Mr Peter Knipp's talk

was discussing MEIT proj outside LT18 when Chef Ng came, pat me on my back and "invites" aka "orders" us to go for the talk by Mr. Peter Knipp.

i never regret. at least he kept me entertained for an hr and a half.. the 1st lec since sch starts that i never fall asleep.

his talk is great except the fact that he walks around way too much and had too many gestures. that made me unfocused every now and then, spacing off quite often before focusing on the topics he brought up. he's very intimidating, and i was sitting at the 2nd row praying that he wont call on my to ask some chim qns that i have no answer to with that tone and that stare.

but i gained so much.. shall blog them down and share before i forgot..

i love this: he said [i dun employ certificates. i employ attitudes] when he interviewed his employees. he never looks at certs and qualifications. he continued with [skills i can teach. attitudes i cant.] doesnt that sound awesome?

he talked about passion. "passion needs to be accompanied with discipline. without that, u're screwed" it's true. we often talk about how much we love somthing, a job or a desire. but what is true passion if u dun hav the discipline to do what u muz in order to achieve what u want? he went on to say that success comes from hard work and effort, not luck coz even when luck is required for u to be in the right place at the right time, u urself need to create that opportunity to be present.

in addition, he mentioned this that i've talked about in one of my previous posts..
[future is based on the present which is built on the past] so the past is as important as the future. some pple live in "lala land" so he said, forgetting how important it is to live in the present and reflect and learn from the past. this made me feel so "connected" during the talk..

is skills enough in order to be good? "u can have a driving liscense but does that makes u a good formula one racer? all u learn is to step on pedals and adjust the stirring wheel" this is where experience comes in, and a whole lot more..

bringing the topic to cuisines, Mr Knipp gave his views about Asians not sharing knowledge. chefs not sharing their "secret recipes." and that sharing is essential for evolution.. that is why chinese food never changes much..

and we all knwo this "smiling requires less muscles than frowning" but why are there so many pple giving "black faces?" someone in one of the sunday times column brought up the point "why is the hospitality industry the most UNhospitable one?" and he said that it is very relevant in S'pore context.. how often do we grumble that we got to work shift work, complains when our frens ask us out and we got to work, giving that SH** word? and how many pple actually clear their own trays when they visit McDonald's?

besides that, how many chefs/ cooks are being recognised? waiters aint being respected. servers are being treated like "servents" coz they serve. u pay, we serve.

this makes sense too: "the hospitality industry requires u to 1) work long hrs, 2) low pay, 3) get abused, 4) no respect, 5) little recognition etc.." those that are in the industry muz be nuts.. we do those things that others think anyone muz be crazy to do so, meaning we do all the shitty jobs that pple dun want.. service is also linked to uneducated. u fail ur exams, u go to work in service line. u work in service, u are a failure.. that is the direct relation pple think of.. think of cooks and chefs pple immediately relate to "loud swearing, nose-digging, rough, barbaric" pple.. it's wrong..
talking about music.. pple who love classical pieces will remember the famous bach.. and why we remember him? coz he wrote many famous classical music pieces..

NOW, name a famous chef in the 1700.. lolx.. who will actually remember? there are countless composers in that era and anyone with the passion for music will be able to name a few as and then.. but those who love cuisines, love food, the art of dining.. who can actually think of a handful of chefs that famous? this is why they say chefs doesnt hav any recognition..

talking about discipline, Mr Knipp recalled his "gd old days" whereby his seconf grade teacher have him a slap. he said that he needed one at that time and that "we all need wake up calls in life every now and then.." and i agree.. u fall, u get up. u lose sense of direction in life, get into the wrong sides, u need that "something" to bring u right back in track..

besides all the above mentioned issues, this topic he talked about is what i've thought about. regarding internal and external customers.. both are vital to a company, hotel, org. communication is crucial in order to reach success.. there is a need to share satisfaction. this part of the talk reminded me of panpac.. remember i once said that i actually enjoys greeting internal staff than external ones? not that i dislike guests, but the "feel" is different. u know when u greet them, give them acknowledgement that we are all enjoying what we're doing, that we are all working hard for some reasons or another, that we are dedicated in doing our jobs well, we work together to give guests the best that we can offer. it's like having a common goal and working towards it.. to me, that generates more satisfaction..

and talking about the past. how can we evr forget our famous edison? that lightbulb inventor? he succeed on his 10000th try. he doesnt think that he's failed for 9999 times.. those tries are just a step in order for him to reach success.. there is no failure so long as u learn from ur mistakes..

talking about high class hotels in s'pore.. how can we elave out Ritz carlton? their ever famous motto [we are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen]
that is juz a way of instilling pride, reinforcing and giving recognition to staff but that message is so strong that every employee is proud to say that they work for the Ritz..

i've asked this qn a hundred and one time.. who determines what gd service is? the customers? in order to know, u muz first experience. and the fact that many s'poreans are stingy doesnt help the hospitality industry at all.. we dunno what is gd svc so we dunno how to provide gd svc actually..

when we say that hospi is a subset of tourism, does that mean that there are parts of tourism that doesnt include any hospitality component?

the chinese much talked about yin yang issue.. there is the ying and the yang, and the "ba gua" mirror.. the examples were to start off another topic.. they all boil down to "balance.." we muz achieve balance in life..
question: how we know if something is good?
answer is: when there is somehting bad to compare against.
without the bad, we wont know what is good. vice versa.

Mr Knipp told us that he once employed a degree holder. that young lady quits after about a yr, saying that he doesnt respects her degree at all.. he told us that he also employed a housewife who got no qualifications and when the young lady got so insulted over the "no respect" issue, he told her that in the university of life, the housewife got 3 ph.Ds.. and many of us are still stuck without even completing out primary 5 education.. life is not all about certs.. it's abt who u are..

do u have what it takes to survive in the industry? are you one of the many that wants to be a manager? are you one of the 9 out of the 10 that wants to own a business within the next 10 years? are you one who want to be in the hospi industry simple coz u love the interaction between and with pple? are you one who follows what ur parents say and want u to do?

all i can say now is, follow your heart. i did.

point to note: all quotations in this entry is NOT 100% accurate.. i recalled all these from memory so no doubt there will be some slight inaccurate information.. hope u enjoyed this entry as much as i did recalling the issues.. =)