Podcast: The High Performance
Published Date:
Mon, 18 Jul 2022 00:00:39 GMT
Duration:
1:09:43
Explicit:
False
Guests:
MP3 Audio:
Please note that the summary is generated based on the transcript and may not capture all the nuances or details discussed in the podcast episode.
Marcus Wareing is a Michelin-starred chef, ‘Masterchef: The Professionals’ judge and restaurant owner. Marcus is one of the most respected and acclaimed chefs in the world.
During this conversation, Marcus cites his father as the definition of high performance. Marcus’ admiration of his fathers hard work and determination inspired him to keep pursuing being a chef. He also shares with us where his mindset of focus stems from, how the pandemic transformed him and the real story behind his fallout with Gordan Ramsey, and what he learnt from it.
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## Podcast Episode Summary: Marcus Wareing on High Performance
**Introduction:**
- Marcus Wareing, a Michelin-starred chef, 'Masterchef: The Professionals' judge, and restaurant owner, is renowned for his culinary expertise.
- Marcus cites his father as the definition of high performance, attributing his success to his father's hard work and determination.
- The conversation delves into Marcus' mindset of focus, the impact of the pandemic on his life, and the true story behind his fallout with Gordon Ramsay.
**Key Points:**
1. **High Performance:**
- Marcus defines high performance by looking up to his father, who exemplified a strong work ethic, mindset, and precision.
- He emphasizes that high performance is not limited to a specific field but is about setting high standards and consistently striving for excellence.
2. **Work Ethic and Mindset:**
- Marcus credits his father's influence for instilling a strong work ethic and a mindset of focus in him.
- He highlights the importance of setting goals, working hard, and not giving up easily.
- Marcus believes in continuous learning and improvement, constantly seeking knowledge and incorporating it into his work.
3. **Impact of the Pandemic:**
- The pandemic brought about a transformative experience for Marcus, leading him to reassess his priorities and values.
- He realized the importance of spending time with family and focusing on personal well-being.
- The pandemic also prompted him to explore new avenues, such as writing and creating online content.
4. **Fallout with Gordon Ramsay:**
- Marcus candidly shares the story behind his falling out with Gordon Ramsay, his former mentor and colleague.
- He acknowledges that he made mistakes and took responsibility for his actions.
- Marcus emphasizes the importance of learning from past experiences and moving forward with a positive mindset.
5. **Passion and Mistakes:**
- Marcus stresses that passion is a double-edged sword, capable of leading to both great achievements and errors.
- He encourages individuals to embrace their passions but also to be mindful of the potential consequences.
- Marcus believes that mistakes are inevitable and should be viewed as opportunities for growth and learning.
6. **Surrounding Yourself with the Right People:**
- Marcus emphasizes the significance of surrounding oneself with positive and supportive individuals.
- He advises finding a mentor or role model who can provide guidance and inspiration.
- Marcus highlights the importance of building a strong network of like-minded people who can offer encouragement and support.
7. **Life Lessons:**
- Marcus shares valuable life lessons he has learned throughout his career, including the importance of perseverance, resilience, and adaptability.
- He stresses the need to stay humble, stay hungry, and always be willing to learn and grow.
- Marcus believes that success is not about reaching the top but about the journey itself and the experiences gained along the way.
**Conclusion:**
Marcus Wareing's conversation on the High Performance Podcast offers insights into the mindset, work ethic, and life experiences that have shaped his successful career. He emphasizes the importance of setting high standards, embracing challenges, and learning from mistakes. Marcus encourages individuals to surround themselves with positive influences, stay passionate about their pursuits, and never give up on their dreams.
# Podcast Episode Summary: High Performance with Marcus Wareing
**Guest:** Marcus Wareing, Michelin-starred chef, ‘Masterchef: The Professionals’ judge, and restaurant owner
**Topics Discussed:**
* Marcus Wareing's journey to becoming a renowned chef and his definition of high performance.
* The influence of his father's work ethic and determination on Marcus' pursuit of culinary excellence.
* The significance of focus and mindset in achieving high performance.
* The transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Marcus' outlook and approach to life.
* The true story behind Marcus' fallout with Gordon Ramsay and the valuable lessons learned from it.
* Marcus' reflections on his leadership style and the importance of effective communication and empathy in managing a team of chefs.
* The distinction between being a good cook and being a high-performance chef.
* The importance of self-awareness and the willingness to learn and adapt in the culinary industry.
* The value of receiving constructive criticism and the role of social media in shaping public perception.
* Marcus' current ambition to become an even better cook and his focus on understanding the origins of food and connecting with suppliers.
**Key Insights:**
* High performance requires unwavering focus, determination, and a willingness to learn and adapt.
* Effective leadership involves clear communication, empathy, and the ability to inspire and motivate a team.
* Constructive criticism is essential for growth and improvement, and it should be embraced rather than avoided.
* Understanding the origins of food and connecting with suppliers can enhance culinary skills and deepen appreciation for the craft.
* Continuously striving for improvement and never becoming complacent are key to maintaining high performance.
**Memorable Quotes:**
* "I could have been anyone, but to him, I was just the sous chef, and I've got a job to do, and you'll follow me and you'll do as you're told." - Marcus Wareing on his relationship with Gordon Ramsay at Aubergine.
* "The only reason why anyone ever raises their voice in the kitchen is because someone is cutting a corner." - Marcus Wareing on the importance of precision and attention to detail in a professional kitchen.
* "You've got to have self-awareness. You have to identify who you are. I've made some massive mistakes in my cooking career. If I've messed up a service or I may have cut a corner, or I've not done things right, whatever it may be, there's only one person you've got to deal with, and that's the man in the mirror." - Marcus Wareing on the importance of self-reflection and accountability.
* "My ambition now is to become a better cook. Even better? Ah, yes. Better cook. Never stop." - Marcus Wareing on his ongoing pursuit of culinary excellence.
**Overall Message:**
Marcus Wareing's journey as a chef and his insights on high performance emphasize the importance of focus, adaptability, effective leadership, and a relentless pursuit of improvement. His reflections on his career and the lessons learned along the way provide valuable insights for anyone aspiring to achieve high performance in their chosen field.
# Podcast Summary: Marcus Wareing - High Performance Podcast
**Guest:** Marcus Wareing, Michelin-starred chef, 'Masterchef: The Professionals' judge, and restaurant owner.
**Topics Discussed:**
* **Background and Inspiration:**
* Wareing's father was a hard-working and determined man, which inspired Wareing to pursue his passion for cooking.
* Wareing's mindset of focus stems from his father's work ethic.
* The pandemic transformed Wareing's outlook on life, leading him to appreciate the simple things and the importance of connecting with nature.
* Wareing had a fallout with Gordon Ramsay, but both parties grew from the experience and learned valuable lessons.
* **Facing Problems Head-On:**
* Wareing emphasizes the importance of sleeping on problems and approaching them with a fresh perspective the next day.
* Wareing surrounds himself with a new group of people to drive him forward in different industries.
* Wareing believes it's important to adapt and change to succeed in the long term.
* **MasterChef and Wareing's Criteria for Decision-Making:**
* Wareing's role on MasterChef is to provide culinary advice and educate chefs on the go.
* Wareing believes that listening to the judges and taking their feedback seriously is key to success on MasterChef.
* Wareing recognizes the transformative experience that MasterChef provides for the chefs who participate.
* **Recognizing Talent and Wareing's Non-Negotiables:**
* Wareing looks for serious skills, mindset, and camaraderie when recognizing talent on MasterChef.
* Wareing's non-negotiables include not changing who he is, not stopping work, and caring only about what his family thinks of him.
* **Lessons Learned and Advice for the Younger Generation:**
* Wareing believes that education is one of the most important things and regrets not getting a proper education.
* Wareing advises young people to stand out from the crowd and make sure they have something unique to offer.
* Wareing emphasizes the importance of never looking back in regret and always striving to improve.
* **Wareing's World-Class Basics and Final Message:**
* Wareing's world-class basics are his family values and his father's work ethic.
* Wareing's final message is to be reflective of what you want in life and set realistic goals that you're willing to work hard for.
* Wareing believes that it's important to avoid distractions and focus on your individual capabilities.
**Key Takeaways:**
* Hard work, determination, and focus are essential for high performance.
* It's important to be adaptable and willing to change to succeed in the long term.
* Education is one of the most important things in life.
* Never look back in regret and always strive to improve.
* Surround yourself with people who support and challenge you.
# Marcus Wareing: From Humble Beginnings to Michelin-Starred Chef
In this captivating conversation, Michelin-starred chef, 'Masterchef: The Professionals' judge, and renowned restaurateur Marcus Wareing shares his inspiring journey and the principles that have shaped his remarkable career.
## Early Influences and the Definition of High Performance:
- Marcus credits his father's unwavering work ethic and determination as the epitome of high performance.
- His father's influence instilled in him a relentless pursuit of excellence and a deep appreciation for the value of hard work.
## The Mindset of Focus:
- Marcus emphasizes the importance of maintaining a singular focus on achieving one's goals.
- He highlights the need to avoid distractions and stay committed to the task at hand, regardless of obstacles.
## Transformation During the Pandemic:
- The pandemic served as a catalyst for personal transformation for Marcus.
- It prompted him to reflect on his priorities and values, leading to a renewed sense of purpose and direction.
## The Fallout with Gordon Ramsay:
- Marcus candidly discusses his fallout with renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, a pivotal moment in his career.
- He shares valuable lessons learned from the experience, emphasizing the importance of maintaining integrity and staying true to oneself.
## Key Takeaways:
- **World-Class Basics:** Marcus underscores the significance of mastering the fundamentals in any pursuit.
- **Passion and Integrity:** He stresses the importance of pursuing one's passion with integrity, authenticity, and respect for others.
- **Humility, Curiosity, and Empathy:** Marcus believes that remaining humble, curious, and empathetic are essential qualities for continuous growth and success.
## Marcus' Golden Rule for Success:
- He advocates for instilling world-class basics, emphasizing the importance of passion, integrity, and respect in all aspects of life.
## High Performance Circle:
- The podcast introduces the High Performance Circle, an exclusive community offering free access to keynote speeches, performance boosts, and valuable resources.
## Gratitude and Appreciation:
- The podcast team expresses gratitude for the overwhelming support and engagement of its listeners.
- They encourage listeners to spread the learnings and insights gained from the podcast to positively impact others' lives.
[00:00.000 -> 00:05.840] Hey there, I'm Jake Humphrey and you're listening once again to High Performance, our gift to
[00:05.840 -> 00:08.880] you for free every single week.
[00:08.880 -> 00:12.180] This is the podcast that reminds you that it's within.
[00:12.180 -> 00:16.280] Your ambition, your purpose, your story, it's all within.
[00:16.280 -> 00:20.220] We just help you unlock it by turning the lived experiences of the planet's highest
[00:20.220 -> 00:22.600] performers into your life lessons.
[00:22.600 -> 00:25.560] So right now, allow myself and Professor Damien Hughes
[00:25.560 -> 00:27.840] to speak to the greatest leaders, thinkers,
[00:27.840 -> 00:31.140] sports stars, entrepreneurs, and in this case,
[00:31.140 -> 00:34.840] chefs on the planet, so they can be your teacher.
[00:34.840 -> 00:38.240] And remember, this is not a podcast about being a chef.
[00:38.240 -> 00:40.680] This isn't a podcast even about high achievement
[00:40.680 -> 00:43.000] or high success, as you're about to hear.
[00:43.000 -> 00:45.360] This is a podcast about high happiness,
[00:45.360 -> 00:51.160] high self-worth. This is all about taking someone else's experience and failings and
[00:51.160 -> 00:57.560] struggles and successes and using them to take you closer to a life of fulfillment,
[00:57.560 -> 01:03.880] empathy and understanding. Today, this awaits you.
[01:03.880 -> 01:06.320] I've made some massive mistakes in my cooking career.
[01:06.320 -> 01:10.800] If I've messed up a service, or I've may have cut a corner,
[01:10.800 -> 01:13.120] or I've not done things right, whatever it may be,
[01:13.760 -> 01:15.760] there's only one person you've got to deal with.
[01:16.320 -> 01:17.840] And that's the man in the mirror.
[01:17.840 -> 01:19.440] You've got to look at yourself.
[01:19.440 -> 01:21.600] Be pure, you can start judging everyone else around you.
[01:22.480 -> 01:24.320] I handed my notice in the Savoy,
[01:24.320 -> 01:27.760] Anton Edelman laughed at me, said, you won't survive.
[01:27.760 -> 01:29.440] That was just what I needed.
[01:29.440 -> 01:32.080] There was the fodder for me to feed off
[01:32.080 -> 01:33.920] because that chef said to me,
[01:33.920 -> 01:35.680] that kitchen is too tough for you
[01:35.680 -> 01:37.640] and you won't survive in there.
[01:37.640 -> 01:40.280] I don't want to stop, I still want to be a high achiever
[01:40.280 -> 01:44.000] and I still want to be a high performer in everything I do.
[01:44.000 -> 01:48.480] You know, when I think about this conversation that we had with Marcus Waring who is one of the most celebrated and successful?
[01:48.800 -> 01:50.320] chefs in the world
[01:50.320 -> 01:55.800] I just have two words that stand out for me and you're about to hear an entire conversation about love and
[01:56.360 -> 02:00.340] About passion his very first answer when we ask him what high performance means to you
[02:00.920 -> 02:04.920] He's really emotional and I think you will learn a lot from the conversation that you're about to hear
[02:05.120 -> 02:09.740] And when it comes to passion, I think it's important that we realise that passion isn't
[02:09.740 -> 02:11.440] always an easy route through.
[02:11.440 -> 02:15.520] And there's all this popular conversation now on social media about find your passion,
[02:15.520 -> 02:18.120] live your passion, focus on your passion.
[02:18.120 -> 02:22.480] The way I like to look at this is actually that passion is just about caring deeply about
[02:22.480 -> 02:24.080] the things that you do.
[02:24.080 -> 02:25.460] And you can't have
[02:28.900 -> 02:29.900] Intense passion for every part of your life, you know, there will be parts of your life
[02:31.900 -> 02:32.060] That you don't love deeply
[02:36.720 -> 02:37.140] but I think it's important that the central focus of your life is something that you love deeply and
[02:44.980 -> 02:45.800] Marcus Waring has a real love and a passion for being a chef for being being a leader, for building a team, for taking
[02:45.800 -> 02:47.000] people with him on the journey.
[02:47.000 -> 02:52.040] But the important thing about being a passionate person is that actually passion often can
[02:52.040 -> 02:55.560] lead you down a road where you make errors, where you make mistakes, because you care
[02:55.560 -> 02:58.000] so deeply about things.
[02:58.000 -> 03:02.000] And often passion can mean that you're impulsive in your decisions and your reactions.
[03:02.000 -> 03:05.220] And you're going to hear a really interesting conversation with Marcus today
[03:05.580 -> 03:09.500] About how passion has given him so much but also about how at times
[03:10.020 -> 03:17.740] You know real strong deep passion has caused problems along the way. I can't thank Marcus enough for his honesty
[03:17.740 -> 03:20.720] I've never heard him speak like this on any interview that he's ever done before
[03:21.340 -> 03:23.940] and it was a real pleasure that he came on high performance and
[03:24.420 -> 03:26.120] Shared this with us.
[03:26.120 -> 03:27.880] So I really hope that you enjoy this.
[03:27.880 -> 03:29.120] I hope you get a lot from it.
[03:29.120 -> 03:30.440] I hope you learn a great deal.
[03:30.440 -> 03:33.220] Thank you as always for the hundreds of messages
[03:33.220 -> 03:35.280] we're getting every single week from people telling us
[03:35.280 -> 03:38.480] that this podcast is changing their lives.
[03:38.480 -> 03:41.540] And I hope this episode is helpful to you.
[03:41.540 -> 04:09.760] Marcus Waring on the High Performance Podcast, comes next. which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless. How do I get 30, 30, 30, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 15, 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month.
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[05:56.240 -> 06:06.580] apply see mint mobile for details. Well Marcus thank you so much for joining us on High Performance. It's an absolute pleasure
[06:06.580 -> 06:11.520] to meet you and to welcome you. Let's start with that question then. In your mind, what
[06:11.520 -> 06:12.520] is high performance?
[06:12.520 -> 06:19.720] There's only one word I can use for that. That's dad. My dad. A man that set a pace
[06:19.720 -> 06:29.780] of work and a work ethic and a mindset that I've not quite ever seen in anyone else that I've ever met. My old man's still alive, he used to smoke 40 fags a day, drink
[06:29.780 -> 06:33.080] gallons and gallons of tea, but he had a work ethic like no one else I'd ever
[06:33.080 -> 06:37.920] worked with before and it was this precision of that question of high
[06:37.920 -> 06:42.560] performance. High performance I think can come in many different ways, it's
[06:42.560 -> 06:45.120] how you see high performance. What is high performance?
