🌱10 Disciplines for Restaurant Owners

A 3 min read + a challenge

As a restaurant owner, you face unique challenges—balancing operations, managing people, and ensuring your restaurant is both profitable and sustainable. Gino Wickman’s book Shine: How Looking Inward Is the Key to Unlocking True Entrepreneurial Freedom offers a comprehensive framework to help leaders thrive by honing specific skills. These disciplines are applicable to any business, including the fast-paced world of restaurants. Let’s explore how each discipline can transform your restaurant operations.

1. Self-Mastery Self-mastery is the ability to control your mind, emotions, and actions. It’s about being present and mentally strong so you can lead effectively. As a restaurant owner, self-mastery means keeping calm under pressure, staying clear-headed during busy shifts, and avoiding emotional decisions in moments of stress. It’s about mastering your reactions to the unpredictability of the restaurant business.

2. Vision A compelling vision is essential for driving an organization forward. It’s about having a clear direction and purpose that everyone in the organization can rally around. Your restaurant’s vision could be creating an unforgettable dining experience, offering innovative cuisine, or fostering a strong team culture. The key is to ensure your vision is communicated clearly to all employees so they understand and embrace it. If you'd like help creating your vision, let's connect at christinmarvin.com/contact

3. Accountability Accountability is taking full responsibility for your actions and the results of your decisions. In your restaurant, accountability means ensuring every member of your team, from servers to managers, owns their role and responsibilities. When everyone is accountable, it minimizes mistakes and enhances operational efficiency.

4. Commitment Commitment is making an unwavering promise to achieve the goals you set and never letting distractions pull you away. This means staying committed to your restaurant's mission, even when faced with setbacks or challenges. Whether it's sticking to high food standards or building a strong brand, commitment ensures consistency and longevity.

5. Delegation Delegation is about trusting others to take ownership of tasks while you focus on higher-level responsibilities. As a restaurant owner, delegation is key to scaling your business. Entrust managers with running day-to-day operations, empower chefs to innovate in the kitchen, and allow your team to handle customer service, freeing you up for strategic planning and growth. For tips on how to lead with clarity, visit http://www.christinmarvin.com/clear

6. Focus Focus is the discipline of staying committed to what matters most and eliminating distractions. In a restaurant, this means honing in on the core elements that drive your business, such as customer satisfaction, food quality, and team culture. It’s about aligning your efforts to those priorities and eliminating inefficiencies or distractions.

7. Energy Energy is about maintaining a high level of physical and mental stamina, which fuels your leadership and inspires your team. In the fast-paced environment of a restaurant, energy is contagious. Keeping your energy high will motivate your team, even on long shifts. It’s also about promoting a healthy work-life balance to avoid burnout.

8. Results Results are about achieving measurable success, ensuring that your actions and decisions align with your goals. Results in your restaurant are tracked through SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Using SMART goals will help you set clear, actionable objectives, whether it’s increasing sales, improving customer satisfaction, or reducing food waste.

9. Creativity Creativity is the ability to think outside the box and solve problems with innovative solutions. Creativity is essential for menu development, customer service enhancements, and marketing campaigns. It helps your restaurant stand out and keeps your brand fresh and exciting in a competitive market.

10. Simplicity Simplicity is about cutting through the noise and focusing on what truly matters. In a restaurant, simplicity means streamlining processes, simplifying your menu to focus on your best dishes, and avoiding overcomplicating operations. A simple, clear approach ensures a better customer experience and more efficient operations.

Now that you’ve explored the 10 disciplines, take a moment to reflect on how each one is showing up in your restaurant leadership. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, rate yourself on each discipline. Where do you feel confident, and where could you improve?

Once you’ve rated each discipline, pick just one that stands out to you as an area for growth. Create a few specific action items to strengthen it. This could mean setting a clearer vision for your team, delegating more effectively, or improving how you maintain energy throughout your shifts. After you’ve made progress on that discipline, move on to the next one.

As you continue to sharpen these disciplines, picture the impact it will have on your restaurant. Stronger focus, clearer communication, and a more accountable, committed team will lead to better customer experiences, increased profitability, and a more sustainable business. You’ll be able to lead confidently, make smarter decisions, and ultimately create a restaurant environment that’s not only thriving but truly aligned with your entrepreneurial vision and values.

