June 26, 2024 • 29 mins
Ever wondered how aligning your personal core values with your job can save you from burnout? This episode of Chef Life Radio dives deep into the journey of transitioning from a culinary professional to a podcast host and leadership coach. Discover how Chef Life Radio evolved from a simple means of keeping in touch with former colleagues into a powerful platform for discussing leadership and personal growth within the culinary industry. Creating a supportive and structured work environment is no small feat, especially in an industry notorious for its high-pressure conditions. In this chapter, we challenge the old-school mentality of hoarding knowledge and emphasize the importance of nurturing each team member's strengths. Learn why succession planning is essential for long-term success and how mindful leadership can transform your operation into a high-performing, cohesive team. We also delve into the pitfalls of glorifying overwork and the critical need for leaders who foster professional development and sustainable practices to thrive in today's culinary landscape.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I
love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love
you, I love you, I love you, Ilove you, I love you, I love you
, I love you, I love you, I loveyou, I love you, I love you, I
love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love
you, I love you, I love you, Ilove you being on Chef.
My pleasure, sir, my pleasure.
You have your podcast, chefLife Radio and also Chef Life
Coaching.
Did I get that?
That's correct.
Yeah, so you know it was yourshare on chow.
Thank you for that.
On the industry and the manythings that you know everyone
goes through, I just wanted toshare that real quick to
appreciate you, thanks, and it,you know, proves the.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And it proves the point that talking about this
stuff is really important andthe fact that you gravitated
towards that message.
I'm very grateful, for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Would you mind going into Chef Life Radio and then
going into the Chef Lifecoaching, because it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So I started in 2014.
I was actually in Canada datinga Canadian woman.
I didn't have a work permit soI thought, hmm, what am I going
to do with my time?
Oh, I know I'll start a podcast, as if I even knew what that
meant in 2014.
And back in the days, thatmeant, you know, learning
WordPress and building a websiteand you know kind of cobbling
together and bootstrapping allthese different technologies.
(01:19):
Now, thankfully, it's a mucheasier process to start a
podcast and stay consistent withit, but it started out as a
kind of a drunken love letterback to the crew that I missed.
I'd worked at the Omni Homesteadin Virginia for a year and a
half and you know, at peak it'sa staff of 165 over.
You know seven kitchens and 15restaurants.
So I really missed that crew.
(01:40):
So I thought you know what agreat way to stay connected to
them, that crew.
So I thought you know what agreat way to stay connected to
them.
And very quickly I came up witha thought that you know maybe
this is a great outlet fortalking about something more
poignant or more impactful forthe industry.
So I started out for thequestion.
You know, two chefs given equalskill sets, why would some
cooks follow one and not theother?
And they kept saying, well,it's leadership, it's leadership
(02:01):
.
And I'm like, yeah, that's kindof a red herring.
It doesn't really tell meanything Like what are the
attributes or what are the waysof being that the chef is
engaged in that would have youfollow them.
So that kind of sent me downthe rabbit hole, and I've been a
student of, you knowhigh-performing leadership ever
since then, and so Chef LifeRadio has given me a platform to
talk about, specifically aboutthe fact that you know,
(02:22):
leadership is not anythingthat's taught in culinary school
.
Very rarely is there anybodyyou know who hasn't gone to
culinary school, maybe someonelike me who's basically again
kind of bootstrapped or waythrough the industry.
There's never an opportunitywhere someone says, hey, let me
give you a class in leadership,because ultimately it comes down
to you know, you being able tomove a group of people towards a
(02:43):
certain outcome, and very oftenthat group could have, you know
, six or seven differentethnicities, three different
languages, certainly differentlevels of schooling and
understanding.
So it's the biggest challengethat we face as industry experts
, and so I thought that I wouldagain kind of be a student of
that and kind of come back tothe podcast and kind of let
(03:05):
everybody know what I've beenfinding.
So that's how it started.
And then COVID hit and, you know, the industry lost six million
jobs.
And I thought to myself, wellgosh, if there's ever a time to
like bring back the podcast,this would be it.
Because maybe, maybe peoplelike me you know who you know
fell into a particular job, didvery well at it and just kind of
like follow that that fluidpath and like now there's
(03:29):
another job and there's nowthere's another job, and now
there's another job, there's amortgage, there's a car payment,
your family starts filling outagain.
But did you know?
At what point did we ever justsit down and say, yes, this is
what I want to do.
And so I thought if folks weregoing to take this time out now,
maybe see what it's like to behome, and if they want to come
back to the industry, this is agreat opportunity for them to
really give some thought as towhat their core values are and
align themselves with anemployer that reflects those
(03:51):
core values.
Because very often I talk to alot of chefs and one of the
first things they say is theydon't feel appreciated, and
typically that comes aboutbecause you're misaligned with
your employer's core values.
It's about as simple as that,that maybe you want to be home
by seven o'clock to be with yourfamily because your kids are
small and right now that'swhat's most important to you,
but your employer actuallyexpects you to do other things,
like being there all the time.
(04:12):
So very often I found that thefrustration it comes back down
to a misalignment.
So again, kind of using thepodcast as a, as a jumping off
point to have theseconversations and then to
support the chefs in theindustry by offering coaching
from Chef, life Coaching as kindof a way to kind of bring them
back and reignite the fire thatgot them here in the first place
.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Wow, you know, I think, going over your duration
of time.
What, what did you?
What were the points?
I mean, what were thechallenges in your life that
made you make this shift foryourself?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, there's probably three or four really
clear examples of my humiliation, to put it bluntly and I'm not
talking about being humiliatedfrom the outside I'll give a
great example.
There was a dishwasher that Iwas working with and I'm a
product of the 80s and 90s andaughts where to be a passionate
chef was basically code switchfor I can be an asshole and get
(05:06):
away with it.
Right, yeah, yes, and that anda lot of that behavior was
enabled, right.
So if lawyers saw somebody whowas like really talented, a lot
of times you know they weren'tgoing to call them out for you
know drinking on the line ortalking, or you know doing lines
in the bathroom or whateverthat conversation was.
But there was a dishwasher whoI worked with and happy-go-lucky
guy and was always kind ofupbeat, but every time I turned
(05:30):
my head he was like doingsomething wrong.
And one night I took him intothe office and gave him a good
dressing down and this man fellto his knees, screaming like a
wounded animal.
He was an immigrant, where thattype of behavior is commonplace
, but for me it completelyshocked me out of my, out of my,
my chef mode and then rocked meback to like, holy shit, I'm a,
(05:51):
I'm a human being mode.
And here I did.
I took away this man's dignityand what I've always known is
that, you know, a man with nodignity is, is willing to, is
capable of almost anything.
So I was really, really shockedat my, at the way that it was
taken and I, you know, got downon my knees and helped him back
up to his feet and said, okay,bro, I'll figure out another way
, like there's gotta be anotherway to do this.
