Leadership is difficult in any organization, but the high-pressure, fast-paced world of world-class restaurants is especially known for chefs who rule with a ferocious style. So it may be surprising to learn that one of the top chefs in the country credits his adoption of Buddhism for his successful approach to leadership.

Eric Ripert is the chef and co-owner of New York’s famed Le Bernardin, which has won the highest three-star ranking from the prestigious Michelin guide for eleven years running, according to Entrepreneur. At age 50, Ripert looks back on his younger, typically brash persona with some embarrassment, but notes that traditional “old school” French training fostered abusive kitchen relationships.

Ripert began working at Le Bernardin at age 24, and at the very young age of 29 he was thrust into the executive chef position when the restaurant’s original chef and owner suddenly died. Shortly after taking over the kitchen, the restaurant earned a four-star review from the New York Times, but Ripert says the accolades did not make him happy.

He realized that his rough demeanor was driving away staff and scaring employees who stayed. It was then that he decided to change his leadership style, adapting his Buddhist principles to his workplace. Ripert includes the Dalai Lama among his teachers, and practices meditation daily before going in to work.

His kitchen today reflects the calmness and respectfulness of Buddhist values. The staff members are expected to follow the chef’s lead in respecting and treating each other with dignity.

Unlike many other celebrity chefs, who expand their businesses to cash in on fame, Ripert has actually scaled back his commitments. In 2008, he was running three restaurants in Ritz Carlton hotels in Philadelphia, Washington DC, and in the Grand Cayman Island, in addition to his work at Le Bernardin. Today he has cut ties with two of the three, choosing to focus on his work and family life in New York.