By Charlie Pogacar

Juan Robles, executive chef at Triple Beam Pizza in Los Angeles, was the youngest of three children raised by a single mother. And while he loved playing sports growing up, he remembers only a handful of times that his mother was able to attend his games. She had to work three different jobs to put food on the table, and that left him feeling resentful. 

“That resentment wasn’t towards her—she had to work to make a living,” Robles said. “It was towards her managers. I just feel like where there’s a will, there’s a way. There’s always a way of being able to do things [for your team members].” 

In other words, if Robles’ mother had managers who viewed her as a person rather than just another employee, maybe she would’ve gotten a few more shifts covered over the years to spend time with her family. This shaped the way Robles viewed management: If he were ever a leader, he told himself, he would do things differently. 

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Two decades into his career, and Robles is a walking embodiment of the change he wished to see in the world. He practices what he calls empathetic leadership, creating a two-way street between himself and his team members at Triple Beam Pizza, a Roman-style concept with four locations in the Los Angeles area. Robles aims to build a workplace where everyone enjoys spending time—one where somebody like his mother won’t be afraid to ask to swap shifts so they can spend some time with their family. 

“Empathetic leadership is where people know that they are valued and that they matter,” Robles said. “It’s getting to know that person and the names of their kids. It’s taking the time to get to know who they are, not necessarily what they do.” 

Robles gives credit to Triple Beam Pizza founders Nancy Silverton and Matt Molina, leaders in their own right who have given Robles the space to implement his own cultural vision in the brand’s kitchen. And it’s important to note that Robles’s empathetic leadership isn’t exactly a novel concept—in an industry that has struggled with labor, many pizzeria operators have tried different approaches to create a better culture at the store level. But Robles’ dedication to it, and language surrounding it, is a breath of fresh air. 

“Work is still work,” Robles said. “But that doesn’t mean that you cannot create an environment where people look forward to coming in and feeling like they are hanging with their comrades.”

One of the foundations of Robles’ leadership style is the work of Simon Sinek, an author and inspirational speaker. Sinek believes in leading with emotional intelligence (something he calls “EQ”), or the idea that being vulnerable can lead to genuine connections in the workplace. 

“One of his books that I enjoy most,” Robles said, “is called Leaders Eat Last. And what that means is that you’ve always got to make sure that your team members are well before you are well. It’s putting that human part of you into the work and not just thinking of it as some laborious aspect of life where you’re only focused on getting things done.” 

This isn’t easy work, Robles notes. He estimates that it can require two-to-three times more effort to learn the names and interests of every team member. He even puts pressure on himself to memorize that information. Especially when the average manager feels pulled in a million different directions—and has no idea how long a team member might actually end up working for them—slowing down and creating human connection is a challenge many shrug off. But Robles believes the investment on the front end yields better results in the long run. If team members sense that you have their best interests in mind, they are more likely to go above and beyond in the workplace. 

“When you start [leading] in this empathetic manner, what ends up happening is they realize that you care for them, and when they realize that, they start caring for you through the work,” Robles said. “That’s why I believe that the pizza we make stands out—it’s that love or that care or that empathetic return from them… it’s also that they start doing things for you because they want to, not because they have to.”

Perhaps Robles’ most radical belief is centered around his perspective on how a workplace actually runs. As somebody who has been with Triple Beam Pizza since 2019—and in charge of four restaurants, plus a commissary kitchen, for nearly five years—he’d have every right to view himself as a senior leader with the brand. But he takes a different approach, one where he’s not at all opposed to covering a shift so a team member can, say, attend their child’s soccer game. 

“I don’t consider myself above any of the people that work with me,” Robles said. “I just see it—and I tell them all the time—I just have a different set of responsibilities in this business than they do, but our job is to move it forward together.

“It’s about understanding that we all have the ability to accomplish whatever we want,” Robles said. “You just have to be willing to put in the work, deal with the crap when it comes up, and even when it hits you down, you stand up and you keep going.”