Play Book Tag discussion

One important note - David Chang is an example that sometimes manic-depression can help a person attain great success.

This book was NOT what I expected. I thought it would be a fairly light book about food. I listened to the audio, and all I saw of the cover was a tiny icon. I saw a peach. I didn't see the teeny man trying to roll that huge peach up a hill like.. (looking up the spelling) a mythical Sisyphus. This book is about a celebrity chef and the restaurant business. It's also largely about mental illness, leadership and some business strategy. These are all topics I enjoy, but it's a tough story, with a lot of honesty, and some B.S. too. (A little B.S. is probably healthy and protective in this case.)

David Change's early life was full of both successes and failure, and a demanding father. He eventually decides to go to culinary school (his father does not approve) and progresses to become a talented chef and restaurant owner. Later came a podcast, magazine, a Netflix series, and more restaurants and media projects. I just saw an add for microwavable dishes with his name.

It all looks l like it came easy, but this book is an account of some of the struggles he has had with bipolar disorder, and how it impacts everything he does. Like many founders of innovative businesses, his talent was in the creation of a concept/business, but not in the long-term management. This is especially true of creative people with ADHD and/or bipolar disorder. Both conditions can contribute to great career success (perhaps with a lot of bumps in the road), and this book is an inspiring example of that.

Like many chefs (not just famous ones) he was able to get away with treating his employees like trash because ambitious people are willing to put up with it in order to gain valuable experience. People can put up with inconsistent leadership, angry outbursts, and outright abuse for only so long. To stem the staff defections that started to destroy the business, he was advised to get a leadership coach. He chose Marshall Goldsmith who is famous, very expensive, and not known for doing the follow-up work that someone like this needs. (He offered his services for free in this case, and I'm guessing that David wasn't interested in continuing as a paying client.) David was almost destroyed by the 360 degree feedback process (which is tough on very healthy and strong people too). To his credit he displayed a lot of self-awareness and a willingness to do the work. It's hard to make all those changes, so he wisely put other people in charge of day-to-day leadership, with good results.

While this book is excellent in many ways, I didn't enjoy the writing in this book as much as other memoirs I read this month. To be fair, most of the others were written by very successful authors with long careers. It also just occurred to me that I probably would have enjoyed the book more if I set the audio speed at a slightly more relaxed level. I've become used to a fast play-back speed, and the author reads at a fairly fast pace himself. The combination added a some manic tension that probably put me on edge. It's also hard not to think of your own struggles when reading a book like this.

My husband is a big Chang fan. We have some Ugly Delicious books and magazines and his show is great too.

Sounds like there is a lot to get out of his memoir.