This document discusses how Gordon Ramsey exemplifies business-owner thinking and provides lessons that can be learned for front-line managers and key employees. It outlines seven reasons why Ramsey demonstrates business-owner thinking, including his relentless pursuit of excellence, focus on maximizing customer lifetime value through word-of-mouth marketing, prioritizing customer wants above all else, ability to inspire belief in his teams, innovating and embracing change, and empowering employees. The document argues that by cultivating this type of business-owner thinking in an organization, managers and employees can help drive exceptional results for customers and long term business growth.

1. SPECIAL ‘GORDON RAMSEY’ ENTERPRISE LEADER REPORT
Seven
Lessons In
Business
Owner
Thinking
For Your
Front Line
Managers
and Key
Employees
Dea r Reader
For the pa s t 5 ye a r s I ’ve been in-te
rviewing, res ea rching and me et ing
wi th some of the UK highes t a chi ev-ing
ent repreneur s , bus ine s s owne r s
and le ade r s to under s tand thei r mind-set
, behaviour s and how they achieve
the ext raordina ry resul t s the y do –
of ten wi th l i t t l e or no resource s .
Much of what I ’ve lea rnt I ’ve
brought toge the r for the benef i t of
companie s to t ea ch thei r employe e s
what I cal l ‘bus ines s -owner - thinking’ .
I ’m of t en a sked to def ine and ex-plain
what bus ines s -owne r - thinking
i s . The two word respons e I give i s :
Gordon Ramsey.
In i t sel f , thi s means very l i t t le, but
in thi s ar t i cle I ’d l ike to give you
seven re asons wh y Gordon Ramse y
demons t rat es bus ines s -owne r - thinking
at i t s pures t , and why i t i s impe rat ive
that you t rain and deve lop your ke y
employe e s and f ront l ine manage r s to
think, a ct and make dec i s ions l ike
bus ines s owne r s .
Love or ha te Gordon Ramse y, he re
are seven rea sons he i s the epi tome of
bus ines s -owner - thinking.
1: The only standard to aim for in
bus iness i s cel lence!
The re i s no den ying tha t Gordon
Ramse y has a chi eved exc el l ence and
ma s te ry in hi s work. Being a 3 s t ar
Mi chel in rat ed chef , he i s judged not
only b y hi s cus -
tomer s , but b y
hi s pee r s and
cul ina ry cr i -
t iques . He i s un-deniabl
y pas s ion-ate
about hi s food and work, and the re
i s onl y one s tandard he has ever set
out to a chieve: exc el l enc e.
In your bus ines s the s ame mus t be
t rue , you mus t s t r ive for exce l lence to
s tand above your compet i tor s as a rec -
ogni s ed ma rke t l eade r . Only when you
set a goal to be come marke t l eader in
your indus t ry and eve ry a ct ion and
deci s ion you take i s made wi th thi s
s tanda rd in mind — b y eve ry em-ploye
e, manage r and di re ctor — very
quickl y wi l l you r i se to the top of
your f ield and s t a y there. You’ l l be -
come known in your indus t ry for your
unf l inching resolve and commi tment
to the highes t s tandard, jus t a Gordon
Ramse y i s .
2:Maximni sng the l i fe t ime value
of your cus tomer s , and harnes s-ing
thei r word of mouth market ing
WILL grow your bus ines s—
guaranteed.
My onl y exposure to Gordon Ram-se
y i s through the TV and media, I
have never pe r sonal l y me t him.
I have hi s s eve ra l of hi s TV pro-gramme
s : ‘Ki tchen Nightma re’ whe re
he turns a round unde rpe r forming res -
taurant s . Thi s TV s er ies i s a mas te r
clas s in bus ines s , f ar and above of
Dragons ’ Den or the Apprent ic e.
Ramse y knows onl y too wel l tha t
the growth and suc ces s of hi s res tau-rant
s — and an y re s taurant — comes
f rom repea t cus tome r s and word or
mouth re commenda t ions . Thes e rec -
ommendat ions can ei the r f rom cus -
tomer s , journal i s t s or through the me -
dia. He knows i t s about bui lding a
brand, whe re the value s l ive up to the
s tanda rd of excel lence. Not a brand in
te rms of a logo, but values which cus -
tomer s come to expec t f rom one of hi s
res taurant s .
