Conversations with a Latte-Art Champion
Who is Scottie Callaghan?
Look up the winners of the World Latte Art Championship in 2006 and the Australian Barista Championship in 2007, and see who walked away with top honours. Today, the name “Scottie Callaghan” is known in the coffee hubs of the world as someone who really knows his beans.
Scottie has worked hard over the last eight years alongside some of Australia’s most reputed roasters, baristas and barista trainers – learning the art and the science of coffee that looks good, tastes good.
You can read more at this link: Coffee Break – Down Under
Recycling business cards
“Cards of Change” is a transit portal for people who get the pink slip. It was launched recently by a small team that left TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, California. Tom Van Daele, former creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, and founder of Unknownlab, is behind this unique concept that puts people back on the re-hire radar.
I liked the branding around this exercise and how re-cycling your old card becomes the first step to a new tomorrow. When someone gets laid off, he usually has a stack of business cards that would normally go into the shredder. Tom’s advice to people is not to do that in a fit of anger and frustration. And that’s where “cardsofchange” comes in.
You can read more at this link: Cards on the Table
Planning blogger meets
I had a very interesting session at Text100’s Bangalore office the other day. Basically, shooting the breeze on the best ways to get a group of bloggers together, for an event to showcase a client’s products or services.
One of the difficult things about a bloggers’ meet with a corporate agenda is the actual handling of the event – especially in terms of presentation logic. It can’t be orchestrated, or formal. It can’t be to a script. And it can’t be blow-dried. It has to be open-ended and freewheeling – with no timers set on presentations and discussions.
Ideas for a changing world
Economic slowdown, recession, downturn, pink slips, credit squeeze, cash crunch … these are not just phrases you hear these days, but a situation that’s real. Not a bad dream, because if you pinch yourself, it hurts.
So, where do we go from here?
The Economic Times just put a whole new initiative in place called The Power of Ideas. An exciting platform that encourages people with “entrepreneurial dreams” to bring in their ideas. If the ideas submitted go through Round One, they will be honed and validated by industry mentors and eventually presented to the single largest group of investors for funding.
All this, just to prove a point that these are still good times to start a business, or grow a business. All you need is a good idea that will fly.
The Power of Ideas is a unique sharing platform, with the express objective of making ideas work in the real world. At another level, this initiative by The Economic Times brings industry leaders together at different locations in India, to discuss the challenges to survival and growth – in what has been described as the worst recession in a hundred years.
Here’s my take on the panel discussion, held on the 12th of February, 2009.
Red-letter day
My daughter is 16, and on Cloud Nine because Valentine’s is around the corner. Ever since she turned 10, Radhika has been collecting gifts, cards and sweet nothings that fill the air around the 14th of February.
According to her, the generation gap is a convenient excuse to say “NO” to just about anything she wants, or wants to do. She also thinks 50-year-olds can be light years away from teenage crushes and fond glances that find their way into greeting cards.
So, even before I can recover from the recessionary spiral of January, we’re headlong into month two, running smack into Valentine’s. The girls are like goggle-eyed teenagers surrounded by fireflies, and the jabber-jabber on the phone threatens to spike my phone bills once again.
You can read the entire article at this link on Tickled by Life.
Losing a client and keeping a friend
I’m in advertising – which by default is a volatile business. Especially because the pace is hectic and the demands on your time, always on stretch mode. It’s a playing ground where tempers fray, decibel levels go up and you just might say or do something that you’re going to regret. This article of mine on “Tickled for Life” is about how I took the first step in mending a relationship with a client – a relationship that went sour over a small, meaningless non-issue. It’s about taking the first step to make friends, all over again.
To read more, please click on this link.
“The new year – a good time for healing old hurts.”
Karunashraya – heaven on earth
This article was originally written on 30th November 2006. And it’s two years since my mother said her last goodbyes, from a place that became her
second home.
Ours too, because we shared every moment of the peace, calm and tranquility that she experienced at Karunashraya.
You can read the entire article on Citizen Matters.
Please click on link above.
“Sahai” – just the right name for a suicide helpline
What happens if you don’t see light at the end of the tunnel? You don’t see the tunnel; you only see darkness. You reach around only to clutch at thin air. You seek help and you only see smiling faces that don’t really listen, friendly eyes that don’t really see. You see people around you who seem to be concerned, but don’t know how deep your anguish is; and the deeper you go, the lonelier you feel. You don’t know which way to head; you don’t know if the next step forward, is forward. You’re hopelessly lost, with no hope, no friend, no tomorrow.
In Bangalore, there is a dedicated suicide helpline that you can call and hope to find a friendly, helpful voice that gives you hope, courage and strength. To take that one step backward, turn around and face life square in the face. And that helpline is called “SAHAI”.
More on Sahai in this interview I did with Anita Gracias who is a trained volunteer.
Please click on link above.
Competition as a market force
It’s interesting to view competition as a market force and a business driver. And this is true with just about any kind of business – right from mom-n-pop stores to swank large footprint retailers. This post on businessgyan is a personal view from my corner office.
Competition & Complacency (Click to read)
Sharath Bhat
Teach them young …
Here’s a project I helped my daughter with, that can be a useful eye-opener for just about anyone. The project was on street vendors. And the brief : logically flowchart a street vendor’s activities and examine sales, profitability and cash-in-hand.
Why have I called this article “Rotten Tomatoes” ?
Read on.
Rotten Tomatoes (Click to read)
Sharath Bhat
