Latest / Chef's PSA Podcast / The Kitchen 48 Laws of Power Part 4.

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The Kitchen 48 Laws of Power Part 4. · Chef's PSA Podcast

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Hello chefs. You're listening to chefs.
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PS a podcast. I'm your host Andhra natera.
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On today's episode, this is part 4 of the kitchen 48 Laws of
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Power. Stay tuned.
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So, for those of you asking, eventually, we'll get through
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this 48 Laws of Power series, but I wanted to see it all the
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way through to completion. I'm excited about it.
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A lot of people have really liked this episode because we're
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talking about all the little different, strategic things that
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go on in a kitchen and how to think about them and how to
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approach them differently. But before we get into all that,
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let me give you an update. This past week, I was supposed
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to be doing my first ever guest Centric chefs.
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PS a podcast and was going to do it at an event in Austin, Texas
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called live fire. Unfortunately that event had to
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cancel due to weather. It was storming bad and
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unfortunately, we had to cancel the event and I did have a
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really great line up of chefs. I think I had about a dozen
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chefs that we're going to be on the podcast.
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Big names from All Over Texas. California there was A lot of
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really exciting conversations that we're going to happen but
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unfortunately it's not going to happen.
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So I put it in my newsletter. If you receive my newsletter and
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if you don't receive my newsletter, you should write you
1:25
could sign up at Chef space, a.com scroll to the bottom of
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the page. There's a newsletter signup
1:29
form, you'd get it. And on the newsletter I talked
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about, you know, leadership a chef's, PSA Chef mindset,
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something curious that I may be working on or have stumbled
1:40
across and then link to this podcast.
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So anyway, if you don't get the newsletter you Good.
1:44
Just in case my account gets banned.
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That was really one of the big reasons why I wanted to start
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the chef's pass a newsletter, is because I thought my account was
1:53
going to get banned. It got banned once on Instagram,
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and then something funny was happening.
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Where I had to take the happy chef hat down anyway, long story
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short, go sign up for the newsletter.
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I apologize that there won't be the guest Centric chefs.
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PSA episode, I don't see me moving into that immediately, if
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I get a studio, which is something I am working on, but
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we're not there yet, eventually we'll have guest, but I'm not
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sure if a guest Centric podcast will be titled chefs, PSA.
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It might be titled. You know, chefs, bullshitting,
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or something like that. Anyway, the other update is the
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other to audiobooks line, cook survival manual.
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It's out. The audio book is available.
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You could go get it on Audible or anywhere you listen to audio
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books. The second book Kitchen Art of
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War is also completed. Same narrator on both.
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The only difference is the kitchen Art of War is going to
2:45
have a PDF attachment. So you can see the illustrations
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which will include the PDF book. The problem is it does take a
2:54
little bit longer to create that so it's done.
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I'm just waiting on Audible to approve it.
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I assume maybe even by the time you're listening to this
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podcast, it should be done but just assume it's going to be out
3:05
any day now inaudible. Doubles hands.
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So anyway that's that's the update.
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Let's get into 48 Laws of Power and last week we left off at law
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number 33. So let's begin today, with law,
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number 34, and lot number 34 be royal in your own fashion act
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like a king to be treated by one.
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I would interpret this as the old expression act as if or
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dress like the job that you want.
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Lookin the part acting the part makes a huge difference and I
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Mentor a lot of chefs and I recently had a conversation with
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someone that I'm entering and they are in a cook position if
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they want to move into a sous chef position.
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And I mentioned to them I said sometimes they feel like an
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outsider from the other chefs and Sous chefs.
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And I said there's there's something that goes a long way
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in the kitchen that you're in of looking the part and acting the
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part of the role that you want to achieve.
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And that is like All the chef's. I'm just making this up.
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For example, of all the chef's. Were you work?
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You know, use like soigne Japanese knives and cool aprons
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and you don't as strange as that may sound.
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That sometimes makes people think that you're not in the
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click. So sometimes looking like the
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part gets you the part as weird as that sounds.
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And I'm not saying I agree with it but it is a fact it is a fact
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that when you wear the clothes and you speak the certain
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language and I'll give you another example.
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If all the chef's that you're working around our Are going
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home and watching, you know, a Gordon Ramsay, shown the next
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day, they come to work and they're like, did you see
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honestly I don't know what Gordon Ramsay has Hell's
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Kitchen. Did you watch the latest episode
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of Hell's Kitchen? And everyone's talking about it.
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If you're not in that conversation then you're not in
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the conversation. But if you're able to present
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yourself as a part of the group, then there's a greater
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likelihood that you will become a part of the group.
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Now when we're talking about being a chef acting like a king
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to be treated like one I could also interpret this is when you
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act like a professional and I've seen this in my career when
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you're very professional with other people, they will be
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professional back with you. Like I've seen this with my
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bosses that you know they come into the kitchen before and you
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know they're they're all buttoned up there their whites
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or just pressed and they look sharp and they're respectful.
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It's like When they come in, even though they've never done
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anything to make people, scared of them, people will say they're
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scared of them, right? It's like wow there it's just
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because of the way that they carry themselves it's about
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having that right posture and we could probably get into a body
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language which is something that I think is very important, how
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you carry yourself, do you stand with your arms crossed in front
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of you? Or do you stand with your arms
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on your side? Or do you stand with your arms
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behind your back? Do you stand with your chin?
