Luke Judge

Gordon Ramsay is well known for his aggressive nature and strict methods on the popular TV show “Hell’s Kitchen“.  Recently I began watching his newest show “Kitchen Nightmares“ out of morbid curiosity.  In this show, Gordon acts as a consultant to a dying restaurant each week in a last ditch effort to turn the restaurant around and bring it back to its glory days.

At first, I was entertained by his constant prodding and relentless ability to humiliate the restaurant owner and their staff.  At one point, he sent the restaurant owner off to cry in the bathroom for two hours while he worked to turn the kitchen staff around.

As the show continued to progress and things began to improve, I noticed a change in Gordon Ramsay’s behavior that reminded me of my Drill Instructors from Marine Corps boot camp… We’ll get to that change in a little bit.  This change in his behavior earned him much respect from me as it did in a similar fashion with my Drill Instructors!  The change was so profound that I still remember my Drill Instructor’s names 18 years after I graduated boot camp.  As a result, I’ll never forget my Drill Instructors.

Never Forget Your Drill Instructors, Never Forget Gordon Ramsay

You may not know this, but any U. S. Marine can tell you the names of their Drill Instructors long after they’ve graduated boot camp and decades after they retire from the Marine Corps.  You just don’t forget your Drill Instructors, and there is a significant reason for that!!!

Gordon Ramsay may not be a Marine Corps Drill Instructor, but he sure would be fantastic at it. He clearly demonstrates all the leadership qualities that has been instilled in every Marine since the Corps came into creation in a bar in the year 1775… Gordon Ramsay is a chef and the Marine Corps was founded in a bar, how much more could you ask for?

An Important Change

As Gordon continued his efforts to turn the struggling restaurant around, slowly the restaurant owner and their staff began to make improvements of their own.  They began to manifest a more prosperous view and adopt Gordon’s more successful processes.

It was at that moment I noticed a significant change in Gordon Ramsay’s behavior.  He went from a relentless aggressor to a respected leader!  I know, I know, it’s hard to believe that someone so well known and marketed as a mean, aggressive antagonist, can become a nurturing leader, but it’s true!

This was a side of Gordon Ramsay that I, like many, was not aware of.  Much like my Drill Instructors, Gordon broke the restaurant owner and their staff down, stripping away their unproductive failing habits and built them back up into a successful, thriving business.  Gordon sat down with the restaurant owner and proceeded to commend her for all her hard work and efforts.  He told her how he was proud of her and rewarded her with praise.  He became the leader and mentor rather than the antagonist.

This was as significant an event for the owner of the restaurant as it was for me in Marine Corps boot camp.  To know that someone who was previously so hard on you can truly praise and respect you for surviving what you have just been through is a life changing event.  It’s a right of passage!  Without Gordan Ramsay’s antagonistic approach, these restaurant owners are destined to be a fry cook at the krusty krab!

An Inspiration Realized

I don’t see a lot of this leadership style these days.  Frankly, I miss it a great deal!  Granted, my leadership style doesn’t take on the role of antagonist to often, but I do respond well to it and even thrive in it.  It is the type of leadership style I get from my personal trainer and one that I have used on a minor scale while chaperoning 16 boys on a 5th grade field trip to Sky Ranch, which by the way, earned me the highest respect among those 16 boys.  I received comments from them about how cool and awesome I am and even pumped  them up on the last day of the trip with a modified Marine Corps motivational cadence which they LOVED

Gordon Ramsay shares that leadership style with his clients, and with the world.  It inspired me to write this blog post and it inspired me to praise those who deserve to be praise and reward those who have achieved success no matter how small it may be.  Gordon walked away from that restaurant with his head held high like a proud father or more likely, a proud Drill Instructor.

The Core Lesson Is

The point I want you to take away from this blog post is that truly effective leaders understand the importance of breaking down and eliminating the processes that contribute to failure.  They know that in order to achieve success, you must eliminate failure and cultivate an environment that breeds success.  Gordon Ramsay knew this and clearly demonstrates it each week on his show.

There are different methods to do this, but a true leader is at the front leading by example and living by the same standards they implement on those who may follow them. There is a fine line between a boss and a leader.  Learn how to be the leader and inspire others and you will earn the respect and following you need and deserve.

A Thank You Conveyed

As I continue on my journey to educate the world about internet marketing and search engine optimization, I want to thank you for reading this post, as well as for visiting my blog.  I believe in your ability to succeed and so should you.  With my help, training and combined knowledge, we can bring success to as many people as we desire.  Take Gordon Ramsay’s example and know when to change your leadership role into a nurturing figure that rewards and praises those who have the potential to raise you high!

Or I’ll go Drill Instructor on your ass!!!

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Tagged as: 18 years, boot camp, glory days, gordon ramsay, improvements, kitchen staff

gordon Smith fashion, last ditch effort, popular tv show

This is a repeated pattern I first noticed after the passage of Proposition 71 in California. During the campaign, the media were mostly boosters, ignoring substantive criticisms opponents repeatedly tried to bring to light. Then, after the initiative passed, the media suddenly got in gear to report the problems–after it was too late to do any good.

And now we see that pattern repeating with Obamacare.  With the law now in place, the media is investigating the bill’s contents and discovering issues that should have been found and reported when it would have mattered, during the nearly 1 year debate before passage.  Case in point: The L.A. Times has discovered that there is no mechanism in the law to control health insurance rate hikes.  From the story:

Public outrage over double-digit rate hikes for health insurance may have helped push President Obama’s healthcare overhaul across the finish line, but the new law does not give regulators the power to block similar increases in the future. And now, with some major companies already moving to boost premiums and others poised to follow suit, millions of Americans may feel an unexpected jolt in the pocketbook. Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases.

I am not saying I support federal price controls over private insurance. But I am saying that these are the kind of stories that should have been reported before passage, so that it could have been discussed substantively during the actual legislative debate.  Instead, the mainstream media mostly took proponents’ assertions at face value and otherwise boosted the bill, rather than report on what was actually in it–or not in it, as here–which, as the story notes, was cogently relevant to arguments proponents made on behalf of passage. Pretty pathetic all the way around.

gordon Smith assertions, pocketbook, proponents