Chef Jose Andres, known for his restaurants in the DC metro and around the world, recently encouraged a group of more than 30 full-time MBA students from the McDonough School of Business to find what makes them unique and what inspires them.
“You have to learn who you are behind what is obvious,” he said in a statement found on the McDonough website. “We all have to do the soul-searching if we really want to go beyond our potential.”
The spanish-born cook, who was named Outstanding Chef of the Year and among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2012, shared lessons he learned in the restaurant industry with a group of students set to travel to Barcelona in March as part of the Global Business Experience consulting trip. He helped pioneer the idea of “tapas” in the United States. Drawing from his own culture, Andres decided to give each diner his or her own plate and to create dishes that blended traditional Spanish with popular American flavors. Now, small plates are found on menus across the country.
Andres told students that “sparks of culinary genius originate in the smallest moments.” From a business perspective, he encouraged students to make their companies as “flat” as possible to ensure that good ideas can make it to the ears of senior leadership and to hold themselves accountable to their workers.
“In this day and age, we don’t get excited anymore because, on paper, we know everything,” he said. “But I’m learning that every day I know less. You have to learn to be excited. It has to be mandatory that people get excited. And it’s even more important that you share that excitement with the people around you.”