March 13, 2025 • 17 mins
In the fast-paced world of professional kitchens, leadership often boils down to barking orders and meeting metrics.
"Leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the kitchen or demanding respect. It's about earning it through authenticity, guidance, and leading by example." - Adam Lamb
But what if there's a more powerful way to lead? One that not only drives performance but also nurtures a thriving kitchen culture?
Subscribe: The Recipe For Your Success Newsletter
In this episode of Chef Life Radio, we're diving deep into the concept of heart-centered leadership. We'll explore why leading with empathy, connection, and vision isn't just a feel-good approach – it's a strategic advantage that can transform your kitchen from the inside out.
The Power of Heart-Centered Leadership
Discover how prioritizing the human element in your kitchen can:
- Foster trust and inspire excellence
- Reduce turnover and boost team morale
- Create a culture of ownership and innovation
Emotional Intelligence: Your Secret Ingredient
Learn why managing emotions – both yours and your team's – is crucial in high-pressure environments. We'll discuss practical strategies for:
- Navigating stress without losing composure
- Building genuine connections with your staff
- Creating a stable, supportive work environment
Compassion vs. Weakness: Striking the Right Balance
Worried that heart-centered leadership means being a pushover? Think again. We'll explore:
- Setting high standards while providing support
- Holding people accountable with empathy
- The difference between being kind and being soft
Real-World Impact: Stories from the Kitchen
I'll share personal experiences that illustrate the transformative power of heart-centered leadership, including:
- How active listening uncovered hidden potential in my team
- The unexpected benefits of vulnerability in building trust
- A pivotal moment that reshaped my entire approach to leadership
Actionable Steps for Heart-Centered Leadership
Walk away with practical strategies you can implement immediately:
- Conduct meaningful check-ins that go beyond work tasks
- Recognize effort, not just results
- Set clear expectations with empathy and support
Ready to create a kitchen where your team doesn't just survive, but truly thrives? Tune in to discover how leading with heart can elevate your culinary leadership and transform your kitchen culture.
Until Next Week;
Stay Tall & Frosty & Remember to Lead From the Heart
Adam
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome back to the Show Chef.
Every episode you hear me say at thevery end, don't forget to lead with the
heart, but what does that actually mean?
Does leading with the heartmake you a soft leader?
Does it mean you put emotionsover business, or is it the key to
creating a stronger, more resilientand more successful kitchen culture?
Today we're breaking it down.
(00:24):
We'll get into what heart-centeredleadership really is.
Why it matters and how you can apply itin your kitchen right after this message.
Welcome to Chef Life Radio, the podcastdedicated to helping chefs and culinary
leaders take control of their kitchens,build resilient teams, and create
(00:45):
a thriving career in hospitality.
I'm Chef Adam Lamp, your host,leadership coach, and industry veteran.
If you're tired of high turnover.
Burnout and the dailygrind, you're not alone.
This podcast is here to give you thereal strategies, insights, and tools you
need to lead with confidence, build aculture of excellence and craft a kitchen
that works for you, not against you.
(01:06):
Because the best kitchens don'tjust survive, they thrive.
Hit that subscribe buttonand let's get started.
Welcome back to the show.
Leading with the Heart means prioritizing,connection, empathy, and vision.
Over simply enforcing rules andhitting performance metrics, those
goddamn KPIs, a heart-centered leaderdoesn't just manage tasks, they
(01:29):
build trust, inspire and create anenvironment where people wanna excel.
When leaders focus solely on efficiencyand discipline, without considering
the human element, they createa transactional work environment
rather than a transformational one.
Leadership as a relationship.
A kitchen isn't just about food,it's about the people making it.
(01:51):
Strong leadership recognizes thehuman element behind every dish,
fostering respect and camaraderie.
When chefs feel like they're morethan just workers, they invest
more in their work and their team.
Emotional intelligence and leadership.
Recognizing and managing your ownemotions while also understanding the
emotions of your team is a criticalskill for heart-centered leadership.
(02:15):
I. The ability to navigate high pressuresituations while remaining composed,
creates stability for your team.
The difference between compassion andweakness, many believe that leading with
the heart means being soft In reality,it's about setting high standards while
providing the support needed to meet them.
