Category: Uncategorized

Susan and I recently had dinner with two professional chefs who have literally toured the world cooking for the rich and famous.  What made it special was they cooked for their wealthy employers’ families as well as their special guests, so the range of food styles and subtleties were enormous. And the stories they tell are fascinating.

Perhaps it was silly of me to offer to prepare dinner for them, but I did.  It was a simple meal.  Some cheese and crackers and then some grilled sea bass prepared over conversation as we got to know them.  They were both gracious as we ate … not sneering at my simple approach.

We listened intently to their stories.  They had been everywhere and cooked just about everything.  One was trained in France so I asked if they had seen the movie, The 100 Foot Journey.  They had not, but they remembered seeing the trailer.

That movie is the motivation for this blog.  In it, Hellen Mirren (the French restaurant owner with huge renown) proclaims to her student from India that he shouldn’t change a recipe that is 200 years old.  He quips:  “Well, maybe 200 years is long enough!”  He added some spices from a foreign culture.

Maybe it is time we all listen to that advice in our approach to regulation, politics, and so many other aspects of our lives.  Something to reflect on.

 

 

One of our friends recommended that we try Blue Apron’s “DIY” home prep meals. The idea of enjoying a few minutes preparing dinner together seemed almost romantic, and the fact that you didn’t need to go find this or that was especially appealing, so we tried it.

The meals were great, and we learned how to prepare dishes that otherwise might be intimidating or tedious given how unusual some of the ingredients are and hard to find in your local grocery.  But, I was appalled by the amount of trash these meals produced, especially the enormous cooled and insulated box they come in.  I just hauled the huge assembly to the curb and hope it will be hauled off.

I believe this is going to come back to haunt this industry … and probably pretty quickly.  Yes, it is good that we don’t throw away as much food in the preparation steps because there is only the amount of each ingredient we need to prepare the meal … so food is less likely to rot in the fridge.  But, the amount of plastic, paper, and who knows what is in those giant gel ice bags …

So, I went online to see if I am the only one thinking this way, and of course, I am not.  Here is just one rather well written article on the subject: BuzzFeed Article

I wonder whether the rest of the world has it right.  We just need to slow down…stop at the local butcher, baker, and candlestick-maker and just get what you need for that day’s meals.  After all, your fridge will simply not hold much.

P.S. Some of you who know will also spot the trick here.  By recommending friends to Blue Apron, you get more free food.  My mind quickly went to the potential Ponzi scheme available here.  Join all the food delivery clubs get your reduced cost trials and then free food by recommending your friends.

 

I don’t know about you, but I am weary of the bickering we see daily.  Seldom does anyone take a deep breath and think critically about issues anymore. The Presidential and Vice Presidential debates set a new low water mark in my mind, but I am getting tired of almost all of the news broadcasts …

That is why the phrase “Cool Your Jets” came into my mind.  I remember hearing it many times over my life … not so sure where it started.  Maybe it was just a natural evolution of language. Most everyone knows it means you should calm down and become less agitated.  That seems so wise.

According to the Internet, which of course can be fully trusted, the phrase originated with a quote in the January 1^st (1973) edition of the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune:  “If you want to cool your jets, just step outside, where it will be about 10 degrees under cloudy skies.”

Maybe so.  I just remember that Abraham Lincoln said you should not trust everything you read on the Internet.  As for me and my house, I will go back to some old wisdom from the Old Testament book of Micah that seems to fit the current situation perfectly.

Micah 6:8 New King James Version (NKJV):  He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Justice, mercy, and humility … an Old Testament form of the phrase “Cool Your Jets” with some real meat.

 

 

No, I did not mistype the short expression for Cosmopolitan magazine.  This is one of the latest robotic gadgets. Read more about it here. 

What intrigues me about this is not just that it is the latest in the stunning set of artificial intelligence gadgets hitting the markets such as the Amazon Echo.  What seems especially interesting about this is it’s about a robot with an attitude … something terribly human.

Take a look at some of its moves.

Perhaps that is a clue to cracking today’s consumer engagement challenges:  Attitude.  Not sure I hear that much as a persona.  Not sure, that even fits today’s preoccupation with the customer journey.  Likeability as a result of attitude.

That is truly something to think about.

Oh, by the way, it appears that there is an open API to write sequences.  And, for those of you who are still thinking all the intelligence has to be in the device, read this:

The robot can employ facial recognition to remember faces and recite names. It also uses sophisticated path planning — aided by its three sensor-imbued toy cubes — to maneuver environments and avoid falling off tables. Most of these computations are not happening on the robot’s internal hardware, which keeps it light and relatively durable. Instead, Cozmo connects to an iOS or Android app, which communicates with Anki’s servers where more of heavier lifting is taken care of.

We at Apogee are experimenting with this to see if we can unlock some of this potential in the otherwise boring day-to-day engagement of customers.  Stay tuned.  It should be fun to watch.

 

It is funny how phrases enter into common use.  I am almost sure you think the title of this blog refers to Tom Brady and the Super Bowl.  Nope.  This blog is about data claims, and in this case, by Facebook.   Here is the article posted in the Wall Street Journal.

We hear data claims all day long: the biggest storm in the last 10 years, tax credits that could avoid taxation for almost 20 years, and the list goes on.  But, these soundbites often hide either the bias of the reporter (who knows the way they say things gets your attention) or the more difficult problem we all have with our preconceived bias on how we interpret it.

For example, when Susan and I considered buying the time-share in Cancun, I asked the question: How often do hurricanes hit here.  The sales representative’s answer was correct: they had not had a hurricane hit Cancun in 37 years.  Susan and I accepted that as confirmation that hurricanes don’t hit Cancun very often.  True enough.  But, another more accurate interpretation would have been that Cancun was due to be hit … which it was … the very next year … with a hurricane named Gilbert.

Go figure.

The reason I suggest reading the Facebook article is that our industry is also in the midst of measurement challenges, especially as we answer senior leadership questions.  Facing the music is tough.  What we call facts and figures may not survive close scrutiny.

Our industry is not scrutinized by the media like our politicians.  I don’t see claims being rated by the number of “Pinocchio” lies.  Noses don’t grow bigger when we do.  In fact, rarely does anyone even seem to care any longer whether they are distorting the truth.  Troubling.