Yes, you got to follow the process but.. you need to use your brain too.
Here is an example:
I was at Frys buying a gadget for around nine dollars. The person at the cash register did something on the computer, paused, looked at me and asked – “Sir, would you like to buy an insurance for this item..it’s only $5.95″
I was busy checking something on my blackberry. I looked up and smiled at him.
Thinking my smile was a nod of agreement, he asked again – “Should I go ahead and add it?”
I told him that I smiled at him surprisingly not in agreement.
It is interesting to observe people who are blindly following the process. I feel sorry for them in a way as I honestly hope that the kid who was working there wanted to get some “experience” in the real-world but this is really not the way of getting that experience.
Oh, well..
PS:
1. I love Frys and this has nothing to do with the store. I wish them well.
OK, below is a video that will show you how to do just that. Enjoy!
The video has been viewed more than a million times.
Now, what is the point?
First, it is interesting to learn to fold a shirt in 2 seconds.
More important, there is a lesson here. What other trick similar to “folding a shirt in 2 seconds” do you know? All you need is a simple video camera and basic editing skills to get that on to YouTube.
Most people keep waiting for that “right opportunity” to act. With the tools available today, you can go and create that “right opportunity.” This video is one such example.
When you are absolutely the best, there is really very little competition. As they say, there is not a lot of traffic in the extra mile. You can see an example when you see the list of top 25 films of 2008 (based on box office earnings)
There is no ABSOLUTE value for anything. It’s all relative. There is a time and a PLACE for everything. You bring your products or services at the right time and the right place and you have a winner!
If it seems too obvious, it is. It is just that executing on the seemingly simple thing is…well, quite complicated!
Today I received an email from Barnes and Noble about a weight loss book.
People who have seen me in person know that if I lose any more weight I might disappear
This ad made me laugh out loud.
A message to Barnes and Noble: Carpet bombing won’t help. I will buy at least a few dozen books in 2009. So, please send me an offer that will make sense to ME!!
It’s a magnificent book (527 pages, full of beautiful pictures) about what happens inside elBulli in one day.
elBulli is supposed to be the world’s most famous restaurant. Owned by Ferran Adria and Juli Soler, they have had an amazing run for the last two decades. The restaurant is open only from April to September. They serve only 8,000 people in a season. But the number of reservation requests they get: 2 Million. There is no waiting list as it would take years to get through the waiting list.
This book is a brilliant introduction to this fascinating place and the people behind them. It is an inspiring story for ANYONE and EVERYONE – not just the people in the restaurant business. As a starter, please watch this 10-minute video about elBulli (from YouTube)
So I have compiled a few notes from elBulli to serve as an inspiration as you start the new year.
1. “You don’t have problems if new ones arrive every minute”
Ferran is so busy setting himself challenges that he does not have the time to stop and see them as problematic. In fact, solving them is essential to helping him keep an active and creative mind. Seen this way, his problems are not problems at all.
2. “Ambition without patience is a dangerous thing”
Forcing things gets you nowhere and patience is essential. This is the attitude elBulli has tried hard to adopt over the last twenty years.There is a painstaking process of trial and error behind the development of every dish, and the creative process cannot be hurried.
3. “Ideas are easy – you just need to have some”
It is impossible to say where ideas come from but it helps to be curious all the time, and to keep trying.
4. “A concept is an idea that can open new doors”
A concept is the set of essential qualities that characterize a dish, not the recipe itself. One concept can lead to many different elaborations and new dishes.
5. “A creative person tries to do what they don’t know how to do”
6. “Being innovative is much harder today than it was ten years ago”
After many years of creative development, it becomes harder to push the boundaries, and now there are many more chefs striving to invent new techniques. This is why Ferran , Oriol and Albert continue their creative sessions until 19.30. They dedicate nine hours a day to creating.
7. You have to find the balance between what you want to do, what is possible and what the guests would like.
8. The Challenge: Maintaining the intense concentration needed to server 1,500 dishes over five hours is as challenging as ever.
Creative methods of elBulli
1. Association: This consists of making lists or tables of ingredients, cooking methods, sauces and finished dishes as an aid to the chef who is trying to think new ways of cooking an existing ingredient, or new ways of putting ingredients together. The lists of association are built up over time, and those at elBulli are the product of many years of creating dishes. They can provide a starting point to which chefs will add their own imagination and knowledge.
2. inspiration: This requires a reference from any field – art, fashion, music, gastronomy, architecture, native – to form the starting point of a dish, which then emulates in some way the form or spirit of the original dish.
3. Adaptation: In its most basic form, adaptation means taking a dish that already exists, which could be an icon of classic French cuisine or a traditional spanish dish, and remaking it according to one’s own tastes, style of cooking or aesthetic vision.
4. Deconstruction: In deconstruction, every part of the original dish, including its form, is modified, whether in appearance, texture or all the above. Deconstruction depends even more on the guests knowledge of the original dish, as without a reference point the dish is a construction based on nothing. In order to work, the game being played by the chef needs the participation of the guest.
5. Minimalism: Difficult to define with a culinary context, minimalism as a creative method at elBulli has come to mean the method by which maximum “magic” or sensory appeal, can be created with minimum ingredients.
Although the context is a culinary business, there is a lot for all businesses and individuals to learn from elBulli.
What if your passion is to create names from a strand of wire?
Could you make a living out of it?
Yes and probably more. Take a look at the work of Dave Maskin at WireNames. Answering a question in LinkedIn, Dave says that his biggest professional regret was “not starting WireNames sooner”
Think about it:
If you are REALLY good at something, all you have to do is find a problem or an opportunity in the marketplace that will intersect with your passion and off you go to the races.
I saw this advertisement from Wachovia Bank at a gas Station in Santa Clara. The Ad Agency wanted to make it relevant to the consumer buying gas by asking the question “Do you want to save the gas money?”
While Wachovia Bank wanted to save us money, I thought they could have used their money more wisely on this.
Here are a couple of problems as I see it:
1. What should I do to save that money? I am thinking I should open an account or something but I don’t know exactly what to do
2. They tell me that they are now open at 7270 Bollinger Road. So what? First of all, Bollinger Road is in San Jose. Why should me at Santa Clara worry about a branch being open in San Jose and how is it relevant to me?
I can go on but a simple solution could have been to explain “what someone should do exactly” to get back $75.
And, they could also have integrated online and offline marketing by adding a simple line asking people to visit a landing page:
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