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Looking straight up? Do you make eye contact?
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You give a good handshake when you greet.
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People do you say their name? Do you ask them about
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themselves? These are things that I think
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exhibit, confidence in someone and it's something that you
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could learn. So part of it is look the part
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to get the part, you wouldn't show up to a job interview for
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an executive position, wearing shorts and flip-flops and you
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wouldn't show up for a cooking position if you had to cook not
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ready to cook. So, you got to look like the
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part that you want. So anyway, Lot number 35 Master,
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the art of timing, there's going to be a time when you have the
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opportunity to shine and I think it's very important that you
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capitalize on this. I've seen a lot of chefs have so
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much momentum behind them but they get stuck in there afraid
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to make the next leap. I'll give you an example.
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Personally from my story is that I had a period of time when I
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was on top of the world and let's call this from the years
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2011 to 2014. I was on top of the world.
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I was leading the charge in the city that I was in.
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Along with a few other chefs but I was definitely In Contention
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after a little setback. I kind of got stuck and things
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just kind of went South and instead of me capitalizing on
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the momentum that I had I was just reluctant to do more
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because I was so focused on the food that I was doing and it
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prevented me from really shining at the time, I mean the offers
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were coming in to be on TV etc, etc.
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And I would say no because I needed to be in the kitchen.
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And then as time passed on, I went through a slump after ER
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words and it's like people have forgotten about me and just like
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that when you're hot you're hot and I talked about this in some
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of my other books is that when your opportunity comes and it is
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your time to shine as difficult as it may be, you have to
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embrace it because they will move onto.
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I say they, I just mean the industry and your peers in the
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people that are watching. They will move on to the next
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shiny new object. So if it's your time and you
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have momentum double down, keep going forward take on more work
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you could get help but say yes. Don't dismiss opportunities.
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When they come your way, if you think that you'll have more
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momentum later on when you're when you're snowball in that
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momentum. Just just let it let it ride.
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Let it right and keep going. So anyway, that's my advice
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because I've seen it happen too. Many chefs is, they have so much
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momentum and they don't capitalize on the momentum that
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they have. And then before, you know it,
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you don't even know their name anymore because they become, you
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know, it's a forgotten but they do become forgotten in this
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industry that moves on so quickly.
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So when it's your time, Master it and capitalize on it,
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Advantage, law. Number 36, disdain the things.
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You cannot have ignoring them is the best revenge.
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I'll give you an example. If a competitor Chef receives an
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award, don't get so focused on what other people are achieving
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and why not me, you know, someone else gets promoted and
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you're thinking why did they get promoted?
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Why didn't I get promoted? You waste energy on and you give
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your energy to people and others by focusing too much on what
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they have versus what you desire?
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You Think that you're entitled to that.
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But everyone is on a journey that you may see, or may not,
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and it's their time. And sometimes it's just not your
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time. What you need to do is you need
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to sit back, focus on your goals.
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Create a plan, laser-like, focus on improving yourself and your
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craft and your time will come, turn down the noise that's out
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there because everything's going to distract you from social
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media to jealousy, to comparing yourself to other people.
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It's the worst thing that you could do.
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The best thing that you could do is focus on yourself.
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And how do you improve what you're doing?
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And I promise you if you stop focusing on what everyone else
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is doing and you focus on how you can be the best version of
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yourself, I promise you, those opportunities that you think,
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keep passing you by will come law.
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Number 37. Create compelling, spectacles.
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Now, I'll use a recent example, in real life.
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Something that Did. So what I on social media?
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I hope everyone understands that like chefs, PSA is my job.
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That includes this podcast, social media writing books, all
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of that is all tied up into a full-time job.
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For me, this is how I make a living.
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Now, in order to gain attention, occasionally, you have to do
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things that will put eyeballs on what it is that you're doing,
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and you see this tactic with a lot of influential, people
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celebrities or whatever. The case may be, they create a
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spectacle All and everyone starts looking and talking about
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it. And then you discover all the
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other things that you may enjoy about that person.
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So something that I did recently and honestly it pissed off.
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A lot of people in America got me a lot of nasty comments but I
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did a real, I don't know, a couple months back and I talked
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about Chef stealing dishes and it pissed everyone off.
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And I remember when I was making the real, so I'm sharing this
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with you all. Now, I remember when I was
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making the real, I wanted to talk about You're getting
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inspired by chefs this that the other.
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But I said, you know what, I'm going to say Chef stealing
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dishes and I Knew by saying that it was going to be provocative
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and it would probably upset because I was using the word
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steel and I knew it was mostly can upset people that.
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I hate say still dishes, but it was mostly going to upset people
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that get inspired by other people and read a lot of
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cookbooks and and and do this that and the other.
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But it was it was intentional that I did that.
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I was I did that with intention because I knew that by doing
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that the video would most likely Go viral and I was right.
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You know, I was, I was guessing I thought, you know, it probably
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will go viral, but I'm going to, I'm going to risk it.
