August 18, 2025 • 39 mins
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Imagine having the power to reclaim your time in the chaotic world of professional kitchens.
That's exactly what Chef Adam Lamb offers in this illuminating conversation about his new book, "The Successful Chef: Time Strategies That Actually Work."
Chef Lamb doesn't just theorize about productivity—he delivers battle-tested strategies born from years in the trenches of high-pressure kitchens and his subsequent journey as a coach to culinary professionals. His approach centers around "the 1% way," the transformative power of small, consistent improvements that compound over time, creating sustainable change without the crash-and-burn cycle of dramatic overhauls.
The conversation dives deep into what Lamb calls "the narrow path"—eliminating distractions and protecting your attention in a world designed to fragment it. He shares vulnerable personal stories about missed family moments and hard-won lessons about presence, both in and out of the kitchen. Rather than chasing the myth of work-life balance, Lamb advocates for work-life harmony, acknowledging the seasonal nature of restaurant work and creating transparent communication around those realities.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is the practical, applicable nature of the advice. From creating proper systems for delegation to developing succession plans that protect both the business and its people, Chef Lamb outlines concrete steps that any culinary professional can implement immediately. His forthcoming work on communication strategies addresses another critical pain point in kitchen culture—how clarity in expectations and outcomes prevents most workplace problems before they begin.
Ready to stop being a slave to your schedule and start leading your time with intention? This conversation will give you the roadmap to make it happen. Subscribe now and check out Chef Adam Lamb's work at Chef Life Radio and Chef Life Coaching to continue your journey toward sustainable success in the culinary world.
Resources:
The Successful Chef: Time Strategies That Actually Work
The Independent Restaurant Framework
P.S. Ready to take your restaurant to the next level? Here are 3 ways I can support you:
- One-on-One Coaching - Work directly with me to tackle your biggest leadership challenges and scale your operations with confidence. Learn more at christinmarvin.com
- Multi-Unit Mastery Book - Get the complete Independent Restaurant Framework that's helped countless owners build thriving multi-location brands. Grab your copy at https://www.IRFbook.com
- Group Coaching & Leadership Workshops - Join other passionate restaurant leaders in transformative group sessions designed to elevate your entire team. Details at christinmarvin.com
Podcast Production: https://www.lconnorvoice.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Today's episode is featuring my good friend, adam
Lamb.
We are going to talk about hisnew book, the Successful Chef
Time Strategies that ActuallyWork.
At its core, this book is aguide for chefs who are ready to
stop drowning in the dailygrind and start leading their
time before it leads them intoburnout.
This isn't just another genericproductivity book written by
(00:28):
somebody outside the industry.
It's a field-tested,emotionally grounded and
brutally honest guide written bya chef for chefs, one who's
been in the weeds, lost the plotmore than once and found a way
back by reclaiming the one thing.
We never seem to have enough oftime.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe 1% way, the principle that
(00:54):
small, consistent changes leadto lasting transformation.
The narrow path, a practice ofeliminating distractions and
staying rooted in your corevalues.
And the time method, aleadership framework
specifically designed forkitchen culture.
Stay tuned, there's tons ofvalue in this episode.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
(01:16):
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
(01:37):
coaching, group coaching andleadership workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about leadershiplessons you want to learn and
(01:58):
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
All right, adam, I warned youbefore we jumped on the call.
I'm a little spicy today and soI'm going to challenge you on
(02:19):
some things.
I don't.
You know, it's not a personalthing.
We're friends.
We've done this before.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So thank you so much for your time, as always
appreciate this.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
By the way, as a chef , I appreciate the spice.
Thank you, can't be too muchfor me.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well played, so time strategies that actually work.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Why this topic?
Why right now?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
why this topic?
Why right now?
Uh, interestingly enough, youknow, as my businesses started
to grow, I was became more andmore interested in, like, like,
what's really going on?
Like, what are the top 10biggest problems that chefs are
having in 2025?
So it was the first time I'dever done deep research with um,
with, with chat, gpt, and it'sweird because typically, or
historically, I would say, not alot is written about, you know,
(03:11):
the culinary industry and theproblems that they're having.
You know it's kind of a grayarea, but I think, because of
the pandemic and some otherinfluences, that that there have
been more and more studies.
So I mean, it was 26 pages long, it was.
It was a really, really welldone.
And so once we got the top 10problems, I said what can I do
(03:32):
or create that would supportthem?
And so we together came up withthis idea of a and I don't want
to say short form book, but it'swhat is considered a low
content book.
So there's not a whole lot offluff, there's not a whole lot
of story, it's like let's, let'sbe real about what the problem
is.
And these are things that I'vecome to find out in my career,
(03:56):
and not only as a chef, but alsoas a coach that have worked and
that have worked for me.
Each one of the chapters alsohas, you know, either a
worksheet, um, that's, uh,there's a central site where
they can download those, so itis a work in progress Like this
is about getting the work done.
It's not about a whole lot offluff, and the feedback that
I've gotten has been verypositive because of that, like
(04:19):
they don't have time.
Every time you try to talk to achef, uh, I'm sorry, don't have
enough time.
So the reason why timestrategies that actually work
had to be first is that if youcan't lead your time, if you
can't manage your time, if youcan't be the master of your time
, then nothing else is going towork.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Adam, whose responsibility is it to manage
time?
Is it the owner operator?
Is it the chef?
Where do you put thatresponsibility?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Ultimately it's our responsibility.
You know we have a good wetypically we have a very good
understanding of the operation.
And yet, just speaking formyself, you know I'll get up
late, I won't make sure that Ihave time to go to the gym, feel
like shit later, and then I'm,you know, eating French fries
and doing whatever I can to kindof balance myself out.
(05:11):
So ultimately, what I've cometo understand is that until I
can lead myself, I really can'tlead out.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, when you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
when you talk about time strategies, are you taking?
Talking about time managementspecifically?
I mean, I guess we'd have tostart somewhere.
Yes, yeah, I mean there areaspects of it that need to be
managed, but it's more proactivethan that.
So a couple of principles thatunderpin all these books and, by
the way, as I said, there's 10editions of these coming out
over the next year or so is theidea of um, of the 1% way, which
(05:49):
is a dedication to becoming 1%better than yesterday.
Just reflecting on my own careerin life, you know, when I
wanted to make changes, it wasalways a big rash.
You know I'm going to do thisand I'm going to do that and you
know, a week later I'm fallingon my face and it took me a
while to understand that.
You know small, consistentsteps, over time you'll big
results.
So how do we land that in ourcareer, in our lives, such that
(06:14):
we're more focused on that thanany huge splash?
And what I can tell you is that.
Give you a great example.
I did 75 hard.
So it's this exercise programand made famous.
And you do the same five thingsevery day for 75 days.
You have to work out twice aday.
(06:35):
One must be outside 45 minutes,you have to drink a gallon of
water, you have to be on sometype of eating plan, it doesn't
matter, and so these things.
What I found was the first timeI failed after about 21 days.
Second time was about sevendays, then it's 14 days no
alcohol.
It's a.
(06:56):
It's a very, very strict way ofof kind of putting yourself to
the test, and it wasn't until Iunderstood that this was not
something that I needed to getby or past to get to something
else, but the juice was reallyin the moment, like really
diving deep into what I wasdoing, moment by moment by
moment, and that's where themagic was.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, I've done 75 hard a couple of times Sucks
right.
It's, it doesn't seemsustainable.
I think the intention of it isabsolutely to disrupt.
So, it goes against everythingthat you just talked about with
getting 1% better every singleday, because trying to work out
twice for 45 minutes, once inthe morning, once in the
afternoon, doing it outside isis so difficult and you know he
(07:43):
lets you do whatever diet youwant to do, the drastic.
You know the reading 10 pages,I can't remember what else is it
the gallon of water.
It's so regimented, which I feellike is not, is not real, is
not natural life, especially inthe restaurant business, where
every single day is different.
(08:05):
We know that shift is going tobegin at a certain time every
day and we know that it's goingto end at a certain time every
day, and then everything else inthat is just completely up to
chance, right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Exactly.
We know the doors are going toclose at some point 100%.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
How do you encourage people to maintain that focus of
getting better by 1% everysingle day?
