Peeling the onion of the management
Heston Blumenthal, chef at the Fat Duck
Heston Blumenthal, one of the country’s most high profile chefs, owner of the renowned Fat Duck restaurant in Bray and recipient of three rare and muchcoveted stars, talks exclusively to Coachlines about the role that coaching is playing in his life.
When did you first start thinking
about coaching?
It was some time last year. The
restaurant was incredibly busy and I
was starting work at 7.30 am and
getting back
home at 2.30
am. With luck
I would get
four hours
sleep but as
you can
imagine, it is
really difficult
to switch off
when you’ve
just left the
stressful ,
hectic
environment of a restaurant kitchen. I
had listened to a cassette on lifestyle
and time management, and although
my first inclination was to dismiss it as
some sort of American rubbish, it really
struck a chord with me.
My life was increasingly cluttered. The award of the third star – which was unexpected and much earlier than I had ever hoped for – just rocketed the Fat Duck to a completely different level. I guess you could say that I was rather like a toddler who is so excited by everything new that comes along, that they just grab at things and constantly move from one thing to another. I was definitely in this mode. The phrase ‘headless chicken’ would not go amiss!
How was your ‘lack of time
management’ manifesting itself?
In essence, the business of running the
business was taking me away from
what I really enjoy, which is the cooking
and everything associated with that.
For example, I’d have to sort out paint
chips, lack of hot water, the phone not
working and a million and one other
similar issues. I was completely out of
control with all this ‘stuff’. I needed to
take control.
So how is working with Coaching
for Success helping you?
I’ve worked with Mike Duckett for the
last nine months or so and over time
he’s helped me to appreciate far more
clearly how to identify the main issues
and the chief priorities. It was rather
like peeling an onion – he helped me
work through all the clutter, helped me
unscramble my brain – and has brought
some more order to my life.
As just one small example of being ‘event driven’, I used to spend hours wading through fifty or sixty emails, believing that I had to answer them all. Working with Mike, I’ve learnt how to filter out what is really important – and, in fact, when the quickest and best option is just to pick up the phone and speak to someone.
Without doubt, although time is still a major issue for me (and probably always will be), I am no longer in a purely ‘reactive’ mode. I have found that although there are of course still daily problems to deal with, that I now have a much clearer vision of what they are and I am much better able to compartmentalise them – and then deal with them in a more logical, prioritised manner.
| Heston Blumenthal milestones | |
| 1995 - | Fat Duck opens in Bray |
| 1998 - | 1st Michelin star awarded |
| 2001 - | 2nd Michelin star awarded
Guardian Restaurant of the
year Good Food Guide Restaurant of the year AA Restaurant of the Year AA Wine List of the year Good Food Guide Chef of the year AA Chef of the year Brasserie opens in Bray Marina First book is published Six part TV serie s for Discovery Channel |
| 2004 - | 3rd Michelin star awarded |