Truly Inspiring!

I was in Chicago this past weekend and made a point to go to Moto. In fact, you could say that I accepted an invitation to go to Chicago so that I could go to Moto...

As I discuss in my book, instead of using traditional cooking techniques, a handful of chefs are experimenting with “molecular gastronomy,” which involves stretching the limits of cooking in all sorts of creative and unusual directions. These restaurants use equipment and materials straight out of a laboratory and play with your senses in wild ways. At Moto, the kitchen is stocked with balloons, syringes, and dry ice, and the goal is to create food that is shocking yet tasty. They have a “tasting menu,” where you actually eat the menu, which might, for example, taste like an Italian panini sandwich. Moto strives to break the rules with each dish they serve, from “delivering” food that looks like packing peanuts to the table in FedEx boxes to making a dessert that looks like nachos but is really made up of chocolate, frozen shredded mango, and cheesecake. Each dish is designed to push the boundary of how you imagine food should look and taste as they “transmogrify” your food into surprising shapes and forms. One of their chefs, Ben Roche, says their goal is to create a circus for your senses. They question every assumption about food preparation and presentation, develop brand-new cooking techniques, and even design custom utensils that are used to consume the food.

The experience was NOT disappointing. In fact, I was blown away. The 20 course meal was remarkably inventive! My favorite concoction looked just like a big, smoking Cuban cigar in a metal ash tray. Despite my instinct to push it away, I bit into it... It was delicious! The filling was duck confit, wrapped in steamed chard, and the ashes were finely ground black and white sesame seeds. It looked exactly like a smoking cigar!



The courses kept on coming and I literally begged them to stop since I was so full... until they started on the dessert. My favorite was the Tiramiso Ice Cream Panini with Biscotti Soup. We normally dip our biscotti in coffee. But, with this dessert, you dip the coffee in the biscotti! They served a grilled ice cream sandwich with delicious pound cake filled with frozen espresso ice cream and marscapone cheese. You dipped it into an amazing biscotti flavored soup. Wow! Here is a snapshot:



I urge you to take a look at some video clips of their chefs in action.

Peek inside....

You can now read the first few pages of each chapter in my new book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, care of HarperCollins. The widget is not so beautiful, but it works.... Enjoy!

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

A Different Kind of Hand-Out

Yesterday I was speaking at a conference in Santa Clara, called the Invent Your Future conference for women. While there I started talking with a woman who was lamenting the fact that she had started a new spa in Oakland this past June. Could there be a worse time to start a new business? Especially a business that offers luxury services... Everyone listening said, "Wow, that is BAD luck." But, instead I said, "There must be some way to turn this problem into an opportunity. I asked her about the business, the services she offered, and we came up with an idea that might just work...

I looked around and saw all these women helping each other at the conference. Why not create that type of supportive community at her spa. So, I suggested that she have a special promotion: Give a Hand and Get a Hand. If you come in at a specific time - say Tuesday evenings - then you get a half price manicure (get one hand free!) and in return spend some time at the spa helping others with their career issues (Give a hand.) This idea isn't completely "polished", but it does demonstrate that even when things seem ominous, there is usually some way to turn the problem on its head to create something of value.

Perhaps someone will try this idea... I'd love to know what happens.

Mind Bending Experience

I had a chance to participate in an awe-inspiring workshop with Elizabeth Streb at Stanford's d.school. Elizabeth is a 1997 MacArthur Fellow who focuses on stretching the boundaries of what the human body can do. The room lights up as soon as Elizabeth walks into the room... she is literally magnetic! Her goal is to challenge gravity, space, and time, and she often manages to do so.

We did a workshop in which we brainstormed and prototyped ways to move from one place to another WITHOUT moving through space... An interesting challenge! Several different teams came up with mind-bending ideas that capture the essence of moving without moving. Some teams used strobe lights, others took advantage of moving through different mediums such as oil and water, while others tapped into the power of centrifugal forces. You can watch a video of STREB in action here.

This exercise was remarkable in that it really pushed all the participants to stretch the boundaries of our thinking. I could feel my brain the next day... the same way you feel the muscles of your legs after a good run.

Puzzled?

It is much easier to learn things when you experience them yourself than when someone tells you about them. I think back to my old days as a neuroscientist... I had several courses where we covered the basics of neurophysiology and all the related mathematical formulas. I could describe them and could pass tests that asked me to regurgitate them, but I didn't really understand them until I spent time in the lab sticking tiny neurons with electrodes and seeing the results myself. I would increase or decrease the voltage and the currents across the cell membrane would change. Now I got it! The formulas came to life and I finally understood them.

