Great Leader

After taking my first class of Introduction to Management I realized how important the role of a leader is in our business. They are responsible for making everything work at ease. The face of the company is put on their hand in order for the business to succeed. It must be very hard for the owner to give out such an important role. The person must be someone who they trust and value a lot due to the fact that they are required to set an example for the rest of the employees below him. In addition, in order to be a successful leader he or she needs to make sure they push themselves, are willing to change, and are great listener in order to ask his/her colleague for the same response. It is a very difficult position since you are basically the mediator between the owner and the workers.

During my externship at Eleven Madison Park Restaurant I had the opportunity to experience great leaders. One great example was one of the morning sous chef. He was always there to support us and make us want to be better. Making sure that everything we needed were “in the house”, as well as making sure that we had everything done on time were some of the thing he made sure were done at all times. Given that the restaurant quality is and always needs to be perfect, everything from our mise en place to our final product needed to be even more than wonderful. He was always passing through the station checking the work so that if you made a mistake you had enough time to fix it and/or make it better. He was also available to see if you had any questions. He was always more than happy to answer and help you improve in your skills. In addition, he believed in a happy environment so if he saw you under stress or sad he would make you a joke or a comment to get you pumped up and help your self-esteem on a particular day.

In my personal opinion, he was a great example of what a great leader should be and how he or she needs to act. I think what mainly impressed me was that he was not just worried and concerned about your work but also about how you where feeling every day.