I rec ent ly saw him turna round a
res taurant in Ame r ic a, where the food
was so poor and the s e rvi ce was so
bad the cus tome r s would have no re a-son
to come back and eve ry e at at that
res taurant , and would have no reason
to eve r re commend i t to anybod y el se.
In fac t , the y would have eve ry rea -
son to te l l thei r f r iends , f ami l y and
col l eagues to s t a y awa y f rom tha t res -
taurant .
Thes e two pr inciples - - maximi s ing
the l i fe t ime va lue of a cus tomer
through repe at bu ying, and word of
mouth market ing — a re c ent ral theme s
of bus ines s owner thinking, and when
eve ry emplo ye e and manage r in your
organi s at ion under s tands that the
Richard Parkes Cordock, explains what your
front-line manager and key employee can learn
from business-owner-thinking and why Gordon
Ramsey is the perfect person to learn from!
Gordon Ramsey: An insight into business-owner-thinking
and lessons for all front-line managers and key employees

2. growth of your compan y comes out of
these two ke y fac tor s , then aga in,
eve ry dec i s ion has to be made wi th
these two pr incipl es in mind.
Would you s a y thi s i s the cas e in
your own bus ines s?
Are your emplo ye es and manage r s
thinking through the i r ac t ions and
consequences wi th your cus tomer s
des i re to repe at bu y f rom you and
re commend you to other s .
Simpl y b y a sking the se two ques -
t ions : ‘What ef fec t wi l l my act ions
have on my cus tomer s wi l l ingnes s to
come back and buy f rom us again”,
and “what ef f ec t wi l l my deci s ion
have on my cus tomer s de s i re to re c-ommend
me to other s ’ , you are in-va
r i abl y des t ined to the f ind r ight
answer not onl y for your cus tome r s ,
but al so for the long- te rm growth of
your compan y.
3: Bus iness i s not about what you
want —i t ’ s about what your cus-tomer
want s.
Ramse y knows ful l wel l that bus i -
nes s i s al l about the cus tome r . I f you
haven’ t got a cus tome r , i f you have-n’
t got dine r s in your res taurant , you
haven’ t got a bus ine s s .
Eve rything he does , he does be -
cause he ca res for hi s cus tomer s .
He want s hi s cus tome r s to have the
memorable expe r i ence , the mos t ex-qui
s i te food, in pe r fec t sur roundings .
For al l the ego and PR which
cle ar l y comes wi th Gordon Ramse y, i t
i s s t i l l obvious that he does what he
does for hi s cus tomer s who eat at hi s
res taurant s .
Man y t imes in hi s TV shows , wi l l
he di smi s s pretent ious food which i s
cle ar l y there for the ego of the chef ,
and repla ce i t wi th s impl e food which
the cus tome r want s and enjoys .
In the wor ld of bus ines s -owne r -
thinking we demons t rate thi s focus on
the cus tome r b y drawing a pyramid,
whe re inva r iabl y in a t radi t iona l bus i -
nes s s t ruc ture the l eade r ship i s a t the
top, the te am i s below, and inherent l y
the cus tome r i s at the bot tom.
More of ten than not , the leader ship
at the top i s a ctua l l y una l igned wi th
the res t of the te am.
One of the core theme s in bus i -
nes s -owne r - thinking i s to inver t the
pyramid and making sure eve rybody
in the compan y unde r s t ands that bus i -
nes s i s al l about the cus tome r , and
therefore the cus tome r mus t be at the
top of the p yramid.
Long te rm sus tainabl e growth c an-not
come f rom an y other wa y.
I s thi s how the focus i s in your
compan y?
In too man y organi sa t ions manage -
ment and emplo ye es c an t alk for
hour s , but neve r rea l l y ment ion the
cus tome r , or doing the r ight thing for
them b y put t ing the i r needs f i r s t .
The refore the compan y becomes
ove r l y inward looking, ra ther than
facing outwa rds towa rds the onl y
thing whi ch ma t te r s , the cus tome r .
4: I f your teams don’ t bel ieve,
they won’ t be able to make your
cus tomer bel ieve. I f your cus-tomer
don’ t bel ieve in you, they
won’ t buy f rom you!
Ramse y i s a gre at people per son,
and a gre at l eader of people.
People respe ct him for hi s
achi evement s in the cul inary wor ld,
but al so i t i s evident that he i s able to
ge t uni f i ed te ams working in ha rmon y
towa rds a common goa l .
