Anthony Bourdain on Leadership
Fellow blogger, Kevin Holland, is in this overly small room - somewhere. I'm blogging from the floor of a room that filled up 10 minutes before Bourdain started. Fabulous session! Fabulous and entertaining speaker. Clear cut, dynamic, fun, and with clear expectations of his kitchen staff, Bourdain's decisive nature provides his staff with the old fashioned "tough love" approach to management. How refreshing!
As a leader of an organization--
1. Be clear. Set clear expectations of your staff. Do not waiver on those expectations.
2. Be fair. Apply the expectations to EVERY member of your staff even handedly.
3. Have down time with staff. Building relationships outside of the office
4. Set unwaiverable standards. Set very high standards and never waiver from them.
5. Be prepared to break all rules that you set. Always give yourself the ability to change the rules, break the rules, etc.
On a somber note - Bourdain answered questions about his recent taping of his show in Beiruit. The short version is that he and the crew started taping a show. 7-8 days into taping they watched the bombing of the city and were evacuated on a Marine transport. The show will air tomorrow night and will show the crew's experiences.
What an amazing speaker! Kudos for using a non-traditional speaker for this conference!