Guys what's going on? Anyone not hear me just let me know in the chat
a few minutes here just in case
guys if you want to add any questions into the chat to please feel free, I'll answer whatever I can a ton of questions today. I'm hoping to grow this this little project overall and use it to get a little connected. So feel free to add anything you'd like. In terms of questions that were submitted. I'll just keep them private for now, just in case if you really want your name, node or location, I can definitely do that for us next round. But this will I don't know I think it'll be a little nicer
it's all 1102 And then we'll get started
Oh no, no to you. So I'll get started. Thank you guys who submitted questions. I think this is kind of a pretty cool format to get connected to. It's something that's very awkward for me. I think you guys have seen me take on some videos on social media. You guys know me personally, it's not really my forte. It's not really what I do. I took a course in marketing and it was something that honestly I had to do at the time and for me, it was way outside of my comfort zone. And so something that I really appreciated the push to do. And now the VET courses ended around that same bush, but, you know, for me, I did get a lot of good feedback on that as awkward as it was and I wanted to bring that to our world. And, you know, I know that a lot of you, especially people that are joining the chat right now, some of you guys are a lot newer. You know, when I started with this company, I always say it was 68 People might have been a tiny bit more at the time, but we knew everything about everyone. We understood why we did things we understood where we were going and there was no day you know he talked about this day thing a lot. There was a point in which we made decisions, it was very easy to go back and it would be a situation in which they were going to use this candle right and it would be very simple to then go and say, Hey, Ryan says we're going to use this candle you know, and now we get to a point where if we bring something into the mix, it's more they want us to do this. They want us to do that. So for me if you know those of you who I don't know very well, if I can put a face to the day a little bit of some of that will be a win. I just I think that diving into conversations headfirst is ideal. You know, and I want to tackle what I'm going to find is like the hardest question are inevitably like the most cutting questions. So we have a comment here. And the comment is why did we not grant awards like team member of the month cliche, but I believe we need them or outgroups raising recognition and thought are the ones that deserve not just rds of balance. I couldn't agree more for us in our world. You know, we have a lot of meetings, you know, and when we run meetings we talk about the things that are hard the things that sometimes are going wrong and things that need to change, you know, and I myself have sat in meetings and realize that they need to, we need to introduce a little bit more praise in that situation a little bit more of what's going on, right? You can't just have boundaries in one direction and the other, you know, speaking to those of you that are line level, I know that our ideas are very likely to become a lot more of your world as employee, you know, and we run them as a situation where we're firm believers that people don't do something because one they don't know how to do it. So we use this to set clarity and to oftentimes they don't know that they're supposed to do it. And so our bodies in our world are meant to handle those two things. Undeniably so and then the third option as to why people don't do things is because they intentionally don't do them. They don't want to do them. They want to work against the situation that's RDS or for as well. So these are big clarity setting pieces, but the phrase feeds for us, you know, we don't do that in a centralized manner. And to me, I I agree that I think we should, you know, and so for us in our goals, when we meet as a CH team, our goals now are ensuring that we not just because of this submission, but generally speaking that we make sure that we're finding one group one. One team member from the notes one person that we've seen to really shout them out and really drive home that that phrase to me It's decentralized you know, or not to me to ch as a whole you know, this praise system is a little bit decentralized. But I think that, you know, I want to spend a chat out of this video and talk about some ways that you guys all feel like that could be universally implemented everywhere, you know, like, and so we're not just doing things that then go by the wayside. We're not doing things that feel like we're just doing it to appease you know, I think that the closest thing we have to praise in that sense or, or some of the deepest praise we do is the anniversary program. If you guys are not familiar with the anniversary, anniversary program, deal with your leadership, if you're a leader and you're not familiar with it with us, you do get Yes, you do get special things we do take very good care of you, as you spend your time with ch. Obviously, we know the coin, but we know and I believe based on this question and a general consensus that we know it could and should get better and so that is a great question. It's