Adam Lamb [00:00:00]:

Out of the 10 biggest problems that chefs are experiencing here in 2025, I decided to write a book. You know, it's not a whole lot of fluff. It's something to use as a tool. And there's all kinds of every chapter's got some worksheets and stuff to really get some traction. But it's about time management, time strategies that actually work. Because I also recognize that for a lot of chefs like Chef, I got this thing, no, I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have time.

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Adam Lamb [00:00:28]:

I don't have time. And that could be true. The other thing that could be true is if you don't actually make time for the things that are important to you, you'll never have time.

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Angelo Esposito [00:00:49]:

Welcome to another episode of WISKing It All. We're joined today by Adam Lam. Adam, thank you. Thanks for being here.

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Adam Lamb [00:00:57]:

Angelo. It's so great. I love to be WISKing it all away.

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Angelo Esposito [00:01:00]:

Well, look, it's great to have you here. I know you've been in the industry for 30 plus years. You know, you're the podcast host of Chef Life Radio, the founder of Chef Life Coaching. I saw you've written a few books or you got a book series. You got, you know, yeah, you got, you got a lot going on. So we'll get into all that. So I like to always start by what you do today, and then I like to kind of go through the journey. So maybe to just kick things off.

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Angelo Esposito [00:01:20]:

Tell us a bit about Chef Life Radio and a bit about Chef Life Coaching.

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Adam Lamb [00:01:24]:

Yeah, I guess I would say that it all started with one question. About midway through my career, after some successes and failures, you know, I was looking around and I started asking people, you know, all right, so let's take two chefs given equal skill sets. Why would you follow one chef and not the other? And they kept saying, well, it's leadership, it's leadership. And I'm like, yeah, but that doesn't tell me anything. Like, I need to know their ways of being. Like, what are they doing on a day to day, how do they interact? Like, I needed to know. Like, I wanted a roadmap to be the kind of chef and leader that I really looked up to. So, you know, I started on this journey and, you know, started a podcast in 2008 when I didn't even know what a podcast was.

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Adam Lamb [00:02:05]:

And, you know, again, kind of just kind of flail around a little bit. And it just seems like over the last three to four years, especially after the pandemic A lot of what I've been Talking about since 2008, 2009, is now starting to become more prominent. Like this whole idea that, you know, as an industry, we weren't very good guardians of our human capital previous to the, previous to the pandemic. I mean, I remember I brought a. Wrote a blog post called 551 resumes, which is like, I had the sous chef position open in South Florida. I had 500 resumes within the space of a weekend. Now you can't get. It's hard to get anybody to show up.

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Adam Lamb [00:02:45]:

Yeah. And so to. I, I think to a certain extent, we only have ourselves to blame. And if anybody's going to fix it, it's going to have to be us, because it's our mess. Wow, wow, wow.

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Angelo Esposito [00:02:56]:

So that's, first of all, podcast in 2008. You're definitely an early adopter. You know, you're definitely a trendsetter because. Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:03:05]:

I mean, I didn't know it. You know, it's like, oh, I. Not. What do you mean? I have to learn how to put a WordPress site together. Like, what?

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Angelo Esposito [00:03:13]:

That's amazing, though. That's. That's amazing. Okay, and so tell me a. So, so there's Chef Life Radio and Chef Life coaching. So Chef Life Radio, is it. Tell us more about. It's like a weekly show.

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Angelo Esposito [00:03:24]:

Is it a daily show? What is it?

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Adam Lamb [00:03:26]:

It's a weekly show. So I work at producing four shows a month. Whether that's, you know, typically it's probably about 60, 40 solo episodes and guests, and I also produce one episode a month in Spanish.

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Angelo Esposito [00:03:42]:

Oh, nice. You speak Spanish.

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Adam Lamb [00:03:44]:

Well, I grew up in a, in a Spanish speaking household. My dad was American and my mother was Cuban.

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Angelo Esposito [00:03:49]:

Oh, cool.

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Adam Lamb [00:03:50]:

And I grew up in Illinois and I came home from, you know, first grade saying, you know, I'm not going to speak that language anymore because people make fun of me. As a young man, being down on the beach in Florida, I tried to, you know, talk to the girls and like, yeah, no, don't. Don't speak Spanish. Yeah. I also recognize that, you know, in most of my career, there was a Spanish speaking population that really, we, we couldn't live without. I mean, these people were there to support us, and yet very rarely were we ever conversant enough with them in a language to talk about stuff like, where are you going? What do you want to do? Like, how do you. How can I support you? How can I make your job easier? So I use 11 labs, which is a dubbing Software. And I.

