Adrian Trenholm communicate better

Testing testing

Hannah and Donna
Originally uploaded by Adrian Trenholm

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Performance improvement at NASCAR

I have been sent this picture on a couple of occasions now in the Just Sell newsletter. The man in the helmet is a NASCAR pit mechanic, practising his wheel changing routine. Sam Parker from Just Sell snapped the picture on his cellphone:

This crew member was practicing his job – removing and installing lug nuts on the wheel of a race car — approaching the details with full commitment in a sport where less than a quarter of a second (less than the time lost to a dropped lug nut) can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in added winnings.

By practicing, I’m sure he tends to perform better.

What I find really interesting is not the practising in itself, but the sophistication of the rig the mechanic is working on, and the presence of a dedicated observer by his side. Clearly, he and his team are serious about performance improvement.

This picture really speaks to me in my periodic role as a trainer. Challenging exercises and accurate feedback are the keys to performance improvement.

Solid shampoo for air travellers

Frequent flyer, Dwayne Melancon, wrote recently about his search for “dry” toiletries, now that security restrictions prevent his carrying gels and liquids in his carry on luggage.

Regular air travellers might want to check out Lush. Lush offer, among other solid alternatives, solid shampoo. There are Lush branches all round the world.

PS This post is inspired by Dwayne in more ways than one. He is visiting the UK again next week and we plan to meet at Bedales, with James Governor. The last time we met up, James and Dwayne gave me a hard time about my “quarterly” blog posting schedule. As it is six months since my last post, I need to squeeze in a couple of posts to maintain even that meagre average.

“Bedales: it’s the long tail of wine”

So says James Governor, who met up with Johnnie Moore, Stormhoek head honcho, Nick Dymoke Marr, and myself at this charming bodega in Spitalfields market. Basically, Bedales is a wine shop with a couple of large bench tables, some stools and a tiny deli counter for bread, cheese and olives. I am more wine buffoon than wine buff, but James recommended it and Nick liked his choice, and that’s good enough for me.

The last bottle was chosen by Bedales’ own Emily - L’Aventura, I think, a 2000 Syrah from California. “Unusual choice,” thought the wine buffs, but we all agreed it was lovely, velvety plush stuff, and tremendously priced, thanks to Bedales simple pricing policy. At Bedales, you pay the price of the bottle plus £5 corkage - far better value than the price of the wine multiplied by three, which Nick told us is the restaurant pricing rule of thumb.

Emily stopped by our end of the bench to see how we liked the wine and tipped us off to Vinoteca, another similar operation - with, apparently, an Italian leaning wine list - near Smithfields market. James called this “being more competitive by being less competitive,” but I don’t think that was in Emily’s mind. She was just being a good host. Such a generous recommendation will pay dividends in the long term - we plan to try Vinoteca next, but I expect to return to Bedales often.

Bedales.