my sub
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  stack subscribers. So for $10 a month you get chef
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  Brains. Skip the Red Bull and the Carmel
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  Macchiato for the week and go subscribe anyway, Thank you all
• 15:00
  very much. See you next week.
• 15:01
  Hit the porno music. In the kitchen, no fiction
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  stirring up the beats. Heat enough.
• 15:09
  The session listen close classes and.