How do they keep that top ofmind in such a crazy industry
like ours?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I know I actually had to write a journal because
that's what I ended up doing islike spending time writing these
things out every day, having agoal for seven days and then it
goes into for seven days, andthen it goes into a month and
then it goes into a quarter, andI'm not really focused on you
know what that's going to looklike after 90 days.
I'm more focused on like what'sthe next seven days and, to
(08:53):
your point, yeah, it kind ofgoes counter to what we were
like, what we would espouse.
For myself, it was about again,kind of this, and I want to say
self-management orself-leadership, but it had been
a long time since I felt reallygood about any consistent
effort that I had put in.
My experience with thehospitality industry is, you
know, I got addicted to instantgratification.
(09:14):
So, you know, to hell with like75 days.
I'm like getting to the nexthour, right, and that becomes a
cycle of which, like I couldn'thold myself accountable to
anything.
And I don't mean like getting myinventory done on time.
I'm talking about for my ownpersonal being, my own personal
way of showing up to my family,showing up to the people who I
(09:37):
love, that work and the onething that, uh, that the that
the originator says is thatsomewhere between day 60 and day
70, something happens.
It's, you know, he doesn't sayreligious experience, but I had
a complete out-of-bodyexperience.
It was about eight o'clock atnight and I was running down the
street coming up to the risenext to the church, not too far
(10:02):
away, and I felt so good that Istarted thinking about like when
was the last time I felt thisgood?
And it turned out it was, youknow, 1986.
Like I remembered the momentwhen I decided that I could no
longer be playful and funny andloose, that I had to be a hard
ass, that I had to be the edge,that I had to be the apex
(10:22):
predator in the, in the punchbowl, and it was a, uh, heart
rending experience for me.
Well, what had happened wasthat I recovered so much of
myself and, like he says, youknow once, that the confidence
is, you know, bulletproof.
That's not necessarily true,but I started to remember parts
(10:43):
of myself and hold myself in acertain amount of respect,
treating my life and my body insuch a way that it deserved.
And I did know that, you know,for years and years and years I
threw my body around with greatabandon.
It was like the thing I couldalways count on, until I
couldn't anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Here's the thing 80% of restaurants fail because they
don't have the systems, notbecause they have bad food or
service.
If you're ready to stop beingthe bottleneck in your own
business and start buildingsomething that can actually
scale profitably, I want you toput Multi-Unit Mastery, my new
book, directly in your hands forfree.
(11:19):
Go to irfbookcom right now andgrab your copy.
Go to IRFbookcom right now andgrab your copy.
When you do, you're going toget access to some additional
tools that are not availableanywhere else.
This is about building a legacy, not just another location.
Stop putting it off and go getyour book Again.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That's IRFbookcom so part of it was like this sense
of self, you know.
Also, you know, I know one ofthe core things about your
business is mine is like reallyworking with clients on their
core values, like because onceyou get it it's a whole
(12:00):
different story, and I thinkthat was kind of part of it and
this idea of like if I can drawa line in the sand and say I am
going to take small, measurablesteps towards this goal and you
achieve the goal, that shifts alot for folks, did for me
there's something about what'scoming up for me right now
(12:21):
around this instantgratification when you, when you
work out, when you're doing a75 hard, you work out, you're
taking care of yourself, youfinish your workout, you get
this instant gratification whenyou're plating a dish and you
see it come to life and it'sperfectly presented and you set,
you hand it off to the foodrunner expo.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
There's instant gratification from the front of
house perspective when we dropit on the table and then we see
the guest light eyes, light upit.
It's the best thing and it'sand I have been chasing that,
becoming an, you know, sinceI've become an entrepreneur.
I had a moment this morningwhere I was just like I'm going
to do this big project, to do it, and so I have to be careful
(12:59):
about those dopamine hits right,especially from an addiction
perspective, and I wonder,because it is such a natural
part of the industry, do youfeel like there's a situation
where instant gratification canbe beneficial for?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
leadership.
Sure, I mean anything withinreason, I mean measured.
To your point about thedopamine, like I think that
that's something that not awhole lot of folks are actually,
um, actually focused on,because once you flood that
brain case with so much dopamine, the brain will actually start
(13:38):
to thin out the receptorsbecause it's a washing too much.
So when you come off the otherside of that and there's less
and less dopamine, there's lessreceptors out and that's where
the crash comes and that's wherestart chasing the high again.
You know, I got to a point,kristen, where you know people
would come up to me and like, oh, chef, and I was completely
(13:59):
stone-faced, like they could notunderstand what I did in such a
way that would give me any ideathat, you know, like holding
them in judgment because theywere happy.
The other part that really thatlike kind of the thing that I
didn't count on, was beingforced during 75 hard to create
boundaries, to actually sit downwith the people in my life and
(14:20):
say, hey, I'm going to go onthis journey, this is what it's
going to take.
Are you with me or not?
And and what was so weird aboutthat?
You know, jennifer is a, mywife is a, is a transformational
coach and speaker.
And you know, still, yeah, westill fuck up, still can't
communicate, and so to be ableto, forced into this, like, okay
(14:41):
, here's my choice, I can askfor what I want, even though I
might think that the answer isno.
But it's not the answer thatI'm really looking for.
I'm looking for that sense ofself in which I can actually
speak my truth in that space andregardless of how it's taken
with respect, of course, thereare all kinds of unintended
(15:11):
consequence or benefits to thatexperience that I carry forward
now and as part of my coaching.
It's like clarity, directnessand communication.
You know to your point,designing alliances like to have
that upfront, with no ambiguity, is really, really powerful,
and most people have no idea howto live that way because it's
just so much is on the slide.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Totally so.
You talk about the narrow pathright and again going deeper
into boundaries here.
So talk a little bit about whatyou mean by the narrow path in
this book.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, it's um, I mean , they've called it a bunch of
stuff.
Monk mode is another way ofsaying it, but it's a process of
looking at what you want toaccomplish.
Okay, I'm going to go on thisjourney of discovery or mastery
around a particular thing.
I can choose to have myattention broken up by
notifications, by red and yellowfast food signs and yellow fast
(16:05):
food signs.
You know, the world is built toput us to sleep, and when I,
you know, when I was in theprocess and I was watching a
football game on TV and I waslike, oh, like, the difference
between conscious andunconscious is a very slim thing
.
But you know, it's nice to justkind of sit back and relax and
(16:28):
not care or worry for whateverreason, and I'm not saying that
worry is a thing.
However, I had a conversationwith my wife just recently about
this idea, about owning andstepping into more of my king
energy.
Does she need to tell me totake out the garbage?
You know all these littlethings.
(16:49):
And because I was sick and Ihad back surgery, you know she
took care of me for a long timeand she stepped right into
leadership because I wasn'tthere to do that.
And, as a matter of fact, lastweekend I had to tell her okay,
thank you, I'm so grateful, butI'm back now.
So get the hell out of thegarage, cause I had to clean the
whole thing, just reorganize it, cause everybody's piling stuff
(17:13):
around, um, but the narrow pathis really about just getting
rid of distraction.
So I don't have anynotifications on my phone, I
don't have any notifications onmy computer, and the first block
of my day, which is typically,you know, about two and a half
hours, I try very hard to makesure that I'm doing one thing,
cause I I think you're Kristen,we have that kind of excitement
thing we share that you know.
(17:33):
You start thinking about this,and then there's another thing
and, uh, you were pointed out tome.
Oh, you're.
You have another tool now thatyou're very prolific, my friend.
Right, you know, chasing thisshiny object, I mean again, it's
it's kind of that conditioningof always trying to keep the
(17:53):
highest amount of dopamine inthe brain as possible because it
feels good, and when you startstarving your body of those type
of rewards, you know the.
The other thing about um, aboutinstant gratification, is that
we forget that gratificationdelayed is a superpower.
(18:15):
There are people who have towait five years for their
building.
An architect.
There's no joy, I shouldn't sayno joy, but he waits a long
time, or she waits a long timefor that building to finally
come up.
And you know, going to the gymevery day, there's no great, you
know ha-ha in the gym, butthere is that, that thing that's
(18:37):
out in front.