(06:12):
So there've been a couple oftimes when I've failed
completely miserably and where Ihad to look at my ways of being
and say, yeah, there's gotta beanother way.
Man, because I think ultimately,you, because I think ultimately
, you know, everybody made a bigdeal about when the millennials
were coming into the industry,like they're talking about, they
want this and they want that.
God damn it.
I didn't want this.
And you know, a lot of theolder chefs were really pissed
off because they never got thatstuff Right.
(06:34):
But I don't think that, but Ithink that all of us wanted the
same thing.
We just came in and lookedaround and said, well, fuck, I'm
not going to get that.
Holy shit, I just, I'll justkeep my mouth shut Right, like
don't be a whiny little bitch,that kind of thing.
And yet they weren't asking foranything more than what we
wanted.
You know basic human dignity,you know making sure that you
know we had a clear career pathor career trajectory, making
(06:56):
sure that you know we're valuedas a whole human being and not
just a name on a schedule or ora position.
You know, given an opportunityto learn more so that we can
become more.
You know we all wanted thesethings and sometimes, you know,
back in the old days, you had tokind of again kind of bootstrap
that stuff around.
I mean the old adage of thechef with the shoulder up.
You know you're trying to lookaround his shoulder to see what
he's doing.
(07:16):
You know, because he's got thisbig secret that he's trying to
hide yeah.
Yeah, and all these tricks oftrade that we, that we grew up
with.
And yet, when it comes down to,when we're creating an
environment where everybodyfeels supported, you know,
there's a certain structure andwillingness on the part of
management and leadership toactually create an environment
(07:38):
where people have an opportunityto learn to do better.
Like, listen, man, I you've gotthe skills for this particular
job.
I want to know what the jobthat you want after this skill
set is necessary for there, andlet's start working on that
stuff here, because ultimately,um, you know, building those
skill sets only supports yourorganization and your on your
operation more.
And I don't know about you, man, but I don't want to be the
last one on the line.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
No no no Right.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So, unless, so, unless we're willing to share
those gifts and do it in a in astructured, supportive way, then
you know, we're just we'resetting ourselves up for failure
.
I mean, it's nice to be wanted,right, it's nice to be the one,
um, uh, I used to call it likebeing the apex predator, you
know, be the shark in the punchbowl.
Um, it's nice to be the chef.
And yet the clear realizationis that, you know, my biggest
(08:21):
takeaway is that a Right, notnot in spite of, but because of
Right, wow that says somethingabout the chef that's actually
running that operation.
Right, that of like holdingeverybody down and you know
you're going to fit thissuppressing Right?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Exactly.
Wow.
Well, and that's where I thinkyou know, when I came up, I mean
you would have been obviouslymy senior in the kitchen, but
like, but I mean I'll respect,you know, I'll respect for that,
right, I mean, you know, I was91, 92 coming into the industry
and for me, I looked at theindustry and I'm like this is
(09:02):
more normal than my home life.
Right, like, what do you?
What are you crying about?
Like I was hungry to actuallyshow the chef, like that I was
worth something.
And in the kitchen environment,you know, you became that
sponge.
You know, if you showed a signof weakness or a sign of that
(09:22):
you needed something, it was asign of weakness.
It was like a wolf pack.
You know, everybody's volleyingfor the next up, I mean, and
you do get a dysfunctionalfamily too, because you do get
the clicks or you take care ofeach other, but the weakness
doesn't survive, right, right,and you're right, the apex
situation.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know the thing is is that you know somebody can
be very, very talented or verygood at a particular position.
Yeah, Ultimately, as a, as aleader, your job is to put
people in positions to succeed.
Yeah and um, and a lot of thatbackbiting bullshit, I think,
which I think continues to thisday.
I think we as a community, as afraternity, our own worst
(10:02):
enemies.
You know, we're the ones makingit hard on ourselves, like this
lionization of overwork.
Like dude, I put in 70 hourslast week or I put in 80 hours,
oh yeah, I mean to me that'scomplete fucking horseshit.
Like I say, hashtag fuck thegrind, because all it is is an
excuse to like grind somebodyelse up.
Yeah, if we're not, if we're notgoing to support one another
and I'm not talking about andtell them that they're special,
(10:22):
I'm just saying that within anorganization, within a, if it
was Phil Jackson puttingtogether the 1985 Chicago Bulls,
he knows that there's certainpeople that are going to do
better in particular situationsand in particular circumstances.
So it's really, reallyimportant to be able to match
(10:43):
those skill sets with thepositions that are available and
to provide everybody anopportunity to train up to the
next position.
Right, one of the biggestproblems we have right now is
that you know we are constantlyunderstaffed.
Well, how many of us haveactually created a succession
plan and started slotting thosenames in and trying to figure
out who's going to fill thatslot?
Because you know, at some pointthe sous chef's going to go out
on his own, so we're nottraining that person that's
(11:05):
going to fill that position.
Now, right, being like asurprise at the end, like okay,
well, I guess we're going tohave to do this, and then we get
completely, totally unappairedfor it.
So it's like the differencebetween a mature professional
and a mature professional.
A mature professional look atthe organization and go okay,
from a clear-eyed neutralperspective.
How do we build this machine tocontinue to produce at a high
level for the foreseeable future?
(11:26):
And it's like you know I can'tstress enough that a lot of the
times the environment is so fast, things are happening at such a
quick level that we never havetime to actually sit down and do
that kind of work.
However, if we ever make time todo that work, then we're always
a victim of the fact that it'smoving so fast.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Right, exactly, and it ends up being this
codependency, yeah, yeah, yeah,you know.
And maladaptive behaviors comeinto the mix.
Yep, so wow Again.
I know we're trying to work onmindfulness and really
understanding the machine andthis nurturing philosophy.
Do you think at some pointsometimes we've kind of created
(12:07):
where you know we're missingsome of that grit or we're going
to lose traction on that kindof heart?
Do you ever see that?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well so so you mentioned two things.
You mentioned grit and heart.
So I would say, first andforemost and speaking for myself
, and today is a great exampleyou know, last week was a very
frustrating week.
I mean, there was a lots ofstuff going on and I took my
time on Sunday to kind of mapout my week and get all my time
blocks together, and then thismorning rolled around and I felt
(12:35):
completely frustrated byeverything, and so what I knew
that was necessary is for me toactually take a step back and
take time for myself, because ifI showed up in any of my
different areas in which Iparticipate whether that's Chow
and now as an ambassador or cheflife radio or chef life
coaching if I show up in any oneof those spots and I'm not
(12:56):
grounded, then it's going to bebad for me, right, I'm going to
show up very, very poorly.
So if that means that I need tocarve out a little bit more
time for me to take some space,or that means I need, you know,
to get back to my meditation inthe morning, um, or my exercise,
you know, to get back to mymeditation in the morning or my
exercise, you know, all thosethings help me to keep grounded
all the way through my day.
So I would think that, first off, us taking that time to get
(13:20):
grounded allows us to open upour heart.
So there's our heart rightthere.
