At Vestalia Hospitality, saying the thing that needs to be said to one another is essential in feedback and accountability because it gets us past roadblocks that are preventing us from meeting shared goals and showing up within our values.  We talk a lot about why it’s important, what’s gained when it happens, why it’s hard to do, and how to do it with care and support. When searching for examples within our organization to share about when someone said the thing that needed to be said, there was one story that rose to the top right away, and it comes from our Owner, James Beard Award-winning Chef, and Boss Lady: Ann Kim.  

When Young Joni first opened, the Executive Chef Michael Shaughnessy and Ann worked closely together to ensure the success of the new restaurant.  One day he asked to talk with her, and spoke his truth about how some of her interactions with the line cooks were getting in his way of being an effective leader.  

Amie Bresnahan, Vestalia’s Associate Director of People Development, and I sat down with Ann to record her telling of the story and how that moment changed the nature of their relationship. 

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À la Carte

Find links here to unrelated yet thought-provoking content that has caught our attention.  Order it, share it with a friend, or skip it to save room for info you really want to digest.

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Happiness: What’s it mean to live a happy life?

Have you ever talked with a friend late into the night about life, and come out of it feeling like you’ve discovered some fundamental truth about human existence that you can’t wait to share with others?  Reading this article on Conscioused by Ari Yeganeh is a lot like that.

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7 Expert-Approved Ways to Write a Better To-Do List

Time and task management is a skill that you will continue to learn for the rest of your life.  Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones that finds a system that works for you forever, if you’re like me you’ll need different strategies as the tide of life changes the nature of what you’re doing and the goals you want to accomplish.  There are countless “Try These X Number of Things to Get Stuff Done” articles, this one had suggestions that I know have worked for me (Eisenhower Box, anyone?). If you’ve got a tried and true method and want to share it, please leave it in a comment on this post!  (Article by Virginia Hughes for Mental Floss)