(02:35):
Compassionate leaders hold peopleaccountable while also giving them
the tools, feedback and encouragementnecessary for improvement.
It doesn't mean being a doormat.
There's a difference betweenbeing soft and being kind.
Here's a reflection.
Do you lead with inspirationand understanding, or just with
(02:57):
the rules and expectations?
So there I was on the beachin Bradenton, Florida.
I had gotten out of the industry.
I thought my life was going in acompletely different direction,
and as soon as I got settledinto this beautiful home.
In a gated community.
With my steady partner, I gota call and it was from somebody
(03:21):
who I hadn't heard from in years.
This was a chef that I had knownfor all my life, and he says to me,
Hey, listen, I just took over thishuge property in Virginia and it's,
it's nine kitchens and 15 outlets.
It does $21 million a year, andit's just too big for me to handle.
(03:44):
Would you come and be my sous chef?
And I thought to myself, shit, Iain't been a sous chef in 25 years.
What am I gonna do with that?
I was totally confused.
I hung up.
I turned to my girlfriendand I say, I thought that I
was supposed to go this way.
Now it's pulling me back that way.
Kind of like being in the mafia, right?
Gonna pull you back in.
(04:05):
And I said to her, now,what the hell am I gonna do?
And she very quietly waited and then saidto me, I. Adam, you'll never know if it's
right unless you go on the adventure.
It's always a yes until it's a no.
I'm like, what?
What do you mean?
She says, go down the rabbit hole,and if there's something that's
gonna say no, you'll find it.
(04:27):
The journey is not in your head.
It's in the steps that you take.
Funny enough, in sevendays I was processed.
On property in uniform, walking into myfirst meeting, and that's when I knew
that that's probably where I should be.
But even then, I spent about fouror five months kicking and screaming
(04:48):
about why the hell am I there?
My girlfriend is inFlorida, I'm in Virginia.
I can't even see her.
What the hell is going on?
Like raging at the skies.
Frankly, being a completevictim of my circumstance.
One night on the phone, Jennifer saidto me, listen, why don't you just be
where you're at and have what you have?
(05:08):
And I didn't understand what she meantthen, but over the next couple days,
as I was going through work, I startedto understand like what would it feel
like to actually be present insteadof trying to figure out where I was
supposed to be or why this particularposition wasn't the right one for me.
Now, this is the first time.
In 25 years that I hadn't beenthe executive chef, I didn't have
(05:32):
that weight up on my shouldersor heavy hangs the crown.
As a matter of fact, my friend wouldgo around as the executive chef and
he would bark his orders and he woulddemean people or he would do whatever
he was doing, and then I was up to meto kind of come around and pick up the
pieces and smooth all the feathers andmake sure that everybody understood
that this is just his way of doing it.
(05:55):
But.
In a very real sense, I understood clearlythe difference between leading with
personality and leading by standards.
Not to say that what he was doing waswrong because it wasn't what I was doing
wasn't necessarily right or wrong either,but the blending of the two created an
opportunity for the associates in thatproperty to actually be mentored and
(06:18):
coached in such a way that they foundthemselves thinking about themselves.
Beyond that present moment, likewhat they possibly become because
we were gonna provide the tools,information, and time in order for
them to create their excellence.
I laughingly would admit thatmy job was as simple as having
a thousand conversations a day.
(06:41):
But it's weird when you providean opportunity to start a
conversation and actually spendmore time listening than talking.
That's what I mean aboutleading from the heart.
Why leading from the heart isthe key to long-term success.
Kitchens led with heart, have higherretention, lower burnout, and stronger
(07:03):
team dynamics because people feel valued,heard, and invested in their work.
When employees feel like they aremerely a cog in the machine, they
disengage leading to higher turnoverand lower overall team morale.
Leadership that prioritizes humanconnection leads to long-term success.
Fostering an environment wherepeople take pride in their
(07:26):
contributions, fear versus inspiration.
Leaders who rule with fear get short-termcompliance, but leaders who lead
with heart gain long-term loyalty.
Employees will follow orders when afraid,but they will go above and beyond when
they feel inspired and appreciated.
(07:47):
The burnout factor.
A heart-centered leader knows thatsupporting their team's wellbeing is
just as important as driving performance.
When people feel emotionally drained orundervalued, they disengage or leave.
