Damola Adamolekun has risen in popularity since becoming Red Lobster’s youngest CEO in August 2024, helping the restaurant chain emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and building a cult following in the process.
But Red Lobster isn’t his first CEO job. Adamolekun was appointed chief executive officer of PF Chang’s in April 2020, shortly after the start of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. Adamolekun said he followed an older, more experienced executive, eight-time CEO John Antioco, but that never stopped him from getting his job done.
“You have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses in anything you do,” the 36-year-old said on the Dec. 11 episode of the “How Leaders Lead with David Novak” podcast. “I have a lot of strengths, but experience is definitely a weakness in this situation, right? Some people have been doing it for 20 years, but I haven’t.”
“You can’t be a perfect candidate for anything,” Adamolekun continued. “There will always be areas where you are weak, so for me it’s important to recognize them, emphasize your strengths, and shore up your weaknesses.”
In his case, Adamolekun had many years of experience in the restaurant industry from a financial perspective. Prior to taking the reins at the restaurant, he was a partner at investment firm Paulson & Company, where he led the acquisition of PF Chan’s in a $700 million deal in 2019, a private equity associate at TPG Capital, and an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs. He also served as Antioco’s chief strategy officer for a year and established PF Chang’s self-delivery business before the pandemic hit.
He also had people skills, he said. He was willing to put on his hard hat and work on-site to help the store reopen. Whatever Adamolekun didn’t know, he relied on his colleagues and employees to fill in the gaps.
“There was experience around me,” he said. “As long as you’re willing to listen to it, it becomes your own experience, right? As long as you’re willing to engage with these people. … Even if I didn’t have (the information) myself, it was all around me.”
“My job was to coordinate the team, set the strategy, motivate people, get things moving, empower the right people, promote the right people,” Adamolekun continued. “To the extent we have been able to do that, we have been able to build a great team and drive the business forward.”
Hiring the right people and letting them do the work is a key responsibility for business leaders, said Mark Cuban, a billionaire and former micromanaging boss. Too arrogant and you risk damaging employee morale, he said in a 2023 podcast, “Bio Eats World.” Let’s go. Let’s go faster, faster. ”
“Sometimes my (business) partner Todd (Wagner) would say to me, ‘Look, you’re scaring some people, and they’re usually going to (quit), so don’t get mad,'” Cuban added.
In 2021, one year after Adamolekun became CEO, PF Chan’s revenue rose from $601 million to $922 million, according to research and consulting firm Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurants report. He said in an interview with Good Morning America in July that the company is on a similar recovery trajectory as it emerges from bankruptcy and is betting on menu innovation and hospitality enhancements that will draw consumers back.
The company also cut 10% of its corporate professionals and 200 restaurant staff in an effort to stabilize revenue, a spokesperson recently told Bloomberg.
When it comes to tackling big challenges head-on at work, Adamolekun offers this advice: Don’t feel pressured to take pride in your work.
“If you worry too much about pressure, you get stressed out and lose clear thinking,” he said on David Novak’s podcast. “I don’t want people to be so scared of risks that they’ll be pushed into a mental corner and pressured into making the wrong decision. Regardless of the risk, you need to make decisions calmly.”
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