Table of Contents

• The Bear and What It Teaches about Team and Trauma

• 1% Solutions

• What I’m Reading

• Working with Me

The Bear and What It Teaches about Team and Trauma

I am obsessed with the Bear.

I’ve held off on writing about the latest season of the Bear to allow enough time for folks who read this to catch up. But it’s been several weeks now, so I feel comfortable doing so— at least in broad strokes as I know some of you are still catching up. While some critics have disparaged this season, I loved the first episode’s explanation of Carmy’s journey and the character studies of Sydney, Sugar, Tina and (to some degree) Mikey.

One thing that struck me also was seeing Carmy’s transition from being a great chef and having a vision to having to actually lead a team of both front of house and the kitchen in this new adventure. Carmy has a vision for the type of food they’ll create- the famous non-negotiables. But he doesn’t seek any input from his team, and specifically his partner, Sydney. Not on the actual list of non-negotiables, not in stress testing how the non-negotiables may impact the team or the budget, nor on what they might need to accomplish those. We’ve likely seen these behaviors from founders and new leaders we’ve worked with. Heck, we’ve made the mistake ourselves.

But what’s the real impact here?

• Changing ingredients every day may be exciting for customers and the press in theory but puts extra stress on the front of the house, which leads to mistakes and overall frustration

• Changing menus every day also increases costs wildly- which puts the business and everyone’s jobs at risk And regardless of your creative vision, businesses often fail due to the financials.

• Tension is further exacerbated between the front of the house and the kitchen because Ritchie and Carmy can’t get on the same page. They have competing visions that could be melded into one if they talked rather than yelled. While I haven’t always been a fan of Richie, his yelling “Don’t talk to me until you’re fully integrated <insert curse>” resonated with me as someone who often deals with the people and operations side of things.

While Carmy has two deputies that work hard to shield their teams from the chaos and support, the toxicity also takes a toll on them. Having had a toxic and mercurial boss many years ago, those scenes when Richie and Sydney step in to speak to their people while trying to shake off their frustration from their last interaction was all too real.

But one of the bigger takeaways for me that as leaders and managers we bring our whole selves to work- the good and the bad. Carmy’s unresolved past trauma impacts the way he leads. One article suggests that Carmy is comfortable in chaos and seeks it because he grew up in an alcoholic home. Still, others have noted that in his single-minded quest to prove Joel McHale’s character wrong, he has unintentionally emulated those behaviors (and my guess, his frustration at himself is further fueled for doing so because he’s had such amazing bosses like Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller or Chef Terry.)

While he’s an extreme example, Carmy’s story is why leaders (and especially new leaders) need to focus on ourselves and our baggage in order to be fully present in their leadership. We need to l leverage advisors, coaches and/or therapists to ensure we are not going it alone, that we are opening up our thinking to others and getting the necessary support to know why we are doing what we are doing. As leaders, we need to consistently reflect on their own practice, what values or experiences shaped those decisions, and if their decisions are based on the situation in front of them, or from a previous one. It can take a while to unlearn habits- both bad ones and ones that served a purposed that no longer exists.

There is a telling line in the last episode where Sydney jokes to Luca about a recipe based on a past experience, “So you just repurposed your trauma?” While trauma may not be the appropriate word for all of our baggage, as we leaders we need to repurpose our pasts to serve our futures.

1% Solutions

• Proactively monitoring the reasons people leave- Gallup’s new report shows that 42% of attrition is preventable. And while 30% of this attrition is accounted to compensation and benefits, 70% of preventable leavers reported actions more directly related to how they are managed daily such as creating more positive interactions with their managers (21%), addressing frustrating organization issues (13%), creating opportunities for career advancement (11) or improving staffing or workload concerns (9%). Based on this, the 1% suggestion is to ask teammates what is one thing that impacts the above negatively or would improve any of the above. This can be done in 1:1 and in team surveys.

• Use AI to make your feedback more specific- We all at times have written feedback that is less than specific- which then means teammates don’t know how to improve or are frustrated. Worse, at times that feedback can carry bias because we’re not naming what we see and what we want to see . I’ve found that entering feedback into chatGPT while asking it to “Please make this feedback more objective and actionable” can support you when you don’t have someone to read over it. The exact answer may not be exactly what you want to say but it will give yu an example of quality feedback looks like.

What I’m Reading

• SHRM changes course on DEI - Some of you may know that SHRM has recently announced that it’s shifting from DEI to I&D, arguing that equity is divisive. I and a large number of HR professionals have seen this move as catering rather than one of principal. At minimum, many (including myself) are arguing against seeing the SHRM certificate as a requirement for HR leaders. To learn more and make your own decision

• Why GAI and Boolean Search is a Winning Strategy- Your sourcing is only as good as the prompts you use to search. Disregard the jargon-y title- this article explains different search, highlights challenges ahead, and leaves us with more effective ways at writing search prompts to attract as many high quality candidates as we can.

• HBR Data and Visual Library- I’ve discovered the Data and Visual library from HBR (it’s for subscribers only but I do think the subscription is worth it!) In decks and reports, a good visual can help tell a stor- sometimes better than words. It’s a great resource when you are trying to find a visualization of what you are trying to say.

Working with Me

I am not taking major clients until December, but I am taking on new coaching clients and folks who want to partner on a 1-day strategic VIP session starting September. Past VIP session topics have included: discussing employee relations, designing teacher leader and midlevell manager trainings, designing a communication plan after a crisis, and creating a plan to roll out performance management. If you’re interested, let’s talk!