I love cooking, so I know a fair amount about Croc-wearing superstar
chef Mario Batali. But here is something I didn’t know
until reading an interview with him in Harvard
Business Review.
He has the makings of a great CEO.
As the chief executive of 14 high profile restaurants in the United States and Spain, Batali has figured out that the stereotypical brilliant-but-belligerent chef is not an effective model for leadership in the modern food service industry.
Describing his organizational business model, it’s all about team. Creating the right team. Helping it overcome problems. Promoting from within.
“All of the executive chefs and most of the general managers and wine directors have worked with me directly. They know where I’m going. They know the shorthand we use in describing how things need to change. I go into most of the New York restaurants almost every day, and we talk about things as they’re evolving. My objective as a manager, of course, is to remove the obstacles that prohibit greatness of the people that I’ve hired. So I ask, what is the hardest thing about today? And I say, well, why don’t we get somebody else to do that, or let’s remove it, or let’s streamline it, let’s make it easier. Then they can enjoy that zenny tea service effect of working through something they know how to do.”
To read the full, original article click on this link: Mario Batali: The CEO in Orange Crocs | The View from Harvard Business | BNET
Author: Sean Silverthorne
