July 14th 1789 was a bad day for Chefs & Cooks…

This day is called Bastille Day… The beginning of the French Revolution…

Not only was this a political revolution but it also started a Culinary Revolution when all these chefs woke up the next day and realized – they were suddenly unemployed…

OUT of WORK because their bosses had been arrested or decapitated in the Guillotine…

WOW!

Why NOT show up every single day and work your ass off and see what CAN happen…

Why not BE the best teammate you can possibly be..?

Why not be the best leader - by leading by example…

And see where that might take you.

Why NOT?

There are two ways to look at the world… One is from the INSIDE - OUT –

The other is from the OUTSIDE - IN. That’s what we are going to talk about today…

I talk with a lot of restaurant owners. The one thing they have in common is - They want to Improve. They know they need to change – BUT… They have these long laundry lists of 100 things they WANT or NEED to change IMMEDIATELY. The lists are sooo long and sooo overwhelming – they aren’t sure where to start…

So they just pick the thing that is right in front of them – the squeakiest wheel and work on that - And when they fix that – they rush off to another emergency and work on that...

Over and over, day after day and year after year… the cycle continues.

Because this condition is so common among my clients – I imagine it is common among my listeners - So… today I want to address this and hopefully help some of you in the process…

Conventional wisdom and every coach I ever had - said – there is no I in team…

But… after many years of building and leading teams – I have discovered - that there actually is an I in team

And that is what I am going to prove to you today…

High Performance Team members adapt to the organization… they work together to do what needs to be done to achieve the mission – no matter what… High Performance Team members put their fellow team members and the success of the mission above themselves… they believe in duty before self.

Low performance teams – have individual members who do their own thing – in their own way for their own personal reward… Low performance team members put themselves above their coworkers and the mission…

Simply put low performance teams are filled with individuals – out for themselves - And High Performance Teams are here to achieve The Mission… no matter what.

Are you a DUCK or an EAGLE..?

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE… you say…

That’s what we are going to talk about today…

Happy New Year..!

I HOPE you are excited to get started and make 2025 the BEST year Yet… I know I am.

I want to help you get started… And the best place to start is at the beginning…

WITH YOUR VISION STATEMENT.

What’s That – A The Vision Statement is about answering the questions -

WHO ARE YOU & WHY YOU ARE HERE…

Imagine…

You go to the coffee shop and buy a coffee… it’s is crazy busy in there…

The coffee costs $5 - You give the cashier a $20 bill.

And they give you back $16 - an extra dollar in change.

And you know it – you know they made a mistake.

And they gave you a dollar that you didn’t deserve…

Do you say something?

Or pocket the cash?

And leave.

Here’s the question… if you keep the money - is this LYING..? Is this Cheating?

As we come to the end of 2024…

I want to take a few minutes to talk about You and Your staff

I want to get you thinking about how you might improve your team in 2025…