You’ve probably heard of Boris Burda, Andrei Makarevich, or Yulia Vysotskaya. They are certainly not the best chefs, and there are undoubtedly many good chefs we simply don’t know about because they don’t share their recipes, don’t reveal everything they know about food, aren’t the stars of television shows, and don’t publish cookbooks. Interestingly, in the West, it is the chefs themselves who engage in such activities, rather than “celebrities,” and the public knows their names, unlike the names of hundreds of other chefs.
As a business owner, you should also share everything you know. For most of the business world, this is considered taboo. Businesses tend to be paranoid about secrecy. They believe that they have a competitive advantage in this and that it sets them apart. For some, this may be true, but for most, it is not. Those who have nothing special should stop acting like those who do. Don’t be afraid to share.
It’s much easier to copy a recipe than to replicate a business. Should this scare Boris Burda? Why should he go on television and share what he does and how he does it? Why is he compiling all his recipes into a cookbook that anyone can buy and replicate? Because he knows that having those recipes and techniques isn’t enough to outplay him in a game for which he wrote the rules. No one is going to buy a famous chef’s book, open a restaurant next to him, and push him out of business. It just doesn’t work that way. Meanwhile, most business people think about what will happen when their competitors learn how they run their business. Get over it.
So, act like famous chefs do. They cook and they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What is your cookbook? What can you share with the world about how you work that would be interesting, informative, and appealing? This blog is my cookbook. Where is yours?
*Especially — Yulia Vysotskaya. As someone familiar with this field, I advise you not to watch or listen to the nonsense she spouts, as her recipes are rife with blatant amateurism, a complete disconnect from theory, and a detachment from practice.