That's always possible andalways permissible, as long as
you're making the choice to dothat.
And so I guess it comes rightdown to like how do I want to
spend my attention?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
How do you recommend and work with your students here
around this, the bootcamp thatyou've got around, the
successful chef program?
How are you teaching chefs andwine cooks and sous chefs to
eliminate distractions duringservice?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think we're pretty well conditioned to do that.
As a matter of fact, um, I andseveral people, lots of people I
talked to, you know they theyrelish going to work, especially
when there's difficulty at home, right, because things are so
like, things are happening atsuch a rate of speed that if
you're you're not present, thenit all goes sideways.
(19:25):
So it's almost like a, like agimme to go to work and be taken
over by that environment.
And yet as soon as you walk outthe door at the end of the
night, that's when that stuffcomes creeping in.
So you're going to go have abeer with the boys or are you
going to?
You know, go home, you knowtake a walk before you get in
your car.
(19:51):
So again, I think it all for meit comes down to choice, and the
fact that I made bad choicesdoes not mean that I can't make
a better one, because I spent alot of my time in shame and
regret.
Talked to a coaching clientyesterday, said he spends about
60% of his time feeling guiltybecause he really, really wants
to make sure that his people aretrained really well, but he
doesn't have the time becausethey're constantly understaffed
(20:13):
and then when he sees them goover the cliff, he feels bad,
and so he's wondering, like,where's that boundary where I
can feel like I did everythingthat I possibly could and I get
to be okay with that.
And they also get to be, youknow, conscious beings with
choice and say, you know, didyou come on time?
Did you have your station set,you know?
So I think that that's a levelof emotional balance that is
(20:39):
tricky to attain but is alwaysworth the attempt.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
How do you help a client like that get out of that
vicious cycle and really get tothe root cause of what's going
on with the turnover?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Sure.
Well, after listening for along time and asking questions,
I said, okay, so what would itlook like if you actually
planned it?
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Like well, you know you're inseason, you know when business,
businesses and when businesses.
So what if you took one personand decided on Wednesday I'm
(21:13):
going to spend 20 minutes withthis person?
Now, that's not as much as you'dlike to do, but everybody else
starts seeing it andappreciating the fact that
you're taking time out of yourday to spend with them.
And right now they're in aslippery slope because there's
been some stuff where peoplehave been kind of checked out
and um, and he really cares alot, and so I encouraged him to
(21:35):
schedule that shit.
Like if it's important, it goesin a planner.
Like I don't care, I constantlyputting things in my calendar,
so I don't.
First, so I don't forget, butsecondly, so I don't overcommit,
because I have a bad habit of,you know, wanting to please
people, so I'll overcommit tocertain things.
And then I look at my calendar.
I'm like, can I do this today?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, I had a conversation yesterday.
I think this is such a it'ssuch a big problem.
It's so systemic.
It's always been there.
I think and I don't know if yousee this, but more and more
people in the industry arestarting to reach out and ask
for help.
Now there's so much morecomfortability around having
conversations like this, whichis absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I was.
So it's such a greatconversation and even in the
moment as we're talking I wasn'treally doing a whole lot of
coaching it's.
You know it's our first session.
I'm just trying to get agrounding of where he's at and
he's self-correcting in themoment as he's saying things,
catching himself.
I first had to encourage him touse I statements, so I was like
(22:41):
I would encourage you to like,because this is the first step
into into the three pillars ofrelationship.
The relationship with yourselfwas like just owning it and not
kicking yourself in the assbecause shame and regret, you
know it's just a great excuse tonot do what you're what you
want to do.
So either we're going torecreate the past or, you know,
(23:02):
be scared that we're going to dothat.
Or we're just going to say,okay, I made the wrong choice,
that.
Or we're just going to say,okay, I made the wrong choice,
now what?
So part of it is, I think,being willing to have some grace
and tenderness with yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I see this time management issue coming up a lot
, with younger people coming upin the industry, and I think and
I've had this conversation acouple of times in the last
couple of weeks I think I'mcoaching a couple of regional
managers that are coming up inthe ranks and they're regionals
for the first time and they'rethe owner of the restaurant
groups that they work for andsaid to me Kristen, I don't know
(23:36):
how to do this, I don't knowhow to be a regional, so I need
somebody that's been in theirshoes to work with them, please,
and give them the structure andthe accountability that they
need to start off in a reallypositive, successful way, so
that we can this can be.
There's longevity here, there'ssustainability here, right, and
what I keep hearing from them isI can't figure out how to get
(23:59):
everything done.
And I think when we'repromoting people internally in
the industry, we are doing areally good job of sitting down
with a piece of paper or havinga conversation with someone
saying here's the logistics ofeverything that you need to get
done, but we are not trainingthem and showing them how to do
it or being honest about thepressures of the job and how
(24:23):
difficult it is to manage peopleand how to have conversations
and how to hold peopleaccountable.
And I had a client yesterdaysay I can't.
He's a brand new GM.
He said I can't figure out howto get everything done on my
list.
And I said tell me what you,what you're doing and what.
What are your shoulder times.
And he said what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know, and I said okay great, this is fun.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
These are the these are the fundamentals that these
people need, right, I was likewell, the older times are.
Your are your slower times, andthat's the best time to get
stuff done.
Appoint somebody to be incharge, be the lead, be the eyes
that's the person you'redeveloping to be on your
leadership bench.
And take time, 30 minutesbefore your shift, 30 minutes
after your shift, to go get yourstuff done so that you go home
(25:07):
and you know that it's all takencare of and you don't have to
stress and worry about it.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You know, the back part of that conversation is
what does real delegation looklike?
Right, when we've been, I havebeen held accountable for every
little thing that happens as thechef, like it's all, all of
it's fucked up, like, yeah, okay, yeah, it's me, my fault, my
fault, you know that I didn'ttrain somebody or whatever, and
part of that's dismissive, butit's absolutely correct.
(25:31):
And yet true delegation isallowing some folks some space
to wobble a little bit, right,so they get a sense of their own
power, that they can pullthemselves out.
And I love what you did withthat, Kristen, because you know
that's a whole shoulder idea.
You know, as a chef early in mycareer, I had to understand
(25:53):
where those shoulder seasonswere, because you come out of
season and you get and you blastright through it and you blow
the budget.
So you're looking ahead, not toyour point.
You know a regional is probably, you know, three to six months
ahead with this planner Planningon these things, and then, as
they start coming closer, thattime compression makes it feel
(26:15):
like, oh my God, how am I goingto get all this stuff done?
Because you're not supposed to.
You stay in your A game andthen you give your B game to
somebody who's that's their Agame, and as entrepreneurs or
solopreneurs, we don't have theluxury of that.
There's only one person, and sowe end up gaining.
(26:36):
Like I can't tell you how muchI've learned, even about editing
pdfs.
Like when was I ever gonna?
Last week I was coding an appLike are you kidding me?
But to that point, um, becausethe time thing is so important.
(26:57):
The next book that had to comeafter that is communication.
Yeah, so there's another bookcoming out um the end of the
month about communicationstrategies that actually work,
because I couldn't think of asingle time in my life when
things went sideways that itdidn't have its root somehow in
communication or communication,no communication.
(27:19):
And so I think that idea,christine, you put on, like
again being very clear about theoutcome.
This is like.
This is the project.
This is what a good outcomelooks.
Outcome, this is the project.
This is what a good outcomelooks like.
This is what a bad outcomelooks like, so that they have an
understanding of where thelines in the sand are drawn.
No-transcript, they'll go allfor it.
(27:46):
But if they don't, if they, ifpeople keep moving the goalposts
on them, they're like yeah, Iwas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I was having this conversation last week with
another GM and talking about howto create checklists for them
and keep their time reallyfocused and structured so that
when distractions do come up orthey're exhausted at the end of
the shift, they have somethingto keep them focused at the end
of the day so they can still gettheir stuff done and be really,
(28:14):
really efficient.
And I said, okay, we're goingto create this system for you.
And then I want you to look atyour chef and see if that
system's in place.
And I started asking questions.
And this is going back to your,to the earlier question.
I asked you about timemanagement.
