How To Be A Badass Leader - In 12 Steps

Hey. Think you're a leader just because your business card says so? Leadership isn't a title. It's your daily actions. You might call yourself the boss, but if you're drowning in drama, ego trips, and playing the victim, you're anything but a leader. Leadership isn't about the title on your door or the desk in your office. It's about the actions that you take every single day. So if your restaurant is struggling, it's time to take a hard look in the mirror. Are you leading by example, or are you just kind of coasting on your title? Stick around, and I'm going to share the 12 rules that you need to follow as a real leader. And welcome to the Restaurant Coach podcast. It is the cure for the common restaurant. I'm Donald Burns, the restaurant coach, author of the your restaurant sucks trilogy, Savage Restaurant Success, and I'm also the creator of the TRC Method. So if you listen to my podcast and watch my videos, you probably think I sound like a broken record. And here's the thing. You're not wrong, because I'm going to keep saying the same things until you start making some changes. So let's talk about leadership and how it's not a title. Leadership is more poetry, emotion. It's integrity. It's all action. Everyone can be a leader. Now, I'm going to repeat that. Everyone can be a leader in your restaurant. Because leadership is, at its core, it's about taking personal accountability. It's about doing exactly what you say you're going to do. No exceptions, no excuses. As soon as you start playing the excuse game, you drop from being a leader to being a victim. Now, while we talk a lot about being a true leader at our restaurants and our businesses, very few people actually ever achieve it. Let's explore what it takes to become a true leader. If it's really what you desire, be the best version of you that you can be. That means becoming a badass leader. So here are the 12 Dirty Dozen rules of badass leadership. Number one, don't ask people to do anything that you won't or can't do. There's an old Sicilian saying that translates, don't ask for what you can't take. As a leader, you need to take action every single day. When you make the decision, I mean a real decision, to be the leader, you step up to the big leagues and you make a commitment to. To play the game at the highest level. So before you make the leap into leadership, make sure you truly want it. I mean, really, really want it. Leadership is challenging. And the greatest challenge you're going to find is going to come from yourself. You need to be sure that this is the path and the journey on which you really want to embark on. You need to take time to reflect on your motivations for actually becoming a leader. Great leadership is born from the drive to serve other people. You need to be willing and able to roll up your sleeves and take on the same task that you assigned your team members to do. Being the leader means leading. Hashtag write that shit down. You lead by setting the example and remaining visible to your team. True leaders desire to be where the action is, not hiding in the office during peak service hours. Dirty dozen number results are the goal, the only goal. Leaders don't worry about the clock. To them time really seems to stop because when you're in the zone, that state which everything becomes just like laser focused and time just seems to fly by. Some people refer to it as a Zen like experience. There's no past, there's no future, just a moment. When you're a leader, you need to focus on getting results. Hours are arbitrary and they really are not a measure of your ability to, to make things happen. I mean, if you put in 12 hours or more a day and so what did you get anything done? How did you move the business forward? How did you use your time? Did you use it effectively? I mean, we can all look busy. The real question is what are you busy doing? Number three, you must have integrity. When you're the leader, your word is your bond with the team. Trust builds great teams and if it's lost, it's very hard to recover and rebuild. When you lack integrity, you lose respect. I mean when you lose that, you're going to find it's very difficult to lead anyone. You must make it your mission to do what you say. When you say you're going to do it, I mean there's no way around it. As a leader, telling the team one thing, but doing something different sends mixed messages to your team. As a leader, they look to you for your actions. As an example, if you're telling them to be on time and yet you're strolling in every day around 15 minutes late, you're sending a very big mixed message to your team. Number four, you need a consistency recipe. Being average is just that, average. If you plotted out every restaurant in existence on a graph, you're going to see it's kind of like a bell curve. Most would fall in the middle. Or being average, I mean let's be honest and admit that being in the middle sucks, being average sucks. There's more competition in the middle and you're going to fight every day just to maintain your guests, your staff and your profits. High turnover is a symptom of being average. Low profit is a symptom of being average. And it all starts with the leadership or lack of leadership in a restaurant. This happens because managers are not consistent. I mean, just look at the number of new restaurants opening each year. It's getting more and more and increasing the competition. It's going to make it crucial that you get a grip on consistency and get those issues under control. This is where independent restaurants should take a lesson from their big chain counterparts. You must have systems in place that are clear, concise, easy to use and teachable. Systems and standards are the two key ingredients in your own consistency