I think the most effective way to run a kitchen is to teach, not to just yell.
Interpretation
Effective kitchen management involves teaching rather than dominating through commands.
Tom Colicchio emphasizes that successful leadership in a kitchen does not stem from authoritarian commands, but rather from a teaching approach. By fostering an environment where team members are educated and empowered, a leader can cultivate a more efficient and harmonious workspace, ultimately leading to better culinary results.
In practice
In a cooking class, I would use this quote to highlight the importance of mentorship.
We're adults. We're the ones who should teach the kids what's good to eat. I don't think the government should ever regulate what we eat at home, but we're feeding them in school with tax dollars. Quite frankly, if my tax dollars are being spent to feed kids, I'd rather feed them better food.
Most cooks try to learn by making dishes. Doesn't mean you can cook. It means you can make that dish. When you can cook is when you can go to a farmers market, buy a bunch of stuff, then go home and make something without looking at a recipe. Now you're cooking.
This is what people don't understand: obesity is a symptom of poverty. It's not a lifestyle choice where people are just eating and not exercising. It's because kids - and this is the problem with school lunch right now - are getting sugar, fat, empty calories - lots of calories - but no nutrition.
You can buy a box of low-fat macaroni and cheese made with powdered nonsense. I'm not worried if I'm using four different cheeses and it's high in fat. It's real food. That's what's more important.
Hunger is a political issue, and there are several things politically that are keeping people hungry - not funding food stamps adequately, not funding school lunches adequately. So there is a political solution to the problem of hunger.
Our greatest leaders are neither dreamers nor dictators: They are, like Jefferson, those who articulate national aspirations yet master the mechanics of influence and know when to depart from dogma.
The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opposition than from his fervent supporters.
I can make brigadier generals, but i can't make horses.
Employees who can't trust their leader to be vulnerable are not going to be vulnerable and build trust with one another.
If you're a leader, people's lives should be better because of the influence you've had along the way.
I know that the right kind of leader for the Labour Party is a desiccated calculating machine who must not in any way permit himself to be swayed by indignation. If he sees suffering, privation or injustice he must not allow it to move him, for that would be evidence of the lack of proper education or of absence of self-control. He must speak in calm and objective accents and talk about a dying child in the same way as he would about the pieces inside an internal combustion engine.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.