What is your purpose? Is it too late to re-invent yourself? What happens when you come to a fork in the road? How do you motivate a team? What does it mean to care and to have high personal standards? A perspective on all these topics is shared in 30 minutes of some of the finest television you will ever see. It is the seventh episode of the second season of The Bear.
What is amazing about this episode is that you can watch it without knowing anything about any of the previous episodes or even the premise of the show except that the character Richie who is featured in this episode is at loose ends, estranged from his wife, trying to find his purpose at work and worried he has run out of time. His cousin, who is starting a new restaurant, sends him to train at three-star restaurant.
I believe every CEO or team leader should screen this episode for their teams because it is about all the things that are key to successful companies and teams, but delivered in a way that is amazingly impactful. It is also about life, the passing of time, second chances and the realization that what makes moments special is that many things every day will never happen again -- and there is the extraordinary in the ordinary day.
The episode reminds us that for great work and great teams and a great life one needs:
1) High Standards. The importance of craft, caring and operating at the highest level every day. How sweating the details and repeated practice is key to great craftsmanship. Why the best teams perform every day as if they are in the Super Bowl.
2) Respect.The importance of respecting others and having self respect. "I just need you to respect me. I need you to respect the staff. I need you to respect the diners. And I need you to respect yourself."
3) Leadership and Communication.The great Duke basketball Coach K's talk on leadership and teams is integrated into the story where he says: "Be on a team. Surround yourself with great people. Learn how to listen. Converse. Don’t make excuses. Figure out a solution. You do not have to figure it out yourself. You are part of a team." But one sees teamwork and communication as every person plays off each other in a restaurant from the front of the house to the back of the house. You can see the talk on YouTube.
4) The importance of customer focus, customer delight and customer intelligence.We often read about why one should know each customer and customize solutions for them. There is a five minute segment in this show that illustrates and teaches more about these topics than dozens of powerpoint decks. There is even an example where someone outsources from a competitor to keep a client delighted. (Deep dish pizza is part of this story. That is all I will say.)
5) Why time is all we have and we need to believe in others and ourselves and never give up.There is a five-minute scene which is probably some of the most moving television ever created as an acclaimed Chef (played by Academy Award winner Olivia Colman) talks to Richie about the challenges she has faced and the journals she discovered from her father. She discusses her setbacks and how she resurrected herself. She talks about discovering her father's journals and letters where he wrote down everything he saw or noticed. She notes that he seemed to be saying, "Donot forget this moment. Do not forget this interesting strange detail." She ends with, "And he’d sign off each letter the same way …" (And then she gets called away and Richie figures out how her father signed off.) You can watch a bit of it here or via this Twitter link. It will leave you different. Here is one commentary that explains how impactful these five minutes of greatness truly are.
6) Integration of flow and craftsmanship.In the two minutes below one sees the level of craftsmanship from writing to photography to music (yes Taylor Swift also is incorporated into the story), a sense of place (the show is a love story to my hometown Chicago) and much more. This episode of The Bear is not just about purpose, time, teamwork, craftsmanship and flow -- it is a product of these inputs.
If you want to know how they made everything look so real … well, they shot it in an actual Michelin-starred Chicago restaurant, of course: Ever.
Hope you take the 30 minutes to watch the entire episode. It might be the best use of your time.
Posted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership self-publishing platform.
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