Whose responsibility is it?
Because I think it's.
I think it's a sharedresponsibility.
I don't think that restaurantowners in some cases are doing a
(28:37):
good enough job.
I think they're empoweringtheir, their leaders, too much
and I don't think that they areprotecting them.
And what I mean by that is thisexample.
I asked this GM.
I said, okay, talk to me aboutyour chef.
When chef goes on vacation orchef gets sick, who's placing
the orders and doing theinventory and writing the
schedule?
And they said, well, chef justtakes it with them.
(29:03):
That's so fucked up.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I know you're laughing, but like it's so
fucked up and I'm so.
I'm so sick and tired of thatbecause to say that out loud and
and just have that beacceptable behavior, right, like
that's the way we've alwaysdone it.
That's bullshit and I want.
I don't think that thatrestaurant owner actually knows
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So on the complete other side of that spectrum was
a conversation I had where chefleft sous chef's there.
Owner steps in, works very,very diligently, puts his apron
on every day, does the orders,does the schedules and then he
promotes the sous chef to a chefand says OK, schedule's yours
(29:45):
now.
Like, what, like.
What do you mean now, like what, like, what do you mean?
Uh, going to the store everymorning, you know, because you
forgot to put avocados, like sothe whole it kind of like the
way you were.
I'm like okay, so what are yoursystems?
What's going on?
Send me the sheets.
I want to see you know, becauseit's like so to me it's so much
(30:06):
fun because I'm not living itfrom moment to moment.
But when someone's like ready tocheck out because they haven't
been supported, like so there'sthat one line of like just
expecting that you need shuffle,handle it.
Yeah, no problem, and again,it's a shared responsibility.
But I'll bet any amount ofmoney chef ain't saying anything
(30:27):
about it just going along.
Hey, listen, I talked like Iunderstand that in some
countries it's illegal now tocall an employee when he's off.
It is like I think it's germanyor in a couple other countries
if your employee is off, youcannot call him at home.
(30:47):
And I'm not saying that we haveto be that crazy, but
appreciating the boundarybetween work and home is
probably a powerful exercise foreverybody, because it's just
bleeding all over everywhere andthen it gets sloppy and then
it's so hard to be able to judgewhether or not someone's doing
(31:09):
a good job that way.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Right, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
So talk about this time method that you've created
for the book.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Well, I don't necessarily know if it's a
method, but there's all theselittle pieces that kind of blend
together when they're appliedin a certain way.
So boundaries, communication,like understanding.
So I am not a big advocate ofwork-life balance.
(31:45):
I think it's bullshit, but I ama big advocate for work-life
harmony.
I think it's bullshit, but I ama big advocate for work-life
harmony.
And that may look like lookingat the year's calendar and
sitting down with your wife andletting her know okay, so this
is shoulder season and this iswhen we start have to hiring
people, and that's when I haveto be really, really present,
because without thatcommunication, she's left her
(32:07):
own devices to try to figure outwhat the hell's going on.
Oh, he's just ignoring me and Iknow that that's an extreme
example, but it happens all thetime.
We got the work life over hereand we've got a personal life
over here and somehow they don'ttouch.
So you know it's all.
And it also kind of starts withcore values and like, okay, so
what is absolutelynon-negotiable for you?
(32:28):
And from that point, let's,let's work.
So having an understanding ofan appreciation for you know the
choices that you've made andthat you can make new choices,
that there is a certain amountof not a certain amount of
responsibility, but aresponsibility, and how you're
communicating with otherseffectively or not, and to what
(32:50):
degree you're willing to bedistracted or not, all kind of
blend together into a new way ofbeing so that you're absolutely
positively present when you'reat work and then when you're at
home, you're absolutelypositively present.
I'll tell you a quick story.
Down on Longboat Key in Florida, my wife and two young
(33:10):
daughters were just going to goout for a couple of days.
It was like a Monday or Tuesdayor whatever.
Just sit by the beach and mypager started buzzing in the car
on the way from Fort Lauderdaleand we set up our chairs and
the girls are playing in thesurf and it was a perfect day
out.
And my phone continued to buzzuntil I could no longer ignore
(33:33):
it.
And then, about 10 minuteslater, I turned up and I watched
my wife start breaking downchairs and putting stuff in a
bag.
I'm like what are you doing?
And she's like we're leaving.
I'm like what do you mean we'releaving?
She's like listen, it's goingto be like this the entire time.
(34:00):
I don't want to be here and, tomy deep regret, I watched her
pack the whole car up and we allgot in and left because I
thought it was safer for me tobe back at work or closer to
work than be present with mykids.
And I really mean safer,because there seemed to be like,
the farther I got, the biggerrisk there was.
But again, it was allfear-based for me.
But it was like man, I wish Ihad that choice one more time,
because I'd just be on the beach, present and to me.
(34:23):
When I can give my full presence, I get so much more back.
You know, the conversations gosmoother because I have a clear
intention about what I'm tryingto communicate and it just
becomes clear for everybody,especially at work, to be able
to have those clear, directconversations about standards
that apply to everybody.
(34:43):
It's just such a great way tobe and I get that.
Some places are such a shitshow that it's hard to figure
out where to start, which islike okay, 20 minutes this week,
that's it.
Yeah, just that one thing.
And that's 1%.
Yeah, I mean it's not much, butyou do that consistently over
time.
Now, all of a sudden, you'vegot people who really believe
(35:04):
that you care.
You care about them enough toskill them up, not for this job,
but for their next job, I meanthat carries a lot of weight.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's one thing that I really it comes up a lot with
restaurant owners that I workwith.
They want to positionthemselves, to be in the role
that they want to be in and theywant to be more present for
their families.
And you can't do that unlessyou've got the right people in
the right places and you'vecreated the systems for them to
be able to operate without you.
(35:34):
And some people are so againstsystems or they don't understand
them.
Something as simple as writinga checklist of items on how to
write a schedule so that you cantrain somebody once and then
leave that sheet with them sothey have support when you're
not in the room it's just thatsimple.
That's a really efficient,simple system to put into place.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
A chef I work with.
You know he lives a coupleblocks from the restaurant and
so it's nothing for him to kindof toddle over there.
You know, again, after I set upall these systems, you know,
still with a legal pad doing hisorder, like he has his way, and
I'm like dude, don't you get it?
You will always be tied to thatplace and maybe now it's cool,
(36:15):
but you have anotherrelationship show up.
How's that going to work?
Yeah, you know where it mightbe okay right now, like if
you're not creating a systemthat someone else can follow.
And the best thing I everlearned, man, was how to write a
succession plan.
Holy shit, right, you've got astaffing plan and now you've got
a succession plan, and now youknow who's moving where, so you
can start training them andmoving them in before they even
(36:37):
know what's going on.
And you've got it tucked.
Nope, I mean sure there's.
You lose people every now andthen.
But that type of system, to me,was always like I love to see
all the pieces come together andwhen you start seeing the flow
not only a product but people um, it becomes intoxicating, cause
I, you know, I always like howcan I make it better Like what
is, like what is there, what's,what's the piece missing?
(36:58):
And a staffing plan based uponum, based upon seasons, at the
very least, if not weekly.
But I mean these things because, let's face it, if you know
you've got to hire 10 people,it's so much easier to do it six
weeks out than two weeks.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yeah, I love it.
Adam, can you tell us what'snext?
I know you mentioned book twoin the series, but can you give
us a sneak peek?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yep.
So I've got um communicationstrategies uh, that actually
work.
Um, I've got communicationstrategies that actually work.
I've also got the 1% journalthat's coming out and I realized
that without context it seemslike a silly thing, but it's got
.
So I have a master book thatI'm still finishing that has
basically all of this stuff tiedup to it and then broken out
(37:46):
into these kinds of actionguides.
The other thing that I'm reallyexcited about is that I am
finally building a tieredmembership community for chefs
and culinary professionals so wecan get the hell off Facebook
and that toxic shit.
But it's an opportunity for usto be together in a really
(38:07):
powerful place and they canself-select, um, if they want to
tear up or tear down.
But because there's freecourses and PDF like all kinds
of stuff in there and the um andthe environment is set up so
much like a Facebook feed, it'slike scary.