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And it did, you know, I think that video right now has about a
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quarter of a million views. It's my most successful real,
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that I've done on social media. And it was all because I started
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out by saying every Chef that, you know, is stealing dishes.
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And if they, if they tell you that, they don't steal dishes,
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there are liars. So, anyway, then I proceeded to
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talk about when it was something like that.
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I'm paraphrasing. But You know, I started out
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really aggressive but the reason I did that, as I was trying to
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create a spectacle because I was trying to get people to see what
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else I'm doing. I want people to listen to the
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podcast. I want you to get the books.
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I am trying to help people, but sometimes I have to poke a
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little bit at people and be a little bit provocative just to
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get the conversation. Going to do could see some of
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the other things that are going on.
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So I hate to say that was a calculated move but if you've
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been listening to the podcast, you understand that everything I
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do is is calculated and there's a chess move behind everything.
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I think the time has passed on that so I can share that story.
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When you create a spectacle, it brings attention.
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So you could do that on social media, you could say things on
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social media, and I'd be careful with this because I think if
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you've been following chefs PSA for a while, I think you've
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noticed that my tone has changed because when I first started
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out, I was going to be a little bit more aggressive and
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shocking. But I also noticed like it, my
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point was I actually want to help people, right?
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I don't I'm not trying to piss people off, but I figured by
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pissing people off. We could begin the conversation
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and I realized that that wasn't Twerking.
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So, I would caution people like don't go out and start a fight
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just to get attention, but there's things that you could do
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to be a little bit provocative. You could do that with your
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food, you could do that on social media.
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I think I mentioned in one of the other episodes I would
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create the most expensive menu in the city.
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Because I knew that people would talk about is a little bit of a
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spectacle. I went to dinner with, you know,
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a very famous celebrity at one time and they have their own
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their own alcohol line. And I remember having a
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conversation with them that they had priced it at At the top of
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the market. And when I said, why did they
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make their their liquor so expensive?
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They said it was because when you go to a restaurant or you go
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to a bar or a club, no one ever says, Get me.
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The second most expensive bottle on the menu.
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You know, when people are doing the Wall Street while it Flex,
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they're flexing and they want attention on them.
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They don't ever say get me. The second most expensive thing
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they say, get me the most expensive thing.
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And so this person said that's why I position myself at the
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very top. I don't want to be second.
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Most expensive. I want to be the most expensive
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because that will increase sales.
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Now, the same principle applies in the restaurant when you have
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a flaming dessert or someone comes in, as chocolate ball on a
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stick, that's a piñata or whatever the case may be right
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there, the writing on the table, whatever.
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There's a Garrard on with cheese or Raclette or whatever the case
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may be. When people start doing that,
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what ends up happening? Is everyone else in the
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restaurant? Around and looks and says, what
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are they doing? I want one of those.
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So if they're carving the steak tables item, this is why Salt
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Bay is, you know, you might not like them, I'm not saying I like
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them, but I do recognize what he's doing is creating a
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spectacle to care attention now. Whatever you think about Salt
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Bay, no one knew who he was a couple of years ago, and now he
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has restaurants all over the world.
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So playing that character. Clearly made him famous and
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created many opportunities. I doubt he's that way in real
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life, honestly, I don't know. Maybe he is but you understand
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the idea of creating a Compelling spectacle to get
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attention to do what you're doing, this is why again, I'm
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beating a dead horse, but this wine, the old days restaurants
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would come around with a dessert tray and they paraded around
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throughout the restaurant. So everyone could see it.
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And they'd say, oh, which one would you like the chocolate
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cake this that and the other? So it was to increase sales.
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I used to have certain desserts and one of them was a souffle
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and it was time sensitive. But whenever we would deliver
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the souffle, we try and take it in front of as many guests as we
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could. So they could see it you know
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the path for the service staff would be like a try and get
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around. All these guests.
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And then we do tableside presentation with anglaise or
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ice cream, or whatever the case may be, and that was all to get
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attention. So people could say I want that
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too, right? Or shaved truffles at the table
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or whatever the case, maybe, that's what you need to do.
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Create some sort of compelling spectacle to get attention to
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what you're doing. Law number 38, think as you
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like, but behave like others now an example that comes to mind
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right away is don't tell people how you did it.
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The last job, you can think whatever you want.
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You could think your previous show.
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Better but don't go in and tell everyone how everything was
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better at the last job and how they taught you differently in
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culinary school. It rubs people, the wrong way,
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when you're in a new place as the expression goes, it ain't
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where you're from. It's where you at, and when
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you're in a new kitchen you need to behave.
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Like the way that they behave in that kitchen, someone messaged
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me the other day that they were going on a stage.
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And they were asking me for advice.
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And I said, one of the best things that you could do is pay
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attention to the way that others behaving.
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That kitchen because every new kitchen has a certain Cadence.
16:18
And every do kitchen that you go into has certain things, little
16:22
idiosyncrasies that are unique to that kitchen.
16:25
So maybe they fold towels a certain way or maybe they don't
16:29
slam doors on ice machines or lowboys, right, it'll get you
16:32
kicked out of certain kitchens. If you slam a door, maybe, They
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cut the tape a certain way. Maybe they use scissors, maybe
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these tape cutter. Maybe there's a knife.