Our grit comes from just thefact that you know this is an
industry we'd love and that'spart of the game.
Okay, well, we can do that.
I sit and slam for 12, 14, 16hours.
Okay, you kind of set yourselfup as a mindset for that.
But the more that you're doingthat as as a consequence of or
(13:40):
as a result of, you know, maybenot preparing properly I mean,
I've seen, you know, grownadults, you know, drinking
Pedialyte on the line.
You know their hangover fromthe last night or you know,
whatever that is no family meal.
Yeah, exactly.
So if you're not taking care ofyourself, if you're not leading
yourself, then it's patentlyimpossible to do that for anyone
.
So I'll start with you first.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Okay, well, I have to share, like my leadership
philosophy has always beengrounded in my indigenous belief
system that it's a greatresponsibility to be a leader
and to guide and protect thepeople at all times, and that
you know it's that servantleadership style.
So on my side of it, it can get.
(14:22):
You know, I'm giving, giving,and you still have to replenish
the well, like you said.
Yeah, you got nothing left, man,after giving to everybody else,
and it's right, and but I'vealso found the way that I
nurture with, you know, the souschefs and chef de parties and
everybody in the system, that itis a healthy system that does
promote the growth you'retalking about.
(14:43):
Certainly, you know, and thereis a huge benefit to doing that,
but it has its own stressors,like you.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Sure, I mean, for me it was the big shift came from
when I realized that this couldno longer be about me, that it
had to be about the team.
So it became we instead of me.
Yeah, from that standpoint it'slike okay, so who am I supposed
to be in that environment?
Like, how do I show up suchthat they all get it, that they
know that they're you knowprotected, that they're safe,
(15:12):
that there's an opportunityoutside of the next several
hours for them to grow, and sowhen you talk about servant
leadership, I think it'sincredibly powerful to view
yourself in that way, becausethe alternative is that you are
the king of the castle and theapex predator and you have to
bend everybody to your will.
There's lots of documentariesout there from about some very
famous chefs who ran theirkitchens that way because they
(15:35):
were so consumed about theirvision of a type of cuisine that
they wanted to produce.
They were so clear on that thatthey couldn't let anything else
, you know, get in the way ofthat, and everything else served
that purpose.
I would like to flip the scriptand say that, like, the better
that we take care of our people,the better that they're going
to take care of the guest, andthat circle of life continues
(15:57):
from that standpoint.
As a matter of fact, more weinvest in our associates and our
associate environment, the moreit's going to pay off by, you
know, having really great placesto go and eat.
So, and again it comes back tothis dumb thing like if you're
not taking care of yourself, bro, if you're not refilling your
cup right, one of the one of I'mfamous for saying like, uh, you
(16:18):
know, I've had people come upto me chef.
You know, this has been myentire life.
I really want to be a chef.
You know, it's all I've everwanted to be.
I'm muse, whether that's throughour kind of domestication or
conditioning or our beliefsystem.
You know, we have this channelto the creative and that comes
(16:41):
out, as you know, the food thatwe make, the interactions that
we have with our people.
But if you're completely vestedin that, as from your work
standpoint, like that's the onlyplace you can get it, then what
happens when you have to hangup your apron Right Some point?
All of us have to.
So to get a hobby, to dosomething, to be able to feed
(17:02):
that creative force, isincredibly powerful, because now
you get to shift from out ofwork.
I know guys who, who madefurniture.
Wow, there's one guy in aparticular.
He started out by makingshelves and let me tell you, he
wasn't very good to begin withthe banquet chef, but he makes
some, absolutely.
He makes some of the moststunning cutting boards I've
ever seen.
But he's he understood that hehad needed something else other
(17:24):
than work in order to feed hissoul.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And that's powerful.
And, james, when you're talkingabout like you got into this
business because of you know thething that you felt like you
needed, all of us, to a certainextent, came to this business
with a hole in our heart thatneeded to be filled in some way.
For me it was aboutrelationship.
For me it was about family.
So the very first time I wasever in a commercial kitchen and
I saw the way everybody wastogether, I was like hooked.
(17:48):
I'm like, oh shit was together.
I was like hooked.
I'm like oh man, shit.
Yet I also understood that Icouldn't.
So for a while that workedright.
Until it no longer worked andthen I realized that, oh, I got
to feel some other way and theonly way that you could do that
was through meditation andthrough spending some time alone
and being out in nature andhaving some other things like a
podcast or writing or otherthings to do.
So it's kind of like like themore the muscle that you get to
(18:12):
exercise about how I get my cup,because when I show up I really
want to be the best leader Ican be.
I want to be the best I can be.
I want to be the best you knowassociate connection that I can
be, and the only way I can dothat is by consistently filling
my cup.
Because I've been on the otherside, where you know my cup is
empty, and made lots of mistakes.
As a matter of fact, had at thevery end of COVID man, I was so
(18:35):
burnt I had no idea I was thatburnt.
And then I went on a meditationretreat and came back and then
had to take all my managers offthe side and apologize to each
and every one of them.
Look, I know I dropped the ball, I wasn't there.
Like having these reallyauthentic, heart opening
conversations about like listen,I can see where I, where I
messed up, Like can you committo another relation?
Can you commit to a differentrelationship?
Can you trust me now?
(18:56):
Can, like?
How do we move forward together?
Having those type of reallyopen, vulnerable, transparent
conversations, you know, takes alot of guts and a little bit of
skill, but point being is thatsomeone shows up that way to you
.
The very first thing I thinkfor me would be like of course,
I forgive you.
And how do we move forwardtogether?
Because there's so much I thinkwe're wired to, first off, be
(19:18):
in community and, second, tolike, be forgiving of other
people's foibles, because we seethe foibles within ourselves.
Yet if we're all being strappedwith that grind armor where we
never show our heart to anybody,just like, how we're going to
get through and grit this thingthrough?
It's a lot harder to have thoseconversations.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, no kidding, wow .
Well, and looking at, you knowthe state of the industry and I
know you mentioned some pointsthere.
Maybe putting it all together,how, how do you see us getting
out of this?
You know we got through themass exodus and now we're
dealing with the other side ofit and coming through.
What do you advise on how weget through the staffing crunch?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
techniques and yeah, I mean, there's so much there.
So you know, first off, it hasto come down from getting really
clear about your core valuesand how your core values are
being served with the communitythat you're in.
I'm not advocating that peoplelook for other jobs, but I am
(20:20):
advocating that now's a greattime to look at where you're at
to see if it actually serves you, because if it does, then
everything else becomes as aconsequence of that.
A great example was I had achef or sous chef who I promoted
to a chef and, um, after aboutsix months he asked me to demote
him again.
I'm like, dude, what do youwant to go back to sous chef?
It's like my kids are five andseven.
(20:41):
Man, I want to be home to tuckthem in at night, cause they're
only going to be this small fora little while, and so I want to
be there for them.