Kitchens with high turnover rates struggleto maintain consistency and quality.
The cultural shift, creating a culturewhere employees feel empowered,
(08:12):
fosters a stronger sense of ownership.
Meaning fewer mistakes, betterteamwork, higher levels of
creativity in the kitchen.
And when chefs feel respected and heard,they contribute ideas, solve problems
proactively, and take initiative.
Leading with the heart doesn'tmean ignoring accountability.
It means setting high standards whilealso supporting people and reaching them.
(08:36):
It's one thing to give someone a job, it'sanother thing entirely to support them
all the way through the jobs completion.
I once took over.
One of the most successful kitchens on theIntercoastal in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
and I had a mandate to change the menu,and so I went through all the processes,
created all the standards, created allthe station maps, wrote all the recipes,
(08:59):
and then plastered them everywhere inthe kitchen on the day that we were
supposed to change everything over.
It's 1145.
Everybody's ready.
Everybody's been prepped.
We've gone over this several days andI'm calling out orders, and all of
a sudden everything's getting kickedinto the window and I had to stop
because I couldn't understand why thesaute cook was preparing all the old
(09:20):
menu items stopped what we were doing.
Went up, started talking to him.
He is like, I got it, chef.
It's no problem.
Went back in the front, startedkicking ass again, and then he
continued to do the same thing.
I could not understand what was goingon, so I. Went behind the line, pulled
him off the side, used my body andmy presence to kind of block him in a
(09:40):
corner and say, dude, what's going on?
You're making me look bad.
Didn't we talk about this?
Haven't we trained this?
Haven't I provided you the tools and theknowledge and the time in order to create
this such that you could be successful?
And the entire time I'm talking tohim, he's looking down at his shoes.
And when I paused, hesays to me, but chef.
(10:04):
I can't read.
And in that moment, my heart broke formany reasons, for my arrogance, for my
overbearing attitude, for the fact thatI didn't consider this a possibility
previously and made allowances for it.
And in that moment, all I coulddo was just say, I'm sorry.
Was it his fault that he didn'thave the tools in order to succeed?
(10:27):
Was it my fault that I didn'tunderstand what he needed first?
All that bullshit aside that caused us togo down the rabbit hole of like what it
would be like to create an ESOL program,bring it to the property and make the
same opportunity available to everybody.
And that came from the heart.
That didn't come from standards orprocedures or any of that stuff.
(10:48):
It caused me to go over there with himand understand what it must have been
like for him to try to struggle throughbluff through until he could succeed.
And I'd been there.
All I knew that that sucked.
Having a consistent standard ofperformance is the only way to hold
(11:09):
associates accountable, but that stilldoesn't account for the fact that some
are more disadvantaged than othersdive, or at least a concerted effort.
If I couldn't meet him where he was.
Then I was not only failing him,but I was failing the entire team.
Leading with the heart isn't justa concept, it's a set of actionable
(11:29):
habits and behaviors that create ahigh performing motivated kitchen team.
To be effective, a leader mustintegrate their principles into
daily operations and ensuring thattheir actions align with their words.
Active listening.
Truly hearing what your team is saying andaddressing their concerns, builds trust,
and fosters a positive work culture.
(11:49):
Leaders who listen, well cultivatean atmosphere where employees feel
safe, voicing ideas and concernswithout fear of retaliation.
That means creating an opportunity,a safe space, or a container in
which to voice those concerns.
Encouraging ownership, giving employeesa sense of autonomy and investment
in their work leads to higherengagement and better performance.
(12:12):
Empowering team members to takeresponsibility and problem solve.
Strengthens the entire kitchen,but don't set them up for failure.
Give them an idea of what itlooks like to succeed clearly,
and then follow up consistently.
Balancing tough love with support,holding people accountable, while also
providing the tools, mentorship, andencouragement they need to succeed.
(12:35):
A leader should be firm, yet fair offeringguidance rather than micromanagement.
One of the most pivotal moments in mycareer was when I was the executive
chef of a hotel in Hollywood, Floridathat was taken over by a real estate
investment trust, and they brought in thisreally hot GM to transition everything.
(12:56):
And one night I am back in the kitchendoing my thing, and I see him walk in the
back halls and he comes into the kitchen.
He says, chef, you know youreally love what you do.
