Your success as a leader depends on your ability to inhabit two places at once. At the macro level, you’re driving a vision for your kitchen. And at the micro level, you’re steering the ship through everyday challenges. So you’re constantly zooming in and out.
There’s also a degree of push and pull. If you don’t have a clear vision, you’ll be pulled into firefighting whatever comes your way. If you don’t focus on the small details, things begin to slip and to the outside world, it will look like you have no vision at all. The energy flows in a continuous loop and you’re not able to move forward or you’ll see slow progress at best.
The same holds good for your role as space-holder on your team. You nurture that vision for what your team looks like as a unit. But you also nurture every single person to come into their own. Act without regard to each of your people, the whole suffers. Operate solely from your own agenda as a leader and you’ll spend all your time finding followers.
It’s a delicate dance you do everyday. This is the ironic thing, chef: you can’t do the dance well without presence.