The journey may take time, but with each step forward, you’ll be building a stronger foundation for long-term success and freedom as a restaurant owner.

P.S.

For more leadership development, here are some additional resources for you:

1. My book, The Hospitality Leader’s Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary is available at christinmarvin.com/book.

2. Enrollment is now happening for The Leadership Mastery Group. This group of 6 individuals meet monthly to gain insights from one another to help grow their business. If you are ready to invest in yourself in 2025 and build a network of like-minded thinkers, this group is for you. Visit christinmarvin.com/groupcoaching to apply.

3. Tune into the No Hesitations Podcast Episode 32 : How to Lead with Clarity : 5 Strategies for Effective Restaurant Management

4. Contact me for a strategy session about overcoming your biggest challenge at christinlmarvin@gmail.com and start transforming your mindset, your restaurant, and your life today!

🌱Master Your Mind: How Mental Fitness Can Transform Your Leadership and Life

A 2 min read.

Mental fitness isn’t just a trendy phrase—it’s the foundation for thriving as a leader in the demanding restaurant industry. It’s about maintaining a positive mindset, building resilience, and performing at your best, even when the heat is on. My journey toward mental fitness started when I began exploring positive intelligence, a concept championed by Shirzad Chamine in Positive Intelligence.

Positive intelligence involves identifying and deflecting the “saboteurs” in your mind—the negative thoughts that generate stress, anxiety, and self-doubt. These saboteurs often stem from childhood coping mechanisms that linger, no longer serving us as adults. They include the controller, pleaser, victim, and others, all led by the master saboteur: the judge. For me, becoming mentally fit required confronting these inner critics head-on.

If you're ready to take your leadership and business to the next level, consider joining The Leadership Mastery Group. This monthly group coaching program connects you with like-minded leaders and provides expert mentorship to tackle your biggest challenges.

Together, we'll spend one focused hour each month addressing real-world obstacles and unlocking your full potential. Enrollment is now open—visit christinmarvin.com/groupcoaching to learn more and secure your spot.

The Saboteurs That Hold Us Back

When I first took the Saboteur Assessment, I discovered my top saboteurs: the judge, the hyper-achiever, and the hyper-rational. The judge was particularly relentless, constantly critiquing myself and others. It whispered that I wasn’t smart enough, thin enough, or capable enough to succeed. I judged employees for lacking my drive, distanced myself from anyone struggling with mental health or addiction, and even harshly criticized my husband during his sobriety journey.

Visualizing my saboteur helped me take control. In my mind, my judge became a scowling woman in a red polyester suit—someone I named “Karen.” Recognizing her presence, thanking her for trying to protect me, and firmly telling her to step aside allowed me to reclaim my focus and confidence.

Strengths Can Also Be Saboteurs

Surprisingly, what I once saw as strengths turned out to be saboteurs in disguise. As a hyper-achiever, I thrived on accomplishments—crossing off to-do lists, earning certifications, and launching 13 restaurants. But this relentless drive came at a cost. My hyper-achiever never let me pause to celebrate successes, pushing me toward burnout.

The hyper-rational saboteur, on the other hand, kept me emotionally guarded. Growing up in a chaotic household, I learned to prioritize logic over feelings. While this mindset served me well in fine dining and hotels, it left me struggling to connect with the emotionally charged team at GPLH. My dismissive attitude toward emotions created barriers in building authentic relationships and stifled my growth.

Turning Saboteurs into Superpowers

Recognizing and addressing my saboteurs transformed my leadership, relationships, and self-worth. Through practices like daily gratitude journaling, meditation, and reframing negative thoughts, I developed my positive intelligence and learned to approach challenges with curiosity and compassion.

Now, I’m a better communicator, entrepreneur, and partner. I’ve built stronger relationships, embraced vulnerability, and started setting big, fearless goals for my business. Mental fitness has taught me that every obstacle is an opportunity for growth.

Are Your Saboteurs Holding You Back?

Take the Saboteur Assessment to uncover your inner critics at Positive Intelligence. Developing your positive intelligence could be the key to unlocking your potential and leading with confidence.

