Ask Me, If You Can – Chef Marcel’s Monthly Q&A

“Chef, how to apply abroad? How do you deal with a difficult boss? How can I get promoted?”

Ask me and I will do my best to help you find a solution. Once a month I am going to answer your questions here in my blog.

If your question gets selected and published then you will receive a FREE copy of my eBook “Slamming It Out”.

Drop me your question here now: slammingitout@gmail.com

See ya in my next blog!!

Riris R. from Kuwait asked:

“Chef, I am a supervisor in the cold kitchen, leading a team of 5 chefs. I worked hard to get my promotion. I must admit that some of my staff are really talented and sometimes even more creative than I am. It seems that they have better ideas than me. This bugs me and to be honest, I am jealous at them sometimes.“

“My question: How do you deal with this situation? How do you deal with your own ego?”

That’s really a great
question!

We all are in our personal
battle with ourselves, our egos every single day. Author and blogger Ryan
Holiday even titled one of his books “Ego is the Enemy”.

It happens at work. We do
a food tasting for the boss and he does not like our cooking. A colleague gets
a promotion and you ask yourself why he gets that raise and not you? The other
guy always takes off on Sunday’s. What is going on here? We start to get
jealous.

Firstly, the emotion of
jealousy is a very human emotion. It seems we cannot help it. And guess what, the
problem is not your colleague who gets promoted. The problem is definitely not
your boss who doesn’t like your food. No.

The problem is YOU!

Ego and jealousy
accompany us throughout our lives. Our challenge and responsibility is to get a
grip on them, not to eliminate them. We all are different human beings. We all
have different backgrounds, upbringings, experiences and therefore different
reasons to get jealous.

I know how it feels when
you are a supervisor of a kitchen team and your boss suddenly walks in, goes
around, tastes some food and asks: “Who
cooked this soup?”

“Maria did”, I replied. Maria was a
young and fresh graduate from culinary school. She just had joined our team
recently.

“That’s a
great soup Maria. It tastes fantastic! What is your recipe?” the chef asked her
surprised.

This can be a common
situation in any kitchen. How do you feel when this happens to you? Come on, be
honest here! Haven’t you also felt a bit jealous when the boss is praising the
new staff?

Here we have two options:
Option number one is to feel upset, hurt and jealous.

Option number two is to
zoom out and look at the big picture.

When you feel upset and jealous, it speaks volumes about your own level of personal development and emotional maturity. I would say in this case you got a bunch of inner work ahead of you.

Ego and jealousy are natural enemies of any great leader. Selfish thinking leads nowhere. Don’t forget, you are a leader. So riddle me this: if you are a leader who is leading his or her team nowhere, then what kind of leader are you?

Food for thought.

Not only as leaders, also
first and foremost as human beings we want to develop the ability to reframe
situations, zoom out and take a different perspective.

When your boss is
praising your youngest chef and newest addition to your team then you know
what?

Be HAPPY about it! Sounds
crazy?

Put your little ego to
the side for a while. Look at it this way: This young chef is part of your team
now. His or her skills and abilities will enhance and improve the overall team’s
performance. That will make your life as a leader easier in the long run. See, haven’t
I just spoken about zooming out and taking a bird’s eye view on things? This is
exactly what we need to do here. We need to start learning to think strategically.
Only people who think strategically, folks who are able to take different
perspectives, will be advancing in their lives successfully.

Imagine that all your
team members are greatly skilled. Wouldn’t that be great? It can also be a lot of
fun.

As for me I can tell you
that as an Executive Chef you MUST want to have the most skilled and experienced
people in your team. Why? Because you need them. And your customer need them.

You will have to rely on
your team. You will have to appreciate your team. You will even learn how to
delegate to your team.

My mentor Chef Garry
always used to say: “Marcel, as effective
leaders we need to be able to give credit to others, admitting our mistakes and
even take the blame. If you cannot develop these qualities then you better stay
away from the chef’s office.”

So when these situations are
coming up again and your ego sneaks in, then try to imagine being a little bird
flying over this scene, watching from the top. Zoom out and take a different
perspective. It will help you to see further. You will learn.

You work together in a
team. Everyone in this machinery plays its important role. Any new part should
be welcomed, integrated, cultivated and maintained.

Emotional mature people
think this way. If you are not able to think this way then you still have some
work to do.

Time to roll up your
sleeves! Perhaps it is time to read a good book or two, for example my new book
“Slamming
It Out – How I got Shit done in 5 Star Kitchens”.

Here you can read and
learn more interesting stuff on the topic of ego and emotional maturity.

Thank you again for your
question Riris and I hope my advice could help. If you need additional tips
then just drop me a message at slammingitout@gmail.com.

Do
you want to become a successful chef? Are you an aspiring chef? Do you want to
travel the whole world and learn about different cultures and cuisines? Do you
want to work abroad and make career in a foreign country?

My
book “Slamming
It Out – How I got Shit done in 5 Star Kitchens” tells the
story of how you can become a successful international chef. It is
the ultimate “Become a Chef Guide”!

This
edition takes you behind the scenes of Gordan Ramsey’s and Jamie Oliver’s
world. I am going to share secrets
with you, other TV chefs would never do!

Now available as eBook and paperback version at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VJHG1P2

P.S. Check out my website www.marcelriemer.co for more great
content!

I started my career as a
professional chef at the age of 16 and I wrote this book because I want to
inspire and help people on their culinary journey.

11 Countries! 4
continents! 19 cities!



My mission has been always simple: “Making
Great Food To Delight Great Guests.”



I am Marcel, a professional chef born in
Germany. I have traveled the world and I have cooked for the world.



I broiled in Phoenix, grilled in San Diego,
fried in Auckland, baked in Hong Kong, roasted in Kuala Lumpur and sizzled in
Jakarta, Manila, Beijing and other places.



I swung the wooden spoon at world class hotels
such as JW Marriott, Grand Hyatt, Radisson and Accor.



I created dishes for the presidents of the USA,
France and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, cooked for world class athletes
and famous actors.

Thanks for reading!

Marcel

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