September 5, 2014 · 8:50 am

Scallion Pesto

Foodie Friday brings one of summer’s great dishes: pesto.

English: this is a picture of self made pesto ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you hear the word you think of a mixture of basil, pine nuts, cheese, and olive oil, and there is no better time of the year than late summer for basil. Of course, what I’ve just described is the traditional pesto alla Genovese, named after Genoa where it originated. The word itself comes from the local dialect’s word for “pound” which is what one must have done to make the sauce before the advent of blenders and food processors.

The term refers to a method, not an ingredient.  The French adopted it, called it pistou, and omitted the nuts since there aren’t a lot of pine trees around.  Cheese is optional as well.  Yet most people think of pesto in just one, very traditional way.  I had my mind semi-blown the other day when I made a batch of scallion pesto.  No basil, just a bunch of scallions thrown in the food processor with the other traditional ingredients.  While I was expecting a sharp hit of flavor, this was a mild, wonderful sauce I smeared on chicken and baked.  Since good scallions are available year round and basil can be expensive outside of summer, it’s a great alternative. Which is, of course, our business point today.

We make too many assumptions and don’t focus on alternatives.  When you shift pesto’s paradigm from specific sauce to method it opens up a world of possibilities.  Different greens, different oils, maybe different cheese.  We tend to get too focused on a specific recipe or outcome and forget that we have options that may produce better results, even if they are unfamiliar.

As business people we need to entertain every ingredient and see what happens.  Not being afraid to fail is a key to success.  I thought scallion pesto was a really weird and potentially bad idea.  It’s now going to be a staple.  What kind of pesto will you make?

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September 4, 2014 · 8:40 am

The Team

The college football season started last week.  The college I attended doesn’t field a football team and so I didn’t really have a rooting interest until my older daughter went to the University of Michigan.  I figured since I sent the Wolverines quite a bit of my money I’m entitled to call myself a UM fan.  Michigan had a legendary coach at the school – Bo Schembechler – who gave what I think is some of the best business advice ever.  Take a minute and watch it:

This is a boss doing some incredible things.  First, he’s sharing his vision for what the team is about and some very specific goals.  If there is one thing many bosses fail to do it’s exactly that.  They may give out lists of tasks but they fail to paint a picture of the overall mission and where the team is headed.

Second, he’s demanding that every person plays as a member of that team.  Implicit in that is that the glamor positions are nothing without the grunts in the trenches and those grunts can’t win without someone running the ball.  As a manager you have to get every member of your team feeling as if what they do matters and every other member of the team appreciating the contributions their peers are making to everyone’s success.

Finally, he lets the group know that while they will have differences they ill put them aside for the overall good of the team and to achieve their goals.  How many offices are torn apart by gossip and backstabbing?  Bo lets the Wolverines know that he’s not having any of it.

I listen to this speech from time to time and UM’s official football shirt this year simply says “The Team, The Team, The Team” on it.  It’s easy to remember but hard to execute as a boss.  Go Blue!

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September 3, 2014 · 12:27 pm

Build It And Maybe They Come

Over the years I’ve seen a lot of tech startups.  In a previous life I’d have 2 or 3 meetings a day with entrepreneurs who had the latest and greatest business idea based around a piece of technology they’d developed.  I still meet with companies built around ideas that are often very cool and innovative.  There is, however, a problem with many of them.

Tennis Racquet

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Suppose you figure out how to make a tennis racquet that always returns the ball perfectly.  Maybe it’s almost a self-driving car for tennis in that it really operates itself.  You might offer it to me at a 100% discount (that’s free for you non-mathematicians).  I don’t care.  I’m a golfer and have no interest in playing tennis.  That’s basic marketing: speak to an audience that has an interest or is predisposed to having an interest developed.  But it’s broader than that.

Unless you have an innovation – or any product – for which there is a pressing need, your chances of success are low.  Just because you build it, don’t expect that “they” will come.  While there are certainly niche products that do well, generally even that niche needs to be large enough to sustain the business.  Don’t assume that you can make up the revenue through higher prices.  Resources are scarce all around.  In fact, I generally assume that people or businesses are unwilling to pay for anything unless it is demonstrably better than whatever free solutions are out there.

You also need to remember that it’s not just money (or lack thereof) that sets up barriers to entry.  New tools require time to learn.  Look at how long it takes for businesses to move from any existing platform – Blackberries, Windows computers to name just two – even though better options exist.  It’s not even a money issue in many cases.  New platforms require support and training.

So build away – maybe they’ll come.  Maybe there will be enough of them to sustain what you’re doing.  Maybe you can convince them that you have a better mousetrap and the investment of money, time, and effort to transition is well worth it.  If those are “maybes” in your mind, you might want to rethink it.  Am I off base?

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