And I was kind of like kickedback on my heels because I
thought, holy shit, man, thisguy's thinking about his family
instead of his career and youknow, guiltily thought about my
own career, but I don't think Iever had that conversation.
But he's right, of course he'sthere right, and if he's in a
(21:05):
job where that's being served, Ithink he shows up in a much
more powerful way.
So the same way for all of us.
I think it's a really importantthing to make sure that the
organization that we're with arealigned, and second of all is
to look at the organization andrealize you know that, you know,
listen, it's really, reallyhard to have any of these
thoughts when all you're doingis just trying to get through
(21:25):
the night.
Right, exactly.
But yet there's going to be atime like it, no-transcript,
(21:55):
where they're protected andwhere they have a clear career
path.
I think that's a great start,because word gets out If things
are, if things are changing in aparticular environment,
particular restaurant, and allof a sudden, folks are feeling
nurtured and cared for.
And I hesitate to say nurture,because I think nurture has this
connotation again of saying, oh, you're special.
No, that's not what I'm talkingabout.
(22:15):
I'm talking about valuingsomebody for the whole human
being that they are, and that'sa different thing.
I think communication issomething that we can all tap
into right away.
I think stand-up shift meetingsare incredibly important
Stand-up meetings as just a wayof continuing to have
conversations with folks,checking in, with seeing how
everybody's doing emotionally.
(22:36):
There's all kinds of differentthings.
Like Chow has a greatrestaurant wellness toolkit that
you can download for free,which is a great, was a very
powerful way of again kind ofcommunicating to the staff that
you're more than just a name oryou're more than just a position
.
I think people will.
You know, people want to becared for.
They want to.
They don't want to show up anddo a shitty job, but if they
(22:57):
feel like they're kind of stuckin this situation where they're
going to continue to show up asdoing a shitty job, then it's
really really hard for them toget up in the morning and have
any kind of any kind of gusto.
So this whole idea of holdingit all loosely and as a way of
moving forward, creating anenvironment where like, okay,
it's not perfect, but we're awork in progress and this is
what we're committed to, andthen to continue to show up to
(23:18):
drop those kinds of things likethe wellness toolkit, is really
really important.
You know, chow does a call, aZoom call, almost every night.
They're based out of Denver.
On Wednesdays they have a men'sonly call.
I think there's another women'sonly call where hospitality
professionals can show up on theZoom call and talk, or not talk
, about their day or their week.
(23:39):
Sobriety is not a prerequisiteto show up in these meetings,
but it's a way to kind of feelconnected to others that might
not necessarily be in yourenvironment.
Also is a great way of liketapping into the bigger culture
of service.
Like sometimes it's easy toforget that we're in the
hospitality business and so thatmeans like by its very nature
(24:00):
we are in service to someoneelse, which means sometimes we
have to subserve our particularneeds in that particular moment,
but that doesn't mean that it'sa lifelong thing and we
continue to subserve our needsfor any extended time.
That's actually healthy.
So all those things are really,really important in growing a
community.
So if we start looking at ourstaff as not a family but as a
(24:22):
team or as a community and howdo you build community I think
is a perfect way of tapping intothose resources that are
already out there.
Like I got your back or not?
Nine to five or chow.
There's all kinds oforganizations and processes
available now that didn't existpre COVID.
I mean they did, but no, itwasn't on anybody's radar Right.
(24:43):
And then, once COVID hit, andall of a sudden everybody's
wellness and like, oh my shit.
And I just want to say oneother thing before we go is that
a lot of things post COVID,every a lot of companies started
putting in these wellnessinitiatives and what they
discovered is that, in in review, what they discovered is that
most of these initiatives fellflat because they didn't
(25:04):
necessarily address theunderlying cause.
So they could say they couldsay, okay, so there's a
particular program that'savailable now where you contract
with a local counselor and it'san anonymous service where
someone anybody in the staff cancall and get a meeting with a
healthcare professional ormental health professional and
sit down and talk to them, andthe only thing HR knows is that
(25:27):
there's just the X name for abill.
It's completely anonymous, yetif really not dealing with the
underlying issues.
So a couple of years ago, oregoninstituted prop I think 101 or
110, which is legalization ofall drugs, and at the same time
(25:52):
it set up this infrastructure,for if someone was caught on the
street with drugs, you couldfind $100 and you got referred
to a health care clinic or sometype of rehab or whatever.
Wow, the problem was is thatthe health care or the mental
health infrastructure never gotbuilt up.
So several years later, they'reseeing these guys shooting on
the street and they can't figureout what the hell's going on.
Well, they could pay their $100, but they can't get it.
(26:12):
They can't get a bed inanywhere, wow.
So one thing doesn't necessarilyequate to the other.
So if you're going to create anenvironment where there's an
opportunity, you need to makesure that that opportunity
actually is this and and thethings on the ground floor, like
elbow to elbow, like, if you'retalking about improving your
culture, well, improve yourculture, yeah, but don't put a
(26:33):
bandaid on it and say, okay,well, you can go talk to
somebody about the culture, okay, without, without actually
changing the culture.
Does that make sense?
Exactly?
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Oh, yeah, from the ground up.
So can I just ask real quick,when you, when you go in and
you're doing your coaching andworking through that process,
can you give an example how youengage and work with like a food
and beverage group as you start?
Yeah, I have a.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
I have a client right now out in California.
They it's a independentrestaurant, 110 seats.
They're looking to build thisparticular concept up to 10, 12
locations.
And the first thing I kind ofcame in as a consultant slash
coach and now my job has shiftedto primarily leadership
coaching.
So I speak with every singleone of the managers and
assistant managers.
So I speak to them every otherweek in a structured coaching
(27:17):
format and I also speak to allthe hourly staff once a month.
So it's an environment by whichI support the mission moving
forward and yet I also give theman opportunity to be kind of
transparent and vulnerable in aspace where they know that I am
going to hold all thatconfidential and basically what
I do is I just I support themission by giving my partner a
(27:40):
call log and and some and somenotes about what happened,
without going into anything thatwould be, you know, considered
confidential.
So it's kind of one of theseopportunities to like there's
the, there's a conversationthat's happening in the moment
and then there's a leadershiptrajectory that happens over a
long period of time maybe threeto six months.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Okay, that's really cool.
Do you do individual coaching,one-on-ones?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yep, I do one-on-ones and I also do group group
coaching.
I'm looking to um work withsome organizations who may be,
you know, anywhere from three toseven, three to ten locations
Maybe it's a boutique hotelgroup or a restaurant group and
be able to coach and mentortheir culinary leadership.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
OK, well, and how can they reach out to you?
I mean obviously your website.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, absolutely they can.
They can email me at Adam atChefLifeRadiocom.
You can check out the websiteat ChefLifeRadcom or chef life
coachingcom.
