Cooking is just a vehicle to express yourself, like painting and acting... The reason why we're cooking is not because we want to put something on the plate. It's so much more complex than that.
Dominique CrennRead
My grandmother was kind, but she knew what she wanted and she wasn't afraid to give a command. When, eventually, I ran my own kitchen, I realized I had a leadership model reaching back into my earliest memories.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the influence of a kind yet assertive grandmother on the speaker's leadership style.
Dominique Crenn highlights the lasting impact of her grandmother's leadership qualities on her own approach to running a kitchen. The balance of kindness and the ability to command authority served as a model for how to lead effectively, showcasing that empathy and decisiveness can coexist in a leadership role.
In practice
In a speech about her leadership philosophy, Dominique could quote her grandmother to illustrate the importance of kindness in authority.
Cooking is just a vehicle to express yourself, like painting and acting... The reason why we're cooking is not because we want to put something on the plate. It's so much more complex than that.
Eating is an act of activism for me; it's politics.
My restaurant is an expression of myself - my fantasies. Where I've been, and where I want to be. I think of my cooking as very emotional.
I don't want people to look at my menu and see just the ingredients. I want to take them on a journey.
When I interview people that want to work with us, I often disregard their resume, because a piece of paper, it doesn't tell me really who they are. I'm looking for honesty, vulnerability. I'm looking for strength, I'm looking for weakness. I'm looking also for someone that wants to learn and is excited about learning.
Early in my career, I was told I shouldn't try to work in a kitchen, that I should consider serving or managing instead. It was a sad narrative that was given to me, and it came from a society that didn't know better.
I appoint the laziest person to do the hardest job as they'll find the easiest way to do it
I shall always think of myself first and foremost... as a hunter.
Leadership is neither a rank nor a title. It is a choice. The choice to provide care and protection for those for whom we are responsible.
In every organization, there are many people, from senior leaders to first-time managers, who have the power to elevate women in the workplace. I wouldn't be in the position I'm in today without several key people in power believing in me and giving me a chance to succeed.
The effective executive knows that it is easier to raise the performance of one leader than it is to raise the performance of a whole mass. She therefore makes sure she puts into the leadership position, into the standard-setting, the performance-making position the person who has the strength to do the outstanding pacesetting job. This always requires focus on the one strength of a person and dismissal of weaknesses as irrelevant unless they hamper the full deployment of the available strength.
The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.
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