[06:45.120 -> 06:49.880] For me, where I come from, the Northwest, high performance was how good and how hard
[06:49.880 -> 06:56.440] can you work or what every day that you do. And the time I spend with him, that's influenced
[06:56.440 -> 07:00.620] from the age of 11 when I finished school at 3.30 and I was in the warehouse at quarter
[07:00.620 -> 07:05.380] to four. And I was there every weekend and every holiday, spending time with my dad,
[07:05.380 -> 07:06.940] because my dad was a workaholic.
[07:06.940 -> 07:08.760] So seven days a week he was at that warehouse,
[07:08.760 -> 07:10.980] 16, 17, 18 hour days.
[07:10.980 -> 07:13.500] Sunday was a 12 hour day where he did his bookkeeping,
[07:13.500 -> 07:15.300] and that was my dad's half day.
[07:15.300 -> 07:17.900] So that for me is what high performance was all about,
[07:17.900 -> 07:18.740] my dad.
[07:18.740 -> 07:19.700] And that's an interesting answer,
[07:19.700 -> 07:22.020] because we've had people sit where you are now
[07:22.020 -> 07:24.900] and talk about the fact that their parents were workaholics
[07:24.900 -> 07:25.820] in a negative sense
[07:25.820 -> 07:26.860] rather than a positive sense,
[07:26.860 -> 07:29.460] but it seems like you don't hold a bitterness
[07:29.460 -> 07:31.580] that you didn't go to the football with your dad
[07:31.580 -> 07:32.700] or take the dog for a walk
[07:32.700 -> 07:35.760] or go on three-week family holidays or whatever.
[07:35.760 -> 07:38.460] You hold a real gratitude for the fact
[07:38.460 -> 07:40.960] that he put a work ethic into you that's carried you.
[07:40.960 -> 07:44.080] I wouldn't be sitting here today if that wasn't there.
[07:44.080 -> 07:45.480] And so what
[07:45.480 -> 07:50.480] people think you miss out on is only what you they think you miss out on. I
[07:50.480 -> 07:54.880] missed out on nothing. Now I saw a very powerful strong man with very basic
[07:54.880 -> 08:00.760] thinking of life that set me up for life and so I look back with
[08:00.760 -> 08:06.000] gratitude and respect. What I won't do necessarily is following his footsteps
[08:06.000 -> 08:08.000] in some of the things that he missed out on.
[08:08.000 -> 08:10.000] And the one key thing that he missed out on
[08:10.000 -> 08:12.000] was that when he eventually retired,
[08:12.000 -> 08:14.000] because his business collapsed,
[08:14.000 -> 08:16.000] and that was a good note, because I think that's probably
[08:16.000 -> 08:18.000] what saved his life, because he couldn't stop,
[08:18.000 -> 08:21.000] his children had all grown up and left,
[08:21.000 -> 08:23.000] and he hadn't spent any time with them.
[08:23.000 -> 08:25.200] So in the life that I've lived, I've
[08:25.200 -> 08:29.320] spent time with my children and those I brought, I wanted to get married when I felt it was
[08:29.320 -> 08:33.920] right for me personally and I wanted to have children because it felt right that I could
[08:33.920 -> 08:39.880] do something with them and look after them and have a job that was secure and that allowed
[08:39.880 -> 08:44.040] me to bring them into the world and give them what I believed was a good upbringing and
[08:44.040 -> 08:46.200] I've done that and I'm still doing that today.
[08:46.200 -> 08:51.640] But I played a very clever role or how I look at it as a clever role of how when they came
[08:51.640 -> 08:58.680] into my life, how I worked around what my wife and my children's expectations were and
[08:58.680 -> 08:59.680] the way I live.
[08:59.680 -> 09:06.880] There was one thing that I said to my girlfriend, fiancee, wife, that's the same person,
[09:06.880 -> 09:10.140] and that is never, ever, ever ask me to be anything else
[09:10.140 -> 09:11.480] apart from chef.
[09:11.480 -> 09:12.720] I'm a chef through and through.
[09:12.720 -> 09:14.520] If you cut me in half, it's a cook.
[09:14.520 -> 09:16.480] So what was your dad's business then, Marcus?
[09:16.480 -> 09:18.440] My dad was a fruit and spud man.
[09:18.440 -> 09:20.320] He bought fruit and potatoes in the northwest,
[09:20.320 -> 09:24.320] Liverpool, Preston, all through the Sefton area.
[09:24.320 -> 09:25.860] He brought them back to a warehouse, all through the Sefton area. He brought them back to a warehouse all through the
[09:25.860 -> 09:27.880] farms in, in, in, in Southport.
[09:28.400 -> 09:31.200] Um, and he brought them in, he sold them on to shops,
[09:31.200 -> 09:33.600] hotels, uh, and restaurants, but mostly school meal
[09:33.600 -> 09:35.800] services was where he sold his produce to.
[09:36.080 -> 09:38.440] So he's a wholesaler and then he distributed it out.
[09:38.980 -> 09:40.780] But some of the great memories of working there were
[09:40.780 -> 09:43.080] brilliant, you know, working with workmen, going on
[09:43.080 -> 09:45.920] wagons, going to Preston, going to Liverpool Market.
[09:45.920 -> 09:47.680] There's nowhere quite like Liverpool Market
[09:47.680 -> 09:50.780] in the 80s and 90s when you really do meet
[09:50.780 -> 09:53.080] the heart and soul of a city like Liverpool.
[09:53.080 -> 09:54.760] And that's where you start to see
[09:54.760 -> 09:56.280] how small the world you live in
[09:56.280 -> 09:58.480] when you live in a church town southport,
[09:58.480 -> 10:00.560] and which is where I'm from, a seaside town.
[10:00.560 -> 10:01.960] And so that was the first introduction
[10:01.960 -> 10:04.160] to a big place, big world, big city,
[10:04.160 -> 10:05.720] and it scared the life out of me.
[10:05.720 -> 10:07.760] So I used to go back to my dad's warehouse,
[10:07.760 -> 10:11.160] feeling secure and feeling that I was in the right place,
[10:11.160 -> 10:13.040] and that was my job that I wanted to take over
[10:13.040 -> 10:14.640] and work for my dad.
[10:14.640 -> 10:17.600] And there was a big change in one day in my life
[10:17.600 -> 10:20.120] where I think around the age of 14,
[10:20.120 -> 10:23.360] my dad said to me, on the back of a wagon,
[10:23.360 -> 10:24.480] parked outside the warehouse,
[10:24.480 -> 10:25.880] we were messing around with some spuds,
[10:25.880 -> 10:27.200] moving them around, and he said,
[10:27.200 -> 10:29.120] you're not coming into the business, mate.
[10:29.120 -> 10:31.600] You need to go and find a new career.
[10:31.600 -> 10:34.080] And I absolutely couldn't understand why he said that.
[10:34.080 -> 10:34.920] I said, what do you mean?
[10:34.920 -> 10:36.760] He said, this business is knackered, it's over.
[10:36.760 -> 10:38.920] Forget it, you're not coming in.
[10:38.920 -> 10:40.120] Find something else.
[10:40.120 -> 10:41.640] There was only one other thing I could do,
[10:41.640 -> 10:43.520] and I was already doing it, cook.
[10:43.520 -> 10:45.860] My brother was a chef, he was my biggest mentor
[10:45.860 -> 10:47.300] alongside my father.
[10:47.300 -> 10:50.020] I was seven years my senior, boxer, cook,
[10:50.020 -> 10:52.920] and I did both of those things side by side.
[10:52.920 -> 10:54.620] And so the boxing ring for me was a place
[10:54.620 -> 10:56.260] of being an individual where I didn't need
[10:56.260 -> 10:58.360] to rely upon anyone.
[10:58.360 -> 11:01.020] And being the work ethic that I have,
[11:01.020 -> 11:04.800] I felt that I was an individual everywhere I was
[11:04.800 -> 11:05.040] because I just had this mindset of focus on that I was an individual everywhere I was because I
[11:05.040 -> 11:09.920] just had this mindset a focus on what I was doing and that for me was you know
[11:09.920 -> 11:14.120] huge game changer and working in kitchens was interesting.
[11:14.120 -> 11:18.520] So what did boxing teach you then that you still utilize today?
[11:18.520 -> 11:22.360] Don't rely on anyone around you which is the worst thing you can do when you're supposed to be a leader.
[11:22.360 -> 11:27.000] Boxing is an individual sport you rely rely upon yourself, there's a team around you,
[11:27.000 -> 11:29.740] but that team around you can't step into those ropes.
[11:29.740 -> 11:31.400] They're pretty much on the outside.
[11:31.400 -> 11:33.820] And it's only when you realize in boxing
[11:33.820 -> 11:36.040] the team is so important that you put around you,
[11:36.040 -> 11:38.200] the trainer, your family,
[11:38.200 -> 11:40.280] but the minute you step through that rope,
[11:40.280 -> 11:42.800] the other ropes, it's a different ball game.
[11:42.800 -> 11:44.920] And that's where you feel alone, you feel scared,
[11:44.920 -> 11:49.280] you think I'm gonna get hit hit and you just go at it. I spent most of my youth or a lot of it
[11:49.920 -> 11:54.480] in a boxing ring in Liverpool men's clubs, where the ring is almost touching the roof and that's
[11:54.480 -> 12:00.160] full of smoke and cigars and a lot of beer being drunk and loved it, loved it. Tough, tough, tough
[12:00.160 -> 12:08.920] times being brought up to box but yet you didn't really feel part of the sport, you felt very much the sideline of it. And when you ended up in the kitchens
[12:08.920 -> 12:13.240] how similar was the mindset to working in those kitchens? Did you have this a
[12:13.240 -> 12:16.720] boxer's mindset if I need to deliver here or I'm gonna get knocked out? Yeah
[12:16.720 -> 12:20.960] well without doubt being in the kitchen my first big job was at the age of 18 when I
[12:20.960 -> 12:24.440] came to London to work at Savoy. I came, I worked at the Skates Bikko Hotel in Southport
[12:24.440 -> 12:27.000] Law Street when my brother was a chef and it was just full of 18 when I came to London to work at Savoy. I came, I worked at Skate's Bigotel in Southport Law Street when my brother was a chef.
[12:27.000 -> 12:28.360] And it was just full of characters,
[12:28.360 -> 12:29.440] I mean proper characters.
[12:29.440 -> 12:31.240] It's like seven, eight chefs and it was just fun.
[12:31.240 -> 12:34.080] It was a fantastic job for my brother.
[12:34.080 -> 12:37.760] For me, it was just the beginning of something new.
[12:37.760 -> 12:41.040] And I got the opportunity to come work in London
[12:41.040 -> 12:42.520] through a competition I did
[12:42.520 -> 12:44.400] when I was at Southport Caseman College.
[12:44.400 -> 12:46.820] And that judge who saw me in this competition
[12:46.820 -> 12:49.640] opened the door to probably the biggest door of my life,
[12:49.640 -> 12:52.160] which was London, which I couldn't probably,
[12:52.160 -> 12:54.640] I think at the age of 17, 18, or 16, 17,
[12:54.640 -> 12:56.400] if you'd asked me to point to London on a map,
[12:56.400 -> 12:57.860] probably couldn't have done that.
[12:57.860 -> 12:59.820] But here I am, and there I was.
[12:59.820 -> 13:01.200] And that was a game changer for me.
[13:01.200 -> 13:03.280] 120 chefs worked in that kitchen,
[13:03.280 -> 13:06.480] and I got put into a position of a basic chef,
[13:06.480 -> 13:08.360] and within a month I was already promoted
[13:08.360 -> 13:11.640] to running a section that was way bigger than me,
[13:11.640 -> 13:13.200] but I could work faster and better
[13:13.200 -> 13:14.280] than anyone else around me.
[13:14.280 -> 13:15.880] And that was a bit of a,
[13:15.880 -> 13:18.680] some tough years in front of me because of that fact.
[13:18.680 -> 13:20.680] And that's something I felt quite,
[13:20.680 -> 13:22.760] it's quite hard to deal with that, to be honest with you.
[13:22.760 -> 13:24.720] The only way I could deal with it was just to work,
[13:24.720 -> 13:25.840] work, work, work. So one of the great things that, to be honest with you. The only way I could deal with it was just to work. Work, work, work.
[13:25.840 -> 13:27.640] So one of the great things that,
[13:27.640 -> 13:29.720] or one of the great truisms of boxing
[13:29.720 -> 13:31.680] is that there's levels,
[13:31.680 -> 13:33.560] that some people are just at different levels
[13:33.560 -> 13:35.080] of where you're operating.
[13:35.080 -> 13:38.280] So when you've come down to London as a chef,
[13:38.280 -> 13:41.600] how appreciative were you of the different kinds of levels
[13:41.600 -> 13:42.800] of where you were operating,
[13:42.800 -> 13:45.200] but where you could potentially get to?
[13:45.200 -> 13:46.360] There was no plan.
[13:46.360 -> 13:48.360] There was no goal of I want to do this,
[13:48.360 -> 13:51.400] I want to open a restaurant, I want to do X, Y, Z.
[13:51.400 -> 13:53.040] I was very basic in my thinking
[13:53.040 -> 13:54.520] and it was one job at a time.
[13:54.520 -> 13:56.760] But the minute I stepped foot into the kitchen I worked in,
[13:56.760 -> 13:58.560] within the first two or three days,
[13:58.560 -> 14:00.760] I'd set a date of when I was going to leave
[14:00.760 -> 14:02.440] and then I was going to go on to the next job.
[14:02.440 -> 14:05.160] I never knew what the next job was
[14:07.960 -> 14:12.980] But I set that goal of a year two years Whatever it was to set myself a light that I had to go reach. Where did you learn that from?
[14:12.980 -> 14:15.840] I think it was my only way of dealing of getting through it. I
[14:16.360 -> 14:19.920] Really found London tough. I found it really cold sharp
[14:20.600 -> 14:21.920] unfriendly and
[14:21.920 -> 14:26.580] Dark and I go to work. It was was dark I'd come home it was dark no
[14:26.580 -> 14:29.620] one spoke to you sometimes in the kitchen people wouldn't speak to you and
[14:29.620 -> 14:32.700] I didn't like it because that's not where I'm from everyone's done it on a
[14:32.700 -> 14:35.180] bridge you want to say you do and you know you walk down the street and people
[14:35.180 -> 14:40.740] will say hello to you and I think that was my way of setting a get out of jail
[14:40.740 -> 14:45.200] card basically that if I get to that I'm out of that jail and I'm then going
[14:45.200 -> 14:48.480] to stupidly jump into another one which was supposed to be an even tougher kitchen.
[14:49.120 -> 14:55.920] But every time I felt any point where it was getting really difficult I knew my dad was at
[14:55.920 -> 15:00.400] the warehouse at 12 o'clock at night so I'd get home from the kitchen and I'd pick up the phone
[15:00.400 -> 15:08.440] on the payphone he'd call me back and we'd have a chat and sometimes some what the key message was you ain't coming back here mate you ain't coming
[15:08.440 -> 15:12.080] back to Southport I won't say what he said because it's too rude and too
[15:12.080 -> 15:15.760] coarse but there was no way that man would let me walk back get back on that
[15:15.760 -> 15:17.880] train and come back to live at Lime Street because he wouldn't pick me up
[15:17.880 -> 15:22.960] his point was why do you want to come back to Southport when you're working in
[15:22.960 -> 15:26.040] the best kitchen one of the best kitchens in the country,
[15:26.040 -> 15:28.080] if not best hotel in the world?
[15:28.080 -> 15:28.900] What, what, what,
[15:28.900 -> 15:29.740] do you have to go and work back at Skage Bay?
[15:29.740 -> 15:30.880] And at that point, right,
[15:30.880 -> 15:32.360] if your dad had said,
[15:32.360 -> 15:34.960] listen son, get on the train,
[15:34.960 -> 15:37.000] come back home, we'll cook you a dinner,
[15:37.000 -> 15:38.880] maybe it isn't for you,
[15:38.880 -> 15:39.720] would you have gone?
[15:39.720 -> 15:41.000] No, I don't think so.
[15:41.000 -> 15:42.960] Because then I'd know that I was just,
[15:42.960 -> 15:44.160] I'd given up.