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Adam Lamb [00:04:31]:

I sent one at the first episode to my mother, and she couldn't believe it. She thought it was actually me talking, but, you know, it's in my own voice. But I really. I owe a debt of gratitude to these folks and also to my Latin heritage, and I want to speak to that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:43]:

That's cool. I love that. No, I can definitely resonate with the Latin heritage. My wife is Colombian and I live in Miami, so a lot of. A lot of Cubans, a lot of. I mean, a lot of Latinos in general, so very dynamic.

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Adam Lamb [00:04:56]:

Very dynamic culture, man. I mean, it's amazing.

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Angelo Esposito [00:04:59]:

Yeah. And so I learned Spanish maybe like four years ago, and, you know, I still make a lot of mistakes, but I can speak pretty fluently because of, you know, between being in South Florida and, you know, family. But it's been great. But you're right, a lot of hospitality people do speak Spanish, So it's. I think it's like a secret weapon. Right? Like you can actually converse and communicate and build deeper relationships. Yeah, exactly.

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Adam Lamb [00:05:20]:

Yeah. Because kitchen Spanish is not Spanish. And so, you know, I finally landed on this thing. So Chef Life Radio is a resource for chefs, you know, to empower them to create sustainable, thriving culinary operations. The Chef Life Coaching. You know, even though I have a couple programs where chefs can enroll themselves, really, I'm working towards providing a solution for multi unit restaurants, hotels, and resorts to assist them in supporting their culinary leadership in the skills that they need to effectively lead a team. But we're never given. Got it right in culinary school, nobody teaches you how to lead.

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Adam Lamb [00:06:02]:

Yet at some point in every chef's career, if they're successful enough, they're expected to effectively lead, mentor, coach a team. But very rarely do we have those skill sets. Just because we're a good chef does not necessarily make us a good mentor or coach.

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Angelo Esposito [00:06:18]:

Correct.

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Adam Lamb [00:06:18]:

Especially when we don't know what that is. And being a good chef is not the same thing as being someone who is invested in developing people.

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Angelo Esposito [00:06:26]:

Yeah, it's such a big difference. The analogy I always think of is, like, you know, run it running WISK, running a tech company. It's. You think of a really good sales person and then a sales manager. And a lot of people make the mistake of, oh, let me make my best sales leader the manager. But a lot of the times, like, your best sales leader is good at being a sales person. And they may be the top performer and they're.

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Adam Lamb [00:06:50]:

But.

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Angelo Esposito [00:06:50]:

But they hate the opposite, because the opposite is, like, you got to care about people and it's more emotional. And how to lead and how to. So very different skill set. And so definitely see that similarity. Right. It's like you could be a good chef, and from a sense of, like, making really good plates and working efficient, but then leading a team is a whole different. So some. With you there, I.

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Angelo Esposito [00:07:09]:

I'd love to know. And. And we're going to get into some of your strategies and things you've seen, but I always like to understand people's trajectory. Right. Like you've been in the space. Been hospitality 30 plus years, I believe. And so I. I'd love to.

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Angelo Esposito [00:07:21]:

For you to just take us back. Where did it all start? How did you. How did it start for you in the kitchen? I guess how that journey and how did that shape you to. To.

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Adam Lamb [00:07:30]:

So I grew up in Hammond, Indiana, which is between Gary and Chicago. My dad was a college professor, married to this Cuban woman. And, you know, on his lunch breaks from school, he would go down to this one restaurant, the Big Wheel, and he'd have lunch and, you know, chat up the servers and talk to Artelia White, the cook, you know, through the window where there was actually, you know, a wheel there. Yeah, Tickets. And because I had always heard, like, this guy's a great teacher. You know, he's very funny. That wasn't my experience of him. Like, I was his son.

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Adam Lamb [00:07:59]:

He's kicking my ass off.

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Angelo Esposito [00:08:00]:

Yeah, yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:08:01]:

So I was like, yeah, I wonder what that's like to experience him somewhere else. So I got a job washing dishes at the Big Wheel, and so I kind of like, peer off to the side. Well, one night is in the middle of service, I'm walking, you know, hating life because I'm washing dishes and pots and pans, and I got armful of dishes, and I walk past the kitchen door, and it swung open, and it was like in slow motion. It swung open, and all of a sudden, I see the steam. And there's two women in there. Artelia White, who was always very funny. Large one with a gold tooth. The other woman, thin, severe, with cat eye glasses, never said a word.

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Adam Lamb [00:08:34]:

But in that one moment, I saw these ladies doing this choreographed dance completely wordlessly. And they were weaving in and out of one another in such a way that I thought to myself, yeah, I don't know what that is, man, but I want some. And I refer to it a lot as, like, the dream of the dance. When everything is flowing so perfectly, everybody's in their spot, and everything is happening. Like, it is organic, it is metallic, it is Food, it's steam. It's like there is a symphony of stuff going on in that environment, which I think, for a lot of chefs, really speaks to the highest art form of what it's like. It's not necessarily the dish itself, but it's an entire night of dishes, right. And nothing comes back, and everything's good, everybody's happy, and you're looking at one another going, wow.