But I'm really excited aboutthat because even during this
boot camp, I recognize thatconnecting with somebody once a
(38:29):
week is is probably not enough,right, and so people drift.
They don't feel like they'resupported, even in a coaching
environment, and so it's been areal rigorous process for me to
try to figure out what's thebest delivery system and how do
we keep people engaged.
And because you know there'stoo many other again
(38:51):
distractions out there.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah, how can people get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
You can reach me on LinkedIn, chef Adam M Lamb on
Facebook, and you can alwayscome to Chef Life Radio and
listen to an episode or thewebsite of Chef Life Coaching.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Awesome.
Thank you, adam, so appreciateit Nice to have you.
We'll talk to you soon, you bet.
Thanks.
Today's episode is featuring my good friend, adam
Lamb.
We are going to talk about hisnew book, the Successful Chef
Time Strategies that ActuallyWork.
At its core, this book is aguide for chefs who are ready to
stop drowning in the dailygrind and start leading their
time before it leads them intoburnout.
This isn't just another genericproductivity book written by
(00:28):
somebody outside the industry.
It's a field-tested,emotionally grounded and
brutally honest guide written bya chef for chefs, one who's
been in the weeds, lost the plotmore than once and found a way
back by reclaiming the one thing.
We never seem to have enough oftime.
Today we're going to talk aboutthe 1% way, the principle that
(00:54):
small, consistent changes leadto lasting transformation.
The narrow path, a practice ofeliminating distractions and
staying rooted in your corevalues.
And the time method, aleadership framework
specifically designed forkitchen culture.
Stay tuned, there's tons ofvalue in this episode.
Welcome to the RestaurantLeadership Podcast, the show
(01:16):
where restaurant leaders learntools, tactics and habits from
the world's greatest operators.
I'm your host, kristen Marvin,with Solutions by Kristen.
I've spent the last two decadesin the restaurant industry and
now partner with restaurantowners to develop their leaders
and scale their businessesthrough powerful one-on-one
(01:37):
coaching, group coaching andleadership workshops.
This show is complete withepisodes around coaching,
leadership development andinterviews with powerful
industry leaders.
You can now engage with me onthe show and share topics you'd
like to hear about leadershiplessons you want to learn and
(01:58):
any feedback you have.
Simply click the link at thetop of the show notes and I will
give you a shout out on afuture episode.
Thanks so much for listeningand I look forward to connecting
.
All right, adam, I warned youbefore we jumped on the call.
I'm a little spicy today and soI'm going to challenge you on
(02:19):
some things.
I don't.
You know, it's not a personalthing.
We're friends.
We've done this before.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So thank you so much for your time, as always
appreciate this.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
By the way, as a chef , I appreciate the spice.
Thank you, can't be too muchfor me.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well played, so time strategies that actually work.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Why this topic?
Why right now?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
why this topic?
Why right now?
Uh, interestingly enough, youknow, as my businesses started
to grow, I was became more andmore interested in, like, like,
what's really going on?
Like, what are the top 10biggest problems that chefs are
having in 2025?
So it was the first time I'dever done deep research with um,
with, with chat, gpt, and it'sweird because typically, or
historically, I would say, not alot is written about, you know,
(03:11):
the culinary industry and theproblems that they're having.
You know it's kind of a grayarea, but I think, because of
the pandemic and some otherinfluences, that that there have
been more and more studies.
So I mean, it was 26 pages long, it was.
It was a really, really welldone.
And so once we got the top 10problems, I said what can I do
(03:32):
or create that would supportthem?
And so we together came up withthis idea of a and I don't want
to say short form book, but it'swhat is considered a low
content book.
So there's not a whole lot offluff, there's not a whole lot
of story, it's like let's, let'sbe real about what the problem
is.
And these are things that I'vecome to find out in my career,
(03:56):
and not only as a chef, but alsoas a coach that have worked and
that have worked for me.
Each one of the chapters alsohas, you know, either a
worksheet, um, that's, uh,there's a central site where
they can download those, so itis a work in progress Like this
is about getting the work done.
It's not about a whole lot offluff, and the feedback that
I've gotten has been verypositive because of that, like
(04:19):
they don't have time.
Every time you try to talk to achef, uh, I'm sorry, don't have
enough time.
So the reason why timestrategies that actually work
had to be first is that if youcan't lead your time, if you
can't manage your time, if youcan't be the master of your time
, then nothing else is going towork.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Adam, whose responsibility is it to manage
time?
Is it the owner operator?
Is it the chef?
Where do you put thatresponsibility?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Ultimately it's our responsibility.
You know we have a good wetypically we have a very good
understanding of the operation.
And yet, just speaking formyself, you know I'll get up
late, I won't make sure that Ihave time to go to the gym, feel
like shit later, and then I'm,you know, eating French fries
and doing whatever I can to kindof balance myself out.
(05:11):
So ultimately, what I've cometo understand is that until I
can lead myself, I really can'tlead out.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, when you're talking about?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
when you talk about time strategies, are you taking?
Talking about time managementspecifically?
I mean, I guess we'd have tostart somewhere.
Yes, yeah, I mean there areaspects of it that need to be
managed, but it's more proactivethan that.
So a couple of principles thatunderpin all these books and, by
the way, as I said, there's 10editions of these coming out
over the next year or so is theidea of um, of the 1% way, which
(05:49):
is a dedication to becoming 1%better than yesterday.
Just reflecting on my own careerin life, you know, when I
wanted to make changes, it wasalways a big rash.
You know I'm going to do thisand I'm going to do that and you
know, a week later I'm fallingon my face and it took me a
while to understand that.
You know small, consistentsteps, over time you'll big
results.
So how do we land that in ourcareer, in our lives, such that
(06:14):
we're more focused on that thanany huge splash?
And what I can tell you is that.
Give you a great example.
I did 75 hard.
So it's this exercise programand made famous.
And you do the same five thingsevery day for 75 days.
You have to work out twice aday.
(06:35):
One must be outside 45 minutes,you have to drink a gallon of
water, you have to be on sometype of eating plan, it doesn't
matter, and so these things.
What I found was the first timeI failed after about 21 days.
Second time was about sevendays, then it's 14 days no
alcohol.
It's a.
(06:56):
It's a very, very strict way ofof kind of putting yourself to
the test, and it wasn't until Iunderstood that this was not
something that I needed to getby or past to get to something
else, but the juice was reallyin the moment, like really
diving deep into what I wasdoing, moment by moment by
moment, and that's where themagic was.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, I've done 75 hard a couple of times Sucks
right.
It's, it doesn't seemsustainable.
I think the intention of it isabsolutely to disrupt.
So, it goes against everythingthat you just talked about with
getting 1% better every singleday, because trying to work out
twice for 45 minutes, once inthe morning, once in the
afternoon, doing it outside isis so difficult and you know he
(07:43):
lets you do whatever diet youwant to do, the drastic.
You know the reading 10 pages,I can't remember what else is it
the gallon of water.
It's so regimented, which I feellike is not, is not real, is
not natural life, especially inthe restaurant business, where
every single day is different.
(08:05):
We know that shift is going tobegin at a certain time every
day and we know that it's goingto end at a certain time every
day, and then everything else inthat is just completely up to
chance, right?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Exactly.
We know the doors are going toclose at some point 100%.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
How do you encourage people to maintain that focus of
getting better by 1% everysingle day?
How do they keep that top ofmind in such a crazy industry
like ours?
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I know I actually had to write a journal because
that's what I ended up doing islike spending time writing these
things out every day, having agoal for seven days and then it
goes into for seven days, andthen it goes into a month and
then it goes into a quarter, andI'm not really focused on you
know what that's going to looklike after 90 days.
I'm more focused on like what'sthe next seven days and, to
(08:53):
your point, yeah, it kind ofgoes counter to what we were
like, what we would espouse.
For myself, it was about again,kind of this, and I want to say
self-management orself-leadership, but it had been
a long time since I felt reallygood about any consistent
effort that I had put in.
My experience with thehospitality industry is, you
know, I got addicted to instantgratification.
(09:14):
So, you know, to hell with like75 days.
