Your Culture Isn't for Everyone: A Lesson from a Paris Restaurant With No Menu

What can a Paris restaurant with almost no menu teach us about leadership and culture? In this episode, Zach shares a lesson from Le Relais de l’Entrecôte and explores why strong cultures are not built by trying to be everything to everyone. Zach explores why leaders often overcomplicate culture by adding more (e.g. meetings, standards, values, options, etc.) and why the better move is often to clarify the main thing you’re serving in your environment.

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Transcript

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There's a restaurant in Paris that's become globally renowned, and it isn't because of a diverse or exquisite set of meal options on the menu. It's the fact that in many ways, there isn't a menu at all. You don't sit down and choose from a dozen appetizers or multiple entrees or even a list of specials for that matter. The only choice they give you is how do you want your steak cooked? That's it. They serve one meal only, which is a combination of a salad, steak, fries, and their secret sauce. And nearly seven decades later, people still cram in lines and wait for tables to eat there. The restaurant has made its mark because it knows exactly what it is. It has a clear identity, a clear experience, and a clear standard. And I think there's a valuable leadership lesson in this, because sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is create an environment where people know exactly what matters and be consistent toward what matters at a world-class level. So today on the podcast, we're going to talk about simplicity and how sometimes we have to remind ourselves that a certain environment isn't going to be for everyone. So the origin or inspiration for this story comes from a restaurant in Paris that was opened in 1959. Now I debated on whether or not I should try to pronounce it, so uh I'll give it a shot here, and I can promise you I'm gonna totally butcher this, but we'll do our best. Uh the restaurant is La Relais de l'entrocada. And again, I probably just butchered the heck out of that. So um good luck trying to spell that. I'll make sure I put the uh the name of the restaurant in the show description. So if anybody wants to check it out, you're welcome to do so. Um, but it opened uh on a more important note here. It opened with a very clear concept. Now, rather than build out a full traditional menu with endless choices, they decided to do something quite a bit different. They didn't attempt to accommodate all the possible preferences that future diners may have. They made it clear that the meal was the meal. They served one main course. It was a green salad with walnuts and a mustard vinaigrette, steak and fries, plus now what's become known as their famous secret sauce. And they gave diners just one choice. How would you like your steak cooked? Rare, medium, or well done. And that's it. You can actually go to their website and you can see it listed there. They remind patrons that this is the only choice that they're gonna have to make for their entree. Now, this is a type of restaurant or environment that's not gonna be for everybody. If you don't eat steak, this is probably not gonna be your place. If you want a lot of variety, this probably isn't gonna be your place. If you're the type of person that gets a little picky and has certain things that you want or don't want, part of the meal, or maybe you don't want the sauce on it, this is probably not gonna be your place. And I think you could make a case that there's a lot of valuable leadership lessons in an environment like this. First off, the restaurant is clear. You know what you're stepping into. You know what they care about, you know what they're committed to, you know what experience they're trying to create, and there's very little confusion around it. This is useful because I think one of the most valuable gifts a leader can give their people is clarity. Clarity about who we are, clarity about what matters, clarity about how we do things here, clarity about what we protect, clarity about what we don't compromise. Because when the main thing is clear, then people don't have to guess. They know exactly what they're signing up for. And I also think this matters because at a human level, we have a tendency to overcomplicate things. And often we overcomplicate things by adding, adding more ideas, adding more priorities, adding more choices, more initiatives, more meetings, more rules, more options, more exceptions, and so on. I talked about this a little bit in uh several episodes a while back. I talked about Hicks Law and how the the more decisions that you have to make or more choices that you have to process, the slower it will be for you to then actually make a choice. And it can actually become problematic from a performance standpoint. The same thing kind of applies here. Sometimes the next right step is to evolve, is to adjust, is to expand, or to try something new. So, yes, there are instances where adding could be necessary, but more often than not, it becomes a lot of noise. Sometimes more is what we reach for when we've actually lost confidence in the few things that matter most. Sometimes leaders keep adding options because they've lost confidence in their original promise or vision. They lose confidence in the standards or they lose confidence in the process. And instead of getting better at the main thing, they can just keep adding more. But more options doesn't always create more clarity. More priorities will not always create more progress, and more initiatives definitely aren't always going to create more buy-in. Sometimes the work is not to add something new, sometimes the work is to return to what matters and execute it with greater consistency. And I think this is also where um there's a lot of lessons in culture in this story of this uh Parisian restaurant. A strong culture is not an unlimited menu. It's a clear meal delivered with consistency. The best cultures are usually not complicated, but they are oftentimes really clear. They people know what matters there, people know what gets celebrated, people know what gets corrected, what the standard is, and just as importantly, they know whether or not they want to be a part of it in the first place. And I think this is as a leader where you have to be honest sometimes and when you're assessing your own culture and who you're trying to bring into it, it will not be for everyone. Your standards won't be for everyone, the pace at which you operate isn't gonna work for everybody. Your expectations sometimes might be too high for some or what they're ready to be held accountable to. And that's okay, because the goal of culture is not to be liked by everyone, the goal is to be clear enough that the right people know they belong there. And the strongest cultures don't try to be everything to everybody, but they do become unmistakable to the right people. So here's your question What's the main thing that you're trying to serve in your environment? What are the few things that people should experience every time they're being led by you? And whatever that is, make sure you name it, make sure you make it clear. Because if you can't define your main thing, what makes you so confident that others and those you lead can do so? So maybe the lesson from this uh Parisian restaurant is pretty simple. Be clear on what you serve and what environment you want to create, and be okay with the fact that it won't be for everyone. Strong cultures don't need to be everything to all, but they do need to be clear, consistent, and compelling to the right people.