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Angelo Esposito [00:09:27]:

It's like a flow state, right? A flow state in the kitchen. Everything just. Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:09:31]:

Because I remember in my career, in many times, like, using work as an escape, like, stuff's going on at home and going, like, looking forward to going to work, because you have to, like, in order to be successful, you have to be so present.

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Angelo Esposito [00:09:45]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:09:45]:

You can't think about anything else, which it can sometimes be a gift. I mean, you're running away from it, and, you know, everything slows down. You get in the car, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right. I win the military. I worked my way up through Chicago. I made lots and lots of mistakes early in my career. I presented myself as somebody who knew more than what I did, but I happen to be a quick learner. And then I came upon that moment where, like, yeah, I've made some critical mistakes yet.

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Adam Lamb [00:10:15]:

I know I want to be better. And so where do I have to go? What do I have to do? And there were a couple times I actually took time away from the industry to, like, actually learn to go coach, like, take courses, do that kind of stuff. I didn't necessarily know that I was going to come back to the industry. I thought, no, this is my path over here. But in every single sense, man, it always circled back. As I am right now, like, thinking to myself, I am taking, you know, the last 30 years of my career, the things I learned, the things I failed to learn, like, did this thing work or not? And distilling it down into this container called the Successful chef leadership bootcamp. 12 weeks for chefs. Like, we're gonna get some work done, and at the end of it, each one of you are going to be able to go out and create a thriving environment where people feel seen, heard, and valued.

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Adam Lamb [00:11:00]:

And you never have to look for another employee again, because everybody in that market knows that you take care of your people.

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Angelo Esposito [00:11:07]:

I love that.

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Adam Lamb [00:11:08]:

Yeah.

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Angelo Esposito [00:11:08]:

Well said. And I know you've gone from chef to operator to coach. You've worn many different hats, so I imagine, you know, you learn a ton of lessons. I'd love to know maybe what's been some of the most surprising kind of lessons that you've learned across some of these roles.

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Adam Lamb [00:11:26]:

Well, I tell you, early in my career, I was convinced that I needed to be the apex predator in the lunch in the punch bowl, right? I came up in the 80s and 90s, and that was, you know, a very, very particular time in the industry. And so all of a sudden, there were star chefs. All of a sudden there is Kitchen Confidential and, like, this whole propagation of this fantasy, the pirate ship. And I got the job done, but I had to step over a lot of bodies to do that. And what I recognize is those bodies were more important than anything else. So I think the biggest shift for me was it can't be about me. It's got to be about the we. Because I've been in an environment where I chased everybody off, and it's just me and another cook, man.

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Adam Lamb [00:12:15]:

And that ain't no fun.

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Angelo Esposito [00:12:17]:

That's not easy. And, you know, I. I guess being able to recognize that is a skill in itself, right? Like, people can make mistakes but never learn from them. So the fact that you learn from it, like, what were you able to change, right? So, like. Or what was that shift? I should say so for people who are maybe like, hey, that kind of sounds like me. I. I do scare off staff, and there is a lot of dirt, you know, like, you know, from your past life or things you change to then, you know, be a lot more collaborative, I guess.

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Adam Lamb [00:12:46]:

I ended up on the island of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, in a shitty little apartment because I had just gotten fired from the best job I ever had. And I was at the tail end of a five year addiction to opioids. After my second back surgery. Oh, and I went to the pharmacy and I said, I'd like to get my prescription filled. And they said, oh, oh, no, here, here, we only use those for surgery. And I thought to myself, you mean I have to fly back to Miami every month to get my prescription filled?

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Angelo Esposito [00:13:09]:

Oh, my God.

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Adam Lamb [00:13:10]:

I thought, no, I got to figure out another way. Because after five years, I wasn't even sure where there was pain in my body, right? Because there's that ghost pain, the opioids. So I wrapped myself up in a towel, in a blanket and sweated it out for three days, and then look myself in the mirror and go like, I. I don't want to slowly die, man. I actually want to live. I want to thrive. Like it. I think that it's still possible somewhere.

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Adam Lamb [00:13:33]:

And from that choice, things started happening. I. I met my future wife you know, got another opportunity, but I had to do all the internal work, man. I started with men's groups sitting in circle with other men, recognizing where my crap was. And it was only until I was willing to do my own work that anything changed. And let's face it, men in general are completely happy with the amount of pain they're in. Like, your house has to be burning down, or you have to lose your loved one in order for a man to go, oh, shit, I better change something.