something to be addressed in here as well and to be able to kind of spin that into it. So again, I'll I'll spend a chat out of this conversation and we'll we'll take it from there. Let's spin it off to easy one or lighter, someone asked you, someone asked me what inspired you to embrace your identity as beast You don't know my first name is Brian. My last name is Eastman. And when you end up in middle school classes when you end up in elementary school or in preschool, very often you see the first letter of your first name and the last letter or your last name so it would be beat that Eastman which for me you know, I'm a person as you guys very likely know, somewhat big size and stature. I have been a big size and stature since I was an extremely young child. I'd say it's really small town. And so the discipline thing for me is something that it's actually it's a fairly deep situation. Because it was really hard for me, you know, and I got made fun of under the moniker beastman or being big for being a plus size model I am today and it took a long time to kind of hone that you know, and I truthfully didn't really own the Beastmen thing until really moving to San Diego in full managing an entirely new group of people after I'd spent a long time managing on the East Coast and it just kind of came up came up and was a part of that and it's something in which you know, I am really proud of myself know who I am and, and being this kind of tall and big person that is decent, you know, that's totally cool with me. You know, the same person, kind of tying it back to this really cool kind of praise or making things special. The same person had a comment about I love the camaraderie between the people working in the different outlets. Is there a CH day we might be able to reinforce those bonds or do you think that should happen? They happen organically on our own time? One, we would love to make that happen. We really did work hard to try to facilitate a holiday party this year. But for us, you know if you guys aren't aware, we're over 900 people finding a space for 900 people is not exactly very feasible item. So one is that we do believe it should happen to is that we don't we can't find it entirely know how this should happen or how we get everyone together. Small things like this. And pieces that we're working on as a CH team to kind of bring people together. You know we we've talked about doing ch hives we've talked about the very simple thing I do see very simple things. We all went out in doing the job doing cycling with me. Some of you may or may not know but
it was a lot of athletic activities with the leadership teams and more on on for us. That's something that we want to expand out in our world. And for me, personally, I you know I I told this morning mantra to light the light to take towards mindfulness, you know, and that's something that I do want to talk about as a group. And that is something I think we can all benefit from. And, you know, I think everyone's definition of mindfulness and spirituality is extremely different. But I think that we can all agree that if we can be a little bit more calm and level headed, they will prevail. So maybe this becomes a mindfulness but we'll see how it goes. But in terms of CHD I think right now or you know, for the foreseeable future, we're stepping into a busy summer season. It is going to be an organic process. There is no way around that whatsoever. So that is a good question. It is something that we want. Understand that logistical implications of doing something so big are very hard. And I see more you guys joining which is awesome. If you have any questions that you didn't ask in this yet, please feel free to use the link. Also, feel free to drop a comment, comment sections over on the bottom right. I'll try to answer everything I can. And Dan will be here for 1130 1140 depending how he goes. This is a really great question and kind of you know, one of the many reasons I wanted to do this. What does the future hold for up and coming ch projects anything new you're most excited about? For those of you who know or don't know our next project is going to be Leila. Leila is a Mediterranean restaurant. It's going to be on 30th Close to PTL or other location. It has a couple of doors from going up if you're familiar with point up in North Park. We call it Mediterranean because it's going to draw influences from all over the Mediterranean. For us it is strongly influenced by Middle Eastern Persian. Iranian culture is something that we hold near and dear to our hearts. It's a cuisine that we personally love. And it's a cuisine that there isn't classic institutions in San Diego that do make a very good pass. At doing something delightful. But it's not necessarily that anyone's taking a very special or interesting direction. And then per you those of you who aren't familiar with Iranian culture, it is not a drinking country. So the unique opportunity to bring these flavor profiles that actually learned quite well towards cocktails bringing this into the cocktail world is is particularly special. So Leila is next. We are going through tastings with chefs. Right now we are locking down a menu if any of you personally want more information on it, I'm happy to share some more bits. But yes, we are looking at version slop cocktails. We are looking at Mediterranean