Chef radio is on every singlepodcast uh aggregator out there
um, and you can text me at828-407-3359 a lot of
availability.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, thank you for all that opportunity then I want
to be.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I want to be open and available and you know, there's
there's certain office hoursand stuff and maybe, yeah, it's
my phone at two o'clock yeah, 2am.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, if you've got a question.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I want to be able to answer it, for sure so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you, chef, Iappreciate your time and uh
thanks, appreciate it yeah, allright, everyone, that is a wrap.
You can check us out if youlike that.
Subscribe Also the InstagramChef Massey.
Let's keep it simple,chefmasseycom.
Have a good one.
Bye for now.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I
love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love
you, I love you, I love you, Ilove you, I love you, I love you
, I love you, I love you, I loveyou, I love you, I love you, I
love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love
you, I love you, I love you, Ilove you being on Chef.
My pleasure, sir, my pleasure.
You have your podcast, chefLife Radio and also Chef Life
Coaching.
Did I get that?
That's correct.
Yeah, so you know it was yourshare on chow.
Thank you for that.
On the industry and the manythings that you know everyone
goes through, I just wanted toshare that real quick to
appreciate you, thanks, and it,you know, proves the.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And it proves the point that talking about this
stuff is really important andthe fact that you gravitated
towards that message.
I'm very grateful, for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Would you mind going into Chef Life Radio and then
going into the Chef Lifecoaching, because it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So I started in 2014.
I was actually in Canada datinga Canadian woman.
I didn't have a work permit soI thought, hmm, what am I going
to do with my time?
Oh, I know I'll start a podcast, as if I even knew what that
meant in 2014.
And back in the days, thatmeant, you know, learning
WordPress and building a websiteand you know kind of cobbling
together and bootstrapping allthese different technologies.
(01:19):
Now, thankfully, it's a mucheasier process to start a
podcast and stay consistent withit, but it started out as a
kind of a drunken love letterback to the crew that I missed.
I'd worked at the Omni Homesteadin Virginia for a year and a
half and you know, at peak it'sa staff of 165 over.
You know seven kitchens and 15restaurants.
So I really missed that crew.
(01:40):
So I thought you know what agreat way to stay connected to
them, that crew.
So I thought you know what agreat way to stay connected to
them.
And very quickly I came up witha thought that you know maybe
this is a great outlet fortalking about something more
poignant or more impactful forthe industry.
So I started out for thequestion.
You know, two chefs given equalskill sets, why would some
cooks follow one and not theother?
And they kept saying, well,it's leadership, it's leadership
(02:01):
.
And I'm like, yeah, that's kindof a red herring.
It doesn't really tell meanything Like what are the
attributes or what are the waysof being that the chef is
engaged in that would have youfollow them.
So that kind of sent me downthe rabbit hole, and I've been a
student of, you knowhigh-performing leadership ever
since then, and so Chef LifeRadio has given me a platform to
talk about, specifically aboutthe fact that you know,
(02:22):
leadership is not anythingthat's taught in culinary school
.
Very rarely is there anybodyyou know who hasn't gone to
culinary school, maybe someonelike me who's basically again
kind of bootstrapped or waythrough the industry.
There's never an opportunitywhere someone says, hey, let me
give you a class in leadership,because ultimately it comes down
to you know, you being able tomove a group of people towards a
(02:43):
certain outcome, and very oftenthat group could have, you know
, six or seven differentethnicities, three different
languages, certainly differentlevels of schooling and
understanding.
So it's the biggest challengethat we face as industry experts
, and so I thought that I wouldagain kind of be a student of
that and kind of come back tothe podcast and kind of let
(03:05):
everybody know what I've beenfinding.
So that's how it started.
And then COVID hit and, you know, the industry lost six million
jobs.
And I thought to myself, wellgosh, if there's ever a time to
like bring back the podcast,this would be it.
Because maybe, maybe peoplelike me you know who you know
fell into a particular job, didvery well at it and just kind of
like follow that that fluidpath and like now there's
(03:29):
another job and there's nowthere's another job, and now
there's another job, there's amortgage, there's a car payment,
your family starts filling outagain.
But did you know?
At what point did we ever justsit down and say, yes, this is
what I want to do.
And so I thought if folks weregoing to take this time out now,
maybe see what it's like to behome, and if they want to come
back to the industry, this is agreat opportunity for them to
really give some thought as towhat their core values are and
align themselves with anemployer that reflects those
(03:51):
core values.
Because very often I talk to alot of chefs and one of the
first things they say is theydon't feel appreciated, and
typically that comes aboutbecause you're misaligned with
your employer's core values.
It's about as simple as that,that maybe you want to be home
by seven o'clock to be with yourfamily because your kids are
small and right now that'swhat's most important to you,
but your employer actuallyexpects you to do other things,
like being there all the time.
(04:12):
So very often I found that thefrustration it comes back down
to a misalignment.
So again, kind of using thepodcast as a, as a jumping off
point to have theseconversations and then to
support the chefs in theindustry by offering coaching
from Chef, life Coaching as kindof a way to kind of bring them
back and reignite the fire thatgot them here in the first place
.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Wow, you know, I think, going over your duration
of time.
What, what did you?
What were the points?
I mean, what were thechallenges in your life that
made you make this shift foryourself?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah, there's probably three or four really
clear examples of my humiliation, to put it bluntly and I'm not
talking about being humiliatedfrom the outside I'll give a
great example.
There was a dishwasher that Iwas working with and I'm a
product of the 80s and 90s andaughts where to be a passionate
chef was basically code switchfor I can be an asshole and get
(05:06):
away with it.
Right, yeah, yes, and that anda lot of that behavior was
enabled, right.
So if lawyers saw somebody whowas like really talented, a lot
of times you know they weren'tgoing to call them out for you
know drinking on the line ortalking, or you know doing lines
in the bathroom or whateverthat conversation was.
But there was a dishwasher whoI worked with and happy-go-lucky
guy and was always kind ofupbeat, but every time I turned
(05:30):
my head he was like doingsomething wrong.
And one night I took him intothe office and gave him a good
dressing down and this man fellto his knees, screaming like a
wounded animal.
He was an immigrant, where thattype of behavior is commonplace
, but for me it completelyshocked me out of my, out of my,
my chef mode and then rocked meback to like, holy shit, I'm a,
(05:51):
I'm a human being mode.
And here I did.
I took away this man's dignityand what I've always known is
that, you know, a man with nodignity is, is willing to, is
capable of almost anything.
So I was really, really shockedat my, at the way that it was
taken and I, you know, got downon my knees and helped him back
up to his feet and said, okay,bro, I'll figure out another way
, like there's gotta be anotherway to do this.
(06:12):
So there've been a couple oftimes when I've failed
completely miserably and where Ihad to look at my ways of being
and say, yeah, there's gotta beanother way.
Man, because I think ultimately,you, because I think ultimately
, you know, everybody made a bigdeal about when the millennials
were coming into the industry,like they're talking about, they
want this and they want that.
God damn it.
I didn't want this.
And you know, a lot of theolder chefs were really pissed
off because they never got thatstuff Right.
(06:34):
But I don't think that, but Ithink that all of us wanted the
same thing.
