I love finding wisdom in unexpected places. Last night I was listening to The B. S. Report with Bill Simmons podcast and Bill and Mike Lombardi were talking about how the Baltimore Ravens lack an identity on offense. Lombardi compared them to a restaurant with too many items on the menu. The best restaurants usually only have a few entrees from which to choose. You come in and order one of five or six dishes that they’re serving that night. Each entree is prepared to near perfection because a chef can’t do a great job on thirty different items.
This reminded me of my one and only trip to The Cheesecake Factory. I flipped through the menu and lost my appetite. There were simply too many different items on the menu (over 200) for them to be exceptional at preparing any of them, except maybe cheesecake. Then again, if you go to a restaurant that claims in its very name to be a mass producer of cheesecake, you shouldn’t be disappointed if they don’t do a great job on the Thai chicken dish you ordered for dinner.
Simmons and Lombardi discussed this principle for five minutes and it really landed. Beware of restaurants with a large menu. Go to a place that has focused your options so that they can do a great job on a few things instead of doing a mediocre job on many.
This principle holds true in so many other areas of life as well. I’ve seen churches develop extensive menus of ministry and then not do a very good job at any of it, rather than picking one or two areas where they will excel. Businesses do the same thing. It’s become amusing to watch all the different ways Starbucks tries to expand their menu, with very little success. They’re never going to be good at sandwiches. We don’t walk into a Starbucks because we’re craving a fruit smoothie. Starbucks is good at a couple of things and those are the things they should focus on. Anything else simply dilutes their identity and increases their mediocrity quotient.
Think about how this principle applies personally. If you were preparing a menu of all you have to offer the world, how many items would be on it? It would be tempting to list a bunch of different things you can do passably well, but the better thing would be to list the areas in which you excel. Don’t be a Cheesecake Factory, be a local Italian eatery that knocks your customers’ socks off with either the Veal, the Lasagna, or the Fettuccine Alfredo, because those are their only choices.
This reminds me of Marcus Buckingham’s work on strengths. I think he’s on to something. Put your strengths to work by keeping your menu small.?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Wade – This is a GREAT post! I totally agree with you, too. (Which is probably why I think it’s so great!)
It took me a really LONG time in life & as a Christian to learn this lesson. And, you know, I hadn’t really thought about it like that until just now reading your article. But, this is certainly what I am trying to do with my own life.
I’ve always thought that there were a whole lot of things I could do pretty well if I really tried, as you say, but some of them I didn’t really like much or at all. For years, too, in the churches I was in, others would try to force me into what they thought I should do or what they thought needed to be done, but for which I either had no talent, or most of all the desire to do them.
I’ve learned what my strengths are and I work hard to fulfill those for the Lord. It’s like in my marriage. Tom & I bring different strengths (and weaknesses) to our marriage and encourage each other and work with each other so that we each may excel in those things we’ve been given the special gifts for.
Hope you are doing well in this changing time in your life.
Thanks! Dee
Losing your appetite over too many choices? Can’t say I’ve
ever experienced that. But seriously, good article and point well
made. We can dilute our effectiveness as organizations and
individuals when we try to do too much. It can be hard when you’re
particularly good at many things. The temptation can be to approach
everything with the mindset, “I can do that!” versus finding people
who are TRULY good in a certain area and allow them to use their
gifts.
Dee–it seems to me that time and experience helps us become more comfortable with shortening our menu. I know every year mine gets a little shorter!
Pat–thanks for jumping into the conversation. Yes, you’re right, I probably didn’t lose my appetite, but I did resign myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to get the best meal ever.
I totally get your point. Heck, just recently on “Restaurant Impossible” on food network they dealt with this very issue. However, I have yet to have something at Cheesecake Factory that wasn’t awesome.