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Angelo Esposito [00:14:05]:

Yeah, yeah. Pretty high threshold for pain. Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:14:09]:

Feminine. Doesn't want to be in pain at all. So they're the first ones to, like, break out their credit card to buy a book or take a course or whatever, because they recognize that. That disharmony.

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Angelo Esposito [00:14:19]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:14:20]:

In the body will stay in the body. Like, there's trauma and that. I went through that. Spent years. So that time when I decided, no, I got to be the hard ass, about four or five years ago, I was going through a program, and I had this epiphany on day 68 where I remember the exact moment where I said, no, I'm going to be a hard ass. I'm not going to be that playful, funny person anymore. It was a big moment for me because I also recognized that my only superpower was my playfulness. And it was a thing that I most missed in my life.

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Adam Lamb [00:14:53]:

Right. I didn't want to be the hardest. I didn't want to be like, war, you know, world weary and, like, so bitter and jaded and shit. That's a crappy way to live. Like, I wanted to wake up and be surprised and delighted and, like, think, oh, I thought that, but that's wrong. Like, oh, I guess I got. I get another choice now.

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Angelo Esposito [00:15:10]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:15:10]:

So that's when I really started appreciating where everybody else is at. And that's where I started to realize, yeah, I'm over here all the time, 24 7, man. I need to be over there with you. I want to know your heart. I want to know where you're at. Like, how can I support that? Like, having real significant conversations with people? Because I want to know your heart, man. It's that simple.

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Angelo Esposito [00:15:35]:

And, you know, being a chef for so many years and now being. Being a coach, what are some of the things that you think chefs struggle with the most?

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Adam Lamb [00:15:45]:

Well, one of the biggest things that I hear time and time again is this feeling of being unappreciated, which is an internal dialogue that we are the ones that perpetuate. Right. Because really, how could anybody Else understand what we do, Even other chefs. Right. So if we're expecting someone else to actually understand that and validate it, then that means that we're looking for some type of validation. Yeah.

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:12]:

Externally. Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:16:13]:

Always be chasing. Now that's the subtext. The other is like. And because I know this from my own career is like, I really was not grounded in my core values. I didn't really know what I stood for other than just get a paycheck for the moment. Right, right. And so my experience was there were some jobs that I shouldn't have been in. Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:16:31]:

Because I knew it was going to be bad. And I took that choice and felt trapped by it. I didn't understand that becoming self aware and emotionally intelligent meant that, okay, I'm going to take this job and I'm going to. It's going to be for a year, and then I move on. Like, realizing that the choice I'm making in that moment is not one born out of. Out of being trapped, but that it's still a choice. Like, everything that happened to me in my life at some level was my choice.

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Angelo Esposito [00:16:59]:

Right, right. That's interesting. That's. And the. The irony of it is, like, once you start kind of assuming responsibility for your own life, that's when you kind of take control of it. So it's a weird thing because it feels weird to, like, put everything on yourself. But at least for me, like, I've learned that it's like, once you're kind of like, all right, everything is my fault, not in a negative way, but in a, like, empowering way.

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Adam Lamb [00:17:20]:

It's exactly empowering. Like, this is not about, oh, me.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:23]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:17:23]:

Because I spent plenty of my time, you know, shame and regret, which is a great story of, like, to not get on with what you're supposed to be getting off.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:31]:

Right, Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:17:32]:

And it's also living in the past.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:34]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:17:34]:

Because I'm reliving that same moment because I can't let it go or make peace with it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:38]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:17:39]:

So the other thing that really surprised me was just how sensitive I am, but also how sensitive other chefs are.

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Angelo Esposito [00:17:46]:

Interesting. Why do you think that is?

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Adam Lamb [00:17:48]:

It's a nurturing position. Like, you are in service. I gave you a great example. I was at this facility, and I was kind of on a rant in the general manager's office, hating life, hating the cooks, hating the people that came there. And she looked at me, she said, adam, don't you see the God in what you do? And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, how is there, how is there this, any of this sanctified? And she said, look around you. Look at our society. Like we are getting siloed and separated from one another. There's.

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Adam Lamb [00:18:15]:

The community is shattering. You go to the gas station, you pay at the pump, you go to the bank, you pay at the atm. Very little of our day to day is actually person to person interaction. And she said, what you do is a great excuse for people to come around a table and be in relationship with one another.

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Angelo Esposito [00:18:31]:

Very true.

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Adam Lamb [00:18:32]:

And I went like, what? So I'm in service to relationship? And she said, yeah. And when I looked at like again, same situation, just shifting my perspective, I'm like, oh, like, yeah, I should be treating it that way. That means like, like from that perspective, I should be, you know, feel great that I have this opportunity. I mean, there's always shit that's wrong, but right. You know, the fact again, so when you were talking about like as soon as I took responsibility for it. Yeah. Like it's. It feels so good to put the shit on someone else, like the general manager or whatever, or my dad or whatever.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:08]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:19:08]:

But there's no power to change it in that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:10]:

Exactly.