I'm like getting to the nexthour, right, and that becomes a
cycle of which, like I couldn'thold myself accountable to
anything.
And I don't mean like getting myinventory done on time.
I'm talking about for my ownpersonal being, my own personal
way of showing up to my family,showing up to the people who I
(09:37):
love, that work and the onething that, uh, that the that
the originator says is thatsomewhere between day 60 and day
70, something happens.
It's, you know, he doesn't sayreligious experience, but I had
a complete out-of-bodyexperience.
It was about eight o'clock atnight and I was running down the
street coming up to the risenext to the church, not too far
(10:02):
away, and I felt so good that Istarted thinking about like when
was the last time I felt thisgood?
And it turned out it was, youknow, 1986.
Like I remembered the momentwhen I decided that I could no
longer be playful and funny andloose, that I had to be a hard
ass, that I had to be the edge,that I had to be the apex
(10:22):
predator in the, in the punchbowl, and it was a, uh, heart
rending experience for me.
Well, what had happened wasthat I recovered so much of
myself and, like he says, youknow once, that the confidence
is, you know, bulletproof.
That's not necessarily true,but I started to remember parts
(10:43):
of myself and hold myself in acertain amount of respect,
treating my life and my body insuch a way that it deserved.
And I did know that, you know,for years and years and years I
threw my body around with greatabandon.
It was like the thing I couldalways count on, until I
couldn't anymore.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Here's the thing 80% of restaurants fail because they
don't have the systems, notbecause they have bad food or
service.
If you're ready to stop beingthe bottleneck in your own
business and start buildingsomething that can actually
scale profitably, I want you toput Multi-Unit Mastery, my new
book, directly in your hands forfree.
(11:19):
Go to irfbookcom right now andgrab your copy.
Go to IRFbookcom right now andgrab your copy.
When you do, you're going toget access to some additional
tools that are not availableanywhere else.
This is about building a legacy, not just another location.
Stop putting it off and go getyour book Again.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
That's IRFbookcom so part of it was like this sense
of self, you know.
Also, you know, I know one ofthe core things about your
business is mine is like reallyworking with clients on their
core values, like because onceyou get it it's a whole
(12:00):
different story, and I thinkthat was kind of part of it and
this idea of like if I can drawa line in the sand and say I am
going to take small, measurablesteps towards this goal and you
achieve the goal, that shifts alot for folks, did for me
there's something about what'scoming up for me right now
(12:21):
around this instantgratification when you, when you
work out, when you're doing a75 hard, you work out, you're
taking care of yourself, youfinish your workout, you get
this instant gratification whenyou're plating a dish and you
see it come to life and it'sperfectly presented and you set,
you hand it off to the foodrunner expo.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
There's instant gratification from the front of
house perspective when we dropit on the table and then we see
the guest light eyes, light upit.
It's the best thing and it'sand I have been chasing that,
becoming an, you know, sinceI've become an entrepreneur.
I had a moment this morningwhere I was just like I'm going
to do this big project, to do it, and so I have to be careful
(12:59):
about those dopamine hits right,especially from an addiction
perspective, and I wonder,because it is such a natural
part of the industry, do youfeel like there's a situation
where instant gratification canbe beneficial for?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
leadership.
Sure, I mean anything withinreason, I mean measured.
To your point about thedopamine, like I think that
that's something that not awhole lot of folks are actually,
um, actually focused on,because once you flood that
brain case with so much dopamine, the brain will actually start
(13:38):
to thin out the receptorsbecause it's a washing too much.
So when you come off the otherside of that and there's less
and less dopamine, there's lessreceptors out and that's where
the crash comes and that's wherestart chasing the high again.
You know, I got to a point,kristen, where you know people
would come up to me and like, oh, chef, and I was completely
(13:59):
stone-faced, like they could notunderstand what I did in such a
way that would give me any ideathat, you know, like holding
them in judgment because theywere happy.
The other part that really thatlike kind of the thing that I
didn't count on, was beingforced during 75 hard to create
boundaries, to actually sit downwith the people in my life and
(14:20):
say, hey, I'm going to go onthis journey, this is what it's
going to take.
Are you with me or not?
And and what was so weird aboutthat?
You know, jennifer is a, mywife is a, is a transformational
coach and speaker.
And you know, still, yeah, westill fuck up, still can't
communicate, and so to be ableto, forced into this, like, okay
(14:41):
, here's my choice, I can askfor what I want, even though I
might think that the answer isno.
But it's not the answer thatI'm really looking for.
I'm looking for that sense ofself in which I can actually
speak my truth in that space andregardless of how it's taken
with respect, of course, thereare all kinds of unintended
(15:11):
consequence or benefits to thatexperience that I carry forward
now and as part of my coaching.
It's like clarity, directnessand communication.
You know to your point,designing alliances like to have
that upfront, with no ambiguity, is really, really powerful,
and most people have no idea howto live that way because it's
just so much is on the slide.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Totally so.
You talk about the narrow pathright and again going deeper
into boundaries here.
So talk a little bit about whatyou mean by the narrow path in
this book.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, it's um, I mean , they've called it a bunch of
stuff.
Monk mode is another way ofsaying it, but it's a process of
looking at what you want toaccomplish.
Okay, I'm going to go on thisjourney of discovery or mastery
around a particular thing.
I can choose to have myattention broken up by
notifications, by red and yellowfast food signs and yellow fast
(16:05):
food signs.
You know, the world is built toput us to sleep, and when I,
you know, when I was in theprocess and I was watching a
football game on TV and I waslike, oh, like, the difference
between conscious andunconscious is a very slim thing
.
But you know, it's nice to justkind of sit back and relax and
(16:28):
not care or worry for whateverreason, and I'm not saying that
worry is a thing.
However, I had a conversationwith my wife just recently about
this idea, about owning andstepping into more of my king
energy.
Does she need to tell me totake out the garbage?
You know all these littlethings.
(16:49):
And because I was sick and Ihad back surgery, you know she
took care of me for a long timeand she stepped right into
leadership because I wasn'tthere to do that.
And, as a matter of fact, lastweekend I had to tell her okay,
thank you, I'm so grateful, butI'm back now.
So get the hell out of thegarage, cause I had to clean the
whole thing, just reorganize it, cause everybody's piling stuff
(17:13):
around, um, but the narrow pathis really about just getting
rid of distraction.
So I don't have anynotifications on my phone, I
don't have any notifications onmy computer, and the first block
of my day, which is typically,you know, about two and a half
hours, I try very hard to makesure that I'm doing one thing,
cause I I think you're Kristen,we have that kind of excitement
thing we share that you know.
(17:33):
You start thinking about this,and then there's another thing
and, uh, you were pointed out tome.
Oh, you're.
You have another tool now thatyou're very prolific, my friend.
Right, you know, chasing thisshiny object, I mean again, it's
it's kind of that conditioningof always trying to keep the
(17:53):
highest amount of dopamine inthe brain as possible because it
feels good, and when you startstarving your body of those type
of rewards, you know the.
The other thing about um, aboutinstant gratification, is that
we forget that gratificationdelayed is a superpower.
(18:15):
There are people who have towait five years for their
building.
An architect.
There's no joy, I shouldn't sayno joy, but he waits a long
time, or she waits a long timefor that building to finally
come up.
And you know, going to the gymevery day, there's no great, you
know ha-ha in the gym, butthere is that, that thing that's
(18:37):
out in front.
That's always possible andalways permissible, as long as
you're making the choice to dothat.
And so I guess it comes rightdown to like how do I want to
spend my attention?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
How do you recommend and work with your students here
around this, the bootcamp thatyou've got around, the
successful chef program?
How are you teaching chefs andwine cooks and sous chefs to
eliminate distractions duringservice?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think we're pretty well conditioned to do that.
As a matter of fact, um, I andseveral people, lots of people I
talked to, you know they theyrelish going to work, especially
when there's difficulty at home, right, because things are so
like, things are happening atsuch a rate of speed that if
you're you're not present, thenit all goes sideways.
(19:25):
So it's almost like a, like agimme to go to work and be taken
over by that environment.
And yet as soon as you walk outthe door at the end of the
night, that's when that stuffcomes creeping in.
