There are many things to be learned from successful chefs. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Massimo Bottura making a new dish out of a mistake. Now I have come across Francis Mallmann. The documentary provided a good view of his home in a Patagonian island and cooking in the open in this beautiful landscape. It makes you long for this kind of life. Then the reality of daily humdrum of life hits you. Coming back to where we started, what is that make successful chefs full of wisdom? It may be a harder subject to follow. So I will restrict myself to his pearls of wisdom.
One of the advice from Francis Mallmann is actually a no-brainer. Tell the truth without fear. Don't we know this principle already? But Mallman also admits this is not an easy task. You gain the courage to speak the truth with careful consideration without malice as you age. All of us want to quicken this process. Don't we? It is the second lesson which is far more important. Cooking is teamwork. So he has to rely on his team members a lot. But he also changes his team members frequently. The change is not because the team member is incompetent. He changes when they become successful and have established their comfort zone in the team. According to Mallmann, the relationship can only go downhill from this point. So it is better to change the person. Somebody else on the team will step up to fill the void.
How many of us are courageous to change the composition of a successful team? Most of are quick to change but only when the relationship starts to deteriorate. So the change happens when the relationship is sliding down the slope and when it is at its zenith. I have witnessed resistance to modifying the composition of the winning team. On the other hand, I have also seen cases where the change was inevitable to salvage the team albeit late. But I have not noticed people shaking hands and parting when the going was good. This act requires a lot of courage. Although this sounds like a wise advice, will we be able to break the shackles of our bad habits to adopt it?
Photo Courtesy: Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación Argentina
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