That common goal i s out s tanding
food, i s happy cus tomer s , i s smooth
servic e, i s turning pa ying cus tome r s
into pas s ionat e fans who to come
back and ea t a t the res t aurant t ime
and t ime aga in.
In the va r ious ‘Ramse y’ s night -
ma res ’ TV programmes that I ’ve se en,
whe re he turns a round underpe r form-ing
re s taurant s , he usual ly ha s to s ta r t
f rom a ve ry low point , where the con-f
idence and be l ief of the team i s a t a
low ebb.
Ramse y i s a mas t er of creat ing be -
l ief in the team and e l iminat ing
doubt .
He knows tha t he cannot turn the
res taurant by himse l f , and that the
succe s s of the bus ines s i s in the
hands of the emplo ye es and manage r s .
I f he took al l the people out of the
res taurant , he would be l ef t wi th
nothing but empt y cha i r s and tabl es ,
and an un- s taf fed ki tchen which i s
unable to se rve cus tomer s . He knows
that i t i s a people bus ines s , and the
succe s s of hi s res taurant s i s down to
hi s abi l i t y to get the mos t f rom hi s
manage r s , and hi s manager ’ s abi l i t y
to get the mos t f rom thei r emplo ye es .
He doe s thi s by giving them some -
thing to be l ieve in, b y giving them a
higher purpose , by giving them a di -
re ct ion and making sure eve rybod y i s
cle ar in what the y are doing in thei r
role to cont r ibute towards the higher
purpose of the compan y.
In your own company, does every-body
know what the higher purpose
i s , and do the y be l ieve in i t?
Thi s i s how ent repreneur s and
bus ines s owne r s a chi eve the ext raor -
dinary resul t s the y do, b y crea t ing
some thing gre ate r than themselves
that the res t of the te am can be l i eve
in and s t r ive for .
In our programme s where we te ach
bus ines s -owner - thinking, one of the
cent ra l themes i s c re at ing the be l i ef
of the te ams around the higher goal s
of the compan y.
5: Innovat ion and change are the
only way forward. Standing s t i l l i s
not an opt ion
Ramse y knows ful l wel l that s t and-ing
s t i l l and doing the s ame thing as
ye s te rda y i s usual l y a re c ipe for di s -
as te r .
In the companies he turns around,
the onl y wa y forwa rd i s through inno-va
t ion, crea t ivi ty and change.
In the res t aurant bus ines s , thi s
could s impl y be changing the menu,
the t able cloths , the dé cor the name
of the res t aurant , but impor tant l y, i t
i s about not being af raid to change,
and not res i s t ing change.
I t was Da rwin who said ‘ that i t ’ s
not he s t ronges t of f i t t es t who sur -
vive, but those who a re mos t adapt -
able to change’ .
The mas t er s of change in my opin-ion,
a re ent repreneur s .
Mos t of the res taurant s Ramse y
turns around in hi s TV programmes
have fai led in the pas t to change and
fai led to t ake act ion despi te nume rous
wa rning s ignal s .
I t ’ s only through entrepreneurial
thinking, and only through the be -
l ief and conf idenc e your employee s
and managers that wi l l al low you to
you can change, and that the
changes you are making are for the
good of your cus tome rs .
Bel i ef and conf idenc e ne eds to be
in the emplo ye es and manager s in
your compan y.
The fa ct i s that i t i s your emplo y-ees
and manage r s who are clos es t to
your cus tomer s , and i t i s therefore
thei r ideas whi ch of ten have the
gre ate s t va lue, bec ause of thei r con-s
tant conta ct and int e ra ct ion wi th
your cus tomer s .
The y can s ee wha t ’ s working and
what i sn’ t .
You need however to give them the
conf idenc e and permi s s ion to change
and s t r ive for the highes t goa l s , to
bui ld for the long t e rm, rathe r than
jus t chas ing shor t te rm goal s .
Of cour s e, the long- t erm – shor t
te rm conundrum mus t be managed,
but i f your focus i s a lways on the
giving great e r value, a great expe r i -
ence to the cus tome r , then the long
te rm shor t te rm wi l l ul t ima te ly man-age
i t se l f .
