RELENTLESS GROWTH

Desplechin, an expert mindset coach, draws on his experiences as a chef in a powerful book about growth mindset.

Many professionals aspire to have the skills of an acclaimed chef—someone who’s honed their skills to lead their kitchen staff to greater heights, and who can create an edible masterpiece with precision. In these pages, Desplechin—a chef at Michelin-starred restaurants, including Arles, France-based L’Atelier de Jean-Luc Rabanel—has condensed his own life’s stories into valuable lessons in an accessible work which focuses on growth mindset—the ability to improve one’s talents with practice and determination: “It is clear to me that those who adapt, who learn, and who commit to self-improvement will be the ones who lead the way forward,” he notes early on. From the start, it’s evident that the author speaks from credible experience, as described in a foreword from renowned restaurant owner Jean-Luc Rabanel, praising the chef’s skills and his engaging stories; Desplechin says that the tales included here were “born from the daily grind of hospitality and refined in the heat of the kitchen.” Each story supports his self-help assertions, elegantly weaving narratives into more meaningful lessons and action-oriented encouragements that readers can practice right away. For example, his charming narrative about how his passion started in the kitchen with his parents in his hometown of Châteaulin moves into a broader lesson about curiosity; his anecdote about being “restless” in traditional school at age 14 turns into a call to action about “defining your vision”; and a tale of a brief three-month stint as a pastry chef tells readers that they could also experience career-altering lessons by embracing the unexpected. Bulleted lists might have further sharpened his points; an early paragraph that urges the reader to “paint a picture in your mind” could have helpfully used such an approach. Overall, Desplechin’s message about growth mindset—"that you can become more than the person you see in this moment”—shines through on every page. Eating while reading is advised.

An engaging self-help book about achieving one’s dreams through focused effort.