100 Business Days Out: Day 47 - Presence Power

Today Patti and I were in LA for the Warren Beatty AFI Life Achievement Award. We flew down in the afternoon and then in the evening went to dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Beverly Hills. When you go to Spago you expect to get great food, tremendous service and a hip and welcoming atmosphere. As expected, it lived up to every bit of that and more. But what struck me, and I know it is common course for him but I still find it extraordinary, is that Wolfgang himself still comes out of the kitchen and goes table by table to meet, welcome and ask his customers how the food is for them. You know, he is Wolfgang Puck, not the new chef in the new restaurant who needs to come out of the kitchen to add personality to the restaurant and the food. This is Wolfgang Puck; the recognizable celebrity chef who long ago made his face a household image and his reputation one of top-shelf quality and consistency. He doesn't need to come out of the kitchen and do the walk-around. But, he does, consistently each night when he is in the restaurant. He really doesn't have to, but he does. And you know what? It works. Every head in the restaurant, from celebrity, to regular-goers, to the first timer stopped their meal and waited for him to come to their table. And when he did, it was a handshake, smile and request for feedback from each person at the table. While on the surface it doesn't seem so extraordinary that he does this, but think when it was the last time you ran into the CEO of a Hotel Chain or the President of the Bank, or the chef at most of the mediocre restaurants you might frequent. I've also never had the CEO of the Power company stop by as he/she was on the route with the meter reader. What Chef Puck knows is the power of presence and he uses it wisely. He manages his brand like we all should. His happens to be being there in the presence of his customers fearlessly looking for someone to complain if they need to do so. For the rest of us, we have our own presence power that comes with what we do. If we would all think about using our presence as a mainstay for our brand and reinforcing that presence with our customers, partners and employees, we could have that same magical effect that Wolfgang Puck has on others when he comes out of the kitchen and into the dining room. It's a great lesson to remember. Thanks Chef Puck.