To begin this week, I recorded a podcast with my techy-corporate, knows-things brother-in-law-friend, currently entitled:
“Raising the bar and a Pint; Cheers to Hospitality, Lessons learned and Doing it better.” What do you think? But wait…
Now, when I say “I recorded” what I really mean is, I sat back in my bar stool, while he provided and set up camera equipment, tested the microphones…you know, HE recorded. While we then bantered. For an hour. It was the first of hopefully many more and if things go according to plan, a launch point to greater (better) content and reach. The thing is, “the plan” is being conceived as we go. “Building the plane as we are flying it” to quote a good friend and restaurant consultant. In fact, we chose the title from three or four, all proposed that day. The title is good. But is it great? How relevant is it to the ultimate goal? To quote another friend recently about something else; “She will make perfect the enemy of good.” Yeah, I could be she.
Surely the “Raising” name is better than SPlath, the name of this blog, my name, which is in effect, the “seedling” of what we hope to grow into a big fat tree. And, the book.
(If you have followed my blog in the past, you may have read about ‘the book’).
As John said earnestly during the podcast; “I’m trying to help him write his book!” a joke between he, I and others…as I have been writing this thing for many years now: In this blog, as a columnist for 14 years for Merrimack Valley Magazine, on Facebook and just about every single day, in my head. The thing is, it is not assembled. I have struggled to find the lane that maps Chapter 1 to Chapter “The End”. I need that defined. The end point—where once the chapters are organized, when someone is asked; “What was it about?” the answer will be better than; “Some goofy restaurant owner who suffers from attention deficit!” (True story)
Thing is…I can drive in a single lane. I can. But it really takes effort. I naturally drift in and out, taking the empty space, following the path of least resistance… riding the wave. (And perhaps a subject for the next podcast!?)
“Raising the bar” will be an interesting process and I think fun and rewarding. We are very different, but alike…intelligent and also headstrong (he more so), skilled in our different ways, funny (me more so), knowledgeable leaders and doers, “alphas,” (that one’s a toss up!) who each like control and who wants “the mic”. It’s John’s mic, his organizational and technical skills driving forward the stories that I have collected over a 48-year career, more than half of which he has been involved in so many ways. We hope to be good enough, if not perfect, that you’ll tune in! And we promise to learn and do better along the way! Please stay tuned for when and where you can join us. One step at a time…
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