recipe. Most people understand the systems part, and it's the standards where most people fall short. Michelangelo once said, the greatest danger for most of us lies in not setting our aim too high and falling short, but setting our aim too low and achieving the mark. See, true leaders set their standards very, very high. The late chef Charlie Trotter was an icon in this industry, but because of his super high standards, his standards were so elevated, most people would probably think they're unrealistic and that's the way he preferred it. I mean, look at some of the very, very amazing chefs today who spend time in Trotter's kitchen and you're going to see that they excel because of it. Graham Elliott, Giuseppe Tanori, Mindy Siegel, Art Smith, Curtis Duffy, Matthias Mercher, Michael Taos, Rick Tramano, Grant Ashu, just to name a few. I mean, when you set your standards higher than you normally would, you raise the standards of those around you. I mean, water does truly seek its own level. And if you want to be a real badass leader, then you need badass standards. One of my favorite quotes from Charlie Charters is this. I have always looked at it this way. If you strive like crazy for perfection, an all out assault on total perfection, at the very least you will hit a high level of excellence and then you might be able to sleep at night. Number five, you gotta manage your state. Hashtag, write this down. State is energy and energy is everything. Your energy is everything. Just like in an atom, there are positive and negative charges. Whether you know it or not, as a leader, your energy has a great impact on your business. It always starts with the leader. If you come to work in a bad mood, you're going to start looking for things to reinforce and fuel that bad mood. Energy begets energy. Energy attracts like energy. Negative thoughts crave more negativity. And on the flip side, positive thoughts crave more positivity. The problem comes when positive clashes with negative. It's sad to say, but most times the negative thoughts will overpower the positive ones. Psychologists call this negativity bias. The human brain is amazing. It has evolved to fulfill one basic drive, survival. Negativity bias was built into us so we could pass on our genetic code to further our lineage by naturally avoiding risks. So most people are hardwired to be sensitive to bad news over good news. Now here's the thing. Knowing that you're wired this way is a good thing. Because now you can take steps to change it. Write this shit down. Awareness precedes choice. Choice precedes change. You gotta make sure your energy is on the positive side when you're at the restaurant. That is the key to becoming a badass leader. Badass leaders are consistently monitoring their state and adjusting that energy to keep it elevated throughout the day. And no, that doesn't mean drinking 12 Red Bulls. So how can you keep your state at a peak level all the time? Well, here's some ideas. Number one, exercise. Two, eat better. Three, listen to high energy music. Four, meditate. And five, come on, get a good night's sleep. You got to maintain an attitude of positivity. Focus on achievement. These things are going to help you keep your state at a high level. Leverage how your brain is wired to become sensitive to negative energy and be vigilant against it. Post signs in your restaurant and office declaring no negativity. Become a seeker of the good and the good things will come to you. There's an old saying, seek and you shall find. It's very, very true. Stand guard over your state and work throughout the day to keep your energy. Keep your state very, very high. Number six, you need to be committed to Kaizen. True leaders are committed to self improvement. If leadership starts at the top and flows down, you are the source. When you improve and become the best version of yourself, you're going to see other people rise in their skills too. I mean, here's some great questions to answer right now. How many books do you read? Do you listen to audiobooks? Do you listen to podcasts? Do you read any trade magazines? Do you read any blog posts? Any YouTube videos? Besides this, your dedication and time that you invest is more intricate. Your dedication and the time you invest in yourself indicates more about your chances for success as a leader than you realize. If you think you can just be a badass by putting in the normal work hours and you're fooling yourself. Badass leadership is a dedication to the philosophy of Kaizen. Improve yourself. And if you're a true leader, others around you will elevate their game number seven. Work on your communication skills. Badass leaders articulate their vision, core values, and the standards. And they do it on a daily basis. They make it a daily ritual to talk to their teams. If you think just posting a memo on the wall telling your team your rules and policies is communicating, you are part of the problem. I mean, true leaders communicate with authenticity and integrity. Don't be a manager or owner who just makes all kinds of promises and never follows through. Your team wants a leader who backs up their words with actions. Now here's the thing. Communication is a skill that can be learned. Yes, there are some people who communicate easily and naturally. But here's the thing that doesn't mean they don't have to refine their skills of influence. Your goal in improving your communication skills is to be a positive influence on your team. People are motivated by their own reasons. For instance, if you want ultimate control and you can be a demanding jerk and talk down to your team, they'll comply with your berating demands for a while, and then you're going to see the energy just drain out of them. Some will become like zombies. Making no impact on the guest