I now spend my time coming up with experiences that allow people to experiment with a wide range of skills, such as opportunity recognition, challenging assumptions, leveraging limited resources, negotiation, etc. I have found that just as my experience in the lab, you need to experience and experiment with these variables before you truly understand them.

One of my favorite simulations uses custom made jigsaw puzzles. Essentially, several puzzles are mixed together and each team is given a handful of pieces and a stack of poker chips, which is the currency of the game. They are challenged to complete a puzzle. There are fewer puzzles than there are teams, and the "marketplace" changes often as I throw new twists into the game. It is fascinating how much the participants learn in just one hour. Check out this short video to see this exercise in action.

You are Invited!

As part of Stanford Entrepreneurship Week, there will be an Innovation Tournament and you are invited to participate. At the beginning of the week, on Friday, Feb 22, an object will be revealed. Teams will be challenged to create as much "value" as possible in five days. Value can be measured in any way they want... All submissions will be in the form of videos of three minutes or less.

Check out the video invitation to participate:

The Perilous Pizza

I love the fact that creative inspiration can come at any moment. This ultra short story is inspired by driving home from work anticipating biting into a piece of leftover pizza. http://www.openfloodgate.com/creation.htm?creationId=484

Perhaps today I will be moved to write a story that is inspired by doing the laundry...

Making Your Own Luck

There are studies that show that some people really are luckier than others. But, the catch is that we make our own luck. You have to put yourself in a position where you have the chance to be lucky. For example, you aren't going to meet interesting friends if you spend all your time hanging out alone; you aren't going to win a Pulitzer Prize unless you begin writing; and you aren't going to start a cool new company unless you take the risk of starting one. As my wise father always said, "the harder you work, the luckier you get."

Here is a funny story that illustrates the point: One day I was at the grocery store and a man asked me a question about making canned lemonade. He had an unusual accent that I couldn't quite place. I answered his question about the lemonade, but didn't stop there... By the time we both left the store, I had learned that he was from Chile and was in Silicon Valley for two years to learn about entrepreneurship. His family in Chile owned many businesses and he was in line to take over the helm. He wanted to gain the tools to make the company more innovative and entrepreneurial. I offered to help him as best I could.

Two years later I found myself in Santiago, Chile and looked him up. He couldn't meet me due to prior obligations, but told me to bring some friends with me and go to an office building in the center of the city. When we arrived, we were treated to a private helicopter ride from the roof of the building up to his family's private ski resort in the mountains, and back again. I was sure lucky!

All this from talking to a stranger in my local grocery store...

Wall of Possibilities

Two years ago, I was in Beijing for work and got into my head that I needed to see the Great Wall at sunrise. This was much easier said than done... I asked the concierge at the hotel for help getting a taxi at 3:00 AM (to arrive at the Great Wall at 5:00 AM) and that was a dead end. I asked my colleagues, but they couldn't help. And, I asked taxi drivers directly to no avail. Meanwhile, several friends and colleagues became excited by the idea and decided to join me. They agreed to meet me at 3:00 AM in the hotel lobby. Needless to say, I had to figure out a way to make this happen...

I looked around and found an English language school near the hotel. I figured that someone would at least speak English and be able to help me with my quest. I wandered over and was eventually introduced to a 17 year old student high school student who spoke English quite well. I spent some time finding out about him: He was a talented athlete and a musician, and was in the midst of writing his college applications for schools outside of China. He knew of Stanford and said that he dreamed of going there some day. BINGO!

I offered him a deal... If he could help get me and my friends to the Great Wall at sunrise, I would write a letter of recommendation for him for college. It took him a nanosecond to accept my offer. To make a long story short, he made it happen and offered to come along a the translator.

The bad news is that I got sick and couldn't go on the excursion.
The good news is that my friends had an amazing experience.
The bad news is that the car they were in broke down on the way back.
The good news is that if I had gone, I would have missed my flight.
The best news is that this student and I still correspond and plan to meet up again in Australia, where he is now a college student.

Just another reminder that problems can certainly be opportunities...

Flash Fiction

Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes…. One of my favorite forms of creativity comes in the shape of flash fiction. Some stories are so short that they are just one paragraph long. In only a few sentences, they capture an entire scene, a complete emotion, or even an entire lifetime. One of my favorites is a story by Greg Garmissa that is posted on OpenFloodgate. I think that you will agree that it fits an several generations into a single paragraph. Check it out: http://www.openfloodgate.com/creation.htm?creationId=750