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Maybe they cut the tape on the stainless steel table and that's
16:45
a an offense. That gets you thrown out of the
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kitchen? I don't know.
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But when you start paying attention to how everyone else
16:51
Works, regardless of what you think, it's important that you
16:54
behave like everyone else because if not, you're going to
16:57
stand out and not in a good way. So that's one of the best things
17:01
that you could do. When you go into new kitchen is
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don't talk about how you did it at the other place.
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Learn the Rhythm and Cadence of the place that you're at and
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then when you feel comfortable, I think there's a time and place
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you know, you can have those conversations when people ask
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you but it's different. When someone asks you how did
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you do it here versus going up to them and saying oh I don't
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like this. I think it's better if we do
17:21
this. When it's like your first day on
17:22
the job you're going to you're going to look like an asshole
17:24
and I'm not saying that you shouldn't contribute your ideas
17:28
but what I'm saying is Have a little self-awareness and
17:33
culinary etiquette like you don't talk about the last place
17:36
at the new place anyway. Law number 39 Stirrup Waters to
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catch fish. A good example of this.
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I'll give you two examples. I'll give you a nice one.
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I'll give you kind of a sneaky one.
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So a good example of this is when you have internal
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competitions where you work, when you have internal
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competitions, you're able to number one breeding, a
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competitive environment in your kitchen, is a good thing because
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everyone gets better when people are competitive with Each other,
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they do get better but it's important that you watch it
18:03
closely because you don't want it to turn into environment
18:05
where it becomes Cutthroat and people are sabotaging each other
18:08
so, healthy competition is a good thing.
18:10
So you want to create that environment where people could
18:12
grow. So when you strip those Waters,
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you start to notice people get better, right?
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You encourage them to get better.
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You should always create an environment in the kitchen,
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where people are encouraged to improve and they are rewarded
18:26
for improving. Now I'm going to share a sneaky
18:28
example. Someone Ask me in my cigar
18:31
Sunday, QA the other day, how do you deal with someone that
18:36
thinks that they know at all and I didn't really give a good
18:39
example, you know those those Instagram chats are.
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I think you're like at like 60 seconds to answer.
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So sometimes I try not to Ramble On and I recognize I ramble But
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one thing that you could do is, if you have this culinary
18:54
competition is, you make it mandatory if you can and you put
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those people that you know, those those Kooks that
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know-it-all you put them in there and you kind of see like
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it's a humbling experience. I've done that many times where
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I've put people in a position where it's like, okay, if if
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you're, if you're a BMF, let's see what it's about.
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Get in there and cook and then you find out that they're not.
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You also see it in cooking interviews.
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I've seen this a lot in my career will people when you put
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them in a situation, That they don't know because they talk a
19:21
big game but they can't back it up.
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You know, they call out sick, they don't show up.
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I've seen many chefs once you tell them that there's a cooking
19:28
interview. They don't show up like they
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it's just no call, no show, right?
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Or they call off sick if they work there and you tell me, hey,
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there's there were tomorrow, we're doing a competition, they
19:36
get mysteriously sick. And the thing is, is I think a
19:40
lot of times they think they're fooling people but no one's
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fooled, like when you call off because, you know, you had to
19:46
compete or you had a cooking interview and you didn't show
19:48
up. And then you got this big
19:50
excuse. Our, it's because my car, but
19:52
like, no, we all know what happened now, maybe it's the one
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off chance that it did happen but I think that's more the
19:57
exception to the rule law. Number, 40, despise the free
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lunch. I talked about this earlier in
20:05
this series that I used to work with someone that would give me
20:08
gifts, really beautiful gifts, but they weren't necessarily the
20:11
best employee. And I knew why they were giving
20:13
me gifts because they were trying to get away with things
20:16
later on, it's the free lunch and you need to be aware when
20:20
When people are extra, nice to you and want to give you gifts,
20:22
there is no something for nothing in this world, I don't
20:25
care what like no one is giving you anything out of the kindness
20:28
of their heart and they might have good motivations, they
20:32
might be being kind, but they might want to be kind to get
20:35
something in return. So, be careful when you work
20:39
with people and they want to give you this or they want to
20:41
get on your good side and give you that like just have your
20:44
guard up. No one is ever really given you
20:46
anything. Usually right.
20:49
Maybe unless It's like your parents or a family member.
20:52
Usually when someone that works for you or that you work with is
20:55
trying to give you something you have to be careful because there
20:58
is no something for nothing, you pay now or you pay later and
21:02
this is a lesson that I think would be good for you to learn
21:05
now because It could prevent you from making some serious
21:10
mistakes and owing people being indebted to people, you know,
21:14
you did them a favor. They I'm sorry they did you a
21:16
favor and then they come back to collect at a certain point.
21:18
You're going to have to, you're going to have to pay up your
21:21
debt for the favor, right? And, and we're talking minor
21:24
things, but sometimes they're bigger things, right?
21:26
So just be mindful, there is no free lunch.
21:29
And if you're smart about it, you'll ask yourself, why do they
21:32
want to give me things for free? What is there to gain by them?
21:36
Giving me this think about it. Like just just sit back and
21:39
think about the last person that gave you a gift outside of a
21:43
loved one. Right?