experience are more likely to seriously degrading it. And then what's going to happen is your guests are going to find a place that's going to deliver a superior experience compared to what yours is now. If this business was just about food and beverage, people just eat and drink at home and save money. People come to restaurants for the experience that you and your team deliver. So make it a positive and a memorable one. Number eight, Seek to understand yourself first and then others. All right, now there are several behavioral surveys available on the market that can give you a great insight into your key traits. The Pro Scan Survey and the DISC Profile are two very, very popular options available to businesses seeking to understand the behavioral matrix that makes us all so unique. Know your strengths. Know how you prefer to communicate. Know how you like to deal with stress. Now, the Pro Scan Survey and the DISC Profile can give you that information, but you want a qualified facilitator to explain how those results are going to impact you, why they matter, and how you can use them to improve your restaurant. See, most managers are one dimensional, which is great if everyone on their team is wired the same way. And sadly, most restaurant teams are very, very diverse, and they are composed of staff with a wide range of personalities. So when you understand and appreciate that fact, you're going to take the first step to becoming a true badass leader. When you understand, appreciate yourself and others, you can adjust your communication style to the one that resonates with them. Most people are only aware of themselves, their wants, their needs. Uncovering how other people process information is the key to true badass leadership. Number nine. This is one of my favorite ones. Know the difference between confidence and cockiness. Now, this one is a challenge for many. It's a common roadblock for people seeking to make the jump from being a manager to becoming a badass leader. So what's the difference between confidence and cockiness? Here's a great way to define it. Confidence is the ability to recognize when something isn't working and having the flexibility, courage, and knowledge to make adjustments. Cockiness, the inability to admit when something isn't working and repeating the same mistakes over and over because you're too stubborn to admit you're wrong or you're just too blind to it. Now, if that made you a little uncomfortable, good. That means that you may be able to realize that you have a little bit more of one than the other. That realization means that you understand you need to adjust. You can change with one simple decision, refusing to be that person anymore. Number 10. Less talk, more action. Action is the cure for so many things in a restaurant. The laws of physics are very true. A body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest sits in the office during service. Everyone talks a good game about being outstanding, pushing for excellence, becoming legendary. Great visions, great words. Meaningless without transforming those words into action. Talk is truly cheap in our industry because most are addicted to being average. Write these three words down and post them where you can see them every single day. Deeds, not words. When you take action, you. You create momentum, and that's powerful when it's applied properly. Tap into that power not only to get things started, but keep them going. Number 11. Tap into urgency. The only thing that you truly have any control of is this moment right now. I mean, here's the thing. You don't have Doc Brown's DeLorean time machine to travel to the past or future to change things. The only thing that you have impact on is what you do today. I mean, we talk a lot about having a sense of urgency in the restaurant business. We preach it to our teams to move forward and act on it. But how many among us demonstrate urgency themselves? I mean, a lot of managers are hypocrites. I mean, do as I say, not as I do. That's kind of the common theme that all circles back to integrity. Without integrity, you will never become a badass leader. Leader now has power. Use it and do one thing today for which your future self will be happy and grateful for. If you want to be a badass leader, become known for taking action and taking action right now, today. And finally, number 12. Expect more from yourself than others do of you. I mean, what you put up with, you end up with and that starts with you. You need to demand and expect more from yourself if you have any hope of becoming a badass leader. Now these 12 elements are just like a recipe. If you even leave one out, you're going to get a really, really bad result. Don't ask others to do what you wouldn't do. Results are what you get paid to produce. Your integrity is your code of honor. Always be consistent. You must manage your state. Commit to constant, never ending improvement. Work on improving your communication. Know your strengths, avoid arrogance, take action, fine tune your sense of urgency and always, always, always expect more from yourself than others expect of you. Use all of these dirty dozen rules in synergy and you're going to be well on your way to becoming a badass leader in any restaurant. The skills that you are developing are life skills that can be applied anywhere, anytime. So go out and be your badass self. Hey, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button before you leave. And please share this video with someone you feel could use the message. Now for those who want to really get on a fast path to 4xing their profits and get their life back from the restaurant, then grab a seat at my free 90 minute TRC method master class. All you got to do is head over to restaurant coach masterclass.com and save your seat.