As we approach the new year, there is a big uncertainty looming everywhere. For a large majority of people, the uncertainty is about their job. Is it safe? In other words, will they have a job or not?
I think the real question should be “Is someone really employable in the new economy or not?” but that’s a topic for another discussion.
This is a quick exercise to do a status check on the “safety” of your job. The questionnaire is in no way complete. The focus is to make you think beyond the “job responsibilities” outlined in your offer letter.
We were on a long walk where I was explaining Navin “WhyTwitter won’t work for me.” Navin ( in his usual style ) asked back, “Why don’t you find a way to make it work?”
I was not expecting that question but was VERY open to it. Over the last few weeks, I have experimented with Twitter and have made a few new friends over there. Although VERY late into the game, I think I am finding ways of using Twitter - one step at a time.
An example: Twitter is perfect for me to share a tweet like this one. It is too big for a blog post and does not fit very well for a mini saga.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, my handle there is @UpbeatNow. Looking forward to connecting with you there. Why @UpbeatNow as the handle?
Because “Upbeat” is the new book to be published in March 2009!
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.
At the outset, Ads are ads - whether they are on Google or they are on Facebook. But there is a BIG difference. When people come to Google, they are “searching” for something and an “Ad” appears that matches to what people are “searching for.”
In Facebook, people don’t come to search for information. They come to connect with their friends and want to know what others are upto. They want to share with others what they are upto. So Ads here are a distraction.
Now, here is a bonus reason:
While I was planning to write this article, I did click on an Ad on Facebook. The Ad had a simple message - “If you are a Fan of 24, we are looking for a quick poll on 24.” I am a BIG fan of 24 and I thought let me participate in the “POLL” especially if it’s related to 24.
Of course, to my “delight” I was taken to a page where there was a “SURVEY” on “Desperate Housewives” and after a page of questions, the system wanted me to continue.
Clear case of “bait and switch.” Now I don’t have anything against “Desperate Housewives,” I just don’t watch that show.
Hope things get sorted out for them sooner than later.
Update (Facebook Ads do work, sometimes): Just got a note from @jscarrasco on Twitter that they have been successful with music related ads. In particular, ads promoting one band/artist targeted to fans of similar artists.
I read recently that Chegg.com raised $25M from KPCB and Foundation Capital for expanding their textbook rental service. Chegg.com is another proof point that whenever there is inefficiency in the marketplace there is an opportunity. Students NEED textbooks AND they are EXPENSIVE. Chegg.com’s model is not to lower the prices on text books but to rent them.
Chegg.com is not alone in this space. I met the founders of TextbookRenter who have an innovative model to ensure that there is “guaranteed availability” of text books (can’t go into the details of the model here)
Of course, giants like Barnes and Noble make a lot of money selling textbooks and they don’t want to let go of that revenue. As you can see, they are working aggressively to cut prices on now books and also feature used books at “up to 90%” discount.
Add to this, options like eBay, University bookstores, borrowing from friends and other secondary markets will create a “textbook battleground” in the next few months.
How about creating a To “Let Go” List for the new year. The moment you let go of a few things that are not helping you, you create a space for new possibilities to emerge. Here are a few to get your juices flowing:
1. The feeling of entitlement
2. Chasing something that’s too good to be true
3. Lack of Accountability
4. Too much focus on the short-term
5. Too much focus on the long-term
6. Expertise in “generating excuses” for lack of results
Too much of time is spent on blogs discussing blogs
Too much of time is spent on Twitter discussing Twitter
Here are two basic questions that people are dying to get an answer for.
For blogs - “how do I get more traffic?”
For twitter - “how do I get more followers?”
This concern has taken on a life of its own and almost making people forget that the real questions should have been
For blogs - “WHY do I deserve to get more traffic?”
For twitter - “WHY do I deserve to have more followers?”
The metric seems to be centered around “how much attention one can get” on social media.
I think the #1 metric has to be
“By what percentage has my capacity increased (by participating in social media) to GIVE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL and VALUABLE to the world?”
We are remembered for what we give and not what we get. So if used right, social media has to amplify our capacity to give. Shouldn’t that be the ONE thing that we should track?
For one, he or she can lift your “game” to the next level in no time. Here is the proof.
This is a video of a presentation by Benjamin Zander (co-author of “The Art of Possibility”) at PopTech.
The talk is fantastic and weaved into the talk is a session where Benjamin Zander will coach a 15 year old Chellist Nikolai to take his game to the next level in less than ten minutes.
To witness the work of a master teacher at his work, please take about 20 minutes of your time to watch this entire video. It is well worth your time.
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