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Adam Lamb [00:19:11]:

Because I am a victim of X. I would much rather come from the perspective of like my choice. But that means I can make another choice. Exactly right. And that's really the power. And so a lot of my work with chefs is about core values, about understanding the power of choice, about really making a choice. Because for me, what I did came to me so easy. I didn't think it was a thing.

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Adam Lamb [00:19:33]:

Right. It's just what I did. But the fact is other people would look at that like, geez, I can't do that. But because I didn't really think it was a thing, I would go to job to job to job to job job. And very rarely was I actually consciously choosing this right. To consciously choose. No, I'm going to be here.

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Angelo Esposito [00:19:51]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:19:52]:

During the pandemic, 6 million jobs gone. And I thought to myself, wow, this is a really great opportunity for those 6 million people to really decide whether they want to be in this or not. And we as an industry better clean our up in order to make it somewhere where they want to come back. Because a lot of them, you know, suffered. You know, it is hard on your body, man. Yeah, it is hard in so many ways. And we make it worse by being hard on ourselves. Like, my addiction was, you know, never the drugs or the alcohol.

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Adam Lamb [00:20:22]:

My addiction was to my own negative self talk, wow, like kicking my Own ass. So where else should I be in my life? God damn it. Look what I do. Like again, great story. Doesn't actually move anything.

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Angelo Esposito [00:20:34]:

Yeah. And you know, on the WISKing It All podcast, we obviously have a lot of restaurant and, and hospitality people listening and, and a lot of those people are, are chefs. And so we're always about just trying to give value, so understanding your story and give value. And so part of, part of, you know, I think a question that maybe some of our guests might be thinking of is any advice for chefs out there who are kind of, you know, working up, want to make it a real career? Because I think for, I mean now it's, it's a lot better. But I feel like historically restaurants was kind of like always considered whether it was a chef or front of house or manager, it was always kind of like the part time job. It wasn't like a real job. You know what I mean? It was like, I'm talking like 30 years ago.

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Adam Lamb [00:21:14]:

Like it was, it wasn't a career. It was just a way to make.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:17]:

Exactly, make some cash, but it wasn't a cure. Right. And now things have evolved. It's like you can actually, it could be a real career and you know, it could be lucrative. And so for people who want to. Yeah, exactly. And so for people or chefs listening. Right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:21:29]:

Because you, you obviously have so much experience in that realm. Any advice? Right, like they're starting out, they're maybe working at restaurant X, restaurant Y, they're moving around a little. Any advice you can give them of how to make the most of their career and maybe part two is how to balance that. Because I imagine like family life might be tough.

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Adam Lamb [00:21:45]:

As a chef, this is going to be not very intuitive, but the first thing I would say to anybody who really wants to make it in the hospitality industry is to get a hobby. Now I've heard lots of people say, but Jeff, you don't understand. I love this. Like, I've been looking for this my entire life. The only thing I ever wanted to be was a chef. And I'm like, yeah, you definitely need to get a hobby. And here's why. Because nothing should be a single focus for satisfaction for you in your life.

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Adam Lamb [00:22:14]:

You're going to get a lot out of it. You're also going to put a lot into it. But if you can't find somewhere else to be creative and enjoy the process and use that as another creative outlet, then you will always be coming back to this and you'll make decisions that are not necessarily in your Highest, we need to have that other thing to go to, even if it's just to chill out and move some energy through our body. The other thing I would say is create a ritual or a practice around your own self. Care every day, whether that means walk outside in the grass with bare feet every. Every morning for five minutes, taking a breather, certainly spending some time between work and home to recalibrate your emotional state. Because I can't tell you how many times I walked into the house. And my wife would like, you know, I don't work for you.

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Adam Lamb [00:23:04]:

Right. Because you're doing that chef thing. I need to understand that I get to show up differently for her than I do somewhere else.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:14]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:23:14]:

Thirdly, I would say you'll never be able to lead others until you lead yourself. And so the first book that's coming out will be coming out the end of May.

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Angelo Esposito [00:23:22]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:23:22]:

The book series is called the Successful Chef. And out of the 10 biggest problems that chefs are experiencing here in 2025, I decided to write a book. You know, it's not a whole lot of fluff. It's something to use as a tool. And there's all kinds of. Every chapter's got some worksheets and stuff to really get some traction. But it's about time management, time strategies that actually work. Because I also recognize that for a lot of chefs like chef, I got this thing, no, I don't have time.

