The Impact of a Single Person

I work for a man called Björn Frantzen. He is in charge of the only three Michelin star restaurant in Sweden, and the only chef in the world to have three restaurants with three stars. Before he turned to cheffing he was a promising football player, but had to stop due to a heart condition.

I asked some friends and co-workers in the kitchen if they think Sweden would have any three star restaurant if he had never been a chef. I got mixed replies. Some thought we would have more. Most thought we would have none. I am inclined to agree with the latter.

The idea is that a single person can achieve changes.

If Mark Zuckerberg hadn’t existed would we still have a society addicted to the digital opium?

At the same time we can ask ourselves, would anyone have stepped foot on the moon if Neil Armstrong wasn’t an astronaut? I will leave you to answer that one yourself.

But the second examples speaks to something different, the ground is ripe for the picking to achieve something great. If Björn hadn’t been in hospitality, would someone else have tried to get first to getting 3 stars.

I am speaking to the outsized effect of someone with ambition coming into a field where the ground is ripe for the picking. The person needs to be a leader, convince people of their vision, then together work towards the vision together.