21:44
Someone that you work with it. Why was it that they gave you a
21:46
gift? Think about it was, it was it
21:48
truly a reward? Was there something that you had
21:51
to do for it? Right there.
21:52
There is some sort of exchange for of energy that goes on with
21:55
every gift exchange, right? You had to do something to earn
21:59
it, or you will have to do something to earn it.
22:01
So anyway, Do that experiment on your own law.
22:05
Number 41 avoid stepping into a great Man's Shoes.
22:10
This is an interesting one for chefs because sometimes you're
22:12
taking over a chef job and you might be going from cook and
22:16
you're replacing the sous, chef that left where you might be
22:19
going from sous, chef to executive chef, or you might be
22:21
taking over a new restaurant or kitchen.
22:23
And a lot of times it's very difficult to take over places
22:27
where someone was doing exceptionally well.
22:30
I took over an executive chef job once, and this person was
22:35
loved, they were loved by their entire team.
22:38
And I went in there and thinking, well, I'm a solid
22:41
Chef, I'm a great cook. And I was a little bit naive and
22:44
I went in there, thinking I could win them over and I wasn't
22:47
going to lay anyone off. I was going to go in and just
22:49
win them over and it was one of the biggest mistakes I've made
22:52
in my career because they were so loyal.
22:54
Not only had they worked with this person.
22:55
At this one job, they had worked with him at the previous job,
22:57
two or three jobs. They had been loyal to this
22:59
person. So when I Came in, you know, up
23:02
front. You get the gifts.
23:04
Like I talked about there were very nice to me and upfront and
23:06
courteous, but then little by little, they all started
23:09
quitting on me. And I regret that because I
23:12
could have brought people on early on.
23:15
But instead I had to deal with the constant disaster of
23:17
everyone quitting to go and work for this Chef, I've also done
23:21
that. Like I've worked somewhere as a
23:23
chef and then I go somewhere else and my team comes with me
23:26
because they're loyal to me. And I often think to myself, boy
23:29
it must have sucked to be the chef that came in after me
23:32
because all the team talked about was, oh, I'm going to go
23:35
work over there. It's not as good as it used to
23:37
be right. It's frustrating for the new
23:38
person to come in. So I would caution you if you're
23:42
going to be in that position where you're taking over for
23:44
someone that is especially someone that was beloved in the
23:46
position, it makes it makes your job, much more difficult, so
23:51
just be cautious of that. Also, from a culinary
23:54
perspective, I also think it's important that you create your
23:58
own path when it comes to the food that you're serving.
24:00
So don't try and exactly copy. Another person's menu Cuisine
24:09
style, you have to stand on your own two feet.
24:12
That's the greatest. The greatest expression someone
24:17
can have is to express themselves uniquely, right?
24:20
And not express what someone else has done.
24:23
So you need to stand on your own two feet and also in this
24:25
industry especially with Instagram and Google and all
24:28
this other stuff, people know. Like if you're copying someone
24:30
else's style people know and it's important that you have
24:32
your own unique style and that is assuming that you're doing
24:35
like a chef-driven concept. However if it's just you know
24:39
I'd say if it's if it's if it's General Cuisine I think everyone
24:42
kind of cooks the same way if we're talking about like okay
24:44
make it Gumbo everyone might make it the same way or make
24:47
pommes puree or onion soup. That's different.
24:49
I'm talking about if you're making Chef Andres onion soup,
24:53
that does it a certain way? Well then everyone's going to
24:55
know that okay, that's clearly their version of it.
24:57
Anyway, law number 42, strike the shepherd and the Sheep will
25:01
scatter. This is very common in larger
25:05
operations but it's also common in small kitchens.
25:07
There might be someone that is the Bad Apple but sometimes that
25:12
bad apple that might be stirring up descent in your kitchen,
25:16
might have the support of the people around them.
25:19
So a lot of times I noticed this is there's usually like a more
25:22
experienced, cook could be a sous chef, but let's just say
25:25
it's a more experienced cooked and they're really good at
25:27
complaining and talking and they understand how to stir up the
25:31
passion in the cooks around. So they'll say something like,
25:34
oh I can't believe the chef does this.
25:36
Why don't we get that or you know they are speaking about the
25:41
obvious frustrations that usually everyone is feeling but
25:45
they are able to make it like to turn those frustrations which
25:49
are very normal, right? You work in a kitchen there's
25:51
going to be frustrations that everyone feels I'm working too
25:53
long. I'm on my feet all day.
25:54
Why do they get to sit down? Why do they get water?
25:57
Why do they get to make themselves this like it's the
25:59
constant y? Then y then y them.
26:01
And so this person stirs up contention, And dissent amongst
26:04
the team and the people that are not wise to this happening, they
26:09
start to go along for the ride and they start to rot.
26:12
You're right. They start to Rally behind this
26:14
person when you. And, and if you're listening to
26:17
this, you know, who that person is in your kitchen, you have to
26:19
be careful with them. But if you're the chef and you
26:21
were aware that this is happening, it's your job to
26:24
remove them, because when you remove them from the kitchen,
26:27
all of a sudden there's peace, again, there's stability in the
26:31
kitchen becomes calm. So, the expression of strike,
26:35
the shepherd and the Sheep will scatter another way to think
26:38
about it. Is you have to remove that bad
26:42
apple from the bunch if not, it will spoil the rest of the
26:45
apples be mindful of this because this exists in almost
26:49
every single Kitchen in the world.