We just came in and lookedaround and said, well, fuck, I'm
not going to get that.
Holy shit, I just, I'll justkeep my mouth shut Right, like
don't be a whiny little bitch,that kind of thing.
And yet they weren't asking foranything more than what we
wanted.
You know basic human dignity,you know making sure that you
know we had a clear career pathor career trajectory, making
(06:56):
sure that you know we're valuedas a whole human being and not
just a name on a schedule or ora position.
You know, given an opportunityto learn more so that we can
become more.
You know we all wanted thesethings and sometimes, you know,
back in the old days, you had tokind of again kind of bootstrap
that stuff around.
I mean the old adage of thechef with the shoulder up.
You know you're trying to lookaround his shoulder to see what
he's doing.
(07:16):
You know, because he's got thisbig secret that he's trying to
hide yeah.
Yeah, and all these tricks oftrade that we, that we grew up
with.
And yet, when it comes down to,when we're creating an
environment where everybodyfeels supported, you know,
there's a certain structure andwillingness on the part of
management and leadership toactually create an environment
(07:38):
where people have an opportunityto learn to do better.
Like, listen, man, I you've gotthe skills for this particular
job.
I want to know what the jobthat you want after this skill
set is necessary for there, andlet's start working on that
stuff here, because ultimately,um, you know, building those
skill sets only supports yourorganization and your on your
operation more.
And I don't know about you, man, but I don't want to be the
last one on the line.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
No no no Right.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So, unless, so, unless we're willing to share
those gifts and do it in a in astructured, supportive way, then
you know, we're just we'resetting ourselves up for failure
.
I mean, it's nice to be wanted,right, it's nice to be the one,
um, uh, I used to call it likebeing the apex predator, you
know, be the shark in the punchbowl.
Um, it's nice to be the chef.
And yet the clear realizationis that, you know, my biggest
(08:21):
takeaway is that a Right, notnot in spite of, but because of
Right, wow that says somethingabout the chef that's actually
running that operation.
Right, that of like holdingeverybody down and you know
you're going to fit thissuppressing Right?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Exactly.
Wow.
Well, and that's where I thinkyou know, when I came up, I mean
you would have been obviouslymy senior in the kitchen, but
like, but I mean I'll respect,you know, I'll respect for that,
right, I mean, you know, I was91, 92 coming into the industry
and for me, I looked at theindustry and I'm like this is
(09:02):
more normal than my home life.
Right, like, what do you?
What are you crying about?
Like I was hungry to actuallyshow the chef, like that I was
worth something.
And in the kitchen environment,you know, you became that
sponge.
You know, if you showed a signof weakness or a sign of that
(09:22):
you needed something, it was asign of weakness.
It was like a wolf pack.
You know, everybody's volleyingfor the next up, I mean, and
you do get a dysfunctionalfamily too, because you do get
the clicks or you take care ofeach other, but the weakness
doesn't survive, right, right,and you're right, the apex
situation.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know the thing is is that you know somebody can
be very, very talented or verygood at a particular position.
Yeah, Ultimately, as a, as aleader, your job is to put
people in positions to succeed.
Yeah and um, and a lot of thatbackbiting bullshit, I think,
which I think continues to thisday.
I think we as a community, as afraternity, our own worst
(10:02):
enemies.
You know, we're the ones makingit hard on ourselves, like this
lionization of overwork.
Like dude, I put in 70 hourslast week or I put in 80 hours,
oh yeah, I mean to me that'scomplete fucking horseshit.
Like I say, hashtag fuck thegrind, because all it is is an
excuse to like grind somebodyelse up.
Yeah, if we're not, if we're notgoing to support one another
and I'm not talking about andtell them that they're special,
(10:22):
I'm just saying that within anorganization, within a, if it
was Phil Jackson puttingtogether the 1985 Chicago Bulls,
he knows that there's certainpeople that are going to do
better in particular situationsand in particular circumstances.
So it's really, reallyimportant to be able to match
(10:43):
those skill sets with thepositions that are available and
to provide everybody anopportunity to train up to the
next position.
Right, one of the biggestproblems we have right now is
that you know we are constantlyunderstaffed.
Well, how many of us haveactually created a succession
plan and started slotting thosenames in and trying to figure
out who's going to fill thatslot?
Because you know, at some pointthe sous chef's going to go out
on his own, so we're nottraining that person that's
(11:05):
going to fill that position.
Now, right, being like asurprise at the end, like okay,
well, I guess we're going tohave to do this, and then we get
completely, totally unappairedfor it.
So it's like the differencebetween a mature professional
and a mature professional.
A mature professional look atthe organization and go okay,
from a clear-eyed neutralperspective.
How do we build this machine tocontinue to produce at a high
level for the foreseeable future?
(11:26):
And it's like you know I can'tstress enough that a lot of the
times the environment is so fast, things are happening at such a
quick level that we never havetime to actually sit down and do
that kind of work.
However, if we ever make time todo that work, then we're always
a victim of the fact that it'smoving so fast.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Right, exactly, and it ends up being this
codependency, yeah, yeah, yeah,you know.
And maladaptive behaviors comeinto the mix.
Yep, so wow Again.
I know we're trying to work onmindfulness and really
understanding the machine andthis nurturing philosophy.
Do you think at some pointsometimes we've kind of created
(12:07):
where you know we're missingsome of that grit or we're going
to lose traction on that kindof heart?
Do you ever see that?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well so so you mentioned two things.
You mentioned grit and heart.
So I would say, first andforemost and speaking for myself
, and today is a great exampleyou know, last week was a very
frustrating week.
I mean, there was a lots ofstuff going on and I took my
time on Sunday to kind of mapout my week and get all my time
blocks together, and then thismorning rolled around and I felt
(12:35):
completely frustrated byeverything, and so what I knew
that was necessary is for me toactually take a step back and
take time for myself, because ifI showed up in any of my
different areas in which Iparticipate whether that's Chow
and now as an ambassador or cheflife radio or chef life
coaching if I show up in any oneof those spots and I'm not
(12:56):
grounded, then it's going to bebad for me, right, I'm going to
show up very, very poorly.
So if that means that I need tocarve out a little bit more
time for me to take some space,or that means I need, you know,
to get back to my meditation inthe morning, um, or my exercise,
you know, to get back to mymeditation in the morning or my
exercise, you know, all thosethings help me to keep grounded
all the way through my day.
So I would think that, first off, us taking that time to get
(13:20):
grounded allows us to open upour heart.
So there's our heart rightthere.
Our grit comes from just thefact that you know this is an
industry we'd love and that'spart of the game.
Okay, well, we can do that.
I sit and slam for 12, 14, 16hours.
Okay, you kind of set yourselfup as a mindset for that.
But the more that you're doingthat as as a consequence of or
(13:40):
as a result of, you know, maybenot preparing properly I mean,
I've seen, you know, grownadults, you know, drinking
Pedialyte on the line.
