Each week we highlight five things we thought were interesting, notable, or culturally significant. This week we are showcasing five stories from the art of thinking different with Massimo Bottura to the trillion dollar coach with Eric Schmidt.
Story-1: The Art of Thinking Different with Mr Massimo Bottura
Overview:
Meet Mr Massimo Bottura, the owner and chef of Osteria Francescana – recently named the number one restaurant at the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards. MR PORTER travelled to the small city of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of central-northern Italy – home to slow food, parmesan cheese and fast cars. During the trial, they spent the day with Mr Bottura as he cooked us his signature dish, Five Different Ages Of Parmigiano Reggiano In Five Different Textures And Temperatures, relaxed in his house, and met up with local artist and friend Mr Giuliano Della Casa.
Why It Matters:
The purpose of showcasing this story was less about the food and more about deconstruction, abstract thinking, and trial and error. Too often are people in too much of a hurry to say just give me the answer, just tell me the solution. But they don’t respect the process and where the process can take you, the team, or the solution. Massimo is a perfect example of trial and error until success is achieved. If you read about him, you will learn that it took years to figure out his style and it almost bankrupted he and his wife. But the combination of technique, thinking different, and trial and error in a safe space yielded a special result.
Link: Youtube
Link: Full Article – Mr. Porter
Story-2: Operating and Executing with Emotional Intelligence
Overview:
There are two hundred and fifty characteristics of work teams that correlate to higher performance, but there are two primary ones that researchers have discovered lead to considerably higher, measurable performance. The first of the two is Psychological Safety, meaning that means team members feel safe taking risks, asking for help, and trying new roles. The second is Team Emotional Intelligence (T.E.I.) which allows team members to articulate how they are feeling and behave appropriately as they articulate these feelings.
Why It Matters:
The world has changed over the last 10-20 years and more and more the way we operate and execute is in a series of teams vs. long-term roles. Teams form together to address a problem then parties move on. One of the major things that I have learned is that those teams that have strong Psychological Safety and TEI operate more effectively and efficiently than those teams who operate in top-down fears.
As noted by the ‘Deal Room’ article (full link below). Teams with high TEI also measure high on the social capital scale (investing in others); finding that ranking high in social capital creates a domino effect as these teams tend to have high executive support, which is obviously helpful because executives have the power to give teams what resources they need to be successful.
Net Net, if you are working on a team, do your best to make it a safe environment to ask questions and be a Team Player. Saying no, shutting down ideas, and just being difficult to work with, won’t help you, your team, and will slow down the ability to solve the problem at hand.
Link: Deal Room
Link: The Core Protocal
Story-3: Death of the Download
Overview: After 15-years, Apple is pulling the plug on iTunes. As subscription-based streaming services — including Apple’s own Apple Music — have eclipsed traditional downloads solutions. According to the RIAA’s 2018 year-end report, revenues from streaming music platforms grew 30% year-over-year to reach $7.4 billion, contributing 75% of total revenues for 2018, and accounting for virtually all the revenue growth for the year.
Why It Matters:
Between 2017 and 2018 the space has seen 15-Million of additional subscribers in streaming services across all platforms. This means that those providers are able to forecast their revenues more accurately as they move from a download or asset based business to a service based business. While that is great for service providers like Apple, Tidal, and Spotify, the industry should continue to monitor if this is the right model for the artists.
From a personal perspective, I love streaming services, they are simple, straightforward, and easy to use. To add, almost all platforms are starting to work with the DJ solutions I use which makes my workflow from identifying tracks to playing them in my sets that much easier.
Link: Bloomberg
Link: RIAA Industry Report
Story-4: Eric Schmidt — Lessons from a Trillion-Dollar Coach
Overview:
Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) is Technical Advisor and Board Member to Alphabet Inc., where he advises its leaders on technology, business and policy issues. Eric joined Google in 2001 and helped grow the company from a Silicon Valley startup to a global leader in technology. He served as Google’s Chief Executive Officer from 2001-2011, and Executive Chairman 2011-2018, alongside founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. He is promoting his new book Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell and was on the Tim Ferris Podcast in promotion of dais book.
Why It Matters:
I did’t know much about Eric Schmidt besides he was the CEO and sat on the board with Alphabet. This interview gives you some insights into not only how he thinks, but highlights that things are cyclical and that you need to be able to spot trends and find mentors to continue to grow skills and capabilities. It is a solid interview and worth checking out.
Links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast
Story-5: The data arms race to win in Sports
Overview:
With her PhD in math, Ivana Seric had expected to wind up with a career in academia—but thanks to the growing use of statistical analysis in the NBA, she took a job with the Philadelphia 76ers instead. As a data scientist, she helps the team’s coaches devise smarter strategies to win. The video shows how data is playing more of a part of the business
Why It Matters:
Sports, business, life, everywhere we look, data is being used to drive decisions and we are just in the beginning stages of harnessing said data in any real meaningful way. If you look at the four stages of data and analysis there are 4-primary stages.
- Stage-1 Reporting
- Stage-2 Business Intelligence
- Stage-3: Prescriptive
- Stage-4: Predictive
Most people operate in stage 1, some operate in stage-2, but to be able to move into stage-3 or Stage-4 then you are cooking with GAS and the magic of data starts to happens. This is hard to get there, it takes, time, dedication, but look for more business, sports teams, and individuals to utilize data during their every day lives.
Link: Youtube
And, as always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Let me know! Just send a tweet to @daileyblend put #FridayTopFive at the end so I can find it. Also, don’t forget to sign-up for our monthly mailer to keep up with the latest from the Dailey Blend.
As always, thanks for reading it and talk to you online or in city near you.
-Reed
