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
.
March 2nd, 2006
Jason Womack
(GTD Coach, triathlete and all round good guy) joined Donna and me for dinner last night and we had a great time. Among other things, we talked about an
improv principle that Johnnie Moore uses
a lot: “make the other person look good.” Jason liked the idea, but suggested that it need not be limited to improv.
In fact, Jason has
prepared
a thirty second “elevator pitch” for each of his loved ones and colleagues. So now, when Jason talks about or introduces his wife, for example, he does so with a succint, positive “pitch.” A brilliant, and very generous idea.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept, Collegegrad.com provides a
simple explanation of elevator pitching
and a nice
sample script
, and there is a frighteningly thorough
guide to personal elevator pitching
at wikiHow (via
Recruiting.com
). Those suggestions might seem a bit impersonal, especially for introducing a loved one, so be sure to play round with your pitch.
In
How to distinguish yourself in a crowded marketplace
, Michael Lovas advocates making elevator pitches relevant to the listener and introducing some kind of visual metaphor.
Probably best not to get too hung up on how - just prepare some good things to say about your nearest and dearest, then go out and make them look good.
Thanks, Jason. Have a good flight home.
January 28th, 2006
Wow, that was slick. I just upgraded from WordPress 1.5 to WordPress 2.0. The procedure goes like this:
- Back up your database (you do this regularly anyway, don’t you?)
- If you are especially cautious, like me, ensure you have an offline copy of all your WordPress 1.5 files
- Delete all WordPress files on the server, except those you have modified
- Meanwhile, edit the new wp-config.php file to show your database name and password
- Upload all WordPress 2.0 files, including the updated config file.
-
Navigate to yourdomain/
wp-admin/upgrade.php
- Click the “upgrade Wordpress” link
- You are done
I know that some people haven’t found it to be this smooth, so I was a bit worried before I started, but without cause. That was fantastic. A huge “Well done, and thank you” to the WP developers. This WYSIWIG interface is pretty zippy too, although I may stay with
Markdown and w.bloggar
, regardless.
The new instal of WordPress - as opposed to upgrading - is similarly slick.
You can
download WordPress 2.0 here
.
PS Yes, this is my first post in ages, but I am not going to say much more at this stage. Ideally, I will be posting again regularly in the next few days.
January 19th, 2006
Nick Usbourne’s
contest to write short lines that “protest the ridiculous jargon and cliches that permeate business language” has spawned some great entries. The winning entries have been applied to
mugs which you can buy at cafepress
. I think the price is a bit steep, but you have to like mugs which proclaim:
If my undivided attention is mission critical, we might have a problem
Shift my paradigm before I have had my morning coffee and I will core your competencies
and
Sorry I’m late, but my paradigm shifted over my integrated solution and I couldn’t gain traction
You can see
who submitted what catchphase
on Nick’s page. My favourites of the “also rans” come from Donald Carson:
I’m implementing a synergistic beverage action plan
Finally a concave interface for all my mission-critical caffeinated initiatives
and (how could this not have been a winner?), from Simon Young:
We appear to have begun an upstream shift while simultaneously experiencing a paddle deficiency
If you are ever tempted to write or speak like this,
try being ruthlessly specific instead
. In the words of contestant Mary Hughes:
If you still say ‘Think Outside the Box’ you don’t.
October 17th, 2005
Dwayne (
), Bren (
Slacker Manager
), and Skip (
Random Thoughts from a CTO
) just launched a really interesting blog and Google group today, called
Never work alone
. Here’s how they explain it:
What’s Never Work Alone all about?
We’ve all been through “trial by fire” management situations, and have faced difficult management and leadership dilemmas at various points in our careers. As active participants in the brain trust on the internet, we also understand the tremendous power of Community. The goal of Never Work Alone is to provide a community for managers and leaders to share their experiences and challenges, help each other grapple with issues, learn from each other, and advance the state of the art in enlightened leadership.
Basically, once you have
join the Google group
, you can e-mail in any management dilemma with which you would like some help. Dwayne, Bren and Skip will select one e-mail per week and put it up for discussion on the Google group. Anyone in the group can respond with anything he or she thinks might be helpful and the bloggers will then summarise the group responses on the blog.
Years ago I read Tom Peters’
and in almost every chapter he suggests that getting together with kindred spirits is a great way to learn and develop. I really love the way Dwayne, Bren and Skip are providing online facilitation for that meeting of minds.
Unfortunately, the name also makes me think of the football (soccer to the Americans). So, with apologies to
Gerry and the Pacemakers
and the
Anfield kop
:
Work on
Work on
With hope in your heart
‘Cos you’ll never work alone
No, you’ll never work alone
Great project - good luck with it, guys.
October 10th, 2005
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