Sense of Urgency
A top of mind phrase for every entrepreneur, including Chef Thomas Keller.
Welcome to issue #70 of next big thing.
This week, I had the privilege of dining at The French Laundry (TFL). The restaurant recently celebrated its 32nd anniversary under Chef Thomas Keller, who took it over in 1994. Since the first Michelin Guide of San Francisco in 2007, TFL has received 3 Michelin stars every single year, and is one of the best restaurants in America.
As part of the evening, we were fortunate to get to spend a bit of time in the kitchen with Chef. While the food and wine were exceptional throughout, seeing and hearing from Thomas in this setting was my favorite moment. Looking around, there were a few inescapable details, none more so than a clock placed in the center of a blank wall facing the kitchen, with a plaque below it that reads Sense of Urgency.
Thomas spoke to this phrase in his remarks to our group, and on his website he states the following:
In each of our restaurants and bakeries, we have a clock accompanied by a sign that reads “Sense of Urgency.” We have to begin our day with a sense of urgency and continue on through the rest of it with that same drive. It is a reminder for us to push ourselves—for the need to be organized and focused so that we are able to complete our job and the ones following it successfully. Located within sight of our chefs as they cook and of our dining room staff as they proceed to and from serving our guests, this sign serves as a daily reminder.
I find this fascinating, and extremely relevant to our work at Footwork, for a few reasons.
The actual dishes at TFL are meticulously prepared and the meals last for hours given the number of courses. Sense of Urgency isn’t a phrase that feels top of mind when experiencing TFL as a customer. Yet, there it is in the kitchen (and at the bottom of each side of the menu). It’s an input, not an output. And it’s a value that drives the team to be able to deliver an exceptional customer experience for guests.
Four hours before being in the kitchen at TFL, I was chatting with one of the founders we’ve invested in. My main feedback on the call was to communicate how important moving with pace is (on product, on go-to-market, etc.) in this moment, where the ground beneath us is shifting so quickly given advancements in AI. I referenced the urgency with which several of our other portfolio companies are moving, and how I didn’t feel that urgency in his company at quite the same level when I had recently spent time with the broader team in-person. You can imagine why, four hours later, I was taken aback by seeing Sense of Urgency plastered on the wall in a very different setting.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about levels of greatness. I think the greats across industries — tennis players like Roger Federer, chefs like Thomas Keller, entrepreneurs like Jensen Huang — share many of the same traits. They work extraordinarily hard. They are obsessed with their craft. They surround themselves with people more talented than they are on certain dimensions. They are constantly learning and evolving and raising the bar.
They have a sense of urgency about all of the above. These are inputs that enable them to perform at the very highest level, for a very long period of time. You can’t build the next big thing, or be it, without them.
I started next big thing to share unfiltered thoughts. I’d love your feedback, questions, and comments!
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Enjoyed this, I’d add that moving with a sense of urgency is exponentially harder when you don’t have the clear idea what or which direction you’re going. Perhaps that’s what the greats do exceptionally well too, which is establish a general direction to propel towards versus getting to bogged down by the details.
Yes, Chef