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Adam Lamb [00:23:53]:

I don't have time. I don't have time. I don't have time. And that could be true. The other thing that could be true is if you don't actually make time for the things that are important to you, you'll never have time. Like, if you can't carve out five minutes per employee per day to check in with them, either in a group or singly, then, you know, you're a victim of the. Of the fire alarm. It's always survival.

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Angelo Esposito [00:24:17]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:24:18]:

And my work is to assist chefs to shift from surviving to thriving in their careers, because it is possible, because I did it, and I know what that feels like. And it is a huge chef man, because as soon as you start enjoying it and realizing there's power in that, it's. It's. It's. It's a powerful thing. So, yeah, those. Those are the things I think that are most important. And I really like talking about career longevity.

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Angelo Esposito [00:24:46]:

Okay.

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Adam Lamb [00:24:46]:

And that career longevity. Like, when I came up, if you didn't work in a restaurant on the street, you were nobody. And I was. Happened to me twice in my Career, had this sous chef who I really valued. And he says to me one night during service, like, yeah, I think I'm gonna put my notice in. I'm like, well, why, dude? You've been here for like five years. He's like, yeah, I'm gonna go work in healthcare. Health care.

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Adam Lamb [00:25:10]:

What are you talking about? Health care?

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:11]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:25:13]:

And he says, yeah, I get to be home with my family by 7 o' clock every day because I, you know, and I had another sous chef who I promoted to an executive chef at another place. And he says, no, I want to go back to sous chef. I'm like, why, man? He's like, my kids are 5 and 7. I want to be home to tuck them into bed every night. And I thought to myself, now there's somebody who knows their core value.

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:37]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:25:38]:

And shame me a little bit, because those weren't the choices I was making when my kids were small. Right. But it was just another perspective to say, the season of your life dictates what, what your non negotiable core values are and they will change.

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Angelo Esposito [00:25:53]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:25:53]:

And so to understand that and go like, this is, this is what's important to me now, and either ask for what you want or make it. Yeah, right. Don't be a victim of it. If you have an idea about a particular project that means you own that project. Do it. Have fun. I love that discovery.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:13]:

Well said. That's good advice. I really like the, I really like what you're saying about the seasons of your life. It's, it's. I used to always say, even just with passions like people, I think sometimes overthink things too much. And when I was younger, I mean, to this day still, I'm a very curious person. I love to learn things. I'm always learning.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:29]:

But, you know, even my siblings used to poke fun at me because it's like, I'd want to, like, learn. I'd see someone play the saxophone. I'm like, that's so cool. And like a week later, I bought the saxophone and then took lessons, but then lasted like six months. But then some hobbies lasted 10 years. And so I'll tell people. It's like, listen, I don't have any regrets, right? Some hobbies last a lifetime, five years. Some hobbies I had lasted two months.

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Angelo Esposito [00:26:49]:

And I laugh about it, but it's like I rather just do it and figure it out than always wonder, like, what if? And it. And I think there's something in, like, being able to just, you know, pull the trigger and make Decisions. And I love what you said about the seasonality of. Hey, at this point in my life, my kids are below 6 years old. I don't want to miss these years, so I'm gonna. You know, that's my core value.

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Adam Lamb [00:27:08]:

Like, so, to put it succinctly, I would say you get to define what success is.

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Angelo Esposito [00:27:13]:

Right.

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Adam Lamb [00:27:14]:

No one else. Because you're the only one whose head is on that pillow at the end of the night, and nobody's going to be there with you with those thoughts.

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Angelo Esposito [00:27:22]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:27:23]:

So to come home and feel well used, like, on purpose, on point, on time, like, that is a very, very powerful place to be, man. Because there's nothing better in my. In my mind. Like, to have a sense of purpose, to have a sense of mission. Like, I can't believe how excited I am to wake up these days. That's awesome. Don't get me wrong. You know, I've had some hard times, but I'm just very keenly aware of sucking it up and appreciating it in the moment.

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Adam Lamb [00:27:59]:

Because it's so easy to be so consumed with the doing.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:03]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:28:03]:

That I forget being grateful, being connected. Like, having this opportunity to be with you.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:08]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:28:08]:

Like, I was. I was on calls all day for the upcoming bootcamp, and I was being so present in the phone call that I forgot our time together. And, oh, my God, like, feeling so bad and, like, Angelo. And you're like, hey, man, it's totally cool.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:22]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:28:23]:

I'm like, yeah, but my commitment was to be present for you.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:26]:

Right. But it happens. Funny enough, maybe the reason I was so, like, nonchalant and, like, understanding was it happened to me, funny enough, this week. And I was. I'm usually always on time on meetings. And the worst part was I wasn't late. It wasn't like, I was stuck in traffic. I was in front of my computer.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:43]:

But I was just in such deep work.

