Danny Klein’s Post

The days of the "authoritarian chef" are over. A new style of leadership is emerging in the restaurant industry, one that emphasizes collaboration, empathy, and inspiration. If you're curious about this shift, check out this article on Transformational Leadership in Restaurants. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the hottest trend in kitchen leadership! https://lnkd.in/gZsktmt6

Thank you Inc. Magazine for diving into the world of HQ+. Below are three key leadership lessons you'll find in our digital learning platform: 1. Connect the Dots: love the game of getting to know your customers  2. Watch Out for Office Skunks: empathetically address unhappy employees head-on 3. Center the Saltshaker: know what the center is, and explain what that center should look like Take a spin around HQ+ at the link below: https://lnkd.in/eeZfZwTP https://lnkd.in/eBEKTqHC

Thank you Inc. Magazine for diving into the world of HQ+. Below are three key leadership lessons you'll find in our digital learning platform: 1. Connect the Dots: love the game of getting to know your customers  2. Watch Out for Office Skunks: empathetically address unhappy employees head-on 3. Center the Saltshaker: know what the center is, and explain what that center should look like Take a spin around HQ+ at the link below: https://lnkd.in/eeZfZwTP https://lnkd.in/eBEKTqHC

Is your company doing this? I've been working with Ball Corporation to train some of their leaders and plant managers and last week they held their Awards Banquet. Plant Managers and their teams flew to Denver from all over the world to celebrate together and people loved it. This is such a cool idea to help appreciate your people, reward and reinforce behaviors and hardwire in a winning culture. If you want to start some kind of annual awards, here's some tips to make it happen: 🏆 How to Start Your Own Company Awards Banquet! 🎉 1. Set Clear Objectives: What do you want to achieve with the banquet? Celebrate success, cultivate culture, foster unity? Define it. 2. Choose Your Categories: Align awards with your core values. Whether it's 'Innovation of the Year' 'Safety Idea of the Year, or 'Team Player Award,' make it meaningful and make sure it reinforces what you value. 3. Plan the Logistics: Decide on a venue, date, and theme. Get creative—your team’s hard work deserves a fitting backdrop. 4. Involve Your Team: This is about them, after all. Create committees, get input on categories, and make nominations a collaborative effort. 5. Promote the Event: Build excitement. Tease award names, hint at special guests, or spotlight nominees. Make It Shine: - Personalize awards to reflect your company culture. - Consider meaningful rewards that go beyond plaques and certificates. - Don't forget entertainment and good food—the hallmarks of a great banquet! Post-Banquet: - Share event highlights and award moments on company channels. - Gather feedback to make next year’s event even better. - An awards banquet isn't just a party; it's a catalyst for camaraderie and engagement. It says, "We see you, we value you, and we’re all in this success story together." Ready to roll out the red carpet for your team? #Leadership #EmployeeRecognition #CompanyCulture #TeamBuilding #AwardsBanquet

This, in my opinion, is the biggest difference between Management & Leadership And as much as it sounds very simple, it's a huge shift. At it's core, it's a shift in our mindset. The team should never complete a task because they feel they have to. Or because we've told them to. They should complete the task because they want to complete the task. Because they have a sense of professional pride and love for their role. More on this in tomorrow's edition of 'The Hospitality Folks' Newsletter! Get it here! https://lnkd.in/eWz4SG2M

Intentionality & Connection. Recently the Senior Leadership team at AMFM Healthcare read Will Guidara's book, "Unreasonable Hospitality" Our goal was twofold: 1) We've found that when we, as a team, engage with with thoughtful content, it brings us closer and pushes us to consider new ideas. 2) As an organization we believe that hospitality is essential in our mission of bringing the highest quality care to as many people as possible. The book created a lot of interesting dialogue as AMFM's leaders discussed parallels between fine dining and mental healthcare. One quote has resonated with me: "In restaurants, our reason for being is to make people feel, seen, it's to make them feel welcome, it's to give them a sense of belonging. The food, the service, the design, they are simply ingredients in the recipe of human connection".

I have mentioned the book Unreasonable Hospitality about the New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park and was interested that the author of this article visited the restaurant to see what the experience can tell us about how building a high performing team can drive our business forward (and where brilliant customer service can’t help us). If you can find the book it is a good summer read. #businesseducation #leadership #goodreads #booklist

I have mentioned the book Unreasonable Hospitality about the New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park and was interested that the author of this article visited the restaurant to see what the experience can tell us about how building a high performing team can drive our business forward (and where brilliant customer service can’t help us). If you can find the book it is a good summer read. #businesseducation #leadership #goodreads #booklist

During the Restaurant Leadership Conference, Freddy's CMO, Laura Rueckel, joined executives from CAVA and Red Lobster for a roundtable discussion about people strategies. Check out Nation's Restaurant News' follow-up article below for the biggest takeaways! #fastcasual #restaurants #strategy

Excited to be attending Restaurant Leadership Conference next Monday (well really Sunday) in Phoenix. This is my favorite conference of the year for a couple of reasons. I find the hallway connections are always great (the people you bump into at this conference are the widest array of concept's and scale). There is a nice mix of vendors as well and there is time to dig into items (whether that's with existing vendors or new potential vendors you can actually have time for a conversation). Informa Connect has clearly put a ton of thought into making sure there is enough time for these informal periods and the opening day activities are always fun (did a tequila tasting/cocktail making class last year and the year before some go kart racing). The drinks sessions, lunch periods etc. all facilitate and foster this seamless mixing. Finally I find that it's at a great time of the calendar right after Q1 has ended and we have been able to assess what's going right so far this year and what isn't. I find that other attendees are in a similar boat and thus the conversations are more vibrant and more focused. I do strongly suggest that operators of all sizes attend conferences like this one as the learning and development allows you to gain knowledge faster and from those further along the scaling journey than you are. Make time to work on your business rather than simply in the business as it will make you a far better operator. Not a sponsored post in anyway but just wanted to share my thoughts. Drop a comment below if you are attending as I'd love to see you there.