[15:44.160 -> 15:45.520] No, there's just something
[15:45.520 -> 15:49.320] about giving in this doesn't quite appeal to me even from that young age
[15:49.320 -> 15:54.040] but if you go back to your dad and his influence so I get the exit like the
[15:54.040 -> 15:59.160] leading by example that you see in him grafting all hours what's the kind of
[15:59.160 -> 16:10.500] nuggets of advice that he was giving you that gave you that grittiness to get through. Don't give up, work hard, be a good person and look after your money, you know, look
[16:10.500 -> 16:13.300] after yourself, you know, look after what you do, if you're gonna work that hard
[16:13.300 -> 16:16.820] don't throw it all away, don't be going down the pub and bevvying it up or getting
[16:16.820 -> 16:20.060] you know all the things you used to say, don't be going out and buying
[16:20.060 -> 16:23.860] everyone around a drink, see the wages that you worked so hard, you see if you want to go out
[16:23.860 -> 16:25.360] have a drink and then get out.
[16:25.360 -> 16:26.200] Go on.
[16:26.200 -> 16:28.840] Don't waste your time with people who love beer.
[16:28.840 -> 16:30.080] He always used to say that.
[16:30.080 -> 16:32.520] Don't be going out socializing
[16:32.520 -> 16:35.280] and wasting time with nobodies.
[16:35.280 -> 16:37.840] Surround yourself with shite, you'll become shite.
[16:37.840 -> 16:39.360] It's one of the things he'd say to you.
[16:39.360 -> 16:40.680] And that, you know, he's right.
[16:40.680 -> 16:43.720] And I think he's, I love that about him.
[16:43.720 -> 16:46.280] He's, you know, he's very direct and very coarse
[16:46.800 -> 16:49.840] But I think it's what's inside me. It's what's under my skin
[16:50.100 -> 16:54.040] So you find yourself going into these kitchens and where you're at the lowest level?
[16:54.600 -> 17:01.160] So to take your dad's lessons that you're at the shite level. How did you identify?
[17:01.160 -> 17:06.140] I want to get to the next level? Like, did you go and hang around with, like,
[17:06.140 -> 17:09.740] chefs that were far ahead of you to go and pick their brains?
[17:09.740 -> 17:10.660] No, never.
[17:10.660 -> 17:12.580] I saw one or two in the kitchen that I'd say,
[17:12.580 -> 17:14.360] I'm going to get to where you are.
[17:14.360 -> 17:16.880] And I'd pinpoint a couple of people that I wanted
[17:16.880 -> 17:19.500] to get to their level before I left that kitchen.
[17:19.500 -> 17:21.800] And I would identify them as soon as I walked
[17:21.800 -> 17:22.640] into the kitchen.
[17:22.640 -> 17:24.260] And what would you do, though, to learn from them?
[17:24.260 -> 17:26.240] Just watch them. simple as that.
[17:26.240 -> 17:28.640] Look at them, watch them, make sure they're doing
[17:28.640 -> 17:31.240] what you like, see what they're all about,
[17:31.240 -> 17:33.400] take what they've got on the table,
[17:33.400 -> 17:36.080] and add it to your arsenal of information.
[17:36.080 -> 17:39.800] So, stack it up, get it into the, you know,
[17:39.800 -> 17:41.680] make it your own, stick it on a shelf,
[17:41.680 -> 17:43.880] train, train, train, take that information,
[17:43.880 -> 17:45.440] that work ethic, and stick it on a shelf, and then train, train, take that information, that work ethic,
[17:45.440 -> 17:47.040] and stick it on a shelf, and then one day
[17:47.040 -> 17:49.400] when you become a head chef, get it all down,
[17:49.400 -> 17:51.460] and then you make your own mark on the industry.
[17:51.460 -> 17:54.400] So give us an example of like one of the
[17:54.400 -> 17:57.360] early characteristics you'd have identified that you did.
[17:57.360 -> 18:00.220] There's only really one person that stands out for me,
[18:00.220 -> 18:04.380] and that was, so I came to London, I worked at Savoy,
[18:05.000 -> 18:08.160] I did just under two years, and before the end,
[18:08.160 -> 18:10.860] I felt like I'd done my time, and I wanted,
[18:10.860 -> 18:12.280] I set that day, and I said to Dad,
[18:12.280 -> 18:13.920] I don't really know where to go next.
[18:13.920 -> 18:16.600] I said, but there is one kitchen I really remember
[18:16.600 -> 18:18.920] from a TV show called Texas Cooks,
[18:18.920 -> 18:20.720] and it was about six of the greatest chefs
[18:20.720 -> 18:22.440] in the UK at that particular time,
[18:22.440 -> 18:24.600] and one of them was Albert Rue at the Gavroche.
[18:24.600 -> 18:26.840] I said, Dad, that's where you want to go.
[18:26.840 -> 18:29.360] From a five star hotel to a three star Michelin
[18:29.360 -> 18:31.960] is like flying from North Pole to South Pole.
[18:31.960 -> 18:33.320] Completely different places.
[18:33.320 -> 18:36.420] Both cold, both got a pole,
[18:36.420 -> 18:38.560] but go both completely different for different reasons,
[18:38.560 -> 18:39.760] and that's what came next.
[18:39.760 -> 18:41.560] He said, well, what are you doing tomorrow?
[18:41.560 -> 18:43.440] I said, I'm off tomorrow.
[18:43.440 -> 18:46.320] He said, right, I want you to do me a favor. He said right I want you to do me a favor.
[18:46.320 -> 18:48.360] He said I want you to get up, have a shower,
[18:48.360 -> 18:50.960] have a shave, put your best suit on if you've got one,
[18:50.960 -> 18:53.640] get a jacket on and go knock on their door.
[18:53.640 -> 18:54.480] Dad you can't do that.
[18:54.480 -> 18:57.240] He said mate will you just do that for me?
[18:57.240 -> 19:00.920] That's Gavroche mate, I can't go knock on Gavroche's door.
[19:00.920 -> 19:02.440] He said well you just fucking do it.
[19:02.440 -> 19:04.780] Do it for me and see what happens next.
[19:05.980 -> 19:08.360] So I did it, knocked on the door.
[19:08.360 -> 19:09.420] Michelle didn't come up.
[19:09.420 -> 19:11.800] The head chef came up, Mark Prescott,
[19:11.800 -> 19:13.220] who happened to be from Wigan,
[19:13.220 -> 19:15.720] so he's a northerner like me, gave me time.
[19:15.720 -> 19:16.940] I told him what I wanted.
[19:16.940 -> 19:18.980] Two weeks later, I got a letter in the post
[19:18.980 -> 19:19.820] offering me a job.
[19:20.820 -> 19:23.040] I handed my notice in to Savoy.
[19:23.040 -> 19:26.360] Anton Edelman laughed at me and said, you won't survive.
[19:26.360 -> 19:28.080] That was just what I needed.
[19:28.080 -> 19:33.320] There was the fodder for me to feed off because that chef said to me, that kitchen's too tough
[19:33.320 -> 19:36.200] for you and you won't survive in there.
[19:36.200 -> 19:37.520] So what was the person I met?
[19:37.520 -> 19:41.320] I walked in that kitchen on my very first day, I got walked to the vegetable section
[19:41.320 -> 19:45.760] and there was a French chef there and Michel Michel introduced himself, he took me over there
[19:45.760 -> 19:47.680] and said, you're gonna be working with this chef.
[19:47.680 -> 19:49.680] In a week, he's gonna be leaving this section.
[19:49.680 -> 19:51.480] Oh, by the way, he doesn't speak a word of English,
[19:51.480 -> 19:52.300] he's French.
[19:53.160 -> 19:54.000] Off you go.
[19:54.000 -> 19:56.600] And I put my head down, I was given the section
[19:56.600 -> 19:59.960] after a week, and I entered Hell's Kitchen in my mind,
[19:59.960 -> 20:02.080] and yet it was the most organized, perfect kitchen
[20:02.080 -> 20:04.360] I'd ever worked in, beautiful.
[20:04.360 -> 20:07.540] But I just took a job that I wasn't ready for,
[20:07.540 -> 20:08.780] and I survived.
[20:08.780 -> 20:11.360] That day, I went home, I called my dad,
[20:11.360 -> 20:13.200] he said, right, lad, what do you think, what was it like?
[20:13.200 -> 20:17.600] I said, unbelievable, clean, the service, the food,
[20:17.600 -> 20:21.240] Michelle, Gavroche, mate, brilliant.
[20:21.240 -> 20:23.080] Said, but there's one person in that room,
[20:23.080 -> 20:25.200] in that kitchen, that just stands out from the crowd,
[20:25.200 -> 20:27.600] who's completely different from anyone else.
[20:27.600 -> 20:30.920] This particular chef messes around,
[20:30.920 -> 20:33.520] last one in, first one out,
[20:33.520 -> 20:35.600] but at 12 o'clock and six o'clock,
[20:35.600 -> 20:38.320] that particular chef became a cooking machine,
[20:38.320 -> 20:40.520] pure focus and adrenaline.
[20:40.520 -> 20:44.320] I said, that chef stands out from the other 23 chefs
[20:44.320 -> 20:47.400] in the kitchen, even more so than Michel Roux.
[20:47.400 -> 20:50.460] And he said, people like that, watch them,
[20:50.460 -> 20:53.120] focus on them, and go with them.
[20:54.060 -> 20:56.080] And that was Gordon Ramsay.
[20:56.080 -> 20:59.600] Big change in my life, that, because he was a game changer
[20:59.600 -> 21:02.640] in that kitchen, and obviously, he became a game changer
[21:02.640 -> 21:06.540] in my career, because that was the chef that stood out from any other chef
[21:06.540 -> 21:07.920] I'd ever worked with.
[21:07.920 -> 21:10.580] All the 110 chefs in Savoy, another level.
[21:10.580 -> 21:11.620] And stood out in what way?
[21:11.620 -> 21:14.460] Were you in awe of him, impressed by him,
[21:14.460 -> 21:16.980] confused by him because you weren't going out
[21:16.980 -> 21:19.180] and clubbing and partying and dancing and having fun
[21:19.180 -> 21:20.020] and then cooking.
[21:20.020 -> 21:22.500] You were Mr. Single-minded determination, right?
[21:22.500 -> 21:23.460] I was the opposite to him.
[21:23.460 -> 21:24.300] Yeah.
[21:24.300 -> 21:27.560] He was that and Gordon was a people person.
[21:27.560 -> 21:32.560] And he really had a star quality when it came to the food.
[21:33.000 -> 21:34.640] I used to, he'd just spent three and a half years
[21:34.640 -> 21:39.120] with Marco White at Harvey's, the rock and roll kitchen.
[21:39.120 -> 21:41.680] The kitchen that was unlike no other
[21:41.680 -> 21:43.960] in anywhere in this country that I'd ever seen,
[21:43.960 -> 21:45.720] anyone I'd ever seen before.
[21:45.720 -> 21:50.560] And so he came into Gavroche with that training, that tasting, that attention to detail, that
[21:50.560 -> 21:55.080] perfection on the cutting of the fish, that brilliance of putting food on the plate, taste,
[21:55.080 -> 21:56.080] taste, taste.
[21:56.080 -> 21:59.640] You look around the kitchen, people aren't tasting food, they'll just go through a process.
[21:59.640 -> 22:01.480] And that's the one thing that was a point of difference.
[22:01.480 -> 22:06.780] So that was when, as I focused on him, I added that into my arsenal. Just kept adding and adding and adding, just loved it.
[22:06.780 -> 22:09.700] And mimic it, because he was mimicking Marco.
[22:09.700 -> 22:13.000] Marco was, I never had the chance to work with Marco.
[22:13.000 -> 22:14.900] That kitchen I was not ready for.
[22:14.900 -> 22:19.260] So I went into Gavroche and saw someone who then left
[22:19.260 -> 22:20.780] and then went to Paris.
[22:20.780 -> 22:24.260] And strangely enough, we met up three years later
[22:24.260 -> 22:26.320] and I became the very first chef that he ever employed
[22:26.320 -> 22:27.840] at the Aubergine.
[22:27.840 -> 22:29.840] And before we talk about life at the Aubergine
[22:29.840 -> 22:32.360] with Gordon Ramsay, there's a great conversation here
[22:32.360 -> 22:33.900] for people that feel that they're thrown
[22:33.900 -> 22:35.160] into the deep end all the time
[22:35.160 -> 22:37.780] and either self-doubt or imposter syndrome
[22:37.780 -> 22:39.840] is the old enemy that creeps up
[22:39.840 -> 22:41.560] and stops them in their tracks.
[22:41.560 -> 22:44.040] You managed to, you either didn't have them
[22:44.040 -> 22:45.840] or if you did have them, you managed to quell them
[22:45.840 -> 22:47.080] and keep them quiet.
[22:47.080 -> 22:48.640] So what advice would you give to people
[22:48.640 -> 22:51.240] for whom the self-doubt just sometimes can be crippling
[22:51.240 -> 22:54.880] and what you did at that period to get through that?
[22:54.880 -> 22:56.400] Find someone to lean on.
[22:56.400 -> 22:58.040] You've got to find someone to talk to.
[22:58.040 -> 23:00.040] You need to find, whoever you find,
[23:00.040 -> 23:01.600] whoever that person is in your life,
[23:01.600 -> 23:04.080] you make sure that that person is a rock.
[23:04.080 -> 23:05.480] So that rock that you can't budge,
[23:05.480 -> 23:08.680] that you can lean on, that can support you,
[23:08.680 -> 23:10.440] don't find someone that's like you
[23:10.440 -> 23:12.480] or someone that has failed before.
[23:12.480 -> 23:14.160] Find someone, it could be a teacher,
[23:14.160 -> 23:16.120] it could be a lecturer, it could be an aunt and uncle,
[23:16.120 -> 23:17.720] it could be a granny, granddad,
[23:17.720 -> 23:20.080] someone in your life, if there is one,
[23:20.080 -> 23:23.120] if it's not someone that you know, go find a book.
[23:23.120 -> 23:23.960] And who is it for you then?
[23:23.960 -> 23:25.520] Was it still the phone calls to you?
[23:25.520 -> 23:27.080] 100% oh yeah.
[23:27.080 -> 23:29.200] I'd never got through the regime without him.
[23:29.200 -> 23:32.520] And how was he so wise for a guy that sold fruit and potatoes?
[23:32.520 -> 23:34.280] He had no clue what world I was in.
[23:34.280 -> 23:35.120] No clue.
[23:35.120 -> 23:38.040] But isn't that naivety in some ways is the magic, huh?
[23:38.040 -> 23:38.880] No, it's the magic.
[23:38.880 -> 23:39.700] That's the key.
[23:39.700 -> 23:40.960] Basic values of life don't change.
[23:40.960 -> 23:43.240] No matter how rich, how tall, how high you are,
[23:43.240 -> 23:46.160] how big you think you are, basic value is still there.
[23:46.160 -> 23:47.520] It's called foundation.
[23:47.520 -> 23:49.280] This building we're standing, we're sitting in right here,
[23:49.280 -> 23:50.440] is built on a foundation.
[23:50.440 -> 23:52.120] This building could have been one story tall
[23:52.120 -> 23:53.700] or 38 stories tall.
[23:54.620 -> 23:55.800] It could have been even higher.
[23:55.800 -> 23:58.800] But if the foundation is weak and soft and breakable,
[23:58.800 -> 24:00.080] this building will collapse.
[24:00.080 -> 24:01.600] And I think that's the same in us.
[24:01.600 -> 24:02.440] Amazing.
[24:02.440 -> 24:05.060] So you go into Aubergine with Gordon Ramsay.
[24:05.060 -> 24:06.800] What level did you go into that kitchen at?
[24:06.800 -> 24:07.640] Sous-chef.
[24:07.640 -> 24:10.100] Okay, and how was that experience?
[24:10.100 -> 24:11.880] I was not ready for that.
[24:11.880 -> 24:13.200] I was never ready for any of the jobs
[24:13.200 -> 24:14.960] that I've just spoke to you about.
[24:14.960 -> 24:16.840] Did you set yourself a time scale again?
[24:16.840 -> 24:18.600] No, it's just the one kitchen I had no clue
[24:18.600 -> 24:20.480] where I was walking into.
[24:20.480 -> 24:23.000] And I was actually, I just stepped into Hell's Kitchen,
[24:23.000 -> 24:33.200] the best kitchen, that better than Harvey's is super and he was absolutely obsessed with it possessed with perfection and work and
[24:33.920 -> 24:36.840] Customer service, you know, it was just take food to a whole new level
[24:37.120 -> 24:40.880] I've not been in that position before because it was the it was very very different to gavroche
[24:41.240 -> 24:49.300] Gavroche was an institution and it was set in its stone, it was set in its way. This was brand swanky new creative cookery at the
[24:49.300 -> 24:53.920] highest level that was being recognized globally. That's why what made that place
[24:53.920 -> 24:57.600] very very different. But now you're gonna have to be quite self-deprecating because
[24:57.600 -> 25:02.380] you saw him and were impressed. He obviously saw you and was impressed. We
[25:02.380 -> 25:05.760] stayed in touch through Gavroche, we worked together for a while,
[25:05.760 -> 25:08.760] and then through that time, we talk,
[25:11.080 -> 25:12.920] every now and again you may go out
[25:12.920 -> 25:16.360] and meet some, go out for a bite to eat or something,
[25:16.360 -> 25:18.880] or not really that much to be honest with you,
[25:18.880 -> 25:21.160] because he was always trying to get people out to go,
[25:21.160 -> 25:22.720] and let's go and catch up after,
[25:22.720 -> 25:24.960] but there's this unbelievable energy.