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Adam Lamb [00:28:44]:

Right.

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Angelo Esposito [00:28:45]:

All of a sudden, I looked at an email, and they're like, are you joining the call? And I was 20 minutes late. And then. And they left the call, and I was like, I'm so sorry. Like, and it felt extra bad because I'm like, I was here, literally here, just working instead of joining the meeting, because I was. Anyway, so it happens. Don't worry about it.

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Adam Lamb [00:29:00]:

But I also love that experience in writing. Right. Like, to be so present to what you're actually like. I've had this experience where, you know, I look up at the screen after an hour and a half, and I think, who wrote that? Like, Being the open channel to the divine. I mean, they say that, you know, since men can't have babies, they got to create something. So like to be open to, can't think of the guys name right now, but written a bunch of series of books on like do the Work, Steven Pressfield, where it's like your job as a writer is to be present to the muse and to be ready when she wants to use you. Like to be knocked off your ass by an idea. You know, it's same thing happens in the kitchen, man.

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Adam Lamb [00:29:45]:

This thing comes in, you're like, you try that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:49]:

That's awesome.

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Adam Lamb [00:29:50]:

Where does that stuff come from? Yeah, that's really, really juicy stuff, man.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:53]:

That is. That is.

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Adam Lamb [00:29:54]:

Can't tell you, man, what a pleasure it is to be here.

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Angelo Esposito [00:29:56]:

So to our listeners, it's called the Successful Chef, right?

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Adam Lamb [00:29:59]:

The Successful Chef is the series name. And yeah, it's a Successful Chef time strategies that actually work. I love that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:30:08]:

I mean, I love things that are tactical and just practical. That's awesome. I'd love to just touch a bit on, on your coaching. Right. Because people are listening in. They're like, okay, this guy, I can resonate with Adam. I like what he's talking about. He's lived it.

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Angelo Esposito [00:30:20]:

I feel it. I. This sounds good. I'd love to maybe be coached by him or I'd love to maybe buy his book. So we briefly spoke about your book. So let's speak a bit about your coaching. What does that look like? So, and how do they get in touch with you?

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Adam Lamb [00:30:34]:

Sure. I mean, you can always reach out to me on LinkedIn, Facebook, go to the website chef life coaching dot com. The thing about again, so there's three fundamentals that underpin all my coaching. And one is, which is this idea of like the 1% way, which is becoming 1% better than yesterday. That's it. 1%. That might mean, you know, five more steps today or two more pounds on the dumbbell, whatever it is. But being very present to our natural evolution based on this Japanese manufacturing principle called kaizen, small steps over time yield big results.

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Adam Lamb [00:31:13]:

So I call that the one that way.

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Angelo Esposito [00:31:14]:

Yes.

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Adam Lamb [00:31:15]:

The other thing I talk about is this idea of is the narrow path. So there's the 1% way on the narrow path, which is getting rid of all distractions.

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Angelo Esposito [00:31:24]:

Okay.

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Adam Lamb [00:31:24]:

Whether that's notifications on your phone, people in your life. Yeah, there's. There's a methodology to like clearing the way for personal growth.

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Angelo Esposito [00:31:33]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:31:33]:

And the last part is three pillars of relationship mastery, which is mastering the relationship with yourself.

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Angelo Esposito [00:31:39]:

Okay.

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Adam Lamb [00:31:40]:

The relationship with others and your relationship with circumstance. Interesting, because once you master those, you can do anything. Like, at that point, it's just a detail. It's, you know, your work is an excuse for you to pour yourself into. And so I never got it. Like, the reason I wanted to get into the business was because I felt at home in a kitchen. Like, I felt that sense of community. I never had this idea of, you know, a particular type of cuisine or, you know, I wasn't going to be Charlie Trotter or anybody like that.

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Adam Lamb [00:32:12]:

But I felt connected to these individuals through the crucible of intense pressure. And when I went from one job to the next job, I never stopped to mourn the team that I lost before joining another team. They talked about that in this HBO special, State of Play, where they talked about this one episode called Happiness. They talked to these ex football players, and to a person, they're like, you know, I don't miss the money. I don't miss the awards. I don't miss 80,000 fans screaming my name. What I miss is the team. The team.

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Adam Lamb [00:32:46]:

And I thought, how many times in our career do we go from one team to the other without stopping? And this is going to sound crazy, but to actually grieve that, like, to have a process around ending that so that we can show up fully and, you know, to show up completely present is a gift not only to you, but to everybody around you.

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Angelo Esposito [00:33:06]:

Yeah, big time. As we're getting close to wrapping up, I got to ask you, you know, if every chef out there could hear one message from you today, what would it be?

