What Can Cooking Shows Teach us About The Dangers of Success?

The Food Network has long been a guilty pleasure of mine. And, it would appear I'm not alone - the channel has become one of cable TV's most valuable assets. Heck, I suppose this should come as no surprise; delicious food, interesting people, and (unexpectedly) engaging competitions are all great ingredients for first rate entertainment.

Generally, its programing is the stuff of mindless binge watching - gentle background noise, perhaps emanating from another room as you cook a meal yourself after a stressful day. One show in particular, however, "Beat Bobby Flay," has caught my interest recently for reasons wholly unrelated to food itself.

For the un-anointed, the premise of the show is relatively simple: Two experienced chefs compete against each other cooking a judge-prescribed genre. The winner, as determined by those judges, then moves on to the final round wherein they compete directly against Bobby Flay, a mainstay of Cooking Channel shows and himself a decorated chef. In this round, the cuisine is not randomly selected by judges - the dish the contending chef will make in competition against Flay is chosen by that contending chef themselves. Often, it's the hallmark menu item for that chef's restaurant. It might be a signature seafood dish for a New England based chef, or perhaps a bbq offering for a chef from Kansas City. The critical point is that in this final round of competitive cooking, the chef is cooking their prized dish - often, it's one they've spent years mastering. Bobby Flay must do his best to create his version of that dish. The judges then choose their favorite between the two.

And here is where things get interesting. The chefs competing against Bobby Flay almost always lose. Now, the discerning game show consumer might very reasonably wonder if perhaps the contest is rigged. But I don't think that's the case - unfounded or not, I have a firm belief in the integrity of Food Network competitions. Moreover, the show is at its most exciting when the contestant chef wins - so there would be little incentive for producer intervention.

So, how does this happen? How do experienced, capable chefs enter this environment, cook their prized dish, one they've been mastering for years, one they cook almost every day, and lose to a celebrity chef who only found out what he was cooking that very day?

I believe the answer might tell us something about the dangers of success and the preciousness of innovation.

In his book, The Innovators Dilemma, Clayton Christensen explores the somewhat paradoxical manner in which sustained success in organizations can ultimately stifle innovation. His insights are resonant for business leaders and embattled cooking show participants alike.

For the contestant chef on Beat Bobby Flay - she/he enjoys several very distinct advantages:

• They know what dish will be cooked that day, their competitor does not.
• They've cooked that dish countless times - this means they not only have great confidence, but can move quickly - a key advantage in any cooking show.
• They've received feedback on their dish before - over the years, this has allowed them to refine the cuisine.

And yet - when viewed through the lens of Founders Dilemma these very strengths can serve as disadvantages. Indeed the very sort that mute innovation.

• Because they know what will be cooked that day and made the dish many times - their creative mind is completely unengaged. They are simply going through their cooking process - the work is operational, even mechanical.
• They have cooked the dish countless times and have done so the same way for many years. This means when something goes wrong (the oven is too hot, the dough isn't rising, an ingredient has gone bad), it's incredibly disruptive to their process and challenging to improvise in the face of. Theirs is a rigid recipe, one that cannot endure dynamic environments for long.
• They've received so much positive feedback on the dish for so long, they've stopped questioning their choices. Maybe the dish really is timeless . . . but, then again, perhaps tastes have changed and it's long overdue for new twist?

If you are a leader in a successful organization today, that's a wonderful thing! It also entails no small measure of responsibility to help ensure you don't wind up a victim of that success. Perhaps you have a dependable, winning dish. Perhaps it's been selling for years. Perhaps you can make it incredibly quickly. But, ask yourself, can it beat Bobby Flay?

Are you working on an innovative, transformational project at your company and have questions about how AI, Machine Learning and Data Engineering can play a role? DM me!

Jonny Orton is Area Vice President of Sales N. East at Dataiku and a career long lover of all things data, analytics, and innovation.