Ryan Leaf. Greg Oden. Johnny Football. I was reminded of the long list of “busts”–athletes who excelled in college then failed to even come close to the level of expectation when they turned pro–while listening to yet another aspiring “chef” talk about their acumen, and/or value, because they attended culinary school. So cute. I’d be inclined to point out that this smacks of a millenial perspective, and it does, however it’s been an annoying mantra for many years of my career. Maybe it’s worse now.
Hey “chef”….good for you! Seriously. You showed interest, you began pursuing a course, maybe even a passion, you graduated, now you have a job. But here’s a newsflash…knife skills ain’t life skills.
Now, shut up and learn. About 12 hours of unrelenting business while maintaining quality expectations. About creating consistency and efficiencies. And coordination and the importance of team. About maintaining the standard and owning mistakes–you’re not fooling anyone when you “hide” the burnt part. Learn how being late is arrogant and effects overall morale–essential to optimizing the big picture. Learn how you need the team for your success, and how arrogance and being rude and disrespectful undermines the common goal. And forget about all of the culinary nuance that you can never learn in the classroom, and how to purchase better and avoid waste, and how to properly prepare for huge swings in business from one day to the next; having enough to satisfy all guests but not too much thereby incurring waste. Good lord; Learn how to get mashed potatoes to the table while they are still hot! Learn about tasting, smelling, seeing everything–so nothing gets missed and no guest ever yelps like a dog, thereby hurting the team. Learn how to satisfy every guest by finding the way to say yes–because you have the right focus (every guest), and the creativity, and the presence of mind and the wherewithal to not choke under pressure. I could go on. Hopefully you’ll figure it out. Maybe you really will be great. In 10 years.
It’a a different game, real life. Just ask Tim Tebow how tough it was to complete a pass in the NFL.
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