José Andrés on turning skills into career transformations

- Very often, we miss the biggest opportunity that is right in the place we are by looking so much out. It's okay to look out, but it's okay to realize where you are too. - [Ryan] Welcome to The Path, where I, Ryan Roslansky, sit down with the biggest change makers, innovators, and thought leaders in the world. At the end, we'll see what turning points shaped the journey of these incredible success stories. Today, I sit down with the man you can thank for making Spanish tapas popular in the United States, Jose Andres. Jose is a chef, a humanitarian, an educator, an entrepreneur, and even a media tycoon. Here's how Jose Andres paved his path. I want to go way back. A young Jose in Spain. Take me back to what you wanted to be when you grew up. - I wanted to be a lot of things. When I saw that we had people going to the moon, I wanted to be an astronaut. When I visited a hospital with my dad and my mom, because they were nurses, I wanted to be them because I thought it was so cool. I think very early on, I always wanted to be a cook because I saw my mom and my dad were creating happiness out of just feeding the family, with also the crazy things that go in every family, and my brothers and I was fighting against each other, and, but those were happy moments. And it seems food was always around. It's not like I decided to be a cook. Food made me join them. - I love that. What part did school play for you early on? - I realized the school system was not great for me. That's why I left the school fairly young. I didn't finish high school. I think I only finalized the first year, and my father saw this and sent me to culinary school, which I didn't go, because the school was new and didn't even have the kitchen. So I start never going to school, and I began going to restaurants because that's where the real learning was. I think I'm still deciding if I want to be a chef because the more I know, the more I know nothing. Everybody makes me an expert on the Spanish cooking. I know a lot about the Spanish cooking, but every time I travel across Spain, every single day is five new things I learn. Sometimes education puts us in a box. - Yeah. - I think we need to create systems that we are all more out of the box and more interconnected. - So what I've learned already quickly is continuous learning seems to be really, really important to you. I know part of your career, you were in the Navy. What was that experience of your life like? - Life gave me the opportunity to be in the Spanish Navy, but they put me cooking for the admiral, which in a way was a blessing, but in a way it was a curse. I wanted to be on a boat, not cooking in another kitchen. I told him, I love to cook for you, but I want to see the world. I began visiting Abidjan and visiting Rio de Janeiro, and going for Teles and Maceio, and going to Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. I saw inequalities and people taking advantage of people. As a young person, that was very impactful. - [Ryan] Fast forward a couple of years and Jose is out of the military, jobless, with only $50 in his pocket and a set of cooking knives. That's when he decides to go all in on a lifelong dream and move to New York City. He worked his way up to being a cook in Manhattan, and just two years later, in 1993, he was asked to lead the kitchen at a new tapas restaurant in Washington, DC named Jaleo. At the time, Americans weren't familiar with Spanish tapas, but Jose changed that. Jaleo became a huge success. His work ignited an interest in Spanish cuisine for decades to come and put Jose on the map as one of the best chefs in the world. He would go on to open over 30 restaurants worldwide, even earning himself two Michelin stars. He was cooking up a storm, but his skills in the kitchen are just one part of Jose's recipe for success. His secret ingredient is simply caring. - For me, being an entrepreneur is a realization that you are the owner of your business even if you don't own one share, and taking true ownership in everything you do. I think this is something like I've always realized, that one place I've been, I've always make it like my own. Because you want it to be the best it can be. I was proud in what I did. I was proud in what I cook, and if something was not allowing me to be successful on that front, I will speak up. I will never keep my mouth shut. - Have you found a way to impart that way of thinking on other people or to help other people realize? - We are only as good as our own actions. We can always finger point at others for the lack of success in our own world, when, actually, you should just finger point at yourself. Life, in a way, is like a big highway. You are the one that decides when to take an exit when you are not enjoying that path anymore. - [Ryan] I love that. - We all have that power. - [Ryan] In 2010, Jose formed his nonprofit called World Central Kitchen, an instant reaction to the devastating earthquake in Haiti. He flew into the island with no plan but to feed as many people as he could, and he used that experience to later help in future catastrophes, volcanic eruptions in Guatemala, wildfires in California, and hurricanes in Puerto Rico. His work earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. To date, his organization has served over 250 million meals to communities in need. Most recently, in Turkey and Syria, where he and his team arrived just three days after the massive earthquake shook the region, providing meals to survivors and rescue workers on the ground. - I'm here in Syria, 20 minutes from the Turkish border. This was nothing. And in 24, 48 hours, take a look. We have kitchens, we have amazing peppers. For me, it was this very simple realization that it's hard to be in a community, in a city, on a planet, that you know you're doing well, but then others are not. And what's the role that all of us, we can be doing to improve the lives and the situations of other people? We can all complain about how dirty the cities are, or we can all just start picking up a piece of paper and putting it in the garbage. Sometimes when you want to change the world, sometimes it starts just by one plate of food at a time, or just by picking up a piece of paper and putting it on the garbage can. That's why, for me, being there where the problems are are so important because it's the only way I really understand them. So from hunger to poverty, to food deserts, to obesity, to all the, to climate change, food is right in the middle. And food for me has been this amazing medium that if I put food in the center, and I try to solve all the problems the world faces by giving power to food, it's a fascinating game. - I love that. So I'm curious, what's the advice that you would give to someone who's just trying to figure out, they want to be part of something bigger, but they don't know where to start or how to start? - Well, one of the things I really realized early on was we always look far away to see the happiness. The happiness we don't seem to have where we are. Can be at the personal level, at the family level, at the work level, but very often we miss the biggest opportunity that is right in the place we are by looking so much out, we lose the opportunity to make something amazing right in the place we control with the people we love and know. That is the power you have. So I will tell always everybody, it is okay to look out. I've done it, it works. But it's okay to realize where you are too. - [Ryan] So here's my takeaway. On LinkedIn, I talk a lot about transferrable skills, usually through the lens of shifting careers or industries, and Jose is an incredible example of why that's important. Jose started his career as a chef, but he didn't just become a chef and stop. He used that skill and, most importantly, his passion to take him on a journey through different worlds and industry. He used his skills to launch a nonprofit, become a professor, a documentarian, a podcast host, an author. The point is one single skill, a passion, and an openness to learn gave him the ability to pursue multiple careers instead of staying on one single path. (upbeat music)