And I'm like, yes, I do,sir. Thank you very much.
He's like, do you always wantto be like chained to the stove?
I'm like, what are you interested in?
All in learning what it's liketo actually run the business
(13:18):
instead of being in the business.
That was Dave Milas.
At that time, I had a long assponytail and a French braid with
pencil stuck in the back of my head.
I thought about that all night long,and I came back the next day and I
shaved everything off, not becausehe asked, because I wanted to.
(13:40):
Acknowledge what he said to me as anopportunity to go deeper into my craft.
I gotta admit that it was probablythe first time in my career that
I was willing to shed the skin Iwas in to discover something else.
Wasn't easy, kind of rocky feltshitty, but I stuck with it because
(14:03):
iteration upon iteration uponiteration is the only path to success.
And looking back, even then, Iunderstood that I was trying to
be 1% better than I was yesterday.
More understanding, more expansive.
More willing to fail.
(14:23):
More willing to try just a littlebit farther than yesterday, just 1%.
Your action steps for this episode,number one, check in with your team.
Not just about work, butabout their wellbeing.
Be willing to view them as awhole and complete human being.
(14:46):
Number two, recognizeeffort, not just results.
That means celebrating small wins whilealso calling out opportunities for growth.
Number three, set expectationswith clarity and empathy.
Challenge your team, butalso give them the tools.
Knowledge time to rise to that next level.
(15:08):
A heart led kitchen is ahigh performing kitchen.
When chefs feel valued, theybring their best, not just for
the paycheck, but because theybelieve in what they're doing.
If today's conversation resonatedwith you, take a moment to reflect
on how you are leading your kitchen.
Are you just giving ordersor are you inspiring action.
(15:28):
Remember, leadership ismore than management.
It's about making a lasting impacton your team and your culture.
Leadership isn't about being the loudestvoice in the kitchen or demanding respect.
It's about earning it throughauthenticity, guidance, and leading by
example, transparency and vulnerability.
Ask yourself, how do my team membersfeel when they leave their shift?
(15:52):
Are they leaving motivated and inspired?
Are they drained and discouraged?
The answer to that question reflectsthe leadership culture you are building.
So the next time you step in your kitchen,ask yourself, am I leading with the heart?
Until next time, stay tall and frostyand don't forget to lead with the heart.
(16:16):
That's a wrap for today'sepisode of Chef Life Radio.
If this resonated with you, do me a favor,subscribe, share, and leave a review.
Your feedback helps us reach moreculinary leaders like you who are ready
to take their kitchens to the next level.
Want more connect with me onLinkedIn, Instagram, or join our Chef
Life Radio community for exclusiveinsights and leadership tools.
(16:37):
Remember, leadershipisn't about perfection.
It's about progress.
So take what you've learned todayand apply it in your kitchen,
your team, and your life.
Chef Life Radio is more thanjust a podcast, it's a movement.
The focus is no longer just on careersurvival, but on transforming leadership,
creating sustainability, and ensuringchefs can build kitchens that thrive.
Remember, the secret ingredientto culinary success isn't just in
(16:59):
the food, it's in the leadership.
Keep learning, keepgrowing, and as always.
Lead with the heart.
See you next time.
Welcome back to the Show Chef.
Every episode you hear me say at thevery end, don't forget to lead with the
heart, but what does that actually mean?
Does leading with the heartmake you a soft leader?
Does it mean you put emotionsover business, or is it the key to
creating a stronger, more resilientand more successful kitchen culture?
Today we're breaking it down.
(00:24):
We'll get into what heart-centeredleadership really is.
Why it matters and how you can apply itin your kitchen right after this message.
Welcome to Chef Life Radio, the podcastdedicated to helping chefs and culinary
leaders take control of their kitchens,build resilient teams, and create
(00:45):
a thriving career in hospitality.
I'm Chef Adam Lamp, your host,leadership coach, and industry veteran.
If you're tired of high turnover.
Burnout and the dailygrind, you're not alone.
This podcast is here to give you thereal strategies, insights, and tools you
need to lead with confidence, build aculture of excellence and craft a kitchen
that works for you, not against you.
(01:06):
Because the best kitchens don'tjust survive, they thrive.
Hit that subscribe buttonand let's get started.
Welcome back to the show.