26:51
Lot number 43, work on the hearts and minds of others.
26:55
If you want a loyal team, if you want to be able to move your
26:59
kitchen, forward and progress, there needs to be strong
27:02
leadership coming from you then. Has to be a sense of belonging.
27:05
Everyone needs to have a purpose.
27:08
You have to have a vision to move forward, but more
27:10
importantly, than all of that is.
27:12
You need to be connected to your team.
27:15
You need to know who they are. You need to have conversations
27:17
with them. They need to feel like they're a
27:18
part of what you're trying to accomplish, so they could be
27:21
invested in it. And that's not going to happen
27:23
by talking down to people. That's not going to happen by
27:27
acting like you're the exception to the rule, as I like to say
27:29
Caesars, not above the law. So, if the rule is 41, a rule is
27:33
for rahl. Because the second that you say,
27:36
this is a rule for all of you guys, but it's not a rule for
27:39
me, right? You all are not allowed to do
27:42
this, but I am because I'm the chef and maybe there's some gray
27:46
area and that like, of course, we're talking about certain
27:48
things. So, I'm just talking about like
27:49
the rules of if the rule is fold, your towels.
27:52
Everyone has to fold their towels.
27:53
Not just not just the cooks of the chef has to do it too.
27:57
Everything that you have to hold people accountable to, you need
27:59
to be able to do it yourself. And I've talked about this
28:01
before, but in order to win the hearts and minds of people, they
28:05
have to understand that you're human, they have to understand
28:07
that you're with them and they have to understand that you're
28:09
not acting outside of the rules and that you support them on it.
28:14
But that Mission Vision and purpose that everyone needs to
28:18
understand. It has to be clearly
28:20
communicated in everyone needs to understand what it is.
28:22
Everyone you should be able to go up to every cook in your
28:24
kitchen and say, what are we trying to achieve?
28:25
How are we going to do it? And what is your role in
28:27
achieving that and all three. All three things should be easy
28:31
for them to answer and if they cannot then either either you
28:35
haven't done a good job at explaining that to them or they
28:39
don't care. And I would assume it's probably
28:42
that you haven't done a good job explaining that to them.
28:44
So that's something very important because people will
28:46
stick around if they feel that they have a sense of belonging
28:49
and a sense of purpose. And you as the chef assuming
28:53
that you're the chef, you're the person that needs to create that
28:55
and if you're not the chef, if you're the cook, you know, ask
28:58
yourself. Do I know those three things in
29:00
my own kitchen, law, number 44, disarm and infuriate, with the
29:05
mirror effect. Now, mirroring is something that
29:09
we talked about in body language, where you match their
29:13
tone, you match their body language.
29:14
If they tilt their head one way, you've also copy them and you
29:17
tilt your head the same way. And this is something that's
29:20
done in body language. Build rapport.
29:22
I teach it to people that I Mentor when they go on
29:24
interviews like you should measure someone's body language
29:26
if you want. If you want them to like you in
29:29
the reason you would mirror someone's body language is
29:31
because people like things like themselves.
29:34
So as a mirror you see this is an example.
29:38
If you act like I act and you move like I move in, you talk
29:43
how I talk? That means you must be a lot
29:44
like me and I like me. So I like you.
29:46
That's a very simple way of explaining it.
29:48
So that's it. That is just using the mirror.
29:51
Rain effect to get ahead. Whether we're talking about job
29:53
interviews, but if we want to use the mirror effect to
29:56
infuriate people, I'll give you an example.
29:58
I had a chef that was stealing my Cooks.
30:00
Deliberately like he was showing up at job fairs, he was copying
30:04
my ideas. He was doing everything he could
30:07
to replicate what I was creating and fronting, like he was my
30:11
friend, which like I was stupid, like, I wasn't wise to what he
30:14
was doing. Like I said I'm freaking Art of
30:17
War Chef. Like I see your moves and I'm
30:20
two moves ahead. It but when you start doing that
30:24
back to the back to them and, you know, the Trap that they're
30:27
trying to set for you and you play their own Trap Back on
30:31
them. That's infuriating.
30:33
That's the mirror effect. So as a chef, you have to be
30:36
wise to this, use the mirror effect to your advantage of
30:40
people are stealing dishes from you.
30:42
And you know they stole your exact dish steal, their exact
30:45
dish return, the favor and maybe they'll get the message maybe
30:49
that's an extreme example but that's Basically what I'm trying
30:52
to say here. Law number 45, preach the need
30:56
for change, but never reform too much at once, and this is an
30:59
excellent lot. I could definitely apply to
31:01
being a chef whenever I would go into a place, I would always for
31:06
the first 30 days, and I do talk about this in culinary
31:08
leadership fundamentals. But whenever I go into a new
31:10
place for the first 30 days, I would try not to change
31:13
anything. I would just sit back and
31:15
understand and I would work the first 30 days straight.
