- Cover of Think Like a Chef
Over the weekend I did a bit of cooking, as usual. Some of it used recipes, some of it used the knowledge I’ve accumulated over a lot of years in the kitchen. While doing some of the prep work (mise, to you foodie types), my mind wandered and was thinking about..um…thinking! And I figured out that it’s the thinking that makes all the difference, both in the kitchen and at your desk.
What I mean is that many folks can execute a well-written recipe. They have basic food skills, know what the recipe means when it says “sweat” rather than “saute” and can even manage their timings well enough to get multiple dishes ready all at the same time. But they’re not the ones I’d hire to cook for me.
Hire the one that THINKS like a chef. What flavors work together? What textures compliment and enhance one another? How can I use the techniques I know in new and different ways to construct something better? It’s not that one doesn’t ever use recipes – it’s just that I’d rather have the person who reads the instructions and makes that recipe their own.
It’s the same at work. There are lots of people who can follow the manual and do everything by rote. They get most of the work done on time and exactly as they been asked to do it. But they’re not the ones you want working for you. Nope. You want the ones that have great vocabulary of techniques and who can use the raw ingredients of your business to make you something new and delicious. They’re also the ones who can deal with changing circumstances just a a great chef can improvise based on what’s in the pantry.
Tom Colicchio wrote a great book almost a decade ago called “Think Like A Chef“. I highly recommend it. But I’m not sure even Chef Tom thought he was writing a business book. Yet it’s his principles – learning and understanding the techniques and flavors that are the building blocks of food – that I think should be echoed in business. Make sure your people have those skills and think like chefs and you’ll be well down the road to success.
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Filed under: Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud Tagged: | business, business thinking, cooking, food, life, management, managing, Think Like a Chef, Tom Colicchio
[...] Today’s Foodie Fun Friday post is about soup. My current head/chest cold has me focused on this topic and of course it also relates to business in my mind. No, I’m not doing any work for the folks at Campbell’s but, as you’ll see, what goes on with soup is very pertinent to what goes on in the business world as well.There are all kinds of recipes for soup but the basic premise is to infuse water with flavor. One can start with meat or vegetables and boil them for a bit to make a stock (yes, I know about browning the meat, soaking it first, but I’m trying to simplify here, OK?!?!). Generally you remove the meat and veg, de-fat the broth, put the meat back and add fresh vegetables since you’ve already extracted the flavors from the ones you boiled. You can thicken it by reduction or by using a roux, you can add milk or cream, but that’s the basic method. Now don’t you feel dumb for reading all those recipes! Let’s learn to think like a chef! [...]