There's a new management breed springing up in high Paris society led by a motivational talking rat who happens to cook.
If you don't believe me, watch Disney's feature-length animation film, Ratatouille. The movie takes place in Paris and is about a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a gourmet chef.
Only problem is he's a rat! Go figure. Remy has a highly developed sense of smell and a keen appreciation for food. He yearns for a better life and desires to raise himself out of a meager existence of living in sewers and scrambling for crumbs and rotten cheese.
Ahh, but it's not to be, mon ami. You see, he eees after all a rat! And responsible rats have to look after themselves. So Remy's Dad puts his talent to use by making him the Chief Sniffer. Remy's sole job is to sniff all the rotten food and human leftovers day in and day out to make sure there's no rat poison in the food for his Dad's rat colony.
Yuk! Talk about one stinking job! I'm treading on dangerous ground here, but can't we all relate to this story on some level? I mean, sometimes we just fall into doing work that's less than desirous and not even close to what we're really, really passionate about in our hearts.
Sometimes we just settle for far less than the best we deserve in order to 'make a living' or meet other people's expectations of us. Pretty soon we fall into a rut - a routine - and get cozy. Welcome to the Rat Race! The never-ending treadmill of constant busyness. A dream stealer disguised as a golden ladder to nowhere.
Ratatouille is a story about one rat's dilemma to either play it safe by sticking to his normal rat routine and winning the approval of his friends and family or enter the forbidden human world and risk everything in pursuit of his dream to become a gourmet chef in the most prestigious restaurant in Paris.
We can all learn from Remy's adventures and wisdom. I certainly did, and I'd like to share with you some insights I took away from the movie:
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