I don’t know if this guy is still cool or relevant as of today (in my book, he will always be), but Gordon Ramsay has a brilliant business vision. He tries to apply and spread a certain concept wherever he goes, but it’s not always embraced the way he wants it to be. This concept works on many levels, personal, professional, social, etc.
To explain that, let me quickly walk you through a typical episode of his famous show (again, no idea what it’s called): a dying restaurant that was once a popular destination is led by a back-in-the-day-big-shot chef/owner. Business is falling apart, and nothing seems to work. Here comes Mr. Ramsay, with his thick British accent and frowning face. He starts by observing how the day-to-day operations work. He then starts to communicate with the team on what is being done well and what needs to improve. For the sake of dramatic TV, stubbornness, and egos, this is usually way easier said than done. Eventually, Mr. Ramsay’s reputation and incredible confrontation capabilities allow him to throw-away the heavy objects sinking the ship, at least for a short period of time.
I am pretty sure, though, many of the restaurants he brought back to life, went back and committed suicide shortly after he left. However, if they really understood what Mr. Ramsay was trying to do and listened to him, they would still be with us today. If only they understood that what he was trying to change was not the table covers, the silverware, or the rotten piece of cheese forgotten in the back of the fridge for the past 3 years. He was trying to change the CULTURE. Yes! The culture. The awareness of who you are, where you are, and what you represent makes all the difference in the world. When you realize that you are playing for the Brazilian national team (they’re still the greatest ever, let’s not kid ourselves), not the 126th ranked national team, your whole life will change! You will realize that giving 110% might not be enough. You will do the possible and the impossible to get that next next next level. If you don’t, well I’m sorry to tell you, but you’re out of here! If you don’t meet the standards, many others are dying to get the chance! If you want to be number 1, you better start acting like it! Otherwise, don’t show up tomorrow!
This was the main message of Mr. Ramsay’s engagements. We, and I’m speaking for the restaurant’s management here, have a certain level of expectations from whoever is wearing our logo. From now on, we do things a certain way. If you’re willing to comply, welcome aboard, otherwise, we don’t need you here.
Changing the culture, if you ask me, is all about the process, not the final product (at first at least). The message Mr. Ramsay was trying to deliver is that we need to change the way we work. He focused not on “WHAT” is being done, but rather on “HOW” things are being done (that’s how Mr. Azam Zaqzouq (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaqzouq) would, beautifully, put it). As it turns out, fixing the HOW will, almost all the time, fix the WHAT! And that’s exactly what he was after.
You see him focus on things like communication (he sometimes brutally questions a chef who does not communicate while working), roles and expectations, dealing with criticism and feedback, lessons learned, conflict resolution, and constant improvement. What makes it so intriguing to watch (and such a rich environment to learn from) is that in a small restaurant, it is easy to point out these things and see how they are playing out in a relatively short period of time. Compare that to big corporations with large numbers of people and more complex structures, it is way easier to catch.
Again, this is my personal non-professional opinion.