Chef Dewayne

I was able to travel the country this summer to work with dedicated LYS educators, speak to packed halls filled with excited audiences, and discuss theory with some of the best thinkers and practitioners in our field. All phenomenal highlights, but one of the best moments was one that on the surface seemed unrelated to schools.

After my presentation at TASB in San Antonio, I had a choice, fight rush hour traffic or wait at the Chart House in the Tower of the America’s. So I grabbed my co-presenter Dr. Mike Laird and we went to the restaurant. The Executive Chef, Chef Dwayne, follows the blog and is a member of the LYS Nation.

Chef Dwayne expects his restaurant to be the best in both San Antonio and the best in the Chart House chain. He monitors every detail of the restaurant, constantly coaches his staff, and models both charm and excellence. I marvel at the way his staff works like a well-oiled machine, but until this summer, I thought it was just the “Chart House Way.” I was wrong; it is the “Chef Dwayne Way.”

Two weeks after the visiting the Chart House in San Antonio, the LYS team visited the Chart House in Monterrey Bay. It was nice, but it wasn’t special. The staff moved a little slower, they were a little less attentive, and their overall presentation was just OK.

Once again, a real world reminder that the organization takes its cues from leadership. If leadership is OK with OK, then OK is what you get. If leadership doesn’t monitor what is important, then what is important receives diminished attention, by everyone.

The bottom line is that it is up to leadership to position the organization to maximize its potential. If you are not working to do that, what are you working on?

Think. Work. Achieve.

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