“Success is about ingredients and execution.” ~ Thomas
Keller

Great cooks produce their finest creations when they have control over both
the ingredients and the process. That’s how great dinner parties happen. As a
boss, you can achieve almost anything if you can pick your team and have all the
time you need to prepare and get the job done.

OK, stop laughing. If you’re a boss, you know that most of the time you work
with the team and resources you have while you race to meet a ridiculous
deadline. For you, my friend, it’s like an episode of the TV show “Chopped!”

On that show, contestants have to prepare dishes from a set of ingredients in
a “mystery basket” in a half hour or so. The basket includes ingredients that
you wouldn’t normally consider, like hard candies for an entrée. And, at least
once a show the name of some ingredient sets me googling to find out what the
heck it is.

If you’re the boss, how do you deal with that? You didn’t pick the team. You
have no control of the deadline.

Build on the strengths of your team. Use what team members do well to drive
performance.

Make their weaknesses irrelevant. Everyone has weaknesses and it would be
great to eliminate them, but most of the time you have to work around them.

Stick to the basics. Don’t try something new and fancy when you’re under the
gun. Go with what works.

Taste your dish. Go and see. Check. Don’t leave things to chance or the last
minute. Check your work and your plan while you still have time to make changes.

Boss’s Bottom Line

Don’t worry about what you can’t control. Don’t wail about the unfairness of
it all. Concentrate on what you and your team can do and get the job done.