In 1994 I heard a quote that changed my life. It was said by Nick Nolte in the movie Blue Chips.

Nick Nolte is one of the most electric actors in history. Check out Cape Fear (1991), Affliction (1998) and Warrior (2011) to see what I mean.

In the movie Nolte plays a college basketball coach whose fictional team rises to the national championship where they face the mighty Indiana Hoosiers coached by Bobby Knight.

In the locker room just before the game he says:

Indiana’s over there in the other locker room wondering what the hell we’re going to do. Well, I’ll send a note over to Bobby Knight and I’ll tell him exactly what we’re going to do. I’ll give him our offense, I’ll give him our defense because it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it!

 

It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.

There are, in my hometown of Boise Idaho, a precious few fine restaurants. Not many, but a few. My wife, Samantha, and I visit these restaurants every Thursday night on our weekly date. We eat and talk. Communication is the currency of marriage.

The restaurants we prefer believe in the fine art of cuisine and invest of themselves and their pocketbooks in pursuit of their ideals.

Sam and I can quickly discern if a restaurant has love of the craft, love of the clientele and the love of fine service. We talk about the “love” invested in these restaurants as a measure of their value to us. It doesn’t really matter, the food they serve. If they do it for the love, its usually very tasty.

We’re in Boise, Idaho, so most of these restaurants go out of business within a few years. In fact, all of them have. We have a long list of closed restaurants we’ve enjoyed over the years. I thank God and the owners that they exist each time we make a visit.

One of these restaurants is Eat Drink, White Rabbit. It’s operated by a couple who have opened and closed several fine restaurants in the Boise area for about 20 years. This couple is very successful at making the most of their restaurant and imbuing them with love.

But this couple isn’t the subject of this story.

In their restaurant works a man who has served Sam and I over the last 30 years at several local restaurants now long gone. His name is Bob. I don’t know his last name. He’s probably in his middle 60’s.

Bob’s a server. A professional server.

You don’t need a college degree to be a server. You don’t need a certificate or a license. No governmental agency strives to maintain strict standards required to be a server. Yet Bob has found a way to take food service to a high art in a town absolutely not known for this.

He’s friendly, gentle, engaging, knowledgeable and he loves food. His eyes sparkle when he sees us enter the restaurant. He shakes our hands, points us to our table and delicately describes the menu and specials particular to the day.

It’s estimated that there are 2.5 million food servers in America. Most operate well below Bob’s high standards. Many resent their work as a server, thinking it beneath them. It’s a cliche that servers have failed at important endeavors or are waiting for their big break. There are, of course, other professional servers like Bob but most servers do the minimum job required, waiting for their shift to end.

But there is another way.

Bob demonstrates that every job, no matter what it is, has potential to be an ennobling craft that can lift those around him.

One evening I risked offending Bob by asking about his lifetime of food service. He said he had loved it. He has lived a modest, but low stress life, paid for two children through college and bought a nice little house on the bench somewhere. His eyes confirmed the validity of his statement as he spoke.

Bob is the perfect example of making the most of his job. He has embraced the craft of what he’s doing and respected it.

What do you do? Do you do it to the utmost? Do you ennoble your work with your effort and passion?

Because it’s not what you do. It’s how you do it.