You know their hangover fromthe last night or you know,
whatever that is no family meal.
Yeah, exactly.
So if you're not taking care ofyourself, if you're not leading
yourself, then it's patentlyimpossible to do that for anyone
.
So I'll start with you first.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Okay, well, I have to share, like my leadership
philosophy has always beengrounded in my indigenous belief
system that it's a greatresponsibility to be a leader
and to guide and protect thepeople at all times, and that
you know it's that servantleadership style.
So on my side of it, it can get.
(14:22):
You know, I'm giving, giving,and you still have to replenish
the well, like you said.
Yeah, you got nothing left, man,after giving to everybody else,
and it's right, and but I'vealso found the way that I
nurture with, you know, the souschefs and chef de parties and
everybody in the system, that itis a healthy system that does
promote the growth you'retalking about.
(14:43):
Certainly, you know, and thereis a huge benefit to doing that,
but it has its own stressors,like you.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Sure, I mean, for me it was the big shift came from
when I realized that this couldno longer be about me, that it
had to be about the team.
So it became we instead of me.
Yeah, from that standpoint it'slike okay, so who am I supposed
to be in that environment?
Like, how do I show up suchthat they all get it, that they
know that they're you knowprotected, that they're safe,
(15:12):
that there's an opportunityoutside of the next several
hours for them to grow, and sowhen you talk about servant
leadership, I think it'sincredibly powerful to view
yourself in that way, becausethe alternative is that you are
the king of the castle and theapex predator and you have to
bend everybody to your will.
There's lots of documentariesout there from about some very
famous chefs who ran theirkitchens that way because they
(15:35):
were so consumed about theirvision of a type of cuisine that
they wanted to produce.
They were so clear on that thatthey couldn't let anything else
, you know, get in the way ofthat, and everything else served
that purpose.
I would like to flip the scriptand say that, like, the better
that we take care of our people,the better that they're going
to take care of the guest, andthat circle of life continues
(15:57):
from that standpoint.
As a matter of fact, more weinvest in our associates and our
associate environment, the moreit's going to pay off by, you
know, having really great placesto go and eat.
So, and again it comes back tothis dumb thing like if you're
not taking care of yourself, bro, if you're not refilling your
cup right, one of the one of I'mfamous for saying like, uh, you
(16:18):
know, I've had people come upto me chef.
You know, this has been myentire life.
I really want to be a chef.
You know, it's all I've everwanted to be.
I'm muse, whether that's throughour kind of domestication or
conditioning or our beliefsystem.
You know, we have this channelto the creative and that comes
(16:41):
out, as you know, the food thatwe make, the interactions that
we have with our people.
But if you're completely vestedin that, as from your work
standpoint, like that's the onlyplace you can get it, then what
happens when you have to hangup your apron Right Some point?
All of us have to.
So to get a hobby, to dosomething, to be able to feed
(17:02):
that creative force, isincredibly powerful, because now
you get to shift from out ofwork.
I know guys who, who madefurniture.
Wow, there's one guy in aparticular.
He started out by makingshelves and let me tell you, he
wasn't very good to begin withthe banquet chef, but he makes
some, absolutely.
He makes some of the moststunning cutting boards I've
ever seen.
But he's he understood that hehad needed something else other
(17:24):
than work in order to feed hissoul.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
And that's powerful.
And, james, when you're talkingabout like you got into this
business because of you know thething that you felt like you
needed, all of us, to a certainextent, came to this business
with a hole in our heart thatneeded to be filled in some way.
For me it was aboutrelationship.
For me it was about family.
So the very first time I wasever in a commercial kitchen and
I saw the way everybody wastogether, I was like hooked.
(17:48):
I'm like, oh shit was together.
I was like hooked.
I'm like oh man, shit.
Yet I also understood that Icouldn't.
So for a while that workedright.
Until it no longer worked andthen I realized that, oh, I got
to feel some other way and theonly way that you could do that
was through meditation andthrough spending some time alone
and being out in nature andhaving some other things like a
podcast or writing or otherthings to do.
So it's kind of like like themore the muscle that you get to
(18:12):
exercise about how I get my cup,because when I show up I really
want to be the best leader Ican be.
I want to be the best I can be.
I want to be the best you knowassociate connection that I can
be, and the only way I can dothat is by consistently filling
my cup.
Because I've been on the otherside, where you know my cup is
empty, and made lots of mistakes.
As a matter of fact, had at thevery end of COVID man, I was so
(18:35):
burnt I had no idea I was thatburnt.
And then I went on a meditationretreat and came back and then
had to take all my managers offthe side and apologize to each
and every one of them.
Look, I know I dropped the ball, I wasn't there.
Like having these reallyauthentic, heart opening
conversations about like listen,I can see where I, where I
messed up, Like can you committo another relation?
Can you commit to a differentrelationship?
Can you trust me now?
(18:56):
Can, like?
How do we move forward together?
Having those type of reallyopen, vulnerable, transparent
conversations, you know, takes alot of guts and a little bit of
skill, but point being is thatsomeone shows up that way to you
.
The very first thing I thinkfor me would be like of course,
I forgive you.
And how do we move forwardtogether?
Because there's so much I thinkwe're wired to, first off, be
(19:18):
in community and, second, tolike, be forgiving of other
people's foibles, because we seethe foibles within ourselves.
Yet if we're all being strappedwith that grind armor where we
never show our heart to anybody,just like, how we're going to
get through and grit this thingthrough?
It's a lot harder to have thoseconversations.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, no kidding, wow .
Well, and looking at, you knowthe state of the industry and I
know you mentioned some pointsthere.
Maybe putting it all together,how, how do you see us getting
out of this?
You know we got through themass exodus and now we're
dealing with the other side ofit and coming through.
What do you advise on how weget through the staffing crunch?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
techniques and yeah, I mean, there's so much there.
So you know, first off, it hasto come down from getting really
clear about your core valuesand how your core values are
being served with the communitythat you're in.
I'm not advocating that peoplelook for other jobs, but I am
(20:20):
advocating that now's a greattime to look at where you're at
to see if it actually serves you, because if it does, then
everything else becomes as aconsequence of that.
A great example was I had achef or sous chef who I promoted
to a chef and, um, after aboutsix months he asked me to demote
him again.
I'm like, dude, what do youwant to go back to sous chef?
It's like my kids are five andseven.
(20:41):
Man, I want to be home to tuckthem in at night, cause they're
only going to be this small fora little while, and so I want to
be there for them.
And I was kind of like kickedback on my heels because I
thought, holy shit, man, thisguy's thinking about his family
instead of his career and youknow, guiltily thought about my
own career, but I don't think Iever had that conversation.
But he's right, of course he'sthere right, and if he's in a
(21:05):
job where that's being served, Ithink he shows up in a much
more powerful way.
So the same way for all of us.
I think it's a really importantthing to make sure that the
organization that we're with arealigned, and second of all is
to look at the organization andrealize you know that, you know,
listen, it's really, reallyhard to have any of these
thoughts when all you're doingis just trying to get through
(21:25):
the night.