Leading with the Heart means prioritizing,connection, empathy, and vision.
Over simply enforcing rules andhitting performance metrics, those
goddamn KPIs, a heart-centered leaderdoesn't just manage tasks, they
(01:29):
build trust, inspire and create anenvironment where people wanna excel.
When leaders focus solely on efficiencyand discipline, without considering
the human element, they createa transactional work environment
rather than a transformational one.
Leadership as a relationship.
A kitchen isn't just about food,it's about the people making it.
(01:51):
Strong leadership recognizes thehuman element behind every dish,
fostering respect and camaraderie.
When chefs feel like they're morethan just workers, they invest
more in their work and their team.
Emotional intelligence and leadership.
Recognizing and managing your ownemotions while also understanding the
emotions of your team is a criticalskill for heart-centered leadership.
(02:15):
I. The ability to navigate high pressuresituations while remaining composed,
creates stability for your team.
The difference between compassion andweakness, many believe that leading with
the heart means being soft In reality,it's about setting high standards while
providing the support needed to meet them.
(02:35):
Compassionate leaders hold peopleaccountable while also giving them
the tools, feedback and encouragementnecessary for improvement.
It doesn't mean being a doormat.
There's a difference betweenbeing soft and being kind.
Here's a reflection.
Do you lead with inspirationand understanding, or just with
(02:57):
the rules and expectations?
So there I was on the beachin Bradenton, Florida.
I had gotten out of the industry.
I thought my life was going in acompletely different direction,
and as soon as I got settledinto this beautiful home.
In a gated community.
With my steady partner, I gota call and it was from somebody
(03:21):
who I hadn't heard from in years.
This was a chef that I had knownfor all my life, and he says to me,
Hey, listen, I just took over thishuge property in Virginia and it's,
it's nine kitchens and 15 outlets.
It does $21 million a year, andit's just too big for me to handle.
(03:44):
Would you come and be my sous chef?
And I thought to myself, shit, Iain't been a sous chef in 25 years.
What am I gonna do with that?
I was totally confused.
I hung up.
I turned to my girlfriendand I say, I thought that I
was supposed to go this way.
Now it's pulling me back that way.
Kind of like being in the mafia, right?
Gonna pull you back in.
(04:05):
And I said to her, now,what the hell am I gonna do?
And she very quietly waited and then saidto me, I. Adam, you'll never know if it's
right unless you go on the adventure.
It's always a yes until it's a no.
I'm like, what?
What do you mean?
She says, go down the rabbit hole,and if there's something that's
gonna say no, you'll find it.
(04:27):
The journey is not in your head.
It's in the steps that you take.
Funny enough, in sevendays I was processed.
On property in uniform, walking into myfirst meeting, and that's when I knew
that that's probably where I should be.
But even then, I spent about fouror five months kicking and screaming
(04:48):
about why the hell am I there?
My girlfriend is inFlorida, I'm in Virginia.
I can't even see her.
What the hell is going on?
Like raging at the skies.
Frankly, being a completevictim of my circumstance.
One night on the phone, Jennifer saidto me, listen, why don't you just be
where you're at and have what you have?
(05:08):
And I didn't understand what she meantthen, but over the next couple days,
as I was going through work, I startedto understand like what would it feel
like to actually be present insteadof trying to figure out where I was
supposed to be or why this particularposition wasn't the right one for me.
Now, this is the first time.
In 25 years that I hadn't beenthe executive chef, I didn't have
(05:32):
that weight up on my shouldersor heavy hangs the crown.
As a matter of fact, my friend wouldgo around as the executive chef and
he would bark his orders and he woulddemean people or he would do whatever
he was doing, and then I was up to meto kind of come around and pick up the
pieces and smooth all the feathers andmake sure that everybody understood
that this is just his way of doing it.
(05:55):
But.
In a very real sense, I understood clearlythe difference between leading with
personality and leading by standards.
Not to say that what he was doing waswrong because it wasn't what I was doing
wasn't necessarily right or wrong either,but the blending of the two created an
opportunity for the associates in thatproperty to actually be mentored and
(06:18):
coached in such a way that they foundthemselves thinking about themselves.
Beyond that present moment, likewhat they possibly become because
we were gonna provide the tools,information, and time in order for
them to create their excellence.
