Why The Bear Might Be the Most Honest Show on TV
There’s a moment in The Bear—that raw, tightly wound show—where everything just buckles.
Plates smash. Orders blur. Staff spiral. And for a second, the world stops.
If you’ve ever worked in a kitchen, you don’t just watch it. You feel it.
I did.
Because long before strategy decks and leadership coaching, I was behind the pass in a fine dining kitchen.
Binge Watched
Early Days in Hospitality
I was young. Eager. A bit lost, if I’m honest.
And the kitchen felt like a place where things made sense. Where hard work was visible. Immediate.
You showed up on time.
You prepped your station.
You got your mise en place tight.
And when service hit, you held on.
I wasn’t the most gifted chef. But I loved the rhythm. The discipline. The way everything mattered.
Even the way you folded your towel.
There was no hiding. No bluffing. If you were sloppy, you got told. If you couldn’t keep up, someone else took your place.
And weirdly, it felt fair.
There’s a strange kind of honesty in that world.
Your work Family :)
What The Bear Captures So Brilliantly
Most shows don’t get restaurants right. They either glamorise the food or exaggerate the chaos.
The Bear does neither.
It gives you:
The silence before service
The shame of making a mistake
The loyalty that runs deeper than contracts
The pain of caring too much
Carmy isn’t a genius chef. He’s a person trying to make something better—while barely holding himself together.
He brings his fine dining past into a failing sandwich shop. And instead of applying pressure from the top, he starts trying to listen. To repair. To build trust.
That shift—from command-and-control to relational leadership—is the real story.
And that’s what moved me.
Because I’ve worked with leaders like Carmy. Fragile, flawed, brilliant. Carrying too much, asking for too little.
And I’ve been that person too.
I didn’t always get it right either ( still dont tbh)
Kitchens Taught Me How to Lead
It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t think I was learning anything at the time.
But looking back, that environment shaped how I approach work now.
It taught me:
Consistency matters more than flair
Kindness under pressure is real strength
Feedback only works when there’s trust
You can’t fake passion for long—it shows in the food
Those lessons stuck.
Now, when I step into organisations, run workshops, or work with teams—I still feel like I’m in service.
Just in a different uniform.
Word 🙏
Repair Over Control
One of the most powerful themes in The Bear is repair.
Not just fixing systems. Fixing people. Relationships. Patterns.
That hit me hard.
In so many workplaces, we talk about “culture” like it’s a strategy deck. Something to tweak with values and away days.
But real culture is what happens in the crunch.
When something goes wrong, how do people respond?
In kitchens, the crunch is every night. There’s no time to hide. If something breaks—on the line or inside a person—it shows.
That’s why The Bear works. It doesn’t flinch. It shows the breakdown. And then it asks the most important question:
Are you willing to do the work of repair?
This Isn’t Just About Food
I still remember the end of a long service. The last table’s gone. The kitchen’s quiet. And someone passes you a drink without saying a word.
That moment of shared silence—it says more than any thank-you ever could.
It means: we got through it. Together.
The Bear captures that beautifully.
Not just in food. In life.
Because most of us are carrying things. Trying to hold it together. Trying to rebuild something that’s broken—personally or professionally.
This show says: you’re not alone in that work.
And that’s why I love it.
Final Thought
If you’ve worked in hospitality, this show will speak to you in ways other TV just can’t.
And even if you haven’t—it’s still worth your time.
Because in a world full of polished surfaces, The Bear shows what it looks like to get messy, to try again, and to lead from the middle of the storm.
Which, if we’re honest, is where most of us lead from anyway.
Here's to a Bright Future, Rooted in Our Rich Past 🧔🏻
#YesChef 🍽️ #TheBearFX #FineDiningRoots #HospitalityTruths #RealLeadership #KitchenCulture #OrganisationalRepair #TVThatHitsDifferent #JamiejohnReflects