food with a strong Persian influence. And we have some very special people working on the project that will now call on the process but our original goal for opening that was very early in March. And as we know we are now past that you guys have been a part of an opening. Specifically on an opening team you're well aware that these deadlines tend to stretch a little bit. So when we know more, you guys will all be the first one invited to this process. That's going to be next very likely. If you guys are familiar with Lafayette hotel, we're working on the horse horse is continental dining restaurant when we say continental dining. That's a very confusing term continental dining is the simplest way to say it is it is a fancy hotel food. And what this means is Ritz Escoffier got together in Paris, and they made a really special restaurant menu that was elevated takes on French cuisine sorted within a hotel. And so there is a heavy French influence there is an elevated dining experience for us as well. And the cocktails and the wine program will play to that so the horses on the horizon. We also have a small hotel Coronado was currently operating as lab and Eden is very close to Hotel Del basically kitty corner from Hotel Del that is a project that is very much in construction. We are going back and forth on what the name may be. And that's actually another pieces that we do keep to ourselves until we're fully launched. You know, you'll go on local news and and see speculated names or some of the names. We've used and the process of updating and things but you know in terms of like this grand release, it's something we hold near and dear to our hearts but that will be a very special small hotel. It will be elevated. That is not to say that by hotel is not elevated. We want to do a little bit more take on the luxury aspect of it make it attainable in a small space in an environment where that's there will be an oyster bar reservation only there will be a pool there and it's something we're excited about. So look for that. You do want to get that open this summer. It's an undeniable goal for us. As you can see, some things are kind of stacking in terms of how that's looking and there is the nature in which we are as you guys are familiar with a small team that opens the restaurants and so we're gonna do everything we can to get those open by the end of summer. So that's the current. That's what I'm excited about. You know, as someone who's ingrained as my partner's Iranian label, something I'm particularly very excited about. And then the cocktail program that we're doing there is something that I think will be really special. So this is somewhat personal, but I think that it's an impactful question, and it's how do you balance self care and work? And the short answer to that is it's it's definitively hard. But routine is something that is a necessity in my world. In terms of where I was for a long time in leadership, I've been managing spaces for about 1617 years now. I did not have self care, I did not have work life balance. I did not do any of those things for an extremely long time. Working within CH is something that dropped me that as wild as that may sound to some of you it's really where I grew up. I grew up managing and ch I came to ch with a very young, immature, righteous pain in the ass of a leader. And so you know, you guys are leaders or not, and I've ever given you advice maybe on how you're acting for how to let's say pick your battles. It comes from a place of being a real pain in the ass to our salon and at the time, and really learning the hard way of of how to progress how to get better. Now that being said, growing up, I went through a lot working for CH and again, I didn't have I think part time for myself. I didn't have time off for balance. And it is it's something that I'm coming the most thing to in my world that I ever have in terms of mindfulness in terms of balance in terms of self care, and it takes a lot of thoughtfulness in terms of balancing that time. You know the single biggest piece that I use in my world for getting things done or balancing self care or mindfulness is time blocking. Time blocking is massive for me. My calendar is mostly public, so you guys can go on google calendar and see my calendar and kind of see how I operate my world. I operate in things called sprints. sprints are it comes from like a project management terminology. It just means it's a some dedicated time to sit down and work and get shit done. For the me, article starts with a morning journal I write out the most important things I need to accomplish that day. I do it in groups of six, I always write down six. There's usually more than that. There's never less than six very important things I have to do that day. I like the number six. I like the number three I like the number nine you guys are in a Nikola Tesla, check out the theory of 369 won't go too far into it, but it's pretty special. So balance begins with reading out the most important things I have to do that day. I try to do them right away. That's before I touch my email that's before I respond to a text that's before anything else in the very simple manner of checking those items off as you start your day is the single biggest thing I've ever been able to pull off and the best thing I've ever done for my health and well being.
