To totally optimize your profit and have an enjoyable place to work you are going to have to learn leadership. Whether you feel you are a born leader or not these are skills that will inspire your employees and drive your profit margin as large as possible.
Respect
First off we need to talk about respect. If you can't have respect for the people that work for you please get out of the restaurant business, or any business. Think what can happen if your employees don’t respect you. They won’t care about food quality, or care about food waste or care about customer relations. A disgruntled employee (which is likely if you don’t practice good leadership) can cause you bad PR. This will affect the other employees and could lead to theft.
The entire vibe of the shop will be based on your attitude, go in miserable every day and your staff will be also. You must put on your game face every day regardless of how you feel. Be light and jovial, have fun, joke around with your crew. Don’t dwell on bad things or mistakes, find the good side, make it a learning experience and move on. You have to earn your employees respect.
Building Respect
Building respect will is crucial for any leader and takes time and effort. You have to lead by example and this is an important way to begin building respect. Begin by being punctual and consistent in your actions. Learn every job in the business and spend time actually working each position on a regular basis. Yes, wash some dishes when the you have a call in, work the line one a week for a few hours, close the kitchen every once and a while and let your staff go home early.
It is also important to respond quickly to your employees concerns, you may not be able to act quickly or at all, but let your employees know you hear them. Make sure you give respect to employees at all times and especially when they are wrong or make mistakes. Make sure the culture is one in which employees easily admit mistakes, as then know they will be treated with respect. You don't want your business to devolve into the drama of the blame game. Resist every temptation to blame others yourself, at the end of the day you as the owner are the one responsible.
Ego
Let’s talk a little about ego. It can be tempting to let your ego get the best of you. You will have to try your hardest to put your ego aside in order to be a good leader and business owner. If ego is your main motivation for opening a business then you may have trouble with this type of business. Maybe a business with no employees would be more appropriate. If you want to open a business so you can boss people around and have your ass kissed, then think very hard about opening a restaurant let alone any business.
To instill leadership and garner respect from your crew you will have to be humble. Give credit to those who are due, give credit to everyone, just not you. Deep down you can be happy knowing the role you played in the success. You need to be gracious, forgiving and thoughtful. Your staff should feel they are wanted and needed for the success of your business. You should be thanking your staff all the time. And make sure it is not fake sentiment, which can make the situation worse. Small actions can go a long way, holiday and summer parties, a few drinks after work, etc. Treat your staff like the family they are, they are your most important asset.
Keeping a positive attitude
It is imperative that restaurant leaders always have a positive attitude. Nothing can sink the morale of a ship more than the leader continually complaining or talking negatively about the business, customers or staff. The culture of the business starts at the top, with the owner. How you act in the presence of your staff is how your staff will act in front of your customers. You must learn to keep your complaining and venting to yourself. Find another person in your life (outside of your business) who you trust to chat with if you really need to vent. Undermining your staff in front of others is a sure fire way to destroy morale and ruin your ability to lead and inspire others. Always put a positive spin on events, there is always a learning opportunity within every bad situation.
Get to know your team...
It will be incredible important to get to know your staff, and not just their works skills. Get to know them personally, ask about how they spend their time off work. Having a personal connection will go a long way to building a great team. Social events can be a great way to break the ice and have a chat with staff about no work items. You should have some idea of the persons skills in the kitchen or front of house. Use this knowledge to place people in appropriate positions and make sure they are properly trained. Throwing a staff member in a position they are not ready for is very stressful for some employees and lead to turnover.
Having an understanding of a staff members ambitions will also pay off in the long run. Some of your staff will be happy in the position they are in and not wish to move up in the business. Others will and will let you know that they want to try a new position, some may be to introverted to ask. Your future super start line cook maybe stuck washing dishes and will eventually become unmotivated and possibly leave.
Being a mentor
The most important and probably most fulfilling role of an owner in leadership is that of a mentor. It is super rewarding to see a young high school student come out of their shell and interact with customers effortlessly. Or a shy line cook take on expo and manage a rush to perfection. Most of your staff will not come in with the skills and attitude necessary for the success of your business. Helping your staff develop their restaurant skills and life skills will pay off massive dividends. You will get the staff you want and minimize costly turnover.
Take a class
You don't have to go get an MBA to learn leadership, but taking a few courses can't hurt. There are a number of free resources out there like the list here from coursera. Getting a formal take on how to lead people can be very useful. Here is a good article from Inc with more resources.
Being a great restaurant leader really just boils down to being a nice person, giving respect, mentoring, and leading by example.