6: You mus t know your market ,
and your cus tomer s just as wel l
as you know your sel f
Eve ry ent repreneur I ’ve eve r met and
inte rviewed has unde r s tood thei r ma r -
ke t be t te r than an ybod y e l se in the i r
compan y.
You can se e thi s demons t ra ted b y
Ramse y in hi s programmes , as one of
the f i r s t things he does when turning
around a res t aurant i s to under s t and
hi s compe t i t ion.
He l i t eral l y wa lks up and down the
high s t ree t and talks fac e - to- fac e wi th
regul a r peopl e in the town to ask i f
the y e at at the res taurant or wh y the y
don’ t .
He want s to know wha t they l ike
and wha t they don’ t l ike.
He get s close to hi s cus tome r s . I t ’ s
only b y l i s t ening to cus tome r s can he
come up wi th the changes and f ind
hi s pos i t ion in the ma rke t , and f ind a
voi ce which expl ains who he i s and
what hi s res taurant i s , and why he i s
di f ferent .
I rec ent ly saw in one of hi s pro-gramme
s a re s taurant in Ame r ic a who
was s e rving ve ry middl e of the road
food of the lowe s t s tanda rd.
But s impl y b y taking a s t ep back,
speaking to loc al cus tomer s and look-ing
at othe r res t aurant s in town, i t
became qui ckl y evident that there was
no s teak hous e, and so a s imple over -
night change, turned an underpe r -

3. forming los s making company into a
new f resh, exci t ing and prof i table
res taurant wi th no di re ct compet i t ion.
Now you ma y not be able to do
thi s in your company, and you ma y
not have to make such a drama t i c
change, but the answe r to the growth
of your compan y i s wi thin your cus -
tomer s , i t ’ s wi thin your emplo ye es
and i t ’ s wi thin under s tanding your
ma rke t pl ac e.
I f you te ach and t rain your em-ploye
es to think l ike bus ines s owner s ,
to be more re cept ive, to t ake a great -
es t inte res t , to be more cur ious in
thei r ma rke t , to take a great level of
inte res t and pr ide, i t i s only natural
that the y wi l l come up wi th new ide as
which wi l l dr ive your compan y for -
wa rd.
I ’ l l leave point number 6 wi th a
phras e f rom Paul Gorman, my own
bus ines s mentor , “ideas are the coin
of mind”. Simply put , i t i s your com-pany’
s abi l i t y to turn ide as into prod-uct
s and se rvic es that your cus tome r s
need and want whi ch wi l l keep your
compan y growing.
Your abi l i t y to do that i s down to
your emplo ye es , i t i s down to them
thinking and act ing l ike bus ines s -
owne r s .
7: Your success is 98% down to
your own mindset . You mus t de-velop
your manager s and em-ployees
jus t as much as you de-velop
your sel f .
Ramse y has a cl as s i c ent repreneu-r
i al bus ines s -owne r mindset .
Minds et i s something I ’ve wr i t ten
about much ove r the pa s t few ye a r s in
my two books and var ious t raining
cour s es .
The t rai t s tha t s t and out in suc-ces
s ful bus ines s owne r s a re pas s ion,
bel i ef and red hot des i re ; the y a re
courage, of not re l ying on luck, of
having cl ea r goal s . . . of being pe r s i s -
tent , of bounc ing back f rom fai lure
and not being af raid to fa i l .
The fa ct that Rams e y i s s t rong in
al l of these a re as explains wh y he i s
the suc ces s hi s i s . The re ma y we l l be
super ior chef s to Rams e y ( I ’m not
re al l y in a pos i t ion to judge thi s ) , but
i f so, I doubt f ew wi l l e cl ipse Ram-se
y, as i t i s minds et which dr ive s him
forwa rd.
In the res t aurant wor ld, there a re
man y prot égé es , wi th Rams ey himse l f
being a prot égé e of Marco Pie r re
Whi te.
In your compan y, i t i s almos t
protégées of bus ines s -owner s you
need who embody thi s ent repreneur ia l
spi r i t .
Thi s are not ent repreneur s them-selves
, but are what I c al l Ent e rpr i se
Le ade r s .
The y are peopl e can dr ive your
ente rpr i se forwa rd and are peopl e
who can think, act and make de ci -
s ions l ike bus ine s s owner s .
The y are peopl e who sha re the pas -
s ion, bel ief and des i re of ent repre -
neur s .