31:18
If it was a hotel or a restaurant, I would try to work
31:20
the Thirty Days Straight if I could and I would take a journal
31:24
and I would mark down all the things that I wanted to change
31:27
immediately. But I wouldn't change anything.
31:31
I would just write them down and the reason I would do that is
31:33
because After you've been at a place for a certain amount of
31:37
time. You stopped seeing things that
31:38
what they call wallpaper like, it's just there, you don't even
31:40
notice it anymore. You don't remember the color of
31:42
the wallpaper but when you're new and you have a fresh set of
31:45
eyes, it's important to jot down all the things that you want to
31:48
change, but it's not realistic that you will be able to change
31:52
all the things immediately upon taking over as a chef.
31:55
If you write down 200 things, there's no way you're going to
31:58
change 200 things and it's going to stick.
32:01
So once you've determined what those things are that you need
32:03
to change, then it's slowly. But surely prioritize them.
32:07
What is the most important thing to change in this kitchen?
32:09
And normally I'm like if it's like a health concern you got to
32:12
change that right away or if there's something that's
32:15
unethical going on in your kitchen, address that right away
32:18
but besides those two, if it's like we should move the cryovac
32:22
machine over here like just just pump your brakes.
32:24
There might be a good reason why certain things are done in a
32:27
kitchen that you don't fully understand yet because I've gone
32:30
to Places in, I've made that list of several hundred things
32:33
that I want to change and then I go back and look at it after 30
32:36
days and I'm like okay now I understand why that works.
32:39
That way I'm actually scratching that off the list and I'm not
32:41
going to change it because I understand why it's done this
32:43
way at this place. So The other reason you want to
32:48
not do so much at once is because it won't stick whenever
32:51
you're making change and you have a lot of Staff.
32:53
The old expression of a lot of places will do like standard of
32:56
the day, and I say, do the standard until it's right.
32:59
Because if you, if you hit them with the standard of the day at
33:01
every single day, it's something different.
33:03
They're not all going to stick, right?
33:04
They're going to forget what the standard of the day was 10 days
33:07
ago. So if the standard I'm just
33:08
saying, this is fold, your towels, let's just use this
33:10
because I love this example of the standard is fold, your
33:12
towels, then make that the standard every single day until
33:15
You can no longer find a towel that's unfolded, and then it's
33:18
like great, we've mastered fold the towels.
33:20
Now we're moving on to cut the tapes rate and so on and so
33:22
forth. So if you implement too much at
33:25
once, it's not going to stick the likelihood of it.
33:27
Sticking is very low, so go slow but be deliberate and don't
33:33
overwhelm your team. Don't forget, the change is more
33:36
difficult for them than it is for you because they've been
33:39
doing it a certain way for a long time.
33:40
It's the ghost in the machine that keeps it go in a certain
33:43
way and they might not even know why they do it.
33:45
That's The way they've always done it.
33:46
So make change gradual because it can be overwhelming and then
33:50
when it becomes overwhelming, a lot of people decide to leave
33:53
and then could be a bad thing. Law number 46, never appear to
33:58
perfect show. Humility be humble, be open to
34:01
feedback demonstrate that, you're committed.
34:03
To improving yourself as a chef and a leader and that you also
34:07
have the opportunity to grow when you make a mistake.
34:10
Like let's just say you put a bad dish on the menu and it's a
34:12
bad dish, don't not take it off out of pride.
34:15
I'd go take it off and tell your team.
34:17
It just sucked. It was a bad dish.
34:19
Let them see that. You are humble, and that you're
34:22
human and that you have and that you make mistakes just like
34:25
everyone else. if you appear to be too perfect, sometimes that
34:30
could cause resentment because because people know you're not
34:34
perfect and they'll see your bullshit and if they see your
34:38
bullshit but you act like that bullshit doesn't exist, then
34:41
they begin to resent you and they like then it's not only do
34:46
we see your bullshit but we also think you're full of shit.
34:48
So being humble, will actually connect you more with the team
34:53
once they see that you're human, just like them and you make
34:55
mistakes and telling them those stories, sharing, those stories
34:59
of being humble and your mistakes makes you more
35:01
relatable and ultimately You want at the end of the day,
35:03
especially with your team, as you want to be relatable to them
35:06
law. Number 47, don't go past the
35:08
mark, you aimed for in Victory. Learn when to stop. sometimes,
35:13
you know, you might achieve a milestone or an award and I'll
35:17
tell you I'll tell you the in my situation I had achieved a
35:24
certain amount of success and I kept, you know, the way I am is,
35:27
like, I want more, I want more, I want more and by pushing for
35:30
more, I pushed beyond the capabilities of not only myself,
35:35
but also of my team. You know, we were x amount of
35:38
staff in the kitchen and we were creating great food in order to
35:42
create even better food. I said, well, let's just we
35:45
pushed to this level. Let's push to the next level and
35:47
so we made the food. Exponentially more difficult,
35:49
but we couldn't We didn't have more staff and we didn't have
35:53
more resources. But I wanted more, I thought,
35:55
you know, the best chefs are doing this.
