Nathan’s October 2020 Newsletter
Photo Credit: Dror Galili
Let’s talk about gratitude.
The theme this month is gratitude. Since our last update just a month ago, so much has happened, which is great news considering we are amidst a lockdown here in Israel and the holiday season. The focus was on our curriculum design summit, which took place on September 14 – 16.
I spoke about this at the opening session of the curriculum design summit. My background is not in the culinary arts, which is unique, considering we are creating a culinary ecosystem here in Northern Israel. My kitchen abilities are also quite embarrassing, like scrambled eggs, I might only be able to perfect them, one out of the ten times that I make them.
One of the reasons I jumped at the opportunity to help build the GCI by JNF is the conversation I had with both Russell Robinson, CEO of JNF, USA, and Lior Lev Sercarz, Co-founder of the GCI, before I was hired for the position.
It was clear that they read my resume in my interview and knew enough about me to see that I did not have a culinary background. I have never doubted my abilities to lead and foster great team environments that succeed in all areas. Still, I was very curious about them not hiring someone with a culinary background. The answer that they both gave solidified the team environment I wanted to be a part of. They said, “we want someone to come in with a fresh perspective, to build the GCI without a pre-existing framework.”
This is why we held the curriculum design summit. We previously had done a lot of work researching what is and is not currently working in the culinary industry. When we partnered with Rouxbe on creating the curriculum, we wanted to push traditional culinary education boundaries. Instead of creating what we thought was needed, we asked the experts what they thought of our ideas and asked them to dream and brainstorm with us to create a one-of-a-kind culinary experience. The end goal being, how do we help develop culinary leaders and disruptors?
Gratitude cannot fully express how I feel. We received over 100+ surveys back from top executives in and outside of the culinary industry: entrepreneurs, culinary and non culinary educators, marketing and communications experts, cookbook authors, business leaders, and everyone else in between. After the surveys, we conducted over ten zoom interviews with survey participants to clarify the answers to ensure we understood some common themes. Once we collected all this data, we created the summit sessions and identified the experts we wanted to participate in each session.
The culmination being a curriculum design summit stretching over three days, over 100 participants (each being major influencers with significant experience across many industries), four sessions each day of 50 minutes, covering topics such as business and innovation, culinary experience, marketing, technology (food and Agtech), and much more.
I am overwhelmed with appreciation. Everyone coming together with the common purpose of creating a culinary education that results in culinary leaders.
We are not here to create a false sense of every person turning into a “Top Chef” winner. We believe that every student can become a leader, no matter what path they choose. Whether it be impacting thousands of people or a few, they lead and positively impact the community they decide to call home.
Now, this would be amazing in and of itself, but in the current world we live in, it is even more impressive. People might look at what is going on in the world today with Covid-19, the political landscape, and have a gloomy outlook on the future to come. We see a fantastic opportunity to ensure our culinary leaders of tomorrow are ready for anything. These leaders can push the boundaries, as the food and tourism industries will never be the same.
We are in challenging times, and anyone that needs good health, mentally and physically, should have it, and we hope that anybody that is struggling to find work should be able to find it and see better days soon. During the tough times, though, some of the most successful innovations are born. We see these times as an opportunity to rethink culinary education and the education industry as a whole.
I’m grateful and humbled by all the support from family, friends, colleagues, and culinary industry members. We are now going through all our notes and creating the foundation for our flagship program. Hopefully, I will share some of our takeaways next month and some of the unique aspects we will be implementing at the GCI by JNF.
While the holiday season is about to wind down, I want to bless everyone with a fantastic year of growth, health, and success in all that you do. We are looking forward to sharing more good news in the coming months.
L’chaim (To life)
Nathan