Alain Ducasse learned to love food on his parents’ farm. He received his first three-star Michelin rating—for Le Louis XV, in Monaco—when he was just 33 and now runs an empire of more than 20 restaurants (with a collective 19 Michelin stars) in cities from Tokyo to Las Vegas. Interviewed by Patrice Piquard

A version of this article appeared in the May 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.