Leadership: Self Improvement

 

It took far more than 26.2 miles to make it to the finish line

“Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.” -Manual on Military Leadership

Over the last few weeks I have addressed several important facets of leadership.  In these posts I have discussed the power of leadership and how to harness it.  In the conclusion to this series, I want to address the ongoing commitment you must make to yourself to grow as a leader.  No single series of posts or book will turn you into the ideal leader.  In order to continuing to develop as a leader you must maintain a commitment to self-improvement.

Read the full post at The Manager’s Office

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Server Safety Tips

This is not the time to start thinking about server safety

When I started my first job in Management year ago, a fellow manager told me this story on my first night.  He had managed a restaurant a few years earlier with his best friend.  He asked his best friend to close for him on a Saturday night so he could go on a hot date.  Sunday morning he returned to the restaurant to find the alarm not set.  He didn’t think much of it until he saw the floor was filthy outside the walk in cooler.  He opened the door to find his best friend dead inside.

I’ve never forgotten that story because it underlies one of the most frightening facts that not even everyone in the business knows.  Restaurants and their employees are very frequently the targets of violent robberies.  In the book Fast Food Nation they even go so far as to point out that a restaurant manager is more likely to be killed on the job than a police officer.  Every week I write the “weird restaurant stories” column and exclude most of the robbery stories.  This has caused me to be painfully aware of how large a problem this is for the industry.

What is far less often reported is crimes against servers.  Over the years I have known several servers of were mugged leaving work.  This happens far more often than is reported or talked about.  With the holidays approaching this is a far greater issue.  We all need to rethink our processes for leaving the restaurant with cash in our pockets to avoid any would be thieves.

Here are a few personal security tips for the holidays.

Read the full post at Tips For Improving Your Tips

Leadership: Creating A Shared Goal

 

Each person climbs the mountain for their own reason

“Leaders don’t force people to follow-they invite them on a journey.” -Charles S. Lauer

The fundamental question behind the desire to manage rather than lead is, “How can I get people to do what I want them to do if they do not want to do it?”  Failure to answer this question is what leads so many managers to lead by force and threat of force.  The answer to this question is simple.  You must create a vision for your staff, which allows them to achieve what they want by achieving what you want.  This is what I will refer to as a shared goal, vision, or sense of purpose.  I have discussed the idea of selling a sense of purpose in the past.  Today I want to go deeper into how to develop it.

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Aspirational Dining in a Recession

Aspirational Dining in a Recession

(Note: In the previous post I defined the growing market segment of “aspirational dining” restaurants.  This is valuable background to this post and merits a read.)

What sets the “aspirational dining” market segment apart was their creation of the perception that their food cost more because it was worth more.  This perception is what made people aspire to dine in their restaurants.  During the salad days of the last decade these restaurants thrived on people’s desire to dine at a restaurant that would create a sense of jealousy amongst their peers.  Having dinner and being seen at these restaurants was a sign of status and achievement.  This all changed when the economy took a turn.

Read the full post at The Manager’s Office