And so that's massive. And then I go about my day I hit my email, I make a plan. In my morning journal I also set out exactly what I'm going to do for that day. Something for me that I'll be completely honest it's not always get done, but it means the world to me and I'm a better person when I do is I intend to meditate. Meditating is a dirty word. People will be like I don't know how to quiet my mind. I don't know how to. I can't sit alone on myself. I can't sit and not be restless. I'll fall asleep. But for me, and many leaders in our world and some of the most impactful leaders in all the world. Meditation is massive. For me, I use it as practice very sound sick as much as possible. I do it in the van in the CH van. If you see me awkwardly sitting in the backseat of my own van or in the back of the van. And like I suppose I'm meditating. Please don't scare me. And I just got into mantra meditation. I went to a workshop this weekend. You guys are not familiar with mantra meditation is literally repeating a mantra. And we did this mantra meditation with mala beads, which is 100 native beads that you count. So every time you do a mantra, you count to D some of you guys will be very familiar with this. Some of you guys won't know what I'm talking about. Again, side subject if you guys want to get into it, it's it's really cool. But so for me, the most important things are balancing self care and work is planning on my days. accomplishing things very early on I need time to meditate within the day. And then in my time blocking process. I block time entirely up put it on my calendar. I'm not going to be here during this time. Not going to be moderately available during this time. You guys know that I'm often around often available but lo and behold, I'd be on times that are fully blocked up for me myself in time for myself and my partner as well. And those are things that mean the world to me. And reading is something that again, I won't claim to do every day. It's something that we're doing as a CH collective on our internal leadership team. We're reading this book right now by David Foster Wallace called something to do with paying attention. For us in this world and doing a book club is something that we always want to do, but it's not so easy to pull off and organize and make sure it gets done. And you know, the thing for us in CH is we want to make sure things get done and we don't just let habits go by the wayside. So speaking and totally to balancing self care and work. It is a very, it's a moderately unsexy answer of lock your time and stick to it and accomplish what you need to do early. And that's it. You know, it's not any sort of wild advice. I'm not any sort of sage or guru or anything like that. And that's, you know, that's my move. So that's a good question. I really appreciate that. See if you got any others
Okay, so, this is a good question for someone looking to elevate their leadership skills skills, specifically within the CH universe, what resources have you personally used and found successful? I use some very weird, moderately woowoo resources. There's a really good book called doubt aging. I'm probably saying some part of that wrong but it's like the Dallas proverb book. It speaks a lot to leadership. It speaks to leadership and war times. It's an extremely old book, and it has some very simple proverbs that have taken me a long way. You know, there is a lot that you've heard already, you know, a journey of 1000 miles begins with the stuff but in terms of leadership ones that are kind of my leadership mantras. So the people walk behind them, you know, I don't compare to being on camera right now. This is very uncomfortable for me, but something that I definitely want to do. And so, you know, leading up by walking behind them means give them the tools to succeed, give them the knowledge to succeed and let them succeed. And that ties into another brother. When a great leaders work is finished, and people will say we did it ourselves. And so for me, that's exactly what I want at all times. I don't want my name on things. I don't want to be responsible for things. Sometimes. You guys come to me with a problem. I have probably annoyed you by asking a question afterwards and not giving you the answer you were looking for at the time. These questions and that process are, you know, they're intended for you to think deeply and get the answer that you're looking for on your own. Because I think there's nothing more rewarding than that. If you are a leader and you're just giving people answers all the time. You're not necessarily teaching in that process, but if you can get people to come up with the answer on their own, or in the process of talking, that's the most beautiful thing you can do. And it's it's very rewarding for that and it's a little dopamine hit because they figured it out. They did it. It's something really special and taking it all the way back. This is really well executed our OG a really well executed our eau de is sitting down with the person and getting them to come to the conclusion of what should happen if they continue this behavior that we're trying to correct. Hey, you show up for work late again.