Right, exactly.
But yet there's going to be atime like it, no-transcript,
(21:55):
where they're protected andwhere they have a clear career
path.
I think that's a great start,because word gets out If things
are, if things are changing in aparticular environment,
particular restaurant, and allof a sudden, folks are feeling
nurtured and cared for.
And I hesitate to say nurture,because I think nurture has this
connotation again of saying, oh, you're special.
No, that's not what I'm talkingabout.
(22:15):
I'm talking about valuingsomebody for the whole human
being that they are, and that'sa different thing.
I think communication issomething that we can all tap
into right away.
I think stand-up shift meetingsare incredibly important
Stand-up meetings as just a wayof continuing to have
conversations with folks,checking in, with seeing how
everybody's doing emotionally.
(22:36):
There's all kinds of differentthings.
Like Chow has a greatrestaurant wellness toolkit that
you can download for free,which is a great, was a very
powerful way of again kind ofcommunicating to the staff that
you're more than just a name oryou're more than just a position
.
I think people will.
You know, people want to becared for.
They want to.
They don't want to show up anddo a shitty job, but if they
(22:57):
feel like they're kind of stuckin this situation where they're
going to continue to show up asdoing a shitty job, then it's
really really hard for them toget up in the morning and have
any kind of any kind of gusto.
So this whole idea of holdingit all loosely and as a way of
moving forward, creating anenvironment where like, okay,
it's not perfect, but we're awork in progress and this is
what we're committed to, andthen to continue to show up to
(23:18):
drop those kinds of things likethe wellness toolkit, is really
really important.
You know, chow does a call, aZoom call, almost every night.
They're based out of Denver.
On Wednesdays they have a men'sonly call.
I think there's another women'sonly call where hospitality
professionals can show up on theZoom call and talk, or not talk
, about their day or their week.
(23:39):
Sobriety is not a prerequisiteto show up in these meetings,
but it's a way to kind of feelconnected to others that might
not necessarily be in yourenvironment.
Also is a great way of liketapping into the bigger culture
of service.
Like sometimes it's easy toforget that we're in the
hospitality business and so thatmeans like by its very nature
(24:00):
we are in service to someoneelse, which means sometimes we
have to subserve our particularneeds in that particular moment,
but that doesn't mean that it'sa lifelong thing and we
continue to subserve our needsfor any extended time.
That's actually healthy.
So all those things are really,really important in growing a
community.
So if we start looking at ourstaff as not a family but as a
(24:22):
team or as a community and howdo you build community I think
is a perfect way of tapping intothose resources that are
already out there.
Like I got your back or not?
Nine to five or chow.
There's all kinds oforganizations and processes
available now that didn't existpre COVID.
I mean they did, but no, itwasn't on anybody's radar Right.
(24:43):
And then, once COVID hit, andall of a sudden everybody's
wellness and like, oh my shit.
And I just want to say oneother thing before we go is that
a lot of things post COVID,every a lot of companies started
putting in these wellnessinitiatives and what they
discovered is that, in in review, what they discovered is that
most of these initiatives fellflat because they didn't
(25:04):
necessarily address theunderlying cause.
So they could say they couldsay, okay, so there's a
particular program that'savailable now where you contract
with a local counselor and it'san anonymous service where
someone anybody in the staff cancall and get a meeting with a
healthcare professional ormental health professional and
sit down and talk to them, andthe only thing HR knows is that
(25:27):
there's just the X name for abill.
It's completely anonymous, yetif really not dealing with the
underlying issues.
So a couple of years ago, oregoninstituted prop I think 101 or
110, which is legalization ofall drugs, and at the same time
(25:52):
it set up this infrastructure,for if someone was caught on the
street with drugs, you couldfind $100 and you got referred
to a health care clinic or sometype of rehab or whatever.
Wow, the problem was is thatthe health care or the mental
health infrastructure never gotbuilt up.
So several years later, they'reseeing these guys shooting on
the street and they can't figureout what the hell's going on.
Well, they could pay their $100, but they can't get it.
(26:12):
They can't get a bed inanywhere, wow.
So one thing doesn't necessarilyequate to the other.
So if you're going to create anenvironment where there's an
opportunity, you need to makesure that that opportunity
actually is this and and thethings on the ground floor, like
elbow to elbow, like, if you'retalking about improving your
culture, well, improve yourculture, yeah, but don't put a
(26:33):
bandaid on it and say, okay,well, you can go talk to
somebody about the culture, okay, without, without actually
changing the culture.
Does that make sense?
Exactly?
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Oh, yeah, from the ground up.
So can I just ask real quick,when you, when you go in and
you're doing your coaching andworking through that process,
can you give an example how youengage and work with like a food
and beverage group as you start?
Yeah, I have a.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
I have a client right now out in California.
They it's a independentrestaurant, 110 seats.
They're looking to build thisparticular concept up to 10, 12
locations.
And the first thing I kind ofcame in as a consultant slash
coach and now my job has shiftedto primarily leadership
coaching.
So I speak with every singleone of the managers and
assistant managers.
So I speak to them every otherweek in a structured coaching
(27:17):
format and I also speak to allthe hourly staff once a month.
So it's an environment by whichI support the mission moving
forward and yet I also give theman opportunity to be kind of
transparent and vulnerable in aspace where they know that I am
going to hold all thatconfidential and basically what
I do is I just I support themission by giving my partner a
(27:40):
call log and and some and somenotes about what happened,
without going into anything thatwould be, you know, considered
confidential.
So it's kind of one of theseopportunities to like there's
the, there's a conversationthat's happening in the moment
and then there's a leadershiptrajectory that happens over a
long period of time maybe threeto six months.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Okay, that's really cool.
Do you do individual coaching,one-on-ones?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yep, I do one-on-ones and I also do group group
coaching.
I'm looking to um work withsome organizations who may be,
you know, anywhere from three toseven, three to ten locations
Maybe it's a boutique hotelgroup or a restaurant group and
be able to coach and mentortheir culinary leadership.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
OK, well, and how can they reach out to you?
I mean obviously your website.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, absolutely they can.
They can email me at Adam atChefLifeRadiocom.
You can check out the websiteat ChefLifeRadcom or chef life
coachingcom.
Chef radio is on every singlepodcast uh aggregator out there
um, and you can text me at828-407-3359 a lot of
availability.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, thank you for all that opportunity then I want
to be.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
I want to be open and available and you know, there's
there's certain office hoursand stuff and maybe, yeah, it's
my phone at two o'clock yeah, 2am.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Yeah, if you've got a question.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
I want to be able to answer it, for sure so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you, chef, Iappreciate your time and uh
thanks, appreciate it yeah, allright, everyone, that is a wrap.
You can check us out if youlike that.
Subscribe Also the InstagramChef Massey.
Let's keep it simple,chefmasseycom.
Have a good one.
Bye for now.
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