Ina Garten is an expert on making major career changes: she built a multimillion-dollar culinary empire after she quit her government job to open a food store.
Garten’s husband Jeffrey gave her sage advice when she decided to leave her previous career, she told Amy Poehler in a Nov. 25 episode of her podcast “Good Hang with Amy Poehler.”
“I said to Jeffrey, I really need to find something else to do. And he said, ‘Just pick something fun. Pick something that you think you’d love doing, and if you love it, you’ll be really good at it,'” Garten said.
She purchased her first store, Barefoot Contessa, in Westhampton Beach, New York in 1978.
Managing her own store was difficult at first, Garten said. She had to “learn very quickly how to be a boss,” and she struggled to find her leadership style.
“A friend gave me the advice, your employees need two things from you. They need you to be clear, and they need you to be happy,” Garten said.
From then on, Garten practiced being more direct with her instructions – “I need these candies bagged, and I need them wrapped up like this” — and she resolved to not let her bad days “disturb the energy in the room” at the store.
“That was the best lesson I ever had for business,” Garten recalled.
How she delivers criticism
Garten has a “very clear” rule about giving feedback to her employees: “If I’m criticizing you, I’ll take you out of the room and discuss what you can do better. If I’m complimenting you, I’ll do it with everybody around.”
Though Garten tries to avoid firing people — “I usually give them a lot of warning, explain what they have to do better,” she said — sometimes the job just isn’t the right fit.
Learning how to let employees go was also a leadership skill Garten had to hone.
A month into running Barefoot Contessa, Garten realized that one of her young employees was “just dreadful” at her job.
“She was just very sweet, but not very good,” Garten said, so she decided to fire her.
“I took her out in the back and I explained that, you know, I’m sure there are other jobs that you’re good at. This isn’t the one,” Garten told Poehler.
Her delivery “was so gentle, because I was so worried about hurting her feelings,” Garten said, but she failed to get her point across to the employee.
“The next day she showed up for work again. She didn’t know she was fired,” Garten laughed.
Garten didn’t have the heart to attempt to fire the employee again, so she allowed her to stay on for the rest of the summer.
Now, Garten has mastered the art of firing people in a kind, but firm manner: she said she fires people “in a way that makes them say thank you and kiss me when they leave.”
Garten also prioritizes transparency as a leader. When Garten lets an employee go, she calls together the rest of her team to explain what happened, she said.
She always worries that other employees will be upset with her for firing their colleague, she told Poehler, but “100% of the time they’re like, ‘Oh, [they were] such a pain in the neck. We hated working with them. I’m so glad you fired them.'”
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