If you're ready to dig deeper and transform your saboteurs into strengths, let’s work together. As a coach, I’ll help you identify how these hidden saboteurs are holding you back in your life and business—and guide you toward becoming the confident, resilient leader you were meant to be. Schedule a 30 minute call today and start your journey to mental fitness!

P.S.

For more leadership development, here are some additional resources for you:

1. My book, The Hospitality Leader’s Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary is available at christinmarvin.com/book.

2. Enrollment is now happening for The Leadership Mastery Group. This group of 6 individuals meet monthly to gain insights from one another to help grow their business. If you are ready to invest in yourself in 2025 and build a network of like-minded thinkers, this group is for you. Visit christinmarvin.com/groupcoaching to apply.

3. Tune into the No Hesitations Podcast Episode 32 : How to Lead with Clarity : 5 Strategies for Effective Restaurant Management

4. Contact me for a strategy session about overcoming your biggest challenge at christinlmarvin@gmail.com and start transforming your mindset, your restaurant, and your life today!

🌱A 5-Step Guide to Defining Your Leadership Style

A 3 min read.

I had the absolute pleasure of hosting a leadership workshop this week that included Regional Managers, General Managers and Assistant General Managers across a variety of different restaurant concepts. My promise to these leaders was to walk away from this workshop with more clarity about how they lead, action items on how they could develop their skills in each area of their leadership and confidence to inspire, motivate, support and hold their teams accountable. It was an extraordinary session and I wanted to share the exercise we used with you.

I would challenge you to complete this exercise yourself and then do so with your teams. If you need help, feel free to reach out at christinmarvin.com/contact

Step 1: Define Your Leadership Style & Explore Influences

Defining your leadership style is essential to making intentional, values-driven decisions. This part of the exercise prompts participants to think about how their leadership style impacts their team and the broader restaurant culture. A strong, consistent style inspires trust and helps create a motivated, high-performing team.

To kickstart this, ask each participant to share a story about a leader who has impacted them. This could be a former boss, mentor, or colleague who left a lasting impression. Together, compile a list of characteristics that made these leaders impactful, such as decisiveness, empathy, or adaptability. Seeing these qualities on paper helps participants identify core attributes that they may want to embody.

Step 2: Design Your Personal Leadership Style

With a list of impactful qualities now in front of them, it’s time for participants to design their unique leadership blueprint. Invite each person to select five qualities from the list that resonate most with them or that they aspire to embody in their leadership. This personal selection process allows each participant to envision their ideal leadership style—one that aligns with their values and goals for their team. This reflective moment lays the foundation for intentional growth.

Step 3: Leadership Self-Assessment

Once participants have chosen their five defining characteristics, it’s time to reflect on where they currently stand with each one. Have participants rate themselves on a scale from 1 to 10 for each characteristic (1=needs work, 10=full developed). By doing so, they create a clear picture of where they are now, allowing them to better understand where they need to grow. Encourage participants to share how each rating feels; this dialogue increases self-awareness and offers a supportive space to discuss challenges.

Step 4: Set Targets and Visualize Impact

With their current ratings in hand, participants can set growth targets. For each characteristic, ask them to choose an ideal target rating they’d like to reach. Then, lead a discussion about what progress in each area would look like and how these improvements might impact their leadership and team dynamics. This exercise emphasizes the importance of goal-setting and gives participants a vision of the potential positive impact on their team and restaurant.

Step 5: Commitment & Action Plan

To make progress, actionable steps are essential. Ask each participant to choose one characteristic to focus on for immediate improvement. Then, have them commit to one small, achievable action that will move them closer to their target. This step reinforces the idea that small, consistent actions drive meaningful change in leadership.

I would challenge you to complete this exercise yourself and then do so with your teams. If you need help, feel free to reach out at christinmarvin.com/contact

Email me at christinlmarvin@gmail.com the one characteristic you’re focusing on and the small action you’re committing to for growth. Let’s inspire each other to lead with purpose!

P.S.

For more leadership development, here are some additional resources for you:

1. My book, The Hospitality Leader’s Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary is available at christinmarvin.com/book.

2. Tune into the No Hesitations Podcast Episode 32 : How to Lead with Clarity : 5 Strategies for Effective Restaurant Management

3. Contact me for a strategy session about overcoming your biggest challenge at christinlmarvin@gmail.com and start transforming your mindset, your restaurant, and your life today!

