In a latest How Leaders Lead with David Novak podcast episode, Damola Adamolekun mentioned the important thing to success as a pacesetter is being a greater individual.
“Leadership is self improvement,” Adamolekun mentioned. “Understand yourself and what your strengths are and where you can be better. Because the stronger you are as a person, the more people are going to want to follow you.”
“So if you want to be a better leader, become a better person,” he continued.
Adamolekun took the helm of Crimson Lobster in August 2024 after a sequence of misfortunes on the once-failing casual-dining chain. The corporate had gone bankrupt, closed dozens of areas, and misplaced tens of millions associated to an infinite shrimp promotion. The Limitless Shrimp debacle got here earlier than Adamolekun’s time, and he mentioned he would by no means convey it again as a result of he “know[s] how to do math.”
Adamolekun, a former Goldman Sachs funding banker, has develop into a sensation as a younger chief govt who means enterprise—and is popping Crimson Lobster’s ship round. He was even named to Fortune’s inaugural 100 Most Highly effective Folks record, which is predicated on the dimensions and well being of the enterprise, innovation, affect, trajectory, and affect.
“My life is my work. My work is my life,” he instructed Fortune in 2023 when he was CEO of Asian-fusion restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s.
Adamolekun has a confirmed observe file for respiration life again into struggling restaurant chains, having steered P.F. Chang’s by means of a serious turnaround after its 2019 buyout. He targeted on retailer remodels, menu and tech upgrades, and tighter operations that boosted gross sales and profitability. Underneath his management, P.F. Chang’s began producing revenues of about $1 billion, in response to the Nationwide Restaurant Affiliation.
He’s bringing a lot of that playbook to Crimson Lobster.
“I think this is going to be the greatest comeback in the history of the restaurant industry,” Adamolekun just lately instructed Fortune’s Ruth Umoh in her new vodcast sequence, The CEO Playbook. “Of course it’s risky; I took over a company that’s bankrupt and had a lot of problems.”
Damola Adamolekun’s plans for Crimson Lobster and his management
Earlier than Adamolekun even formally took the CEO position, he acquired a head begin on his imaginative and prescient for the chain by secretly visiting eating places across the nation, snacking on crab legs and lobster tail. He did this to attach with and higher perceive the model and its clients.
“Customers “just want quality food in a comfortable setting and to connect with the history of the brand,” he instructed The Wall Avenue Journal. “That’s the first step.”
Though dozens of eating places closed in the course of the chapter interval, Adamolekun mentioned the corporate intends to be accomplished shuttering any extra areas, and solely plans “to grow from here in terms of the business.” They’re additionally planning to enhance present areas by fixing damaged HVAC programs, torn carpets, and chairs, in addition to streamlining menus.
That’s all a part of the corporate’s $60 million plan to maintain the seafood chain afloat, and he’s stacking his C-suite with restaurant-industry veterans. His imaginative and prescient is to “inject more energy” into the restaurant areas, Adamolekun instructed At present, by means of new lighting, music, and decor.
However totally seeing by means of huge plans like this isn’t for the faint of coronary heart. Adamolekun additionally suggested on the How Leaders Lead podcast taking criticism is all a part of the job of being a profitable chief.
“The problem is most people are sensitive, and they don’t want to be criticized,” he mentioned. “In some unspecified time in the future, you need to not take it personally. It’s virtually like you need to separate your self from your self.
Being self-critical is vital, he mentioned, “because that’s how you improve, right?”
