Years ago, a mentor gave me the sage career advice that I should never call myself “an idea guy” (presumably right after I had done just that). Nobody wants to hire someone who has ideas, he reminded; they want to hire someone who has ideas and then figures out a way to bring those ideas to life.
Ideas are no doubt powerful, and our society has come to revere those thinkers and visionaries who develop ideas that have the potential to transform our everyday lives — think about the cult-like worship of people like Steve Jobs. But ideas are also cheap. The biggest ideas, the ones that can truly make a community or an industry better, require a good bit of sweat equity to fully achieve their potential.
That concept — big ideas — is at the core of this year’s Power List. As we considered which direction to pursue for the list, we thought about the evolving nature of power and the fact that it’s no longer just about who sits in a corner office or how many thousands of employees are in their system or how many billions in revenue they generate. It’s also about influence and the ability to rethink the restaurant paradigm altogether, turning an old model on its head and proving that a new way can be effective and, yes, profitable.
And increasingly, that influence is coming not from above but from all around. It’s coming from the entrepreneur who starts her own restaurant concept dedicated to health and sustainability. It’s coming from the rising executive developing career opportunities for his company’s employees across the globe. It’s coming from the chef who starts a farm to provide his community with fresh vegetables and hands-on training.
It’s coming from people like Bryce Fluellen and Christine Hasircoglu, two executives at Los Angeles-based Everytable who believe that leadership and entrepreneurship should be more accessible to people who have been historically disempowered. The pair, this month’s cover subjects, aren’t just dreaming about a world in which more women and minorities are calling the shots; they’re writing the blueprint for how it can happen and then following that blueprint at their fast-expanding concept.
This year’s Power List features Fluellen, Hasircoglu and 48 other emerging leaders from across the restaurant industry who may not be household or even industry-wide names, but who are flexing their influence regardless through big ideas, determination and hustle. The thread connecting them isn’t just the impact of their ideas, but also the runway ahead of them to make their marks on their companies, their colleagues and the industry.
You can change the industry, too. All you need is a big idea. And maybe the 50 people on the following pages will inspire you to come up with — and more importantly act on — one for yourself.