[25:24.960 -> 25:27.760] Gavroche gave us two days off a week.
[25:27.760 -> 25:29.080] Other restaurants I'd ever worked in
[25:29.080 -> 25:30.660] gave me less than that.
[25:30.660 -> 25:33.960] And so there was this opportunity to catch up on a Saturday.
[25:33.960 -> 25:36.760] And so there was sort of a colleague slash friend there.
[25:36.760 -> 25:39.400] So when I went to work at the Aubergine,
[25:39.400 -> 25:42.480] the friendship became boss and pupil.
[25:44.540 -> 25:47.280] That was harder than the job itself because I've
[25:47.280 -> 25:50.760] seen him laugh and we'd had jokes I've been the butt of jokes in the kitchen
[25:50.760 -> 25:55.240] and that was like whoa he's serious you know I'm thinking am I going into this
[25:55.240 -> 25:59.880] guy didn't know how he was gonna run that kitchen I'm no clue. I knew how good
[25:59.880 -> 26:06.000] chef he was but I didn't realize he was so focused and not the person I saw at
[26:06.000 -> 26:10.200] Gavroche, a whole new level. But it also sounds as well that to use that football
[26:10.200 -> 26:14.080] analogy you've got somebody that's been a colleague in the dressing room that's
[26:14.080 -> 26:18.080] now your player manager or a guy that's leading it and that's a very different
[26:18.080 -> 26:23.360] skill set. It is. What were you learning about leading a group of chefs rather
[26:23.360 -> 26:25.040] than being one of the chefs?
[26:25.040 -> 26:29.240] I could have been his brother, Tom and Jerry,
[26:29.240 -> 26:31.360] whoever you want, I could be anyone.
[26:31.360 -> 26:33.720] But to him, I was just the sous chef,
[26:33.720 -> 26:36.000] and I've got a job to do, and you'll follow me
[26:36.000 -> 26:38.160] and you'll do as you're told.
[26:38.160 -> 26:42.040] Forget that, everything else, park it inside,
[26:42.040 -> 26:44.680] leave it on the touchline, don't bring it onto the pitch,
[26:44.680 -> 26:46.400] don't bring it into the kitchen.
[26:46.400 -> 26:48.380] And that's what I learned, that's what I saw there.
[26:48.380 -> 26:50.640] I sort of quite liked that though, I did like it.
[26:50.640 -> 26:52.040] Found it tough.
[26:52.040 -> 26:55.520] But I get asked often, what on earth possessed anyone
[26:55.520 -> 26:59.600] to go work in a place that was, we were six days a week,
[26:59.600 -> 27:03.840] we were 18-hour days, because no one forced me to do it.
[27:03.840 -> 27:07.760] We loved it, we all loved it, the people that got through it.
[27:07.760 -> 27:10.080] And then I became that person.
[27:10.080 -> 27:14.040] So I became this same ass in some sense
[27:14.040 -> 27:16.200] because then I left and went to Paris
[27:16.200 -> 27:17.520] and I went to work at a restaurant called
[27:17.520 -> 27:20.280] Guy Savoir which is a three star Michelin.
[27:20.280 -> 27:23.400] And it was probably one of the easiest jobs I've ever had.
[27:23.400 -> 27:24.800] Couldn't speak a word of French.
[27:24.800 -> 27:25.700] Why? Because I was trained jobs I've ever had. Couldn't speak a word of French. Why?
[27:25.700 -> 27:26.520] Because I was trained.
[27:26.520 -> 27:27.360] I was just trained.
[27:27.360 -> 27:29.100] And it comes back to that great phrase that,
[27:29.100 -> 27:30.900] you know, there were things that were hard for you
[27:30.900 -> 27:32.340] at Aubergine, right, but what's hard for you
[27:32.340 -> 27:33.740] isn't necessarily bad for you.
[27:33.740 -> 27:34.580] No.
[27:34.580 -> 27:37.140] Would you say you grew as a person as well as a chef
[27:37.140 -> 27:38.600] in this period in your life?
[27:38.600 -> 27:41.620] When I walked into there, if you'd have read my CV,
[27:41.620 -> 27:43.840] you'd have said competition winner,
[27:43.840 -> 27:45.440] college first at everything,
[27:45.440 -> 27:49.600] won every competition, and came top in every single exam,
[27:49.600 -> 27:51.600] which is not really what I was at school,
[27:51.600 -> 27:53.280] but in catering college I did a lot,
[27:53.280 -> 27:54.840] so I got my head down and I focused.
[27:54.840 -> 27:57.960] My CV said I was a very good, reliable, hardworking cook,
[27:57.960 -> 28:00.280] and a very good cook, because that's what CVs do,
[28:00.280 -> 28:02.480] until you step in there, and then you realize
[28:02.480 -> 28:04.160] that your CV is just a piece of paper.
[28:04.160 -> 28:07.720] What he wanted to find out was, who are you, what type of chef are you.
[28:07.720 -> 28:09.480] So how did he test you?
[28:09.480 -> 28:15.980] Every day, lunch, dinner, 12 o'clock, 6 o'clock, perfection, get ready, here we go and then
[28:15.980 -> 28:19.080] you realize how average a chef you really are.
[28:19.080 -> 28:25.400] So I was a championship footballer in that kitchen and I needed to be right at the very top of
[28:25.400 -> 28:28.640] Champions League. No way was that Champions League.
[28:28.640 -> 28:32.280] So self-awareness is the first step of doing that and I realized you've had
[28:32.280 -> 28:37.360] like a pretty stark message. What were the kind of steps and that you made to
[28:37.360 -> 28:40.120] get to that Champions League level?
[28:40.120 -> 28:46.880] Just head down, ride the punches. That's where the boxing comes into the equation and you you you go with it
[28:46.880 -> 28:53.640] And it was a school of education forget what people think it is forget what you hear for forget what you know?
[28:53.640 -> 28:56.640] The stories there's a stories what happened in that kitchen
[28:57.400 -> 29:02.360] Stays in that kitchen and it is a kitchen of perfection and drive and ambition and I love that
[29:02.520 -> 29:05.000] But as somebody outside your world,
[29:05.000 -> 29:08.240] I've almost got this cartoon image of it
[29:08.240 -> 29:11.320] screaming at each other and effing and blinding.
[29:11.320 -> 29:14.360] Tell us what was it like where that education process
[29:14.360 -> 29:15.200] was happening?
[29:15.200 -> 29:17.000] The only reason why anyone ever raises their voice
[29:17.000 -> 29:20.000] in the kitchen is because someone is cutting a corner.
[29:20.000 -> 29:21.200] Simple as that.
[29:21.200 -> 29:24.680] And if I cut a corner and someone raises their voice at me,
[29:24.680 -> 29:26.240] then so be it, I deserve it.
[29:26.240 -> 29:31.440] And you've got to accept it. It's what it is. You know, if, do you know what, I often reflect back on life,
[29:31.440 -> 29:35.440] I think where would have been the best place for me? And I'd say it would have probably been in the army
[29:36.160 -> 29:40.560] because there is a discipline in my head that I, that I seem to have. And I think I would have,
[29:40.560 -> 29:47.500] if I'd have been in the army, I'd have been, I would have wanted to be in the paras or in the best and I'd have strived to get to that.
[29:47.500 -> 29:54.000] That's where I look at that. You've got to have self-awareness. You have to identify who you are.
[29:54.000 -> 30:01.000] I've made some massive mistakes in my cooking career. If I've messed up a service or I may have cut a corner,
[30:01.000 -> 30:07.120] or I've not done things right, whatever it may be, there's only one person you've got to deal with,
[30:07.120 -> 30:08.520] and that's the man in the mirror.
[30:08.520 -> 30:10.200] You've got to look at yourself
[30:10.200 -> 30:12.600] before you can start judging everyone else around you.
[30:12.600 -> 30:14.720] That happened to me once,
[30:14.720 -> 30:18.720] where I had to realize that that person has to change.
[30:18.720 -> 30:21.040] My man management skills were appalling,
[30:21.040 -> 30:22.580] absolutely appalling.
[30:22.580 -> 30:24.640] I was a voice, I raised my voice.
[30:24.640 -> 30:27.100] I ran the kitchen as almost as an individual. I was a voice, I raised my voice. I ran the kitchen as almost as an individual.
[30:27.100 -> 30:28.540] I was a boxer, I'm from Southport,
[30:28.540 -> 30:30.220] that's how it's who I was.
[30:30.220 -> 30:32.120] I was a shy young lad in a world
[30:32.120 -> 30:33.660] where I needed to communicate.
[30:33.660 -> 30:37.640] And then I realized that you can't be a one man band.
[30:37.640 -> 30:38.740] When I came back from Paris,
[30:38.740 -> 30:40.700] I was given the keys to a restaurant to run
[30:40.700 -> 30:42.360] at the age of 25.
[30:42.360 -> 30:44.200] That was unbelievable.
[30:45.160 -> 30:46.920] The hardest thing I've ever done.
[30:46.920 -> 30:48.040] Absolutely incredible.
[30:48.040 -> 30:49.440] And it was Gordon that brought me back from Paris
[30:49.440 -> 30:50.880] to open this restaurant.
[30:50.880 -> 30:54.260] So the much publicized fallout with Gordon Ramsay
[30:54.260 -> 30:56.600] that you had, was that at Aubergine
[30:56.600 -> 30:57.680] or was that later when he brought you back?
[30:57.680 -> 30:58.520] Later on.
[30:58.520 -> 30:59.760] That was later on.
[30:59.760 -> 31:03.220] Because I think, you know, I've seen this spoken about
[31:03.220 -> 31:04.640] elsewhere in a kind of a salacious way.
[31:04.640 -> 31:06.160] And we're not really interested in a salacious,
[31:06.160 -> 31:09.120] all you had around with another famous chef.
[31:09.120 -> 31:10.700] But I think there was a really interesting story
[31:10.700 -> 31:14.940] to tell here about the fact that sometimes in life,
[31:14.940 -> 31:18.520] these things actually can be of value to everybody.
[31:18.520 -> 31:19.780] Do you reflect on that period
[31:19.780 -> 31:20.880] where you had to fall out with them
[31:20.880 -> 31:22.920] and think actually, you know what,
[31:22.920 -> 31:24.540] there was a value for everyone in that?
[31:24.540 -> 31:26.320] Best thing that ever happened to both of us.
[31:26.320 -> 31:27.160] Why?
[31:27.160 -> 31:29.120] Because I wanted to be in his shoes.
[31:29.120 -> 31:31.180] And you can't be in his shoes, they're too big.
[31:31.180 -> 31:32.340] And I knew I couldn't fill them.
[31:32.340 -> 31:35.440] And I think for me, it was I had another ambition,
[31:35.440 -> 31:36.840] I had another goal.
[31:36.840 -> 31:38.500] And so I had to try,
[31:39.460 -> 31:42.320] I became an individual in a very big company.
[31:42.320 -> 31:44.920] That company, when that happened,
[31:44.920 -> 31:47.760] I was part of hundreds and hundreds of chefs.
[31:47.760 -> 31:50.020] Yes, I was still the first employee,
[31:50.020 -> 31:51.940] but I became, the whole thing,
[31:51.940 -> 31:53.620] the company became bigger and bigger and bigger,
[31:53.620 -> 31:56.080] and I could see that I was just fish in a pond.
[31:56.080 -> 31:58.120] But I wasn't the biggest fish in a pond.
[31:58.120 -> 32:00.080] And so you have to identify where do you want to go,
[32:00.080 -> 32:01.300] what do you want to do?
[32:01.300 -> 32:02.660] And I had to change.
[32:02.660 -> 32:03.500] I had to make a change.
[32:03.500 -> 32:04.320] It's interesting you say that,
[32:04.320 -> 32:05.560] because I think that what I've heard from you
[32:05.560 -> 32:07.000] all the way through this conversation is,
[32:07.000 -> 32:10.160] I didn't have a plan, didn't really have a route,
[32:10.160 -> 32:11.640] but I just worked hard.
[32:11.640 -> 32:15.160] And it feels like suddenly, with this fallout with Gordon,
[32:15.160 -> 32:16.680] it suddenly didn't become about the hard work,
[32:16.680 -> 32:18.200] because if it was, you'd have said,
[32:18.200 -> 32:20.760] I'll just work hard for the next five years, I'll be there.
[32:20.760 -> 32:23.040] Whereas it was almost like, now I want that.
[32:23.040 -> 32:26.240] So I wonder whether something changed within you, an ego.
[32:26.240 -> 32:28.600] Well, three things changed, or three things that changed it.
[32:28.600 -> 32:31.920] And it's called Jake, Archie, and Jesse.
[32:31.920 -> 32:33.520] And while I was having that fallout,
[32:33.520 -> 32:35.360] they were at home in bed.
[32:35.360 -> 32:37.040] And so you have to have a plan.
[32:37.040 -> 32:37.880] Your children.
[32:37.880 -> 32:38.840] Your children, you have to.
[32:38.840 -> 32:41.340] You bring anyone into the world,
[32:41.340 -> 32:44.420] and you start scratching the surface
[32:46.420 -> 32:49.900] of doing things differently, you have to be very confident
[32:49.900 -> 32:53.260] that you can continue and give them the security
[32:53.260 -> 32:55.200] that you want to.
[32:55.200 -> 32:57.840] And cookery can be so, you can be one thing one minute
[32:57.840 -> 32:59.080] and nothing the next.
[32:59.080 -> 33:02.680] You can be dropped at any given time from a kitchen.
[33:02.680 -> 33:08.000] So as this company was getting bigger and I felt like it wasn't about me anymore,
[33:08.000 -> 33:09.720] it was about big things,
[33:09.720 -> 33:12.400] I wanted to go back to that being an individual again.
[33:12.400 -> 33:15.300] And so I had to find a way out to be an individual
[33:15.300 -> 33:17.640] and I was becoming one of many and I didn't like it.
[33:17.640 -> 33:20.800] So this is the first time where
[33:20.800 -> 33:23.960] that you're actually following in your father's footsteps
[33:23.960 -> 33:26.000] in many ways of becoming a father. So you've gone into a different industry and you've taken his counsel. y byddwch chi'n dilyn y pethau o'ch fath, mewn nifer o ffyrdd, o ddod yn fath.
[33:26.000 -> 33:29.000] Felly dywedwch chi eich bod chi wedi mynd i'r diwygiad gwahanol ac wedi cymryd ei cyngor
[33:29.000 -> 33:32.000] wrth i chi ymdrechu'n y ffordd y byddwch chi'n ymwneud â'r diwygiad honno,
[33:32.000 -> 33:36.000] ond nawr dyw eich fath fel oedd eich fath a'ch cyflwynwyr.
[33:36.000 -> 33:40.000] Pa mor oedd y peth o'r sylwadau o eisiau bod yn ddiogel,
[33:40.000 -> 33:45.440] fel y gwelwch chi eich fath yn ei wneud, i'w cymdeithasu'r llwyr? independent like you'd seen your father doing to facilitate that fallout?
[33:52.880 -> 33:53.840] No one facilitated anything in a fallout. It naturally happened and it's you know, that guy stood next to me on my wedding day
[33:59.600 -> 34:02.640] So big player in my life big player and I love the guy to pieces. I still do admire him I think he's a great guy. I watch him on TV. I see what he's done
[34:02.920 -> 34:06.100] You know guys the day I met him, I knew where he was going.
[34:06.100 -> 34:09.320] He was always, yeah, television, restaurants,
[34:09.320 -> 34:10.440] the whole thing.
[34:10.440 -> 34:12.720] That guy never, you know, Gordon never wanted to,
[34:12.720 -> 34:15.380] he was always incredibly ambitious, and I love that,
[34:15.380 -> 34:17.760] but I couldn't do it if I was in the same camp.
[34:17.760 -> 34:20.080] And so I had to go and find my own road,
[34:20.080 -> 34:22.880] and so I did that, and I think it's my own family,
[34:22.880 -> 34:25.140] my own family values that drove me to do that,
[34:25.140 -> 34:26.800] going back to where I started.
