Anthony Lambatos, BS ‘04
Job Title: Owner of Footers Catering in Denver, CO.
Major: Business; Economics

Part of the Daily Emerald "Alumni Take Flight" Series

 Shortly after Anthony Lambatos graduated from the University of Oregon in 2004, he went to work for the family business, Footers Catering—eventually taking over ownership from his father a few years later. Owning a business appealed to Anthony, as it gave him the opportunity to shape and frame how a company was going to exist. Experienced in his leadership role, he has established a national reputation for his sister company, Mibe Tribe, for its work with company culture. Anthony also serves on the Board of Directors for the UO Alumni Association.

How does being in a leadership position affect the way you communicate with colleagues and clients?

Communication is extremely important. If you have employees, or are leading people and aren’t communicating what is going on, then they are going to make up the story themselves. You should make the decision to take control of that message and be transparent and forthcoming. Also, saying what you know is equally as important as explaining what you don't know. There is an assumption that when you are in a leadership position, you have to have all the answers and know everything—but I think that the most powerful leaders are able to say, “Hey, I don’t really know what we’re going to do in this situation yet, but here are the steps I’m taking to try to figure it out.”

What kind of leadership skills do you admire the most?

I really admire when a leader can be vulnerable. I think it’s a powerful thing, and it goes back to what I was saying about the misconception between leadership and arrogance. Emotional intelligence is probably the number one thing a leader should possess. You have to understand people’s emotions and feelings and how your decisions impact those things. If you think about the best or worst boss you’ve ever had, it’s not usually because of how good they were at their job. We deem them a great boss or a bad boss based on how they made you feel. Great bosses inspire you, while bad bosses do nothing but criticize.

As someone who is constantly busy and trying to be on top of things, what are some ways to assure that your performance at work is balanced and systematic?

I think that you have to have a very clear priority for each day. Sometimes I have days where I get distracted by responding to emails, and I’ve realized that if you’re not being intentional about the things you want to do, the day just floats away. So, I always try to start my day off by thinking about the three things that I want to accomplish by the end of it—and do those things first.

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with current students and recent graduates?

Get experience! Don’t be afraid to go after the job even if you don’t think you’ll love it or that it won’t be beneficial to your career. It’s important to understand what you like and what you don’t. For example, there are people who really need structure in what they do, and so to have a boss or be in a job where the expectations are laid out every day is perfect for them. Then there are people who don’t want that at all. Some people would rather be told the objective and expected to find their own autonomy to get it. Personal preferences like these are neither good nor bad. They exist because people thrive in different work conditions. The thing to remember about personal preferences though is that you can't figure out what they are until you’ve experienced them.



Written by Skylar Anderson, Daily Emerald Reporter