The “Celebrity Chef – Jose Andres” podcast was reminiscent of deep personal values that are applicable to all entrepreneurial endeavors, namely diligence, responsibility, patience, discipline and faith. The sum of these values I choose to designate as “humble perseverance”.
Chef Jose Andres was born and raised in Spain. From a very early beginning he demonstrated both passion and talent for developing diverse culinary concepts and thinking “out of the box” in the culinary arts.
He endured personal humiliation and verbal abuse from his superiors during his early development years in Spain, however, he remained humble… he persevered… he endured.
He moved to New York City… the Big Apple, on a whim. He worked in a very high end restaurant, “Paradise Barcelona”, specializing in Catalan cuisine. Here he also endured ridicule and humiliation from his both his supervisors and peers, however, he continued to remain humble and focused… he persevered… he endured.
Finally, he was given sage advice from a mentor to establish roots in a given area. This he did, he established roots in Washington D.C. This is where he met the individuals that he would establish a long-term business partnership.
Due to his focus, endurance… and humble perseverance, he was victorious at the end.
He is presently co-owner of 25 restaurants in the Northeastern United States
This culinary enterprise they baptized as… “Jaleo”
This reminds me of a very special personal experience… “many, many years ago, in a land far, far away” … I was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Regular Army and sent to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Cannon Battery Officer’s Course.
On the very first day I decided to arrive to the classroom very early in order to set up my classroom logistics with all the required manuals and slide rulers. I sat up front… artillery gunnery is mainly applied physics and external ballistics, and back in the day all computation was done manually (stubby pencil work) using slide rulers… no handheld computers or laptops yet… I am aging myself.
As I was setting up my gear, about eight other Lieutenants, whom I had never met, arrived to the classroom. One of them approached me… the rim of his green utility cap had the following scribe: “Bama Bound” (Bama is short for Alabama, which was a very traditional state within the confederacy). He stared at me from about 3 feet away… I stared back. He then asked me, within snickers, “You Puerto Rican?”, I answered “yes I am”. He then said, “I didn’t know they let Puerto Ricans sit up front”. Obviously, his comment was extremely offensive to me.
During those microseconds, which seemed years, I had to decide how to respond. At the time, I was 21 years old and was just out of college where I excelled in judo, karate and boxing… especially boxing. I had sized him up and “Bama Boy” would not last one minute with me in a fight. Three, perhaps four fast and well placed blows would be more than enough to finish him.
Surprisingly, I exercised some rationality… I said to myself… “well, if I strike and hurt him, he will be hospitalized. If this is correct, and I am the first (and only) striker, I will be the one going to jail, not him… he is the West Pointer, the Bama Boy and he is white. I, on the other hand, am a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico (not West Point), am Latino, and I definitely am not white, additionally I would be the first (and only) striker” … what to do? A side note: please understand the stage of race relations of our Nation at that time… we have come a long way in a very short period.
After the thoughts transpired, which were in a few microseconds, I decided that the best course of action was to avoid conflict escalation. I decided to reciprocate his racial offense in a verbal and humorous manner. They all laughed at my racial “Bama Joke” made in reciprocation and we moved on.
But this was not the end… I was still extremely offended and upset. I was not going to let this go.
After much prayer, I decided that I was going to teach “Bama Boy” (and his friends) a lesson. I decided that I was going to engage in a personal entrepreneurial quest. I decided that I was going to pursue graduating as an honor graduate at a minimum and excel at all the grueling physical fitness tests. Chef Jose Andres realized that inspiration and creativity had to be searched internally versus externally. This was his epiphany for the rest of his life. In retrospect, this was my epiphany for the rest of my career, both in the military and in corporate America. As Chef Jose, I had faith in myself and above all in God.
And that I did, during those ten months I studied and exercised intensely. Chef Jose Andres never stopped trying, he continued moving forward with diligence, discipline and perseverance. Competition was fierce, for a given period I was ranked number one in a class of four hundred Lieutenants. I eventually graduated ranked number five. I did not finish as the Distinguished Honor Graduate, but I was one of the very few Honor Graduates and had earned max scores on all physical fitness tests.
Ten months later, during our graduation ceremony, all decked out in our gala Class “A” uniforms, “Bama Boy” and his friends approached me again. This time he extended his hand in friendship and stated in admiration that he was PRoud of me. He apologized for the incident during the first day of class. He justified the incident by saying that I had been the first Puerto Rican that he had met and that his only Puerto Rican frame of reference was West Side Story in high school. As Chef Jose Andres displayed during his dealing with the owners of Paradise Barcelona, with humility I accepted “Bama Boy’s” very tardy apology and friendship.
Chef Jose Andres realized that you cannot just follow the teachings placed before you, new ways and methods must be explored and discovered. Interestingly, “Bama Boy” and I both ascertained that education pertaining to cultures and ethnicities are the key to understanding each other as Americans.
“Bama Boy” and I still communicate to this day… I still call him “Bama Boy” and he still calls me “Switchblade” … throughout the years, our friendship and respect for each other has been sincere.
Chef Jose Andres realized that everything in life is possible if you persevere… so did I.
So… who won the “fight” …?
Moral of the story applied to any entrepreneurial endeavor:
Use your emotions to work to your advantage.
Channelize your anger into actions that are favorable FOR YOU.
Do not let your personal weaknesses become your “opponent’s” strength.
Persevere
Be humble in victory, but always keep hidden in your “back pocket” the realization that “he who laughs last, laughs best”.