[34:26.800 -> 34:28.840] And sometimes I still do go back to where I started,
[34:28.840 -> 34:31.400] I still reflect on where I come from.
[34:31.400 -> 34:34.080] I love where I come from, but I don't want to go back there.
[34:34.080 -> 34:35.920] Do you think maybe you were too similar as well,
[34:35.920 -> 34:38.960] too very driven, very single-minded?
[34:38.960 -> 34:42.680] Similar, similar, but very different, yeah.
[34:42.680 -> 34:44.280] You know, we had some great times,
[34:44.280 -> 34:45.120] you know, and great memories,
[34:45.120 -> 34:46.640] and I wouldn't change them for anything.
[34:46.640 -> 34:48.480] And I think, you know, there's highs and lows
[34:48.480 -> 34:49.800] throughout this whole thing.
[34:49.800 -> 34:51.040] I wonder whether the biggest high
[34:51.040 -> 34:53.440] was your first Michelin star.
[34:53.440 -> 34:55.040] Did you feel validated at that point,
[34:55.040 -> 34:58.100] like the whole journey and all the difficult times
[34:58.100 -> 35:00.400] were worth it, or are you the kind of person
[35:00.400 -> 35:03.720] who straight away wanted a second star, or?
[35:03.720 -> 35:05.500] I'm not a glory chaser.
[35:05.500 -> 35:08.040] And the chefs that are constantly chasing glory
[35:08.040 -> 35:10.080] never ever reach it in my opinion
[35:10.080 -> 35:11.880] because they're too busy distracted.
[35:11.880 -> 35:13.020] I've seen chefs in my kitchen,
[35:13.020 -> 35:14.000] head chefs and sous chefs
[35:14.000 -> 35:17.040] that just spent time on their phones looking.
[35:17.040 -> 35:18.480] What about the customer?
[35:18.480 -> 35:20.080] What about the plate in front of you?
[35:20.080 -> 35:21.840] And that relationship always ends badly
[35:21.840 -> 35:23.360] for that particular chef.
[35:23.360 -> 35:24.540] Would you have been just as happy
[35:24.540 -> 35:25.960] with all the focus, all the effort,
[35:25.960 -> 35:27.840] all the desire that you put in,
[35:27.840 -> 35:29.840] but not sitting here as a Michelin star chef?
[35:29.840 -> 35:33.400] Would you feel like you didn't get the recognition
[35:33.400 -> 35:34.280] that you deserved?
[35:34.280 -> 35:37.800] No, I got more recognition than I expected.
[35:37.800 -> 35:41.300] You know, and when I won that Michelin star 25,
[35:41.300 -> 35:42.680] I never expected that to happen.
[35:42.680 -> 35:44.080] So why did it happen?
[35:44.080 -> 35:45.540] Because of my training.
[35:45.540 -> 35:48.340] So coming back from Paris and opening a restaurant
[35:48.340 -> 35:49.940] at L'Oranger and six months later,
[35:49.940 -> 35:51.640] I'm given this accolade,
[35:51.640 -> 35:54.340] and one of the biggest accolades you can get in food.
[35:55.740 -> 35:56.580] I remember the phone call,
[35:56.580 -> 35:58.540] it was the same day Gordon won two stars.
[35:58.540 -> 36:00.260] So it was a complete double celebration,
[36:00.260 -> 36:02.340] complete massive celebration.
[36:02.340 -> 36:07.380] But yet I just felt that the guy had just dumped a huge bag on my shoulder
[36:07.560 -> 36:12.640] And I had to go to work with every day and that was fine. I'll dealt with that but I became
[36:13.600 -> 36:15.200] very
[36:15.200 -> 36:17.920] Worried about maintaining that that at the age
[36:18.200 -> 36:26.120] So I became that tough character that individual again that I'm running a kitchen and I'm focused on everything
[36:26.120 -> 36:32.360] I'm looking under every post in there now so I even get I become even more obsessed with perfection
[36:32.680 -> 36:37.660] And that's when the voice and my you know, my voice was raised and that's where I became
[36:38.180 -> 36:44.080] Not quite the same person that I entered that kitchen and I needed to do something about that and that was I had to focus
[36:44.080 -> 36:46.460] on that person
[36:46.460 -> 36:49.460] in that mirror of that you need to change mate
[36:49.460 -> 36:50.860] or you're just going to hit a brick wall
[36:50.860 -> 36:52.080] if you're not careful.
[36:52.080 -> 36:53.880] A brick wall of just yourself.
[36:53.880 -> 36:58.620] And so I did that because it was outlined to me,
[36:58.620 -> 37:00.260] outlined that you need to change your ways,
[37:00.260 -> 37:01.540] your management skills need to change.
[37:01.540 -> 37:02.380] Who by?
[37:02.380 -> 37:03.200] Gordon, of all people.
[37:03.200 -> 37:04.160] What did he say?
[37:04.160 -> 37:05.200] You're destroying yourself.
[37:05.200 -> 37:06.040] You're destroying yourself,
[37:06.040 -> 37:07.400] you're destroying your business,
[37:07.400 -> 37:09.140] my business, his business.
[37:09.140 -> 37:10.720] And if you're not careful,
[37:10.720 -> 37:12.940] you'll hit a brick wall, mate.
[37:12.940 -> 37:14.500] And that was the good thing about Gordon.
[37:14.500 -> 37:16.500] You know, he'd come over after service,
[37:16.500 -> 37:17.340] never in service,
[37:17.340 -> 37:19.040] after he'd finished his service,
[37:19.040 -> 37:19.880] we'd sit,
[37:19.880 -> 37:21.800] we'd have a glass of wine or a cup of tea,
[37:21.800 -> 37:22.840] and we'd go over things.
[37:22.840 -> 37:27.200] But that conversation could be 20 minutes, or could be two three hours we could be sitting there
[37:27.200 -> 37:30.160] till three or four o'clock in the morning and just having a chat that was
[37:30.160 -> 37:33.520] a lovely that was one of the lovely things about Gordon for me was that he
[37:33.520 -> 37:38.080] always gave you his time always and all he ever wanted you to do was to succeed
[37:38.080 -> 37:42.880] because my success was his success at the same time. So when you had that did
[37:42.880 -> 37:45.480] you instigate the fallout that happened or did he?
[37:45.480 -> 37:46.320] I don't think it was.
[37:46.320 -> 37:48.720] I think it was something that just naturally happened
[37:48.720 -> 37:51.320] and it's quite hard to explain how, who, why I instigated
[37:51.320 -> 37:53.120] because I wasn't dealing with Gordon,
[37:53.120 -> 37:54.840] I was dealing with the company.
[37:54.840 -> 37:56.520] You know, it'd become a company then.
[37:56.520 -> 37:58.520] Gordon was off doing TVs.
[37:58.520 -> 38:00.440] I think he was already working in America at that point
[38:00.440 -> 38:01.600] on television.
[38:01.600 -> 38:03.240] So it was never Gordon.
[38:03.240 -> 38:04.080] This is the whole thing.
[38:04.080 -> 38:04.900] Everyone thinks it was me and Gordon.
[38:04.900 -> 38:05.760] It was never me and Gordon. It was me and a company that happened to be owned by him So it was never Gordon. This is the whole thing. Everyone thinks it was me and Gordon. It was never me and Gordon.
[38:05.760 -> 38:08.920] It was me and a company that happened to be owned by him.
[38:08.920 -> 38:09.840] That was the difference.
[38:09.840 -> 38:10.680] Yeah.
[38:10.680 -> 38:12.140] Maybe you were expecting him to step up
[38:12.140 -> 38:14.280] and be Gordon and come to you and say,
[38:14.280 -> 38:15.680] forget about the company,
[38:15.680 -> 38:17.080] chef to chef, let's sort this out.
[38:17.080 -> 38:17.920] Didn't happen.
[38:17.920 -> 38:19.480] Would you have liked it to have happened?
[38:19.480 -> 38:20.360] I would, yeah.
[38:20.360 -> 38:21.320] Yeah, at that time, yeah.
[38:21.320 -> 38:23.520] I would, I probably would have taken that hands down.
[38:23.520 -> 38:24.360] Yeah.
[38:24.360 -> 38:25.300] But I would never go back and change
[38:25.300 -> 38:27.300] What's happened don't want to change anything
[38:27.780 -> 38:33.060] Still to come on this conversation with chef Marcus Waring. I don't want to stop
[38:33.060 -> 38:37.520] I still want to be a high achiever and I still want to be a high performer in everything I do
[38:38.180 -> 38:42.880] And I admire the schools that they go to and I love their education, but I never had it. I
[38:43.400 -> 38:45.160] Left school with nothing. I couldn't tell you what I've got never had it. I left school with nothing.
[38:47.000 -> 38:47.360] I couldn't tell you what I've got as a qualification.
[38:48.560 -> 38:54.240] I left at 15.
[38:57.760 -> 39:01.560] As a person with a very deep voice, I'm hired all the time for advertising campaigns, but a deep voice doesn't sell B2B
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[39:18.480 -> 39:23.880] All the big wigs, then medium wigs, also small wigs who are on the path to becoming big wigs.
[39:23.880 -> 39:26.000] Okay, that's enough about wigs. Also small wigs who are on the path to becoming big wigs. Okay, that's enough about wigs.
[39:26.000 -> 39:30.000] LinkedIn ads allows you to focus on getting your B2B message to the right people.
[39:30.000 -> 39:34.000] So, does that mean you should use ads on LinkedIn instead of hiring me,
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[39:45.480 -> 39:49.740] your next campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim your credit.
[39:49.740 -> 39:55.280] That's LinkedIn.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply.
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[41:35.060 -> 41:40.120] What did you change about your mom management style and that you were doing that you change
[41:40.120 -> 41:47.600] I say I stayed the same for years and years and years and years until I stepped into one brand new arena that I think
[41:48.120 -> 41:52.600] Probably changed me my life again. My life has changed in many different ways
[41:53.360 -> 41:57.160] and that's when I got invited to replace Michel Roux on Masterchef and
[41:58.160 -> 42:03.340] Walking onto the set of you know, Masterchef the lady that brought me on to onto the show
[42:04.160 -> 42:05.580] MasterChef, the lady that brought me onto the show.
[42:08.200 -> 42:10.860] There's a few things that I learned from it was that I wanted to know who was in the firing line,
[42:10.860 -> 42:12.840] who was going to be up for this job.
[42:12.840 -> 42:15.940] And every man and chef and woman that wanted to be
[42:15.940 -> 42:18.520] on television applied for that opportunity.
[42:18.520 -> 42:21.920] I remember reading the caterer of our industry magazine,
[42:21.920 -> 42:26.120] Michel Roux had just left MasterChef for whatever reason.
[42:26.120 -> 42:28.980] And I thought to myself right there and then,
[42:28.980 -> 42:30.680] that's going to be one of the hottest jobs
[42:30.680 -> 42:33.140] in television in my world,
[42:33.140 -> 42:35.160] and that everyone's going to apply for it.
[42:35.160 -> 42:36.280] And I didn't think twice,
[42:36.280 -> 42:37.420] I didn't even think about applying,
[42:37.420 -> 42:40.560] because I know that I was the outspoken, sweary chef
[42:40.560 -> 42:42.080] that would never get a looking on that.
[42:42.080 -> 42:43.500] So I deleted it.
[42:43.500 -> 42:45.760] I thought to myself, that would have been a nice gig,
[42:45.760 -> 42:48.280] which is not quite for me.
[42:48.280 -> 42:51.240] Probably a month or so later, I got a call
[42:51.240 -> 42:52.980] from one of the producers who said,
[42:52.980 -> 42:54.240] Marcus, is there any opportunity
[42:54.240 -> 42:56.000] that I could just come and have a chat to you?
[42:56.000 -> 42:58.700] I was at the time where I'd just been on my own now
[42:58.700 -> 43:01.480] for five years of running a business on my own,
[43:01.480 -> 43:03.320] and I was just relaunching my restaurant.
[43:03.320 -> 43:04.460] I'd just refurbished it,
[43:04.460 -> 43:05.120] and I was just about to open
[43:05.120 -> 43:07.760] the restaurant so I cleared my diary for six months.
[43:07.760 -> 43:09.960] She said, Karen said, can I come and see you?
[43:09.960 -> 43:11.360] I said, yeah, but if you're going to come,
[43:11.360 -> 43:12.480] you have to come this week.
[43:12.480 -> 43:14.120] She said, I can come now if you want.
[43:14.120 -> 43:15.560] Come, come around.
[43:15.560 -> 43:19.040] She came with David Ambler, the executive producer
[43:19.040 -> 43:20.320] and sat down, she said, look, I'm just going to come
[43:20.320 -> 43:21.720] straight out with this.
[43:21.720 -> 43:22.800] Would you be happy to replace me,
[43:22.800 -> 43:25.520] show me on MasterChef Professionals?
[43:25.520 -> 43:29.360] And I sat there, my face didn't change.
[43:29.360 -> 43:31.860] Inside, I was like, oh my God,
[43:33.440 -> 43:35.720] that's just not what I expected,
[43:35.720 -> 43:37.160] and you could have knocked me over.
[43:37.160 -> 43:38.940] Why did that mean so much to you?
[43:38.940 -> 43:41.220] Because it wasn't what, for me,
[43:41.220 -> 43:44.580] the chef that I am, and there was, the aggression.
[43:44.580 -> 43:47.120] My, what people thought about me read about me
[43:47.560 -> 43:50.700] Don't fit master chef. That's PC. You have to be correct
[43:51.000 -> 43:54.320] You said she said you want you to do two things for me when you go on set
[43:54.320 -> 43:56.320] There's no script can't tell you what to do. It is what it is
[43:57.400 -> 43:58.840] smile
[43:58.840 -> 44:06.240] Don't swear see but what intrigues me on this Marcus is that you're somebody that loves food, and yet something like MasterChef is then,
[44:06.240 -> 44:07.520] it's taking you into a world
[44:07.520 -> 44:09.000] that's not just about the food,
[44:09.000 -> 44:11.320] it's about image, it's about the fame
[44:11.320 -> 44:13.200] and all the other things that come from it.
[44:13.200 -> 44:14.360] Oh, it's never about fame.
[44:14.360 -> 44:16.800] It was about a show that I watched when I was a boy,
[44:16.800 -> 44:18.240] Lloyd Grossman,
[44:18.240 -> 44:20.840] the red kitchen, blue kitchen, and the yellow kitchen.
[44:20.840 -> 44:21.920] I loved the show.
[44:21.920 -> 44:23.280] Take Six Cooks was the other show
[44:23.280 -> 44:25.560] that was out at that time in the 80s and
[44:26.400 -> 44:31.520] Michel Roux took the same concept to professional level and he'd done it for seven years
[44:32.040 -> 44:36.100] So he'd already laid the foundation and all I needed to do was just step in and be me
[44:36.640 -> 44:41.120] But I didn't realize that it would actually come my way and so what it taught me
[44:41.680 -> 44:45.800] Was to speak differently because if you're talking to a chef,
[44:45.800 -> 44:47.720] you're actually not talking to the chef who you are,
[44:47.720 -> 44:50.140] but you're actually telling the viewer
[44:50.140 -> 44:52.360] what all about the dish, what it tastes like,
[44:52.360 -> 44:53.840] why it's good, why it's bad, what the pros,
[44:53.840 -> 44:54.860] what are the cons.
[44:54.860 -> 44:56.240] So as I'm talking to you, the chef,
[44:56.240 -> 44:57.680] about the dish you just cooked,
[44:57.680 -> 44:59.200] I'm also telling the viewer
[44:59.200 -> 45:01.640] as to the reasons to my thinking.
[45:01.640 -> 45:04.920] And by doing that, I stopped raising my voice.
[45:04.920 -> 45:05.920] I stopped getting upset
[45:05.920 -> 45:07.520] because the chef hadn't cooked a great dish
[45:07.520 -> 45:09.280] because it's irrelevant to me.
[45:09.280 -> 45:12.040] It's a great dish, it could be a good dish or a bad dish.
[45:12.040 -> 45:13.320] What I've got in front of me is something
[45:13.320 -> 45:15.560] that I need to explain, and I need to do it
[45:15.560 -> 45:17.440] without any bad language.
[45:17.440 -> 45:19.120] So as I went through that process,
[45:19.120 -> 45:20.960] and I'd go back after service,
[45:20.960 -> 45:23.320] I started to become this new person.
[45:23.320 -> 45:25.480] And so I started to communicate with the chefs
[45:25.480 -> 45:28.200] in front of me, the same way as I did on set.
[45:28.200 -> 45:30.880] And the response I got from them was unbelievable.