So you're going to go have abeer with the boys or are you
going to?
You know, go home, you knowtake a walk before you get in
your car.
(19:51):
So again, I think it all for meit comes down to choice, and the
fact that I made bad choicesdoes not mean that I can't make
a better one, because I spent alot of my time in shame and
regret.
Talked to a coaching clientyesterday, said he spends about
60% of his time feeling guiltybecause he really, really wants
to make sure that his people aretrained really well, but he
doesn't have the time becausethey're constantly understaffed
(20:13):
and then when he sees them goover the cliff, he feels bad,
and so he's wondering, like,where's that boundary where I
can feel like I did everythingthat I possibly could and I get
to be okay with that.
And they also get to be, youknow, conscious beings with
choice and say, you know, didyou come on time?
Did you have your station set,you know?
So I think that that's a levelof emotional balance that is
(20:39):
tricky to attain but is alwaysworth the attempt.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
How do you help a client like that get out of that
vicious cycle and really get tothe root cause of what's going
on with the turnover?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Sure.
Well, after listening for along time and asking questions,
I said, okay, so what would itlook like if you actually
planned it?
He's like what are you talkingabout?
Like well, you know you're inseason, you know when business,
businesses and when businesses.
So what if you took one personand decided on Wednesday I'm
(21:13):
going to spend 20 minutes withthis person?
Now, that's not as much as you'dlike to do, but everybody else
starts seeing it andappreciating the fact that
you're taking time out of yourday to spend with them.
And right now they're in aslippery slope because there's
been some stuff where peoplehave been kind of checked out
and um, and he really cares alot, and so I encouraged him to
(21:35):
schedule that shit.
Like if it's important, it goesin a planner.
Like I don't care, I constantlyputting things in my calendar,
so I don't.
First, so I don't forget, butsecondly, so I don't overcommit,
because I have a bad habit of,you know, wanting to please
people, so I'll overcommit tocertain things.
And then I look at my calendar.
I'm like, can I do this today?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, I had a conversation yesterday.
I think this is such a it'ssuch a big problem.
It's so systemic.
It's always been there.
I think and I don't know if yousee this, but more and more
people in the industry arestarting to reach out and ask
for help.
Now there's so much morecomfortability around having
conversations like this, whichis absolutely extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I was.
So it's such a greatconversation and even in the
moment as we're talking I wasn'treally doing a whole lot of
coaching it's.
You know it's our first session.
I'm just trying to get agrounding of where he's at and
he's self-correcting in themoment as he's saying things,
catching himself.
I first had to encourage him touse I statements, so I was like
(22:41):
I would encourage you to like,because this is the first step
into into the three pillars ofrelationship.
The relationship with yourselfwas like just owning it and not
kicking yourself in the assbecause shame and regret, you
know it's just a great excuse tonot do what you're what you
want to do.
So either we're going torecreate the past or, you know,
(23:02):
be scared that we're going to dothat.
Or we're just going to say,okay, I made the wrong choice,
that.
Or we're just going to say,okay, I made the wrong choice,
now what?
So part of it is, I think,being willing to have some grace
and tenderness with yourself.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I see this time management issue coming up a lot
, with younger people coming upin the industry, and I think and
I've had this conversation acouple of times in the last
couple of weeks I think I'mcoaching a couple of regional
managers that are coming up inthe ranks and they're regionals
for the first time and they'rethe owner of the restaurant
groups that they work for andsaid to me Kristen, I don't know
(23:36):
how to do this, I don't knowhow to be a regional, so I need
somebody that's been in theirshoes to work with them, please,
and give them the structure andthe accountability that they
need to start off in a reallypositive, successful way, so
that we can this can be.
There's longevity here, there'ssustainability here, right, and
what I keep hearing from them isI can't figure out how to get
(23:59):
everything done.
And I think when we'repromoting people internally in
the industry, we are doing areally good job of sitting down
with a piece of paper or havinga conversation with someone
saying here's the logistics ofeverything that you need to get
done, but we are not trainingthem and showing them how to do
it or being honest about thepressures of the job and how
(24:23):
difficult it is to manage peopleand how to have conversations
and how to hold peopleaccountable.
And I had a client yesterdaysay I can't.
He's a brand new GM.
He said I can't figure out howto get everything done on my
list.
And I said tell me what you,what you're doing and what.
What are your shoulder times.
And he said what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know, and I said okay great, this is fun.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
These are the these are the fundamentals that these
people need, right, I was likewell, the older times are.
Your are your slower times, andthat's the best time to get
stuff done.
Appoint somebody to be incharge, be the lead, be the eyes
that's the person you'redeveloping to be on your
leadership bench.
And take time, 30 minutesbefore your shift, 30 minutes
after your shift, to go get yourstuff done so that you go home
(25:07):
and you know that it's all takencare of and you don't have to
stress and worry about it.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
You know, the back part of that conversation is
what does real delegation looklike?
Right, when we've been, I havebeen held accountable for every
little thing that happens as thechef, like it's all, all of
it's fucked up, like, yeah, okay, yeah, it's me, my fault, my
fault, you know that I didn'ttrain somebody or whatever, and
part of that's dismissive, butit's absolutely correct.
(25:31):
And yet true delegation isallowing some folks some space
to wobble a little bit, right,so they get a sense of their own
power, that they can pullthemselves out.
And I love what you did withthat, Kristen, because you know
that's a whole shoulder idea.
You know, as a chef early in mycareer, I had to understand
(25:53):
where those shoulder seasonswere, because you come out of
season and you get and you blastright through it and you blow
the budget.
So you're looking ahead, not toyour point.
You know a regional is probably, you know, three to six months
ahead with this planner Planningon these things, and then, as
they start coming closer, thattime compression makes it feel
(26:15):
like, oh my God, how am I goingto get all this stuff done?
Because you're not supposed to.
You stay in your A game andthen you give your B game to
somebody who's that's their Agame, and as entrepreneurs or
solopreneurs, we don't have theluxury of that.
There's only one person, and sowe end up gaining.
(26:36):
Like I can't tell you how muchI've learned, even about editing
pdfs.
Like when was I ever gonna?
Last week I was coding an appLike are you kidding me?
But to that point, um, becausethe time thing is so important.
(26:57):
The next book that had to comeafter that is communication.
Yeah, so there's another bookcoming out um the end of the
month about communicationstrategies that actually work,
because I couldn't think of asingle time in my life when
things went sideways that itdidn't have its root somehow in
communication or communication,no communication.
(27:19):
And so I think that idea,christine, you put on, like
again being very clear about theoutcome.
This is like.
This is the project.
This is what a good outcomelooks.
Outcome, this is the project.
This is what a good outcomelooks like.
This is what a bad outcomelooks like, so that they have an
understanding of where thelines in the sand are drawn.
No-transcript, they'll go allfor it.
(27:46):
But if they don't, if they, ifpeople keep moving the goalposts
on them, they're like yeah, Iwas.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I was having this conversation last week with
another GM and talking about howto create checklists for them
and keep their time reallyfocused and structured so that
when distractions do come up orthey're exhausted at the end of
the shift, they have somethingto keep them focused at the end
of the day so they can still gettheir stuff done and be really,
(28:14):
really efficient.
And I said, okay, we're goingto create this system for you.
And then I want you to look atyour chef and see if that
system's in place.
And I started asking questions.
And this is going back to your,to the earlier question.
I asked you about timemanagement.
Whose responsibility is it?
Because I think it's.
I think it's a sharedresponsibility.
I don't think that restaurantowners in some cases are doing a
(28:37):
good enough job.
I think they're empoweringtheir, their leaders, too much
and I don't think that they areprotecting them.
And what I mean by that is thisexample.
I asked this GM.
I said, okay, talk to me aboutyour chef.
When chef goes on vacation orchef gets sick, who's placing
the orders and doing theinventory and writing the
schedule?
And they said, well, chef justtakes it with them.
(29:03):
That's so fucked up.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I know you're laughing, but like it's so
fucked up and I'm so.
I'm so sick and tired of thatbecause to say that out loud and
and just have that beacceptable behavior, right, like
that's the way we've alwaysdone it.
That's bullshit and I want.