35:56
I need to do this and by doing. So what ended up happening is
35:59
that it ended up causing really disastrous Services because the
36:04
food was too complicated. We were punching way above our
36:07
weight, not as an individual, but as a whole as a collective,
36:11
there was no way that we could perform at this level without
36:13
more resources added. But I wanted to keep pushing and
36:16
I didn't know when to stop and because I didn't know when to
36:19
stop it ended up becoming a failure.
36:22
And I think it's important that, you know, that you need to be
36:24
realistic with your goals and when you achieve them, if there
36:27
is no additional influx of capital or resources or cooks or
36:31
whatever the case may be. Whatever it is that you need to
36:33
succeed, then you need to know. This is we're going to be for a
36:36
while at least with the cards that were dealt.
36:38
This is a very good place. Let's refine where we're at
36:42
versus trying to go through to the next level.
36:44
That is unattainable which may cause failure.
36:47
And it's an important thing that people understand that
36:50
especially as a chef, because I've seen many chefs lose
36:53
themselves, myself included because they pushed a little too
36:56
hard and they were punching above their weight without the
36:59
resources available to do so, law, number 48, Assume
37:03
formlessness. Let's talk about culinary
37:05
Trends. I'm often reluctant to talk
37:07
about Trends and people often ask me like why don't I post
37:10
more food? And the reason I don't do that
37:12
is because then you get tied to this idea of that's who they
37:17
are. That's what they cook.
37:18
And I go back and I look at food that I've made over the course
37:20
of my career and like, the stuff that I was making 15 years ago
37:23
that I thought was amazing, I think is terrible now, even
37:26
sometimes I look at the stuff that I was serving five years
37:29
ago and I think, wow, that's really dated.
37:31
And at the Moment, I thought it was incredible if I played it
37:34
something today, five years from now, I'm gonna look back and
37:37
think it's terrible. You have to be open to evolving
37:40
and I don't want people to identify again.
37:43
I'm using myself as the example, I don't want people to identify
37:46
me with a certain style of food, because that's not what chefs
37:48
PSA is about chefs. PSA is about helping you become
37:50
a better Chef. It's not about showing you the
37:53
latest technique when it comes to cooking, it's more about how
37:56
to think like a chef and how to think, like a strategist.
37:59
That's what chefs PSA is about, how to succeed in a kitchen as a
38:01
cook or a chef Chef and the advice I would give to someone
38:04
when I say be formless is don't pigeonhole yourself into a
38:07
specific Trend and I've seen a lot of chefs go wrong with this
38:11
and I'll give you an example. If everyone jumped onto the
38:15
Molecular Gastronomy Trend in the early 2000s, when Ferran
38:19
Adria was way hot on top and I'm talking about, like, serious
38:22
bubble food like spheres, you know, just a bowl full of air or
38:26
whatever the case may be, if you had, if you were serving that
38:30
today, I think people would be like what the fuck are you?
38:32
Doing why are you doing this? No one would get it and you
38:35
might be get pigeonholed into being that Chef.
38:38
That only does that type of food or you're the chef that only
38:41
does forging or whatever the case may be.
38:44
If you get pigeonholed into that I don't think that's so smart.
38:48
I think that you need to be formless.
38:51
I think that you need to be a great cook.
38:52
I think you should focus on the technique, I think you focus on
38:55
making delicious food and I think you should have a large
38:59
repertoire because Trends come and go.
39:02
And I I could tell you as someone who was in the business
39:04
for 27 years as a chef About every three years, there's a new
39:09
trend that pops up. And after about six years,
39:13
whatever was going on six years almost seems Obsolete and dated
39:17
especially if it was a trend Trends, die.
39:20
I mean, by the very nature of the word it's going to die the
39:23
trend so be careful with Trends. Focus on just being a good cook
39:27
and a good Chef. Anyway, be formless, that was
39:30
law. Number 48, that was the 48 Laws
39:33
of Power As Told from a chef my perspective.
39:38
I hope you enjoyed this series. I enjoyed doing it.
39:40
It was provocative for me to think about every single law and
39:43
how it could be analogous to a chef's life.
39:47
How people could incorporate it into what they do and also
39:50
things to look out for and I hope that maybe you could come
39:53
back to this series and listen to it again and maybe hear
39:56
things that maybe you didn't hear the first time around.
39:59
I know I do that often. When I'm reading books, I'll go
40:01
back and read a book again. I'll be like, I don't remember
40:03
reading that and that makes total sense now especially
40:06
depending on where you are in life.
40:07
Life. This podcast series might ring
40:10
differently when you're a cook forces.
40:12
Sous chef versus the head chef and the shepherd's open up a
40:16
restaurant. It might, it might sound
40:19
different to you in different things will make sense at
40:21
different stages in your career. Anyway, if you want to support
40:24
the show, the best thing to do is leave five stars because it's
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a five-star podcast, I appreciate the five-star
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reviews. Very much.
40:31
Go support, what we do at Chefs PS a.com, you can get the books,
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their culinary leadership fundamentals, kitchen Art of War
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line. Cook survival manual, how not to
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be the biggest idiot in the kitchen.
40:42
There's journals available there to Chef journals.
40:44
You can write shit down which you should be, you should be
40:46
writing your recipes down and chefs.
40:48
PSA has a very nice Journal that you could go get if you want the
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Go support chefs. PSA leave five stars.
41:02
See you next week, hit the porno music.