[45:30.880 -> 45:32.440] And they couldn't quite believe what was happening,
[45:32.440 -> 45:35.280] that Marcus is smiling in a kitchen.
[45:35.280 -> 45:38.880] Hey, you must never, ever be afraid to continue learning,
[45:38.880 -> 45:40.780] and you must never be afraid to change.
[45:40.780 -> 45:41.900] And if there's something better,
[45:41.900 -> 45:44.140] and you can become better at something,
[45:44.140 -> 45:44.980] I'll take some of that.
[45:44.980 -> 45:48.400] And so do you now regret those years you went through
[45:48.400 -> 45:51.980] of frowning and shouting and being belligerent and difficult
[45:51.980 -> 45:52.820] and people saying to you,
[45:52.820 -> 45:54.780] you've got to change, you're going to burn out.
[45:54.780 -> 45:58.700] Do you wish you'd had this epiphany 20 years ago?
[45:58.700 -> 46:00.580] No, because I wouldn't be here.
[46:00.580 -> 46:01.900] I wouldn't be, I wouldn't have got there.
[46:01.900 -> 46:03.140] I needed that, that was my energy.
[46:03.140 -> 46:09.100] That was my petrol in my car. That's what drove me. And and you know what every now and again that that can come back by the way
[46:09.100 -> 46:14.080] It's not gone forever. I've done a TV show as you know recently and I'm in a garden
[46:14.080 -> 46:17.260] I'm with farmers and I'm growing and I'm doing things that people can't relate to me
[46:17.900 -> 46:19.900] Look at me and think that's what you do
[46:20.680 -> 46:24.900] But put a chef's jacket on and it's like putting us, you know, it's like putting uniform on
[46:25.660 -> 46:27.040] It's like putting a shirt on a football pitch.
[46:27.040 -> 46:28.640] It's like putting an army, putting their uniform on
[46:28.640 -> 46:30.200] and polishing it, it's looking immaculate.
[46:30.200 -> 46:32.100] So there is the chef in there,
[46:32.100 -> 46:34.760] but there's also someone who actually does enjoy
[46:34.760 -> 46:37.160] the outside life now, because my children have shown me
[46:37.160 -> 46:39.740] there's a whole new world out there, and I like that.
[46:39.740 -> 46:42.080] The family are really important to me,
[46:42.080 -> 46:44.300] and they are showing me new things.
[46:44.300 -> 46:46.260] Meeting people, families, going out,
[46:46.260 -> 46:49.480] going to the football matches, the rugby matches,
[46:49.480 -> 46:51.460] and being part of a whole new thing.
[46:51.460 -> 46:53.040] And I admire the schools that they go to
[46:53.040 -> 46:56.400] and I love their education, but I never had it.
[46:56.400 -> 46:58.000] I left school with nothing.
[46:58.000 -> 47:00.200] I couldn't tell you what I've got as a qualification.
[47:00.200 -> 47:01.700] I left at 15.
[47:01.700 -> 47:03.800] I wanted to ask you about that point you were talking about,
[47:03.800 -> 47:09.440] MasterChef, of educating viewers Fe wnaethom fy nghymryd 15. Rwy'n gobeithio gweld eich bod chi'n siarad am y pwynt yma o'r chef ymwneud â addysgu gwylion o ran y broses o
[47:09.440 -> 47:13.200] gynllunio a bwyd. Un o fy nionedau ffavourit yw bobl sy'n
[47:13.200 -> 47:15.840] ultra-crepedarians, sy'n golygu bobl sy'n cael
[47:15.840 -> 47:18.320] sylwad ar rhywbeth dydyn nhw'n gwybod dim ond amdanyn nhw.
[47:18.320 -> 47:21.440] Nawr, rydych chi'n addysgu rhai bobl sy'n eisiau cael addysgu ond
[47:21.440 -> 47:24.320] rydych chi hefyd ar y gwaed o bobl sy'n cael sylwad ar bwyd
[47:24.320 -> 47:28.960] heb ddeall y broses neu efallai eisiau ei gwybod.
[47:28.960 -> 47:32.740] Sut ydych chi'n ymwneud â'r cyfrifoldeb o bobl fel hyn sy'n dod i mewn,
[47:32.740 -> 47:36.420] os oes eich restaurants neu eich gweld chi ar TV?
[47:36.420 -> 47:38.180] Mae cyfrifoldeb yn bwysig.
[47:38.180 -> 47:43.900] Pan rydych chi'n rhoi 35, 34 mlynedd i'r hyn rydw i wedi'i wneud, ac os ydych chi'n gwybod mwy na fi,
[47:43.900 -> 47:46.180] byddwn i'n cymryd yr hyn rhaid i chi ddweud, ond rwyf hefyd yn sylwi into what I've done. And if you know more than me, I might take on board what you've got to say.
[47:46.180 -> 47:49.440] But I also realize that everybody's entitled to an opinion
[47:49.440 -> 47:51.560] and I'll accept that opinion.
[47:51.560 -> 47:53.060] I have my own view.
[47:53.060 -> 47:54.540] And so when I'm a master chef,
[47:54.540 -> 47:58.240] I only give my own personal view about how I see something.
[47:58.240 -> 47:59.740] But I've got a lot of work behind me
[47:59.740 -> 48:01.340] to back up what I'm saying.
[48:01.340 -> 48:05.400] So if you can match that, I'm happy to listen.
[48:05.400 -> 48:07.640] But more often than not, you know,
[48:07.640 -> 48:10.020] people always sometimes do get things wrong.
[48:10.920 -> 48:13.960] Television is about, you go home, you sit on your couch
[48:13.960 -> 48:16.060] and you put the telly on, you listen to what I've got to say
[48:16.060 -> 48:18.480] or what someone else has got to say.
[48:18.480 -> 48:20.400] But I'm not sat on my couch.
[48:20.400 -> 48:22.000] I'm out doing my thing.
[48:22.000 -> 48:22.880] I think that's the difference.
[48:22.880 -> 48:25.040] It's easy to criticize from a couch
[48:25.240 -> 48:31.720] But what about when they come into your restaurant and like a critic so give you an appraisal then that's a whole new ballgame
[48:31.920 -> 48:36.720] Go on. Tell us about that. Well critics. They say the same thing, but they write with the general aspects of
[48:37.280 -> 48:38.840] That that is their opinion
[48:38.840 -> 48:49.080] But the writing on behalf of the nation will are not the writing on behalf of themselves and if you can remind yourself of that then whatever is written is just words and what I love
[48:49.080 -> 48:52.840] about the world we live in today is that we can now create our own words through
[48:52.840 -> 48:56.840] social media so we can talk about our own story so whatever is written you can
[48:56.840 -> 49:01.920] counteract that by good positivity and that's the key stay positive we tend to
[49:01.920 -> 49:06.040] navigate into always the negativity of everything in life and not
[49:06.040 -> 49:11.880] focus on the positivity. Food critics were legends at pulling people to pieces. I hate
[49:11.880 -> 49:17.000] bullies. I've always hated bullies. I used to go around the playground and see bullies
[49:17.000 -> 49:21.480] and I always had my say in what I thought of a bully. And I think sometimes when people
[49:21.480 -> 49:28.680] hide behind a pen, I just think it's wrong. Say it with respect, write it with respect.
[49:28.680 -> 49:31.240] Give due, bad, good and bad.
[49:31.240 -> 49:33.360] There's ways of writing things.
[49:33.360 -> 49:36.520] And, but sometimes I think critics have gone too far.
[49:36.520 -> 49:37.640] And I think that social media
[49:37.640 -> 49:39.320] is taking that away from them now.
[49:39.320 -> 49:40.880] And that's a good thing.
[49:40.880 -> 49:42.720] You know, I'm getting this sort of overwhelming impression
[49:42.720 -> 49:44.800] that you're in a new phase of your life.
[49:44.800 -> 49:47.720] You know, you had the phase of the young guy growing up,
[49:47.720 -> 49:50.400] and then you had those early days in the kitchens
[49:50.400 -> 49:51.560] where you were learning a lot.
[49:51.560 -> 49:52.800] Then you were the man in charge,
[49:52.800 -> 49:56.160] and by your own admission, went too far,
[49:56.160 -> 49:57.240] made some mistakes.
[49:57.240 -> 49:59.760] And now you are on the television,
[49:59.760 -> 50:02.760] and it sort of feels like we're in a new era now.
[50:02.760 -> 50:05.000] So what are your ambitions now?
[50:05.000 -> 50:06.880] What are your dreams now?
[50:06.880 -> 50:09.840] My ambition now is to become a better cook.
[50:09.840 -> 50:10.680] Even better?
[50:10.680 -> 50:11.600] Ah, yes.
[50:11.600 -> 50:12.480] Better cook.
[50:12.480 -> 50:13.320] Never stop.
[50:13.320 -> 50:14.800] So what do you think you're not good at
[50:14.800 -> 50:15.640] when it comes to cooking?
[50:15.640 -> 50:17.200] I don't know where food comes from.
[50:17.200 -> 50:19.040] I never talked to suppliers.
[50:19.040 -> 50:21.000] I never went to see a farmer or supplier.
[50:21.000 -> 50:22.280] The only pair of people I ever used to see
[50:22.280 -> 50:24.320] was going to Preston Liverpool Market
[50:24.320 -> 50:26.300] or going to the farmers in the Northwest.
[50:26.300 -> 50:27.720] So when I went into kitchens,
[50:27.720 -> 50:29.060] there were just people at the end of the phone.
[50:29.060 -> 50:30.600] If I don't like what you bring to my kitchen,
[50:30.600 -> 50:33.640] I'll send it back and you can get me some more.
[50:33.640 -> 50:35.880] So there was a lack of respect there.
[50:35.880 -> 50:37.560] And I bought a place four and a half years ago
[50:37.560 -> 50:41.060] in East Sussex that happened to have a kitchen garden on it
[50:41.060 -> 50:44.960] and 65 acres of land and the farmer looked after the cows
[50:44.960 -> 50:46.040] and the sheep on it.
[50:46.040 -> 50:50.560] So what I did was I bought the place and didn't realize
[50:50.560 -> 50:52.440] where I was going to go with it.
[50:52.440 -> 50:55.200] So it was a second home for me because my children
[50:55.200 -> 50:57.320] go to school down there in Tombridge.
[50:57.320 -> 51:01.980] And I started to uncover this incredible thing that I
[51:01.980 -> 51:03.760] never thought I'd ever have in my life,
[51:03.760 -> 51:07.340] which is a kitchen garden, 11 beehives and an apple pear orchard.
[51:07.540 -> 51:20.520] Add palm trees in the corner great finds over the other side it had a pond with with with ducks on it and there's a field next door with sheep and cows on the start to see a whole new world.
[51:26.880 -> 51:33.920] world of my world. I started to see my world in a completely different way and it excited me and seeing food from the soil up rather than from the back door of a kitchen up, I
[51:33.920 -> 51:39.360] saw a whole new opportunity. It just puts a smile on my face because I absolutely love
[51:39.360 -> 51:47.100] going there and the minute those gates open and I drive through, London is dumped at the gate and doesn't come through ever.
[51:48.240 -> 51:49.680] You know what I would like to learn from you
[51:49.680 -> 51:52.640] is facing problems head on.
[51:52.640 -> 51:53.760] Like I'm a prevaricator.
[51:53.760 -> 51:55.120] If there's a phone call I don't want to make
[51:55.120 -> 51:57.280] or a conversation that's awkward that I don't want to have,
[51:57.280 -> 52:00.080] or I always imagine it's going to be worse than it is.
[52:00.080 -> 52:00.920] Yet the way you say,
[52:00.920 -> 52:02.880] if you bring me something I don't like, I send it back.
[52:02.880 -> 52:06.960] If you don't deliver some food to the pass that I like, it goes back.
[52:06.960 -> 52:11.840] What advice would you give to people for facing those difficult conversations head on?
[52:11.840 -> 52:15.720] Because as a chef, you would have had to have them hour by hour.
[52:15.720 -> 52:19.560] In the olden days, head on, smash through it.
[52:19.560 -> 52:22.920] There's a very good friend of mine once, David Nichols,
[52:22.920 -> 52:26.120] whose son unfortunately had a really bad accident
[52:26.120 -> 52:28.840] where he broke his neck and he's been paralyzed
[52:28.840 -> 52:31.960] from the neck down for many, many years now.
[52:31.960 -> 52:33.760] And he helped me through some really tough times.
[52:33.760 -> 52:35.520] And he was across the road at the Managing Oriental
[52:35.520 -> 52:37.500] and I was over at the Barclay.
[52:37.500 -> 52:41.340] And I'd call him for some guidance and advice.
[52:42.280 -> 52:43.740] And I don't know why I did.
[52:43.740 -> 52:45.580] It was when I was going through my tough three years
[52:45.580 -> 52:47.080] at Gordon's Place.
[52:49.400 -> 52:50.960] And I knew him through his charity,
[52:50.960 -> 52:52.120] the Nichols Foundation,
[52:52.120 -> 52:55.500] which is about research and development of stem cell.
[52:55.500 -> 52:56.880] Trying to get people walking again.
[52:56.880 -> 52:59.400] I mean, walking, and you're paralyzed.
[52:59.400 -> 53:01.840] There's a mountain that would be difficult to climb,
[53:01.840 -> 53:02.960] but he's doing it.
[53:02.960 -> 53:05.080] And so, Chef, the industry came together
[53:05.080 -> 53:08.460] to write cookbooks and raise money and do events.
[53:08.460 -> 53:11.120] And so, I used to go and speak to him.
[53:11.120 -> 53:13.020] And he said, Marcus, your reputation,
[53:13.020 -> 53:14.620] everyone knows all about you.
[53:14.620 -> 53:16.660] You react instantly.
[53:16.660 -> 53:18.780] He said, can I give you some advice?
[53:18.780 -> 53:21.340] If you sleep on the problem,
[53:21.340 -> 53:22.980] I guarantee the next day you'll wake up
[53:22.980 -> 53:24.100] with a different view.
[53:24.100 -> 53:26.900] I thought, ho, ho ha what a cracking piece of advice
[53:27.400 -> 53:32.740] While you're angry, you'll make a decision, but it won't always be the right decision and I still live by that today
[53:33.520 -> 53:38.440] Great piece of advice. So can you give us an example of where you've applied that and you've seen
[53:39.160 -> 53:42.060] Positive effects from every day. I get hit with those phone calls
[53:42.060 -> 53:46.960] I get hit with those problems if I think I'm in the right mood, catch me on the wrong day.
[53:47.680 -> 53:51.360] I have to have to, I have to take that advice and I have to sleep on it.
[53:51.360 -> 53:55.120] And so I use it all the time in my day-to-day life.
[53:55.120 -> 54:00.240] And I've decided that now moving forward, post-COVID,
[54:00.240 -> 54:04.320] surrounding myself with a whole group of new people that are not from my old,
[54:04.320 -> 54:05.640] not from my past,
[54:05.640 -> 54:07.620] so that they can take me forward
[54:07.620 -> 54:10.680] and so that I can move forward in a different zone.
[54:10.680 -> 54:12.880] Trying to drive away from the problem
[54:12.880 -> 54:14.960] rather than hit the problem head on
[54:14.960 -> 54:16.560] and deal with it later,
[54:16.560 -> 54:18.320] but with a completely different view.
[54:18.320 -> 54:21.880] In my head, everything is very straightforward,
[54:21.880 -> 54:23.720] but sometimes when you talk about it,
[54:23.720 -> 54:28.000] it can sound complex and different and detailed. Mae'n ddifrifol iawn, ond weithiau pan ydych chi'n siarad amdano, gallai ddweud ychydig o'r ffyrdd, ac yn gwahoddol.
[54:28.000 -> 54:32.000] Rydyn ni'n siarad am 36 mlynedd yma, fyddai'n amser llawn,
[54:32.000 -> 54:36.000] ond rydw i'n 51, gyda 20 mlynedd mwy o'r blaen.
[54:36.000 -> 54:38.000] Beth ydw i'n mynd i'w wneud nawr?
[54:38.000 -> 54:41.000] Ond efallai, rydych chi'n cyfrifol yna yn ffyrdd
[54:41.000 -> 54:44.000] mewn ffyrdd matrofaethol, mae gen i bobl o'r rhan o fi,
[54:44.000 -> 54:48.920] ac rydw i'n dysgu pethau newydd, ond mae gennych 36 mlynedd o brofiad y byddwch chi'n dod yn ôl arno.
[54:48.920 -> 54:54.480] Ac mae'n sgiliau'n anodd iawn i ddysgu i ddewis newid.
[54:54.480 -> 54:55.520] Felly sut rydych chi'n ei wneud hynny?
