Admiring the achievements of others can help you to learn and grow. Monica Berg certainly subscribes to that theory.
I don't know why, but we don’t always freely admit to who we admire. Perhaps it’s because it makes us feel inferior somehow, but in my experience, admiration leads to aspiration – it is the fuel that pushes you to do better. If not immediately, certainly over time, because it opens you up to the possibility that if you put effort into something, you can become greater than you are right now. With a lot of effort and dedication, perhaps beyond anything you could have imagined when you started.
During my career I’ve admired a lot of people: some for their skills, others for their accomplishments. Sometimes I’ve admired personal traits, such as being able to do something I can’t (like playing an instrument), or having a certain quality I wish I had (my dad’s extreme patience for example). What my admiration in these cases has always done makes me aware of my own behaviour or somehow, which often led me to change, because of a conscious choice to improve or grow.
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to visit Noma in Copenhagen on a few occasions. It is, in my opinion, one of the few places that has managed to consistently stretch the limits of culinary creativity while still maintaining the number one priority of creating something that is delicious and pleasurable for the diner.
What always impressed me about the experience is that everything is rooted in logic and reasoning, rather than creativity for creativity’s sake, and it’s done with the sort of collective confidence you only have when your product is amazing – yet without any of the cockiness or pretentiousness you might expect. I’ve learned so much during these meals in terms of what I want to achieve, but it has also opened my eyes to a few things that aren’t right for me and the way I want to go about things.
Back before Tayer + Elementary opened, I was lucky enough to do a stage at the then-iconic NoMad NYC. Looking back, it was one of the best practical learning experiences I’ve ever had. The attention to detail, the deliberate focus on intention and purpose – and, of course, the neverending willingness to create amazing experiences for guests. Before this, I don’t think I’d ever encountered an organisation that emphasised education as much. In particular, the focus on the development and nurturing of soft skills. So often you see this ignored in hospitality businesses, but it is so crucial in creating a good work environment where people have the opportunity to grow and flourish, and something I continue to value greatly.
Excellence at work
Another inspiration in my career came from a place in Naples that specialises in champagne, although ‘specialises’ is almost an understatement in this case. Within the space of 24m2, you fi nd a selection of more than 500 labels of champagnes, accompanied by simple but delicious bites and small plates. Salvatore Cautero Champagne is run by Salvatore himself, whose passion and love for his favourite wine fuels the engine of it all. At its essence this is everything I always dreamt of: immersing yourself in something you truly love, and excelling at it.
The idea of being everything to everyone is often mistaken for being good – but I think gaining knowledge and fine tuning your expertise, curating a selection and making deliberate choices to help your guests have the best experience is a true dedication to professionalism.
There is no better feeling than having high expectations of an experience and having them exceeded. This is the case in the businesses I admire – each in their own way shows what is possible if you are focused and work hard. What you don’t see is the ‘cost’ to get there, because there is a price for excellence, and it is paid in blood, sweat and tears. There are upsides and downsides to sacrifice, but to me there is a special kind of beauty in this pursuit of excellence – when you can almost feel the dedication in the air and particularly when it’s a collective effort.
In hospitality, we all strive for the perfect service – it’s almost our team sport – and when it’s achieved it’s a very intimate act. It is impossible to do unless you allow yourself to be vulnerable and open to your surroundings, and it can only be done with lots of practice – and honesty. Because the work is not done on those almost perfect nights, it’s done every other night – when the list of what went wrong is longer than what went right, during those debriefs and evaluations when the team pulls back together and resets for the next one.
Most nights you don’t achieve perfection, but the important thing is that you try. That you aspire to be the best you can be – and it is the many inspirational experiences in my career that underpin that ambition.