I laughingly would admit thatmy job was as simple as having
a thousand conversations a day.
(06:41):
But it's weird when you providean opportunity to start a
conversation and actually spendmore time listening than talking.
That's what I mean aboutleading from the heart.
Why leading from the heart isthe key to long-term success.
Kitchens led with heart, have higherretention, lower burnout, and stronger
(07:03):
team dynamics because people feel valued,heard, and invested in their work.
When employees feel like they aremerely a cog in the machine, they
disengage leading to higher turnoverand lower overall team morale.
Leadership that prioritizes humanconnection leads to long-term success.
Fostering an environment wherepeople take pride in their
(07:26):
contributions, fear versus inspiration.
Leaders who rule with fear get short-termcompliance, but leaders who lead
with heart gain long-term loyalty.
Employees will follow orders when afraid,but they will go above and beyond when
they feel inspired and appreciated.
(07:47):
The burnout factor.
A heart-centered leader knows thatsupporting their team's wellbeing is
just as important as driving performance.
When people feel emotionally drained orundervalued, they disengage or leave.
Kitchens with high turnover rates struggleto maintain consistency and quality.
The cultural shift, creating a culturewhere employees feel empowered,
(08:12):
fosters a stronger sense of ownership.
Meaning fewer mistakes, betterteamwork, higher levels of
creativity in the kitchen.
And when chefs feel respected and heard,they contribute ideas, solve problems
proactively, and take initiative.
Leading with the heart doesn'tmean ignoring accountability.
It means setting high standards whilealso supporting people and reaching them.
(08:36):
It's one thing to give someone a job, it'sanother thing entirely to support them
all the way through the jobs completion.
I once took over.
One of the most successful kitchens on theIntercoastal in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
and I had a mandate to change the menu,and so I went through all the processes,
created all the standards, created allthe station maps, wrote all the recipes,
(08:59):
and then plastered them everywhere inthe kitchen on the day that we were
supposed to change everything over.
It's 1145.
Everybody's ready.
Everybody's been prepped.
We've gone over this several days andI'm calling out orders, and all of
a sudden everything's getting kickedinto the window and I had to stop
because I couldn't understand why thesaute cook was preparing all the old
(09:20):
menu items stopped what we were doing.
Went up, started talking to him.
He is like, I got it, chef.
It's no problem.
Went back in the front, startedkicking ass again, and then he
continued to do the same thing.
I could not understand what was goingon, so I. Went behind the line, pulled
him off the side, used my body andmy presence to kind of block him in a
(09:40):
corner and say, dude, what's going on?
You're making me look bad.
Didn't we talk about this?
Haven't we trained this?
Haven't I provided you the tools and theknowledge and the time in order to create
this such that you could be successful?
And the entire time I'm talking tohim, he's looking down at his shoes.
And when I paused, hesays to me, but chef.
(10:04):
I can't read.
And in that moment, my heart broke formany reasons, for my arrogance, for my
overbearing attitude, for the fact thatI didn't consider this a possibility
previously and made allowances for it.
And in that moment, all I coulddo was just say, I'm sorry.
Was it his fault that he didn'thave the tools in order to succeed?
(10:27):
Was it my fault that I didn'tunderstand what he needed first?
All that bullshit aside that caused us togo down the rabbit hole of like what it
would be like to create an ESOL program,bring it to the property and make the
same opportunity available to everybody.
And that came from the heart.
That didn't come from standards orprocedures or any of that stuff.
(10:48):
It caused me to go over there with himand understand what it must have been
like for him to try to struggle throughbluff through until he could succeed.
And I'd been there.
All I knew that that sucked.
Having a consistent standard ofperformance is the only way to hold
(11:09):
associates accountable, but that stilldoesn't account for the fact that some
are more disadvantaged than othersdive, or at least a concerted effort.
If I couldn't meet him where he was.
Then I was not only failing him,but I was failing the entire team.
Leading with the heart isn't justa concept, it's a set of actionable
(11:29):
habits and behaviors that create ahigh performing motivated kitchen team.
To be effective, a leader mustintegrate their principles into
daily operations and ensuring thattheir actions align with their words.
Active listening.
Truly hearing what your team is saying andaddressing their concerns, builds trust,
and fosters a positive work culture.
