I will respond to this by asking another question of our leaders: what is the legacy you want the restaurant or food business you lead to be remembered for? The food or experience you create for your customers and the accolades you achieve can only ever be a small part of it.
The real legacy is your team – they are the ones who keep alive what they learned from you – both in terms of how you cooked and how you led your kitchen. In everything you do and say, you are imparting a message to your team about how they should look after themselves and value their wellbeing. They are the ones that will deploy those lessons learned in their own restaurants tomorrow.
This means that your impact extends far beyond the walls of your kitchen – in some way, you get to shape what our profession looks like. What will your message be, chef?