I don't think that thatrestaurant owner actually knows
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So on the complete other side of that spectrum was
a conversation I had where chefleft sous chef's there.
Owner steps in, works very,very diligently, puts his apron
on every day, does the orders,does the schedules and then he
promotes the sous chef to a chefand says OK, schedule's yours
(29:45):
now.
Like, what, like.
What do you mean now, like what, like, what do you mean?
Uh, going to the store everymorning, you know, because you
forgot to put avocados, like sothe whole it kind of like the
way you were.
I'm like okay, so what are yoursystems?
What's going on?
Send me the sheets.
I want to see you know, becauseit's like so to me it's so much
(30:06):
fun because I'm not living itfrom moment to moment.
But when someone's like ready tocheck out because they haven't
been supported, like so there'sthat one line of like just
expecting that you need shuffle,handle it.
Yeah, no problem, and again,it's a shared responsibility.
But I'll bet any amount ofmoney chef ain't saying anything
(30:27):
about it just going along.
Hey, listen, I talked like Iunderstand that in some
countries it's illegal now tocall an employee when he's off.
It is like I think it's germanyor in a couple other countries
if your employee is off, youcannot call him at home.
(30:47):
And I'm not saying that we haveto be that crazy, but
appreciating the boundarybetween work and home is
probably a powerful exercise foreverybody, because it's just
bleeding all over everywhere andthen it gets sloppy and then
it's so hard to be able to judgewhether or not someone's doing
(31:09):
a good job that way.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Right, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
So talk about this time method that you've created
for the book.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Well, I don't necessarily know if it's a
method, but there's all theselittle pieces that kind of blend
together when they're appliedin a certain way.
So boundaries, communication,like understanding.
So I am not a big advocate ofwork-life balance.
(31:45):
I think it's bullshit, but I ama big advocate for work-life
harmony.
I think it's bullshit, but I ama big advocate for work-life
harmony.
And that may look like lookingat the year's calendar and
sitting down with your wife andletting her know okay, so this
is shoulder season and this iswhen we start have to hiring
people, and that's when I haveto be really, really present,
because without thatcommunication, she's left her
(32:07):
own devices to try to figure outwhat the hell's going on.
Oh, he's just ignoring me and Iknow that that's an extreme
example, but it happens all thetime.
We got the work life over hereand we've got a personal life
over here and somehow they don'ttouch.
So you know it's all.
And it also kind of starts withcore values and like, okay, so
what is absolutelynon-negotiable for you?
(32:28):
And from that point, let's,let's work.
So having an understanding ofan appreciation for you know the
choices that you've made andthat you can make new choices,
that there is a certain amountof not a certain amount of
responsibility, but aresponsibility, and how you're
communicating with otherseffectively or not, and to what
(32:50):
degree you're willing to bedistracted or not, all kind of
blend together into a new way ofbeing so that you're absolutely
positively present when you'reat work and then when you're at
home, you're absolutelypositively present.
I'll tell you a quick story.
Down on Longboat Key in Florida, my wife and two young
(33:10):
daughters were just going to goout for a couple of days.
It was like a Monday or Tuesdayor whatever.
Just sit by the beach and mypager started buzzing in the car
on the way from Fort Lauderdaleand we set up our chairs and
the girls are playing in thesurf and it was a perfect day
out.
And my phone continued to buzzuntil I could no longer ignore
(33:33):
it.
And then, about 10 minuteslater, I turned up and I watched
my wife start breaking downchairs and putting stuff in a
bag.
I'm like what are you doing?
And she's like we're leaving.
I'm like what do you mean we'releaving?
She's like listen, it's goingto be like this the entire time.
(34:00):
I don't want to be here and, tomy deep regret, I watched her
pack the whole car up and we allgot in and left because I
thought it was safer for me tobe back at work or closer to
work than be present with mykids.
And I really mean safer,because there seemed to be like,
the farther I got, the biggerrisk there was.
But again, it was allfear-based for me.
But it was like man, I wish Ihad that choice one more time,
because I'd just be on the beach, present and to me.
(34:23):
When I can give my full presence, I get so much more back.
You know, the conversations gosmoother because I have a clear
intention about what I'm tryingto communicate and it just
becomes clear for everybody,especially at work, to be able
to have those clear, directconversations about standards
that apply to everybody.
(34:43):
It's just such a great way tobe and I get that.
Some places are such a shitshow that it's hard to figure
out where to start, which islike okay, 20 minutes this week,
that's it.
Yeah, just that one thing.
And that's 1%.
Yeah, I mean it's not much, butyou do that consistently over
time.
Now, all of a sudden, you'vegot people who really believe
(35:04):
that you care.
You care about them enough toskill them up, not for this job,
but for their next job, I meanthat carries a lot of weight.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's one thing that I really it comes up a lot with
restaurant owners that I workwith.
They want to positionthemselves, to be in the role
that they want to be in and theywant to be more present for
their families.
And you can't do that unlessyou've got the right people in
the right places and you'vecreated the systems for them to
be able to operate without you.
(35:34):
And some people are so againstsystems or they don't understand
them.
Something as simple as writinga checklist of items on how to
write a schedule so that you cantrain somebody once and then
leave that sheet with them sothey have support when you're
not in the room it's just thatsimple.
That's a really efficient,simple system to put into place.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
A chef I work with.
You know he lives a coupleblocks from the restaurant and
so it's nothing for him to kindof toddle over there.
You know, again, after I set upall these systems, you know,
still with a legal pad doing hisorder, like he has his way, and
I'm like dude, don't you get it?
You will always be tied to thatplace and maybe now it's cool,
(36:15):
but you have anotherrelationship show up.
How's that going to work?
Yeah, you know where it mightbe okay right now, like if
you're not creating a systemthat someone else can follow.
And the best thing I everlearned, man, was how to write a
succession plan.
Holy shit, right, you've got astaffing plan and now you've got
a succession plan, and now youknow who's moving where, so you
can start training them andmoving them in before they even
(36:37):
know what's going on.
And you've got it tucked.
Nope, I mean sure there's.
You lose people every now andthen.
But that type of system, to me,was always like I love to see
all the pieces come together andwhen you start seeing the flow
not only a product but people um, it becomes intoxicating, cause
I, you know, I always like howcan I make it better Like what
is, like what is there, what's,what's the piece missing?
(36:58):
And a staffing plan based uponum, based upon seasons, at the
very least, if not weekly.
But I mean these things because, let's face it, if you know
you've got to hire 10 people,it's so much easier to do it six
weeks out than two weeks.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yeah, I love it.
Adam, can you tell us what'snext?
I know you mentioned book twoin the series, but can you give
us a sneak peek?
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yep.
So I've got um communicationstrategies uh, that actually
work.
Um, I've got communicationstrategies that actually work.
I've also got the 1% journalthat's coming out and I realized
that without context it seemslike a silly thing, but it's got
.
So I have a master book thatI'm still finishing that has
basically all of this stuff tiedup to it and then broken out
(37:46):
into these kinds of actionguides.
The other thing that I'm reallyexcited about is that I am
finally building a tieredmembership community for chefs
and culinary professionals so wecan get the hell off Facebook
and that toxic shit.
But it's an opportunity for usto be together in a really
(38:07):
powerful place and they canself-select, um, if they want to
tear up or tear down.
But because there's freecourses and PDF like all kinds
of stuff in there and the um andthe environment is set up so
much like a Facebook feed, it'slike scary.
But I'm really excited aboutthat because even during this
boot camp, I recognize thatconnecting with somebody once a
(38:29):
week is is probably not enough,right, and so people drift.
They don't feel like they'resupported, even in a coaching
environment, and so it's been areal rigorous process for me to
try to figure out what's thebest delivery system and how do
we keep people engaged.
And because you know there'stoo many other again
(38:51):
distractions out there.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah, how can people get a hold of you?
Speaker 2 (38:56):
You can reach me on LinkedIn, chef Adam M Lamb on
Facebook, and you can alwayscome to Chef Life Radio and
listen to an episode or thewebsite of Chef Life Coaching.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Awesome.
Thank you, adam, so appreciateit Nice to have you.
We'll talk to you soon, you bet.
Thanks.
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