(11:49):
Leaders who listen, well cultivatean atmosphere where employees feel
safe, voicing ideas and concernswithout fear of retaliation.
That means creating an opportunity,a safe space, or a container in
which to voice those concerns.
Encouraging ownership, giving employeesa sense of autonomy and investment
in their work leads to higherengagement and better performance.
(12:12):
Empowering team members to takeresponsibility and problem solve.
Strengthens the entire kitchen,but don't set them up for failure.
Give them an idea of what itlooks like to succeed clearly,
and then follow up consistently.
Balancing tough love with support,holding people accountable, while also
providing the tools, mentorship, andencouragement they need to succeed.
(12:35):
A leader should be firm, yet fair offeringguidance rather than micromanagement.
One of the most pivotal moments in mycareer was when I was the executive
chef of a hotel in Hollywood, Floridathat was taken over by a real estate
investment trust, and they brought in thisreally hot GM to transition everything.
(12:56):
And one night I am back in the kitchendoing my thing, and I see him walk in the
back halls and he comes into the kitchen.
He says, chef, you know youreally love what you do.
And I'm like, yes, I do,sir. Thank you very much.
He's like, do you always wantto be like chained to the stove?
I'm like, what are you interested in?
All in learning what it's liketo actually run the business
(13:18):
instead of being in the business.
That was Dave Milas.
At that time, I had a long assponytail and a French braid with
pencil stuck in the back of my head.
I thought about that all night long,and I came back the next day and I
shaved everything off, not becausehe asked, because I wanted to.
(13:40):
Acknowledge what he said to me as anopportunity to go deeper into my craft.
I gotta admit that it was probablythe first time in my career that
I was willing to shed the skin Iwas in to discover something else.
Wasn't easy, kind of rocky feltshitty, but I stuck with it because
(14:03):
iteration upon iteration uponiteration is the only path to success.
And looking back, even then, Iunderstood that I was trying to
be 1% better than I was yesterday.
More understanding, more expansive.
More willing to fail.
(14:23):
More willing to try just a littlebit farther than yesterday, just 1%.
Your action steps for this episode,number one, check in with your team.
Not just about work, butabout their wellbeing.
Be willing to view them as awhole and complete human being.
(14:46):
Number two, recognizeeffort, not just results.
That means celebrating small wins whilealso calling out opportunities for growth.
Number three, set expectationswith clarity and empathy.
Challenge your team, butalso give them the tools.
Knowledge time to rise to that next level.
(15:08):
A heart led kitchen is ahigh performing kitchen.
When chefs feel valued, theybring their best, not just for
the paycheck, but because theybelieve in what they're doing.
If today's conversation resonatedwith you, take a moment to reflect
on how you are leading your kitchen.
Are you just giving ordersor are you inspiring action.
(15:28):
Remember, leadership ismore than management.
It's about making a lasting impacton your team and your culture.
Leadership isn't about being the loudestvoice in the kitchen or demanding respect.
It's about earning it throughauthenticity, guidance, and leading by
example, transparency and vulnerability.
Ask yourself, how do my team membersfeel when they leave their shift?
(15:52):
Are they leaving motivated and inspired?
Are they drained and discouraged?
The answer to that question reflectsthe leadership culture you are building.
So the next time you step in your kitchen,ask yourself, am I leading with the heart?
Until next time, stay tall and frostyand don't forget to lead with the heart.
(16:16):
That's a wrap for today'sepisode of Chef Life Radio.
If this resonated with you, do me a favor,subscribe, share, and leave a review.
Your feedback helps us reach moreculinary leaders like you who are ready
to take their kitchens to the next level.
Want more connect with me onLinkedIn, Instagram, or join our Chef
Life Radio community for exclusiveinsights and leadership tools.
(16:37):
Remember, leadershipisn't about perfection.
It's about progress.
So take what you've learned todayand apply it in your kitchen,
your team, and your life.
Chef Life Radio is more thanjust a podcast, it's a movement.
The focus is no longer just on careersurvival, but on transforming leadership,
creating sustainability, and ensuringchefs can build kitchens that thrive.
Remember, the secret ingredientto culinary success isn't just in
(16:59):
the food, it's in the leadership.
Keep learning, keepgrowing, and as always.
Lead with the heart.
See you next time.
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