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Adam Lamb [00:33:14]:

If you feel like an imposter, if you feel like, you know, there's no right that you should have this job, that, what am I doing thinking that I can do this? Like, having doubts about your capabilities is one thing. I would encourage you to understand that if you feel like an imposter, that's where to lean in, because growth is never comfortable. So if you uncomfortable, that should tell you, like, I feel like an imposter. What right do I have to put together a leadership bootcamp for chefs? Right? I mean, all of us have those conversations all the time. And the fact is, is that if you're uncomfortable, you are on the right path. Just lean in. Just lean. It's just a story you tell yourself.

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Adam Lamb [00:33:56]:

It's just a story, and you can tell yourself any story in any moment. But I think it's really, really important for us to embrace where we're at in this moment instead of thinking about where we're going or where we should be. Right. But because now you're in the future and you're not even present again.

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Angelo Esposito [00:34:13]:

Well said. Well said. I love that. And so for people listening in with Adam Lam, and if you want to catch him, you can connect with him on LinkedIn, you can just go to his website, which is cheflifecoaching.com. he's got his own podcast. He's got his consulting practice. He's, you know, he's all over YouTube and other other social media channels. I.

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Angelo Esposito [00:34:32]:

I feel like I probably missed things, so feel free to plug anything else I missed.

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Adam Lamb [00:34:36]:

Well, I want to. I just want to go back to this idea of like, of. Of work life balance. As a matter of fact, the, the podcast episode that, that came out yesterday.

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Angelo Esposito [00:34:44]:

Yeah.

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Adam Lamb [00:34:45]:

Was this idea that. Why don't we throw that out? Because that's a lie that we've been telling chefs for a long time that you should have work life balance because. Because it's, it's unattainable. So what if we replaced work life balance with this idea of work life harmony? Like that. It's not. It doesn't have to be 50, 50. Sometimes it's 30, 70, sometimes it's the other way. But it's a fluid process and being able to communicate to that to our loved ones and our stakeholders in such a way that they know the least that they can expect from us in these times, and the most.

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Adam Lamb [00:35:20]:

Because here's the thing, a lot of us feel guilty, right? I'm working too much. I'm not working enough. As my friend James Shirley says, you know, it's one thing to feel like a, like a hero at work and a failure on the L train going home, right? So that's, you know, a conversation that's up to be had. Because so many of us are holding our, holding ourselves in judgment because, you know, whether it's holiday or whatever, like, everybody gets, yeah, you're the chef. You're supposed to work. There's not a single one of us on Easter Sunday that doesn't really want to be home with their family. Right?

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Angelo Esposito [00:35:53]:

So.

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Adam Lamb [00:35:55]:

And to be present and just be in that flow, like, be yourself, be completely present in that moment, take a break, reset, and then go be home fully present.

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Angelo Esposito [00:36:05]:

I love that. Now, listen, I think what you're doing is, is really, really special, right? It's, it's. Chefs are, are a core, core, core part of the hospitality industry, right? And the whole world enjoys them. Like you said, it's, it's, it could be a engagement into a family dinner or whatever, like the get together with friends. The amount of times people go out for dinner to celebrate or just to interact or just to catch up, it's a really magical place. That's why I love hospitality. And a key component of that is the chef. And I think you're.

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Angelo Esposito [00:36:36]:

You're bringing to life a lot of the reality behind the scenes, which is like, it could be lonely, it could be, you know, depressing at times. It could be stressful. It could be, you know, all the things you mentioned. And so to even have what you're doing and people to be able to work with you and have that coaching or have that book or have your podcast episodes to listen to, I think is awesome. So that part of my goal today was to make sure people hear about you, so now they know you exist. You know, I mean, I know you have your own network, but at least now you're gonna perpetrate our network so people know about Adam Lamb and they can follow you. And Chef Life radio. Chef Life coaching.

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Angelo Esposito [00:37:11]:

And. And really, this was an awesome, awesome episode. So I really thank you for joining us today.

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Adam Lamb [00:37:16]:

And Angelo, you got to let me know how I can support you too, man.

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Angelo Esposito [00:37:18]:

I appreciate it. Yeah, on our end, listen, we're always trying to help restaurants with the back of house. So we. We have. It's. We're in tech, but we're. We're passionate about taking things off their place.

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Adam Lamb [00:37:28]:

You know, I think what you're doing is fantastic, and. And I want to support that.

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Angelo Esposito [00:37:31]:

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Well, we'll be in touch. And once again, everyone, you're listening to Adam Lamb. This is the WISKing it all podcast. Thanks for joining us.

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Adam Lamb [00:37:40]:

Stay tall and frosty.

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Angelo Esposito [00:37:42]:

If you want to learn more about WISK, head to WISK AI and book a demo. Sam.

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