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Letters to a Young Manager


Boi Cavalo, #426
LTYM > Innovation



Dear Sophie,
***
How do you get your ideas? When do the new things to try come to mind?

We met a chef of a new, leading restaurant in Lisbon. I asked him how he gets ideas about new recipes? He paraphrased Picasso who said "when inspiration comes, she better find you busy."[1]. For him, ideas start in the market and continue to the kitchen. The "where" of creativity is important; you can go there.

His rule for his staff is that if you see something new in the market, you must buy it. Then you must figure it out and try different ways of preparing it.

I asked about a new dish on the menu that caught us by surprise with tastes we had never tasted before. He said he imagined it late one night after the second seating left; it was 2 am. In 15 minutes he conceived it and wrote it down: a milk skin crisp with baked yeast crumble and pumpkin purée tempura. The staff said no; they did not see it working; it was too far out there. But they tried it. And customers loved it. So it found its way to the menu.

That's a 15 minute innovation. His team tried it, and it worked. That kind of openness to experiment, even to try that which you imagine not making sense, initially, but being brave and daring, doing it anyway.
***
Best,
Ed
________________________

[1] The actual quote from Picasso is “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” See https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas378943.html
[2] "Boi Cavalo" means literally Ox-Horse in Portuguese

Takeaways:

Push the edge and watch your customers react

Discussion Questions:

1) What are the risks of testing new things on your customers? What are the opportunities?
2) What type of projects don't permit this kind of experimenting?
3) What would have to be true for experimenting to work?
4) Where are the places you can go with the expectation that new ideas will come? Is it solo, or with another person?
5) How is a chef and his team like a project team? How is it different?

For Further Reading:

1) Frederick Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition), Addison-Wesley Professional; Anniversary edition (August 12, 1995). See the chapter 3 on "The Surgical Team."
2) See "Anticipating Tastes," Story #33




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