🌱Admitting I Was Burned Out

A 3 min read.

In the fall of 2022, I reached a point in my career where I knew something had to change. Burnout had crept in, though I was reluctant to admit it. My friend Steve recommended I try working with a professional coach. At the time, I was already seeing a therapist, but I was curious—what exactly could a coach do for me, especially as a leader in the hospitality industry? I decided to give it a shot.

My therapist helped me process past issues and uncover the reasons behind certain choices, like using alcohol to cope with career stress and anxiety. But after my complimentary session with the coach, I realized coaching was different. Coaches focus on the present and the future, guiding you to achieve your potential in real time. They don’t delve into past traumas or explore root causes—they help you build a path forward.

If you are ready to create your new path forward, I've got you. Reach out at christinlmarvin@gmail.com

This was exactly what I needed.

I was searching for more than just career advice; I wanted to rediscover my passion and confidence. I wanted a fulfilling career and a life that didn’t demand constant sacrifice. I was looking to finally put myself first after years of putting my career above everything else—my family, friends, health, and mental well-being. With my coach’s help, I started to reimagine what my life and career could look like if they were aligned with my values.

Rediscovering My Values

In our first few sessions, my coach and I dug deep to define my core values. These were the guiding principles that, when fully embraced, would drive my happiness and fulfillment. My values turned out to be consistency, curiosity, freedom, leadership, drive, confidence, and impact. We rated each one on a scale of 1 to 10, identifying where I was thriving and where I needed improvement. I focused on each value individually, designing strategies to embody each one.

For example, I wanted to be more consistent—consistent in my self-care, in prioritizing my health, and in setting boundaries around my work. I committed to a morning routine from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., dedicated to exercise, meditation, walking my dogs, and staying off email and social media. My coach held me accountable to this commitment, and soon, I began feeling the benefits of starting my day with a clear mind and focused intention.

Realizations About My Burnout and Hyper-Achiever Mindset

Through coaching, I uncovered a critical insight: I was a hyper-achiever, always chasing the next accomplishment without taking time to appreciate what I’d already achieved. My sense of worth was deeply tied to my productivity, so I filled every day with to-do lists and meetings, never pausing to celebrate milestones. I realized this mindset, while useful in some ways, had driven me to burnout.

If you are curious about whether or not your mindset is holding you back, grab your FREE copy of my audiobook, The Hospitality Leader's Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary and listen to Chapter 33.

Allowing myself to admit I was burned out was transformative. Burnout wasn’t something you talked about openly in the restaurant industry; it was often seen as a weakness. But by naming it, I began to understand how my career and personal life had become unsustainable. My coach encouraged me to rethink my beliefs about “the grind” and guided me in setting boundaries that reflected my personal and professional goals.

Coaching: A Life-Changing Experience

Working with my coach was pivotal in shifting my mindset. He helped me recognize the negative thoughts that were holding me back and equipped me with the tools to manage them. He held a mirror up to my behaviors, showing me how they impacted my life, leadership, and relationships. Each session left me more self-aware, focused, and committed to positive change.

In one of our sessions, I had a breakthrough that reshaped my future: coaching itself was my calling. It became clear that I wanted to help other leaders in the hospitality industry overcome their own struggles with burnout, stress, and self-doubt. My experience with coaching had shown me that leadership isn’t just about reaching targets and achieving success; it’s about building a sustainable, fulfilling life.

Ready for Your Own Breakthrough?

The journey from burnout to brilliance is possible—and coaching can be the catalyst you need. If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure about your next steps, consider working with a coach. This partnership can help you realign with your values, set meaningful goals, and create a path toward a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Are you ready to unlock your potential and redefine success on your terms? Visit

to learn how working together can help you prevent and overcome burnout. Let’s build a life and career that genuinely fulfills you.

P.S.

For more leadership development, here are some additional resources for you:

1. My book, The Hospitality Leader’s Roadmap: Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary is available at christinmarvin.com/book.

2. Tune into the No Hesitations Podcast Episode 32 : How to Lead with Clarity : 5 Strategies for Effective Restaurant Management

3. Contact me for a strategy session about overcoming your biggest challenge at christinlmarvin@gmail.com and start transforming your mindset, your restaurant, and your life today!