When chef Charles Carroll was in third grade, he began cooking breakfasts for guests at his father's country inn in New England.
"I was a culinary gym rat" , says Carroll, “always in the kitchen, always trying to figure out how to make each dish better.” At 24, Charles competed in his first Culinary Olympics and came home with a gold medal. (Like its athletic counterpart, the Culinary Olympics are held every four years and attract competitors from around the world.) Over the past three decades, it has competed in seven Olympics and won numerous gold medals.
Now the executive chef of the River Oaks Country Club in Houston (one of the highest rated in the country), Carroll manages and oversees a team of 75 people with six kitchens and three restaurants, hosting 80 to 100 banquets a week. He travels the country giving inspiring talks. He recently returned after covering 250,000 miles during his two years as President of the World Association of Chefs' Societies. And in his spare time, he's putting out a book — a “cooking parable,” he calls it — with New York Times bestselling author John David Mann. The recipe:a story of loss, love and the ingredients for greatness , released on October 17. For more information, see TheIngredientsOfGreatness.com.
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Q:What inspired you to try the Culinary Olympics?
A:My senior year in high school, I won my first bronze medal in a local competition. I was delighted. I said to one of the judges, “One day I'm going to get an Olympic gold medal. He said, “Son, it's almost impossible to join the team. Why don't you stick to local events and focus on the money next time?
At first, I was totally devastated. Then I went crazy. Then I got motivated. Five years later, on a plane home from Germany, I wrote a note to the judge, thanking him for inspiring me to move forward and attaching a snapshot of myself with my first gold medal. olympic gold.
The world won't always be supportive. You need to be able to use criticism, failure, naysayers, anything to propel you forward.
“You don't get opportunities on the world stage by sitting on the sidelines and hoping it will happen because you think you're talented. You have to claw and scratch, no matter what. »
Q:What impact did the Olympics have on you?
A:Competing in the Olympics has changed my life. Until then, it was all about success as an individual. Here we all rose together or sank together. I was the youngest of the 10 chefs on our team. That year, each of us won an individual gold medal, and we won a collective gold medal for the best regional team in the world. It was the first time I understood what it is to be part of a team, what it means to lift yourself up. That's what my life has been since then.
Q:You've done everything in the Olympics, from winning gold as a competitor to coaching gold medal teams to judging. What does it take to go all the way and reach that gold medal level?
A:Three things:hunger, practice, and respect.
I had itchy blood. In my high school cooking class, we watched footage of the Culinary Olympics. When I came to the Culinary Institute of America, the guys I saw in those pictures were teaching our classes. I started chasing them down the hall like a groupie, volunteering when and for whatever I could. You don't get opportunities on the world stage by sitting on the sidelines and hoping it will happen because you think you're talented. You have to claw and scratch, chew the end of the table, no matter what.
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You are only as good as you train. The Culinary Olympics are like the Athletics Olympics:you train like crazy. You work 60 hours a week for your property and dedicate an additional 40 hours to your trade. It's like fencing or figure skating – you have to practice these techniques to the point of perfection because you'll be up against the best in the world.
Ultimately you forge your own path and your own style, but it starts with respect. Success in the culinary field is like success in any field:the result is that you have to take care of your relationships. It's easy to get caught up in your own accomplishments. If you respect the people around you, you will regain that respect and you will go much further.
Q:You manage food for one of the busiest country clubs in the United States. How can you produce this kind of volume and maintain high quality and consistency?
A:I have extremely high standards. I want every member of the team to be in clean, pressed, starched whites with an apron and chef's hat. I want them to look and feel like professional chefs, and I treat them that way. My management style is based on respect and not on requirement. I listen to all my people. Everyone has a voice. An autocratic, bullying executive leader can make for good TV drama, but it doesn't build relationships.
When the wheels start to come off and the team struggles, there's no better way to right the ship than to jump in with them. When people see the executive chef washing the dishes, the dynamic changes instantly. You can't let management responsibilities take over. You must stay logged in. Of those 80-100 functions per week, I'm on the edge of the veneer at 90% of them. I usually do the first plate, we'll take a look at it to make sure it's exactly what we want, and then I'll stay with the team. It's all on deck.
Q:How did you team up with John David Mann to write a “cooking parable”?
A:I had written a few books on cooking and leadership, but I wanted to go further. I wanted to convey the idea that true success isn't just about ourselves, it's about creating a tide that lifts everyone's ship. I loved John's book The Go-Giver and used it with my staff. We invited him to give a talk at the club, and while he was here I told him about an idea I had for a story about a young boy who goes through hardships and learns what true greatness and where it comes from – ideas in the kitchen that turn out to have deeper implications in life. The Karate Kid meets Chef .
John loved the idea, and we found our two sets of experiences – for me, teaching through cooking; for him, teaching through writing – fitted in beautifully. We were both so busy it took us eight years, but we finally made the time to do it.
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This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