When you c re ate a ve r t ic al spine
in your compan y wi th your ke y em-ploye
Bring the entrepreneurial spirit of Gordon Ramsey to your key employees and managers
es and manage r s a l l thinking,
act ing and making de ci s ions l ike
bus ines s owne r s… who have a highe r
purpose to aim for , who inve r t the
pyramid, you’ l l ve ry quickl y crea te
an envi ronment of exc el l ent which
people can bel i eve in.
But wi thout ingra ining bus ines s -
owne r - thinking de ep in your emplo y-ees
who ask the ques t ion of them-selves
‘what would I do i f thi s was my
bus ines s ’ and ‘what would I e xpe ct to
be done i f I was a cus tomer of thi s
bus ines s ’ , you’ l l neve r a chieve the
t rue potent ia l your company i s ce r -
tainl y capabl e of .
But asking those ques t ions , and
answer r ing those ques t ions i s de -
pendent on having the r ight people
wi th the r ight mindset to del ive r re -
sul t s .
The s a ying that people ge t hi red
for ski l l s but f i red for a t t i tude’ wi l l
alwa ys be t rue.
At t i tude and mindse t i s the di f fer -
ence betwe en suc ces s and fai lure. I t
i s an at t i tude of bel i ef and can do
which i s ne eded in your ke y emplo y-ees
and manage r s . Henry Ford was
r ight when he sa id, ‘whether you be-l
ieve you can, or you bel i eve you
can’ t , you are r ight ’ .
++++++++++++++++++
Man y compani es t alk about the
word ent repreneur ship, but in of ten
fear the word ent repreneur , be l ieving
that ent repreneur ship i s about r i sk.
I t i sn’ t , i t ’ s about resul t s , and
achi eving ext raordina ry resul t s
agains t a l l odds and wi th l i t t le or no
resourc es , and who in bus ines s does -
n’ t suf fer f rom a l ack of resourc es at
some t ime.
But I bel i eve that a bet t e r pos i t ion
and a more pra ct i ca l and achi evabl e
thing to a chi eve in companies i s a
network of Ente rpr i se Le ade r s , or
people who think and a ct l ike bus i -
nes s owner s , who have conf idence in
themse lves to think, ac t and make
deci s ions l ike bus ines s owne r s .
Thes e a re peopl e who inherent l y
know that the succ es s of the bus ines s
the y work for i s in thei r hands and
thei r abi l i t y to inspi re those a round
them to re ach for the same high s t an-dards
and goal s .
Our t raining programmes which
include workshops , coaching s es s ions
and e - le a rning/audio programme s a re
des igned to c re at e wi thin a core nu-cleus
of people in your compan y,
bus ines s owne r thinking, so that you
have the peopl e to take you whe re
you want to go.
Your abi l i t y to go f rom point A to
point B res t s wi thin the hands of your
people.
In a compet i t ive envi ronment , the
s ingle mos t impor tant fac tor which
wi l l di f ferent iat es your compani es
f rom othe r s wi l l alwa ys be your peo-ple.
Think for a moment about two res -
taurant s s ide, by s ide in the same
s t reet se rving the s ame kind of food.
One res taurant s impl y t rundles a long,
lacking the spa rk, energy, idea s ,
imagina t ion and bel i ef and wi l l to do
some thing di f fe rent .
Emplo ye es and manager s in thi s
res taurant ove r ove r l y focused on
themse lves , at the expens e of the cus -
tomer .
Cons ide r now the s econd res tau-rant
, whi ch i s ful l of ene rgy, pas s ion
and exc i tement . Whe re people are
proud of the food the y se rve, the at -
mosphe re the y c rea te, the expe r ience
the cus tome r has and whe re the cus -
tomer longs to come back, and i s ea -
ge r to te l l thei r f r iends about thei r
me al . Res taurant s l ike Gordon Ram-se
y’ s .
The di f fe rence betwe en the two i s
people and how the y think and ac t .
I f you would l ike to thi s ene rgy to
your compan y, thi s f reshnes s , i f
you’d l ike to t rain your emplo ye es to
think l ike bus ine s s -owne r s and turn
them f rom emplo ye es into leader s
who inspi re othe r s and se t new s tan-dards
s impl y conta ct Richard Pa rkes
Cordock at
richard@ente rpri s eleaders . com or
cal l 0207 558 8017 for an informal
chat .
www.enterpri s el eaders . com