To finish off the week on our usual food theme, I’ll report on something I heard this week on one of the many podcasts to which I subscribe. While WTF is generally about comedy, recently the host interviewed Anthony Bourdain, noted author, TV personality and, as he would tell you, former glorified line cook. Mark Maron, the host, was discussing the similarities between comics and cooks and the discussion covered training and paying one’s dues. Mr. Bourdain then made a comment that stuck with me and I think covers broader businesses than funny and food.
“You need to love food to be a great chef,” was the statement. It’s one thing that distinguishes all of the top chefs from line cooks cranking out impersonal, tasteless meals (tasteless might be an upgrade in some cases). Isn’t that true about any of us no matter what our professional calling?
One might think the statement is obvious but stop and think about your co-workers (or maybe yourself). I’ve worked with a lot of salespeople over the last 30 years and the best of them consumed the hell out of the product – primetime network TV, sports, or hockey. They’d come to work chattering about what they’d seen the night before and it was obvious that they had a great love for their product – something well beyond what one needed to do just to be familiar with what they were selling. A few spent the days putting it down as drivel – they didn’t watch TV and were happy to inform you of that, as if the tens of millions who did were the ones out of step. They didn’t last long.
I’ve never understood teachers who hate the classroom . The best instructors I ever had were those who loved everything about the education process even if they didn’t like the administrative crap that came with it. It’s really the same with any business – to be great you need to love what you’re doing even if there’s stuff that goes along with having the opportunity to do what you love.
It was pretty obvious to me when I had a staff member who had no passion for the subject matter. This isn’t about liking one’s job or work conditions – this is about a passion for your product – you can change kitchens but if you hate food, the tools available don’t matter. Thoughts?
Consult Keith 