[54:55.520 -> 54:58.760] Dwi ddim yn credu y gallwn i weithio mewn ddyn ar dydd i dydd yn y ddinas.
[54:58.760 -> 54:59.480] Iawn.
[54:59.480 -> 55:01.960] Ond rwy'n hoffi fy mhobl, rwy'n hoffi fy swydd.
[55:01.960 -> 55:04.480] Felly rwy eisiau mynd allan i weithio mewn newydd o ddyniadau.
[55:04.480 -> 55:05.300] Rwy'n gwrthfawd eith cwpwll. Rwy'n weithio ar MasterChef, yn dod o'r eithaf o flwyddyn. I love my job. So I want to go out and work in new industries. I've written eight cookbooks.
[55:05.300 -> 55:09.420] I've worked on Masterchef coming up for my eighth year. I've just done my first series.
[55:09.420 -> 55:14.420] I'm going to Australia to film for a month to discover food of Australia later on in the year.
[55:14.420 -> 55:20.140] I want to go and enter into other people's worlds. You know, you may find this quite surprising.
[55:20.140 -> 55:25.200] You know, there was one person who I used to watch a lot of and I'm gonna get
[55:25.200 -> 55:30.560] shot for saying this and I'm a Liverpool fan it was Alex Ferguson. What was it
[55:30.560 -> 55:36.960] about him? Dealing with the best, hidden problems he's the boss and in the in
[55:36.960 -> 55:42.240] the 90s when Liverpool weren't the noughties I find myself watching
[55:42.240 -> 55:46.280] Manchester United because they were winners and they had a
[55:46.280 -> 55:50.680] manager that was beyond anyone else and he just made serious decisions and you
[55:50.680 -> 55:53.860] read you know you'd read the media you'd hear the way he does things he's
[55:53.860 -> 55:59.400] non-compromised with the best talent what you sack you sack Roy Keane because
[55:59.400 -> 56:03.400] he spoke out in that is quite serious when you see that you look at things
[56:03.400 -> 56:06.160] like that that's a big decision
[56:06.160 -> 56:08.440] But to be the best you've got to make big decisions
[56:08.440 -> 56:13.600] You've got to make decisions that are unpopular and I that's what I learned by watching people like him
[56:13.640 -> 56:19.640] So someone like Ferguson would have said that his first decision was does it does this benefit Manchester United?
[56:19.640 -> 56:24.680] And if the answer is yes, well, let's make the decision if it doesn't we don't making it
[56:22.840 -> 56:25.440] And if the answer is yes, well, let's make the decision. If it doesn't, we're not making it.
[56:25.440 -> 56:28.760] What's your criteria then for decision making?
[56:28.760 -> 56:30.320] I think back in the olden days,
[56:30.320 -> 56:32.800] it was about how I benefited.
[56:32.800 -> 56:34.240] Now I have to look at the bigger picture
[56:34.240 -> 56:35.840] of how I can protect where I'm going,
[56:35.840 -> 56:38.600] which is protect everything I'm now part of.
[56:38.600 -> 56:42.120] I can't go onto the set of MasterChef, Effing and Jeffing.
[56:42.120 -> 56:44.720] I can't write a book and write just what I like
[56:44.720 -> 56:45.760] or write the words I like.
[56:45.760 -> 56:48.160] It's got to fit in the modern world.
[56:48.160 -> 56:51.160] It's got to fit in what people are looking for.
[56:51.160 -> 56:53.040] And so what I've realized is where in the olden days,
[56:53.040 -> 56:55.120] I couldn't give a shit what people thought of me.
[56:55.120 -> 56:57.140] Now, for me to be able to succeed,
[56:57.140 -> 56:59.440] I have to be very conscious of what people think of me
[56:59.440 -> 57:00.960] and what people see.
[57:00.960 -> 57:03.840] And so I've got to become a different person
[57:03.840 -> 57:09.000] and I have to change the way I look at what I do and what I say and how I approach things. You
[57:09.000 -> 57:14.320] don't go through that level of cooking and those hours of 16-hour days, five, six
[57:14.320 -> 57:18.920] days a week, that's hard to change that concept. It's hard to get out of
[57:18.920 -> 57:23.560] that mindset. I often find myself speaking sometimes in the third person
[57:23.560 -> 57:25.600] like that with someone else.
[57:25.600 -> 57:26.440] It's quite odd.
[57:26.440 -> 57:27.980] I get, you know, people laugh at me,
[57:27.980 -> 57:30.740] or people can make a joke about it,
[57:30.740 -> 57:34.160] but it's only as you reflect on what you've done
[57:34.160 -> 57:36.580] that you start to realize that you can become
[57:36.580 -> 57:38.940] more than just what you are and who you are,
[57:38.940 -> 57:41.460] and you have to think about the long-term future.
[57:41.460 -> 57:43.620] I don't want to retire, I don't want to stop,
[57:43.620 -> 57:45.360] I still want to be a high achiever,
[57:45.360 -> 57:47.120] and I still want to be a high performer
[57:47.120 -> 57:48.760] in everything that I do.
[57:48.760 -> 57:52.540] Tales From the Kitchen Garden, the show that I made,
[57:52.540 -> 57:56.240] was a show that took me into people's back gardens
[57:56.240 -> 57:58.600] and to meet from some fantastic farmers
[57:58.600 -> 58:00.860] who are unsung heroes of my industry,
[58:00.860 -> 58:02.640] and all I ever wanted to do was shine some light
[58:02.640 -> 58:05.560] on these beautiful people and what they produce because they're all
[58:05.560 -> 58:06.760] small arts and supplies.
[58:07.520 -> 58:10.080] Walking into MasterChef and finding the next generation of
[58:10.080 -> 58:14.800] chefs and finding on some talent on some heroes is quite special.
[58:15.280 -> 58:17.520] And the reason why I say that about MasterChef is because the
[58:17.520 -> 58:20.560] 30 odd chefs or 48 that used to walk on set, they're not the
[58:20.560 -> 58:23.920] future. They're lost a little bit lost in some sense is that
[58:24.360 -> 58:25.680] they're not sure who they are.
[58:25.680 -> 58:27.640] They don't know whether they're good, they're bad.
[58:27.640 -> 58:29.720] Their bosses may not say whether they can cook,
[58:29.720 -> 58:31.200] because they're not getting trained.
[58:31.200 -> 58:33.000] But someone enters them into a competition
[58:33.000 -> 58:34.880] to see who am I?
[58:34.880 -> 58:36.880] And they come on set scared stiff,
[58:36.880 -> 58:39.200] and our job is to carry them through the journey
[58:39.200 -> 58:40.480] of MasterChef.
[58:40.480 -> 58:42.720] So 48 chefs walk on set.
[58:42.720 -> 58:46.480] We all know there's one trophy. What about the other 37?
[58:46.480 -> 58:51.120] The key is to make sure those 37 go home feeling what an amazing experience. I
[58:51.120 -> 58:55.520] didn't win and I learned some things about myself and I've got things to
[58:55.520 -> 58:59.960] change and to build on. That's a good thing. That's what I love about MasterChef
[58:59.960 -> 59:04.560] is that you find that next. There's a jewel in there. That jewel will never
[59:04.560 -> 59:05.540] come out
[59:05.540 -> 59:07.420] unless it went through that story,
[59:07.420 -> 59:08.660] went through that journey,
[59:08.660 -> 59:11.340] the journey that I've been on in many different areas.
[59:11.340 -> 59:12.540] And that's what I love,
[59:12.540 -> 59:16.000] the fact that we step on set and three months later,
[59:16.000 -> 59:17.620] we've got some different people at the end.
[59:17.620 -> 59:20.860] So when you're recognizing these talents
[59:20.860 -> 59:22.140] that are coming on MasterChef
[59:22.140 -> 59:25.000] or you're going into the different environments, how much of what you're looking at yw'r ddifrifolwyr sy'n dod ar MasterChef, neu y byddwch yn mynd i'r amgylcheddau gwahanol.
[59:25.000 -> 59:27.000] Pa mor o'r hyn rydych chi'n edrych arno
[59:27.000 -> 59:30.000] yw'r sgiliau ddifrifolwyr,
[59:30.000 -> 59:32.000] a pa mor oedd yma
[59:32.000 -> 59:34.000] yn ymwneud â'r meddwl, y gweithlewyr,
[59:34.000 -> 59:35.000] a'r cyfeillgarwyr,
[59:35.000 -> 59:37.000] os oes angen i chi roi cyfathrebu?
[59:37.000 -> 59:38.000] Felly fy swydd yma yw
[59:38.000 -> 59:40.000] rwy'n llinio'r cain,
[59:40.000 -> 59:41.000] ac rwy'n gael swydd i'w wneud.
[59:41.000 -> 59:43.000] Dwi ddim yn dysgu semantigwch ar MasterChef.
[59:43.000 -> 59:46.320] Rydw i'n rhoi sylwadau ddifrifolwyr. Ac byddwn i't teach them how to cook on MasterChef. What I'm giving them is culinary advice.
[59:46.320 -> 59:49.240] And to succeed on MasterChef, listen to the judges.
[59:49.240 -> 59:52.040] You're getting educated on the go.
[59:52.040 -> 59:54.120] We are telling you the rights and wrongs of your dishes.
[59:54.120 -> 59:55.960] If you take that information and absorb that
[59:55.960 -> 59:58.200] and move that onto you, if you get through to your next dish
[59:58.200 -> 59:59.480] if you start to build on that,
[59:59.480 -> 01:00:01.800] we're actually educating you as you go along.
[01:00:01.800 -> 01:00:04.480] And it's only the ones that take the criticism
[01:00:04.480 -> 01:00:06.540] and build on it that succeed.
[01:00:06.540 -> 01:00:08.820] And do you know where the eureka, the best moment is,
[01:00:08.820 -> 01:00:10.900] and I say this to the chefs,
[01:00:10.900 -> 01:00:14.060] especially when we get down to the final fives and sixes,
[01:00:14.060 -> 01:00:17.220] is you have no idea what you've done
[01:00:17.220 -> 01:00:20.380] until you sit and see yourself on the television.
[01:00:20.380 -> 01:00:21.300] If you think about it,
[01:00:21.300 -> 01:00:24.180] these chefs don't know where they're going
[01:00:24.180 -> 01:00:25.780] or work in some pretty
[01:00:25.780 -> 01:00:26.780] normal kitchens.
[01:00:26.780 -> 01:00:32.640] And one month or three, four, five, six months down the line, they turn the telly on and
[01:00:32.640 -> 01:00:34.380] they see themselves cooking.
[01:00:34.380 -> 01:00:36.120] They see the way they speak.
[01:00:36.120 -> 01:00:38.740] They look at what, they hear what the judges are saying.
[01:00:38.740 -> 01:00:40.000] You get to see their family reaction.
[01:00:40.000 -> 01:00:41.400] They've got their loved ones around them.
[01:00:41.400 -> 01:00:43.120] That'll be the proudest moment.
[01:00:43.120 -> 01:00:46.360] Even in failure, they feel incredibly proud.
[01:00:46.360 -> 01:00:49.040] And that's a life-changing experience for those chefs
[01:00:49.040 -> 01:00:52.760] that enter one of the toughest competitions in cookery.
[01:00:52.760 -> 01:00:54.200] And I admire that.
[01:00:54.200 -> 01:00:55.920] We always end with some quickfire questions.
[01:00:55.920 -> 01:00:58.320] And the first one is, your three non-negotiables,
[01:00:58.320 -> 01:00:59.480] and these may well be very different
[01:00:59.480 -> 01:01:01.480] to what you would have said 20 years ago.
[01:01:01.480 -> 01:01:04.560] Your three non-negotiables that you and the people around you
[01:01:04.560 -> 01:01:09.120] need to buy into. I'm not not gonna change I am what I am don't ask me
[01:01:09.120 -> 01:01:13.640] to stop work I don't think I've ever said I don't think I can answer that to
[01:01:13.640 -> 01:01:17.520] a strong what advice would you give to a teenage Marcus in Southport just
[01:01:17.520 -> 01:01:22.920] starting out don't change how important is legacy to you only to my family not
[01:01:22.920 -> 01:01:26.040] to you I've not thought about me I only want I only? Only to my family. Not to you? I've not thought about me. I only
[01:01:26.040 -> 01:01:30.720] care about what my family think of me. If you could go back to one moment in your life,
[01:01:30.720 -> 01:01:37.640] what would it be and why? I think I'd go back to almost starting high school and just ask
[01:01:37.640 -> 01:01:41.280] the question to the teachers as to why you let so many people like me slip through the
[01:01:41.280 -> 01:01:45.160] net. Because as I look back, I think there's so many young people
[01:01:45.160 -> 01:01:47.880] out there in the world, in our country,
[01:01:47.880 -> 01:01:51.560] that miss out on proper school, proper education,
[01:01:51.560 -> 01:01:53.960] and they just go through the net.
[01:01:53.960 -> 01:01:56.300] And I think education is one of the most important things.
[01:01:56.300 -> 01:01:59.160] It's something that I do never, I never, ever
[01:01:59.160 -> 01:02:03.720] let my children feel that they can slip through any net.
[01:02:03.720 -> 01:02:05.720] It's not going to happen happen and I wish I could go
[01:02:05.720 -> 01:02:12.520] back and change that because I think education is so important and I feel that I didn't get
[01:02:12.520 -> 01:02:13.520] that.
[01:02:13.520 -> 01:02:17.880] I'd like to know what lesson from everything that you've done and all the experiences
[01:02:17.880 -> 01:02:22.520] you've had, what are the lessons that you're passing on to your children at this stage?
[01:02:22.520 -> 01:02:26.200] Never look back in regret, Never look back and wish,
[01:02:26.200 -> 01:02:28.000] oh, I wish I'd tried a bit harder at that exam,
[01:02:28.000 -> 01:02:30.920] or I wish I'd tried harder at the football pitch.
[01:02:30.920 -> 01:02:34.240] Your position as a young person for me
[01:02:34.240 -> 01:02:37.840] is really important, that when, whatever you do,
[01:02:37.840 -> 01:02:40.160] whatever you're in, make sure you stand out from the crowd.
[01:02:40.160 -> 01:02:41.960] I'm very open with my kids.
[01:02:41.960 -> 01:02:44.080] When we sat around the dinner table,
[01:02:44.080 -> 01:02:46.720] it's mum, dad, Jake, Arch, Jesse.
[01:02:48.320 -> 01:02:52.040] It's not a TV personality, it's not a head chef,
[01:02:52.040 -> 01:02:55.840] not an author, it's just dad having a conversation.
[01:02:55.840 -> 01:02:59.500] And I've got more in my arsenal of experience
[01:03:00.380 -> 01:03:02.080] than my children, and I'd like to think
[01:03:02.080 -> 01:03:03.400] that they will take on board and listen
[01:03:03.400 -> 01:03:04.680] to what I've got to say.
[01:03:04.680 -> 01:03:07.120] Because there's one thing in life you cannot buy
[01:03:07.760 -> 01:03:12.240] And that's experience you have to live it. And it's the one thing I say to them all the time
[01:03:12.960 -> 01:03:16.940] Never ever turn around at the end of something I think I wish
[01:03:17.800 -> 01:03:19.320] my chance
[01:03:19.320 -> 01:03:29.920] One of our favorite phrases on the podcast Marcus is about world-class basics it's what Surya McGeehan said created a test match animal what are your own world-class
[01:03:29.920 -> 01:03:35.560] basics? I can't help but go back to the basics my family value my father's
[01:03:35.560 -> 01:03:42.720] family value which is just work and give it everything I used to go home every
[01:03:42.720 -> 01:03:47.760] afternoon when I was at Cajun College and I'd study and study and study and study
[01:03:47.760 -> 01:03:51.600] I learned everything and I came top in every exam I ever did
[01:03:51.760 -> 01:03:55.680] From being nothing at school to top and winning competitions in theory
[01:03:56.040 -> 01:03:59.520] told me that you can do anything if you put your mind to it and
[01:04:00.080 -> 01:04:03.660] Your final message for people that are listening to this or watching it on YouTube
[01:04:04.160 -> 01:04:07.600] Is your one golden rule to living a high-performance life.
[01:04:07.600 -> 01:04:09.980] I suppose in many ways, what's the final message
[01:04:09.980 -> 01:04:11.780] you'd like to leave ringing in the ears
[01:04:11.780 -> 01:04:14.820] of the people that have tuned into this episode?
[01:04:14.820 -> 01:04:18.540] I think you have to be reflective of what you want in life
[01:04:18.540 -> 01:04:21.560] and set the goals that you know that you can reach,
[01:04:21.560 -> 01:04:24.340] that you know you're going to have to work hard to get to.