What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? And bring into that process? And in the same situation, you know, are in the same things that at that point, when you're filling out the r&d side, where it's like, what
are you going to do to be better? asking that person? Hey, you're late. You're late for the third time. What are some moves that we can do here to get you here on time and really get them to think about okay, well, I'm gonna set an alarm. I'm going to set two alarms, I'm going to whatever it takes, and getting people to come to that conclusion on their own is really special. So that teaching is a book that means a lot to me on a completely opposite side of that. There's an author, he's local, he's an ex navy seal, and Sam's Jocko willing, he's actually been to the hotel if you guys work in the hotel, which was like, the closest thing to a star studded moment or so and I was really excited about Jocko willing, he's this big, meathead looking fella. He wrote a book called Extreme Ownership. And the concept of Extreme Ownership is owning every single thing that happens in your world. It is a very anti victim mentality book and I think that, you know, removing any sort of victim mentality is the single biggest thing that we can do in our world to take you no matter what we've been through and we're able to release victimhood in that and understand our role in the process. And own that memory on that thought on that learning process. You're gonna get a lot further with it, versus kind of not taking ownership for what's happening to you and not taking ownership for where you're at and you're clear, not taking ownership for where you're at in your personal life. So, speaking to those resources, it's definitely not a chain. It's definitely Jocko. willings books, he has a handful of books, have all these books. I'm very happy to give you guys copies, please just shoot me a message on the side. I'm very important. And those are great. You know, a silly, silly little anecdote about how I got into all this stuff or into the blue stuff. My mom is definitely a weirdo. My parents bought the paper bed around when I was a kid. So my dad's favorite memories, mescaline. And they brought me into, you know, weird, pseudo spiritual world, but they were still blue collar and a lot of ways for the person who really drove home to me as a friend whose father immigrated here from Sicily when he was 13. Fathers who fish they are. They're not usually the Buddhists the Taoist type. This guy was particularly special. Saint was just happy. We call them Papa Joe. And when we were formative young males and our 1314 15 era he eats these damaging books in front of us and talks about the astral planes and everything and then we blew up fishing on like any other hardcore Sicilian dad in the process, and I really I owe certainly who I am. So that in a big way, and certainly, if you're either a fan of my leadership in any way, is undeniably has read origins and those books and those conversations and sitting at the table and being forced to talk about the dynamics of the world. Wasn't my resources, again, doing absolutely everything. As we wrap up here, your feedback around bringing praise into our world is appreciated and it's definitely something we can we'll do I implore all of you who are here who are leaders to institute that in your world, you know, just because they don't tell you to make a definitive prays every day or once a week. That does not mean that you shouldn't you guys have full power to do so even in your own worlds on your whatsapp on your Slack. So you're, you're tuned in and you're line level like please like shout out each other. I see really great examples of it all over ch don't stop that. In terms of giving. As a CH group, it is something we want to do. It is not super feasible right now. But inevitably, it's something that we'll get together and do when we can But speaking of that question, grow it organically as much as possible. Get together be friends. Use me as a resource if you need reservations, anywhere want to go anywhere. I'm very happy to help. The future that we talked about the study cat, so exciting stuff for me, anyone who's joining late, may Allah is looking to be our next opening and that is our Mediterranean, with a focus on Persian Cuisine and cocktails spot on. 30th Of course, within Lafayette hotel hidden inside that lobby, we are looking at the reopening or rebirth, a very new name to the new design of the Avenida and on orange as in Coronado. And that's that's the short term right now. Balancing self care and all of those pieces. I blocking meditating us about teaching. Listen to Jocko willing not say that you guys for tuning in. I don't want to take up too much more your time. Thanks for spending 30 minutes with me. We will call this the 30 minute lunch break. I really appreciate it I'm gonna send you guys some feedback. I would like to again next week. I do not know if it's feasible or interesting to everyone but I'll send out a little survey and see where we go from there. Please feel free to ask more button questions I know I directed the feedback to not be grievances. As everyone can't see the feedback regardless, please feel free to ask them some deep questions I have no I'll answer everything I can for sure. And that's it. I'll see you guys later. Today. Many places
