Company Blog

How do you want to be treated?

by Adam Zack — July 17, 2019

Treat others the way they want to be treated.

So, I’m re-reading the Editor’s Letter in Food & Wine that I referenced last week, and another blog topic emerges. Bam! He refers to a fantastic chef and restaurateur, Jonathan Waxman. He pretty much created “California Cuisine” (Fresh, innovative, lighter style) at Michael’s in Santa Monica in the late ‘70’s. He has restaurants now in New York, Atlanta, Nashville and San Francisco. He’s been a judge on Top Chef. The guy has street cred and seems like a really good dude. The restaurant industry is notoriously hard on employees. Screaming chefs, moody wait staff, plenty of drama and lots of hard work at low pay. So, in the column he quotes Waxman as saying one of his keys to success is “treat others the way we want to be treated.” Sounds great, right? We want to be treated with respect, kindness, dignity, appreciation. Who doesn’t? You have to be some kind of moron or a-hole to want to be treated different than the basics of being a good person. It’s really too general. It’s a no-brainer. It’s like saying “be nice” or “play fair”.

Someone much smarter than me, many years ago, expounded on the “treat others the way you want to be treated” when he said that the really successful leader doesn’t treat others the way he wants to be treated. He treats them the way they want to be treated. Think about how much harder it is to really know what’s important to your workers. To each of them. If you take the time to really find out what makes your employees tick. Learn what motivates them and makes them smile and go the extra mile for you, then you will be the leader that inspires dedication, loyalty and love.