Duff Goldman, Chief Agitating Officer
Monday, January 22, 2007 | posted by Mike
Everyone has their own management style. Some bosses are your buddy. Some are stern and demanding. And then there is Duff Goldman.
From all appearances, Duff runs Charm City Cakes like Robin Hood ran his band of Merry Men. When you're watching Ace of Cakes, you know that work is getting done, but you still marvel at the amount of goofing off that goes on. Just like any other workplace, the tone of the office is set my the person in charge, and nobody will ever confuse Duff with Bill Lumberg.
So, how does Duff get the job done? An interview with All Your TV sheds a little bit of light on the subject. Check this out:
It's funny, I get bored when things are going smoothly, but I love working under pressure.
That got me thinking. Last week's episode included segments were Duff threw a hand grenade into the operations of the kitchen twice. The first was a minor one, when he decided to implement his "blue tape" project tracking system, which received a less-than-appreciative response. The second incident was when he lost the keys to his van, tore the place apart, made a huge production out of going to have new keys made and then promptly found the missing key once he returned.
Now, I'm not going to claim that Duff lost the key on purpose or that he didn't have a good reason to introduce his new color-coded way of doing things, but I think Dr. Freud might have had something to say.
Of course, being an agitator who gets "bored when things are going smoothly" doesn't make Goldman a bad manager. Some workplaces, particularly those that rely on creativity and that work under tight time constraints, thrive on a little chaos. Of course, the key to this is to make sure that you have employees that are able to respond under that pressure. Duff has spoken on a number of occasions about how he hires friends and people who he likes to hang out with, so I'm guessing that he attracts the kind of people who can work hard, play hard and deal with the curve balls that he likes to throw.
Anyway, next time Duff does something that throws the Charmers into chaos, just keep in mind that it might just be part of Duff's plan for success.
Labels: Duff Goldman
