Cover Story
Sharing the wealth
How Robert Ott struck gold with a collaborative management style at Claim Jumper Restaurants
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Orange County | May 2008
Page 1 of 4
Robert Ott wasn’t always sold on the idea of collaborative management. But once he tried it, he was hooked.
When Ott, the president and CEO of Claim Jumper Restaurants
LLC, got his start in restaurant management 22 years ago, he certainly wouldn’t have described his management style as collaborative.
“When you’re younger, you tend to think your thought process
is the right one,” he says.
But after years of doing it his way, he realized that some of the
poor decisions he made in the past could easily have been averted if he listened to some alternative viewpoints. He began to rely
more on the other members of his staff and was amazed by how
their different perspectives improved the overall decision-making
process.
“The single thread of an idea starts to blossom because people
start adding to it and that thread becomes a rope because there are
all these different intertwining thoughts that make that idea stronger
than the original idea,” he says.
The synergy created by the group dynamic completely energized
him. Ott never looked back, and his collaborative management style
has helped spur Claim Jumper Restaurants to sales of almost $300
million in 2007, up from $270 million in 2006.
Here’s how Ott harnesses the power of collaborative leadership to
drive Claim Jumper Restaurants to new levels of success.
