The Humbling Lesson of Washing Dishes

11 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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In this personal anecdote, the speaker recounts how, after expecting multiple job offers to support his young family, none materialized. With two friends, he bought a tiny restaurant and found himself washing dishes—a role that felt humbling and embarrassing in front of his wife, her family, his own family, and friends who had secured jobs. Despite the initial shame, the experience taught him resilience, customer service, creativity, and how to lead and perform under pressure. He later applied these lessons as a CEO and founder, emphasizing that progress can sometimes appear as failure.

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I thought job offers would be flying in left and right. So none came, and I had a young family to support. With the help of 2 friends, I bought a tiny restaurant. And yes, I'm again washing dishes. But that experience had an impact on me personally. First, it was very humbling, in a way embarrassing in front of my wife, her family, my family, all the friends we had who landed jobs in their respective fields. And here I am running this tiny restaurant. But that experience taught me a lot of things. One, resilience. 2, customer service. And 3— Creativity. How to lead and perform under pressure. All of that I used when I was a CEO and a founder later. Sometimes progress, it looks like failure.