[01:04:24.340 -> 01:04:29.740] I think it's really important that you don't dream too much and that you have to be realistic about
[01:04:29.740 -> 01:04:36.260] your own individual capabilities and do not be distracted by one of the biggest distractions
[01:04:36.260 -> 01:04:40.940] that we all have. It's in our hands, it's called an iPhone. That is the dangerous thing
[01:04:40.940 -> 01:04:50.700] to have because that thing there shows you more more you need to know and it's the biggest distraction. What a great conversation.
[01:04:51.900 -> 01:04:56.760] Damien, Jake, how do I react to that episode? I really really enjoyed it. What
[01:04:56.760 -> 01:04:59.520] I really enjoyed is that I think we're speaking to a different Marcus Waring
[01:04:59.520 -> 01:05:03.560] than 20 or 30 years ago. There's small moments in the conversation where
[01:05:03.560 -> 01:05:05.040] his bluntness
[01:05:05.040 -> 01:05:07.120] and his clarity comes out when you say,
[01:05:07.120 -> 01:05:07.960] you know, what's the secret?
[01:05:07.960 -> 01:05:09.040] Work.
[01:05:09.040 -> 01:05:10.720] Hang around with Shite, you'll be Shite.
[01:05:10.720 -> 01:05:13.080] You know, those moments, and you can imagine
[01:05:13.080 -> 01:05:15.720] that he would have been a hard guy to work with
[01:05:15.720 -> 01:05:19.420] and be around at one point in his career.
[01:05:19.420 -> 01:05:21.080] And I love the fact that he's a story
[01:05:21.080 -> 01:05:22.280] for everyone listening to this podcast
[01:05:22.280 -> 01:05:23.400] that you're not fixed.
[01:05:23.400 -> 01:05:25.440] You can be a hugely successful chef,
[01:05:25.440 -> 01:05:28.160] and then the very thing that made you successful,
[01:05:28.160 -> 01:05:30.480] you can change to be successful in a different way
[01:05:30.480 -> 01:05:31.720] and a different part of your life.
[01:05:31.720 -> 01:05:32.760] Brilliant point.
[01:05:32.760 -> 01:05:35.440] It really reminded me of a fantastic book
[01:05:35.440 -> 01:05:38.120] called The Second Mountain by David Brooks
[01:05:38.120 -> 01:05:40.680] that speaks about the first mountain we climb in life
[01:05:40.680 -> 01:05:41.720] is often ego-driven.
[01:05:41.720 -> 01:05:43.800] We want to get to the top, we want to be the best,
[01:05:43.800 -> 01:05:46.380] very much like what Marcus was talking about.
[01:05:46.380 -> 01:05:47.820] But a few people make that transition
[01:05:47.820 -> 01:05:49.380] to the second mountain where they say,
[01:05:49.380 -> 01:05:51.460] actually it's about helping others.
[01:05:51.460 -> 01:05:53.620] It's about being part of a bigger story.
[01:05:53.620 -> 01:05:55.280] It's about making a difference
[01:05:55.280 -> 01:05:57.260] in a community and connecting.
[01:05:57.260 -> 01:05:59.820] And I think that was the really interesting bit for me.
[01:05:59.820 -> 01:06:03.340] I was now made that transition of shining a light on farmers
[01:06:03.340 -> 01:06:09.920] or helping young lost chefs and trying to make a difference for his industry. I thought that was
[01:06:09.920 -> 01:06:14.600] really fascinating and goes back to the idea that he's not fixed on one
[01:06:14.600 -> 01:06:19.840] destination, he's had to wherewithal and the self-awareness to change.
[01:06:19.840 -> 01:06:23.520] And look there are other podcasts and other outlets that chase headlines and
[01:06:23.520 -> 01:06:28.000] look for the salacious conversation and you you know, use all the clickbait stuff.
[01:06:28.000 -> 01:06:33.000] So we didn't want to go especially deep on the whole conversation about Gordon Ramsay and the fallout.
[01:06:33.000 -> 01:06:48.740] But actually, it was a fascinating part of that conversation where we didn't need to go any deeper because it was absolutely clear that you can have a fallout with someone, you can have a disagreement, you can go your separate ways, but you can both grow from that moment happening and instead of dwelling on it and talking about it and
[01:06:48.740 -> 01:06:53.460] generating some daft headline that goes on some website, the best thing to say is, it
[01:06:53.460 -> 01:06:56.500] was fine for the both of us, horrible at the time, but what's hard for you isn't always
[01:06:56.500 -> 01:06:57.500] bad for you.
[01:06:57.500 -> 01:07:01.500] Yeah, you can disagree without being disagreeable, and I think that was a really good example
[01:07:01.500 -> 01:07:06.280] of it between Gordon and Marcus, how they were both at different places in their lives
[01:07:06.280 -> 01:07:08.840] or heading off in slightly different directions.
[01:07:08.840 -> 01:07:11.880] And it doesn't make either of them right or wrong,
[01:07:11.880 -> 01:07:13.480] which is not what we're looking for.
[01:07:13.480 -> 01:07:15.600] It's what did you take from it,
[01:07:15.600 -> 01:07:17.200] learn from it and apply from it.
[01:07:17.200 -> 01:07:18.040] It's fantastic.
[01:07:18.040 -> 01:07:19.760] And in his honor for dinner,
[01:07:19.760 -> 01:07:22.040] I'm going to have some lightly toasted bread
[01:07:22.040 -> 01:07:25.480] with a smattering of beans that have been baked with
[01:07:25.480 -> 01:07:34.720] a lightly grated dusting of cheese and a side helping of coleslaw. It's my favorite meal.
[01:07:34.720 -> 01:07:39.800] Cheese on beans with coleslaw. You've got a career as a marketer if this ever goes wrong.
[01:07:39.800 -> 01:07:45.840] Thanks for your time, mate. Thanks, mate. Loved it. Hello, Mark! Hi! This is actually our favourite part of
[01:07:45.840 -> 01:07:50.240] the podcast where we get to speak to people like you that listen and enjoy. So you sent
[01:07:50.240 -> 01:07:56.360] us a message to say you've finally finished your first full Ironman, you did it in Hamburg.
[01:07:56.360 -> 01:08:03.040] First and last. You said 12.07 is not world beating but as a greying 54 year old I feel
[01:08:03.040 -> 01:08:05.640] pretty proud. Can you explain
[01:08:05.640 -> 01:08:09.800] to us why the High Performance Podcast was was part of your training or your
[01:08:09.800 -> 01:08:14.000] learning or your mindset? Yeah I was meant to do this a year ago and obviously
[01:08:14.000 -> 01:08:19.200] with the pandemic it got moved so that gave me an extra year of stepping up and down
[01:08:19.200 -> 01:08:23.160] the pool and running away and getting on the bike and doing the miles on the bike
[01:08:23.160 -> 01:08:26.640] so I found the podcast, actually over the last two years I've been listening,
[01:08:27.160 -> 01:08:31.560] just a great help, partly to just to give you something else to think about
[01:08:31.560 -> 01:08:33.600] while you're doing the miles.
[01:08:34.240 -> 01:08:35.600] But there's some really good bits here.
[01:08:35.600 -> 01:08:38.280] And one I mentioned actually in the message I sent to you guys,
[01:08:38.280 -> 01:08:41.160] that you're Josh Warrington, obviously you're a fellow Yorkshireman.
[01:08:41.640 -> 01:08:44.760] Whilst I'm not a boxer, I'm not a fighter, I'm not particularly aggressive.
[01:08:44.880 -> 01:08:49.440] He had this great line, quite a bit of of throw actually, when I listened back to it.
[01:08:50.160 -> 01:08:52.480] When he was saying, eventually when you get in the ring and it's just you and
[01:08:52.480 -> 01:08:55.280] the other guy, at some point you just got to throw the punches.
[01:08:55.400 -> 01:08:57.320] And that really stuck in my head.
[01:08:57.320 -> 01:09:01.080] And those times when you're on the bike and you're grinding away, I just found that
[01:09:01.080 -> 01:09:03.720] really great little line that just kept coming back to me.
[01:09:04.240 -> 01:09:08.920] On race day, when you're, you know, schlepping around, that really, you know, the, the dark
[01:09:08.920 -> 01:09:12.560] moments where you're thinking, you know, I really want to stop now, that really sort
[01:09:12.560 -> 01:09:14.600] of resonated in my head and it was, it was a good little thing.
[01:09:14.600 -> 01:09:19.240] Brilliant. So tell us about those dark moments, because that always intrigues me that, that
[01:09:19.240 -> 01:09:23.560] you've volunteered to do this, haven't you? That this is something that you've chosen
[01:09:23.560 -> 01:09:25.120] to give up two years of your life
[01:09:25.120 -> 01:09:31.040] to dedicate to it. And I'm interested in those dark moments. How did you get through them?
[01:09:31.920 -> 01:09:35.520] Yeah, it's really because people say, yeah, did you enjoy it? And I don't know, I was speaking
[01:09:35.520 -> 01:09:40.880] at all. I don't know that you can enjoy it in the moment because it is, it's hard work, you know,
[01:09:40.880 -> 01:09:45.280] it's 3.8k of a swim and then 180k on a bike. And then you've got to run a marathon at the end of it.
[01:09:45.320 -> 01:09:49.080] I think it's the marathon that's the really tough bit because by then you've
[01:09:49.080 -> 01:09:53.280] done a number of hours and we all know how long a marathon is and there's
[01:09:53.280 -> 01:09:55.320] no getting away from that.
[01:09:55.960 -> 01:09:59.120] And so there's definitely a little voice in there saying it's time to stop.
[01:09:59.120 -> 01:10:03.080] And also on the day, the thing that surprised me, just how many people do
[01:10:03.080 -> 01:10:06.100] actually end up walking the marathon because they're just yeah
[01:10:06.100 -> 01:10:08.360] They just run out of steam, but I think I don't know
[01:10:08.360 -> 01:10:12.100] I think with age comes a bit of stubbornness maybe as well. I mean I've joked about being 54
[01:10:12.100 -> 01:10:16.600] I don't know if I could have done this when I was 34 because I don't and then you may be a bit too competitive
[01:10:16.860 -> 01:10:20.880] Whereas as you get older, it's not there. I'm oh, I wasn't competing. I know anyone else
[01:10:20.880 -> 01:10:24.800] I wasn't trying to break in a record, you know in my age group. I came a
[01:10:27.440 -> 01:10:28.080] 139th out of 250.
[01:10:32.560 -> 01:10:33.680] I'm never going to be on the podium, but that stubbornness, you just want to get it done.
[01:10:37.920 -> 01:10:39.040] There's another takeaway as well from the podcast. Mel Marshall, she talks about
[01:10:43.680 -> 01:10:45.080] inner balance. Everyone's very different. How you approach your training, how much time you can afford to commit to it.
[01:10:45.080 -> 01:10:51.360] And she also talks about when she trains people, obviously, well, Adam Peaty, she's training
[01:10:51.360 -> 01:10:53.920] him to be winning the gold medal and being on top of the podium.
[01:10:53.920 -> 01:10:58.880] But she also trains other people to find what is their own personal Olympics.
[01:10:58.880 -> 01:11:01.960] And that was very much the case with me with the Ironman.
[01:11:01.960 -> 01:11:03.640] I was never going to be on the podium.
[01:11:03.640 -> 01:11:05.600] The time is never never gonna be that impressive
[01:11:05.600 -> 01:11:06.880] compared to other people who've done it.
[01:11:06.880 -> 01:11:09.200] But for me, that was my sort of gold medal
[01:11:09.200 -> 01:11:11.040] and I think that was an important thing
[01:11:11.040 -> 01:11:14.960] to just remember on the day that just race your race,
[01:11:14.960 -> 01:11:17.240] stick to your plan and with a bit of luck,
[01:11:17.240 -> 01:11:18.480] get across the finish line.
[01:11:18.480 -> 01:11:20.200] So if there was one lesson then
[01:11:20.200 -> 01:11:21.720] that you would pass on to your kids
[01:11:21.720 -> 01:11:26.080] having experienced both listening to the podcast and
[01:11:26.080 -> 01:11:31.440] doing an Ironman. What's that one message, your one golden rule Mark? Well I think the one you
[01:11:31.440 -> 01:11:37.520] talk about, those world-class basics, I mean yeah it can seem sort of throwaway but that really is
[01:11:37.520 -> 01:11:42.640] that isn't it, you know the basics across all forms of life you know and when you talk about those
[01:11:44.720 -> 01:11:50.000] forms of life you know and when you talk about those you know your three non-negotiables exactly yeah a lot of that was you know again it's very easy
[01:11:50.000 -> 01:11:53.320] just to sort of you know say them a throwaway comments but I think if you do
[01:11:53.320 -> 01:11:57.440] you know things like passion integrity respect that people often come up with
[01:11:57.440 -> 01:12:03.240] they do they across all parts of life not just your performance when it comes
[01:12:03.240 -> 01:12:05.040] to a sport or anything, but I think
[01:12:05.040 -> 01:12:09.160] in everyday life those things are really important. It's such a mad world we live in, there's
[01:12:09.160 -> 01:12:13.000] such a lot of noise thrown at you that it's easy to forget those things sometimes.
[01:12:13.000 -> 01:12:16.800] Thank you so much Mark for taking the time and coming and chatting to us.
[01:12:16.800 -> 01:12:17.800] Cheers gents.
[01:12:17.800 -> 01:12:22.520] Well I really hope you enjoyed that. If you want to hear more from High Performance, or
[01:12:22.520 -> 01:12:26.480] should I say see more from High Performance, then you can check us out on YouTube.
[01:12:26.480 -> 01:12:29.680] Join the tens of thousands of subscribers on there.
[01:12:29.680 -> 01:12:31.640] As well as that, we also have our Members Club.
[01:12:31.640 -> 01:12:32.920] Now I'm really passionate about this.
[01:12:32.920 -> 01:12:35.400] We just had a whole conversation with Marcus about passion.
[01:12:35.400 -> 01:12:36.900] Let me just be really clear.
[01:12:36.900 -> 01:12:39.420] We have something called the High Performance Circle.
[01:12:39.420 -> 01:12:44.040] We want no money from you to be a member of the High Performance Circle.
[01:12:44.040 -> 01:12:45.960] And in return for you giving us no money at all
[01:12:46.040 -> 01:12:51.000] We are going to give you keynote speeches. We'll give you high performance boosts. We'll give you book recommendations
[01:12:51.140 -> 01:12:55.300] We'll give you information about what we're doing on high performance before anybody else. Here's it
[01:12:55.460 -> 01:12:58.320] We will just give you more from high performance
[01:12:58.320 -> 01:13:04.020] If you want to join our club for free, all you need to do is go to the high performance podcast
[01:13:04.720 -> 01:13:06.560] comm for free, all you need to do is go to the high performance podcast.com. Click on the
[01:13:06.560 -> 01:13:11.600] circle, you'll get an invite, and you're in the club. As always, I can't thank you enough
[01:13:11.600 -> 01:13:16.560] for growing and sharing this podcast among your community. We actually had some research
[01:13:16.560 -> 01:13:21.560] sent back to us recently that said that well over 90% of people get to this point on the
[01:13:21.560 -> 01:13:25.180] podcast, they get to the very end of the podcast. And that really
[01:13:25.180 -> 01:13:29.200] means a great deal to us. It means that people are coming, they're enjoying, they're learning,
[01:13:29.200 -> 01:13:33.240] they're growing, and they're sticking with it. And please, please, please, if there's
[01:13:33.240 -> 01:13:36.900] one thing that you can do to support us more than anything else, it's just to spread the
[01:13:36.900 -> 01:13:41.400] learnings you're taking from this series. I don't mind how or where you do it, or even
[01:13:41.400 -> 01:13:45.320] when you do it, just mention it to one person, just one person,
[01:13:45.320 -> 01:13:46.960] it may well change their lives.
[01:13:46.960 -> 01:13:49.720] Thanks as always to the team behind the podcast,
[01:13:49.720 -> 01:13:53.560] Damien, of course, but also Finn, Hannah, Will, Eve, Gemma,
[01:13:53.560 -> 01:13:56.480] and everyone else helping this podcast to be what it is.
[01:13:56.480 -> 01:13:59.840] Remember, for you, listen to this, there is no secret.
[01:13:59.840 -> 01:14:01.280] It is all there for you.
[01:14:01.280 -> 01:14:03.800] Be passionate, like you've heard from Marcus today.
[01:14:03.800 -> 01:14:05.480] Chase world-class basics.
[01:14:05.480 -> 01:14:07.720] Don't get high on your own supply.
[01:14:07.720 -> 01:14:12.720] Most importantly, remain humble, curious, and empathetic.
[01:14:13.040 -> 01:14:28.760] And we'll see you very soon. Bye!