Posted by Emily Brooks
It's been said that negative press will help one launch one's career. Well, in Hollywood perhaps. Even Donny Osmond engineered his own negative press as part of his marketing strategy - which might hopefully pay the bills since a lack of talent seems to be hindering his brand strategy.
What happens when ‘bad press' is sought, generated, and purposely spread and about an ideology - or a theory - or a program? Does that work as well as Lindsay Lohan's shenanigans which, at the advice of her managers, successfully launched Lohan as the most widely recognized Star across the world in 2008? That's a good question.
I LOVE internet buzz. Truly! I am also wise enough to know that publically interactive information that most of the internet provides can be wisely and strategically manipulated - information skewed with hidden agendas, twists, and marketing strategy (ohhhh so much fun!!) to create a desired effect.
So back to the question: does negative press about an ideology create a positive effect?
I have to step back and ask another question first: Why is Alice Waters, who founded the Edible Schoolyard in 1994, under media attack right now? Why are all of the top bloggers and media outlets gunning for the Edible Schoolyard as "an evil attempt to hurt our children" lo these 16 years later?
Laura Shapiro announced that its time to lock and load: it's open season on Alice Waters. And it is!
Here's a snapshot of the last few weeks: Caitlin Flanagan claims Water's school gardens are cheating our most vulnerable students by hijacking the curricula of schools. Elissa Altman then attempted to attack Flanagan's article as inflammatory by muddying Connecticut Farmland Trust and giving Monsanto a tracked-link "nod" which helps their marketing and awareness strategy (which I chose not to do). Isabel Cowles just pointed out that Alice Water's Edible Schoolyard is missing the point by not being able to marry ethereal ethos with reality to come up with an Edible solution that is more sustainable for more people. On Sunday, Anthony Bourdain chimed in saying "There's something very Khmer Rouge about Alice Waters that has become unrealistic" in a recession. The list goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . . .
So, why all of this negative press . . . . . NOW?
My guess? Alice Waters has a new book deal and is following Lindsay Lohan's marketing strategy of getting "press dirty" which may get her recognized, but will leave her equally disrespected in the end.
What a shame for both of them.
Posted by Emily Brooks
In the last two years, our economy has shed over 7.2 million jobs. Many of these jobs are being lost PERMANENTLY - not permanently in the sense that Job X just isn't available, but PERMANENTLY because Job X no longer exists. New jobs will arise, but as The Wall Street Journal points out, it is anyone's guess what those jobs will be. The only guess The Labor Department has is that perhaps health care will be a bright spot in the future accounting for the millions of baby boomers that will flood the medical system. A guess, at best. Who's to say how the botched attempts at heatlh care reform will influence our economy via jobs and employment for the next 20 years.
So what? We're all supposed to become nurses?
Too, there is something different with this recession. We're forced into a very sudden job adjustment rather than the gradual reactionary period we've faced in the past. So what? We were all supposed to have received our nurses training 4 years ago - before the 2007 great economic guillotine drop?
Despite your thoughts about how that might sound facetious, the answer is actually YES.
When in doubt, learn something new. Something, anything! Subscribe for free podcasts or free online courses. Go back to school. Read new books. Investing in human capital - YOU'RE capital - will float you to the top of the pile when new, never before seen jobs arise on the scene.
Don't have time, you say? Sorry to hear that. The reality is you can spend a few extra hours a week investing in your own education, or you can spend a few more months on the bread lines. Pick one.
I personally want to be in the front of the line when the next, brand new job opportunities are created. In fact, I want to be so well informed that I can create my own damn job. Even British newspapers refer to the American Economy as Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.
The only standard rule of this current economy is Darwinian Theory.
Posted by Emily Brooks
Ever heard of "positive deviance"?
Positive deviance is the act of observation of simple, common sense where, instead of throwing money at a problem or devising grand solutions, we are encouraged the study of the positive and good things that are happening around us, and then acting on them.
To be a "Positive Deviant" means taking what we've learned and inspiring others through positive example.
According to the Boston Globe, organizations around the world are now turning to positive deviance to address a dizzying array of challenges such as human trafficking in Asia to diabetes in the United States. The business world is also using positive deviance as part of their strategy to improve performance, yield, and sales. Additionally, positive deviance can be used to solidify business reputation and brand position -- encouraging their customers and community to change their behaviors towards more positive action.
To be a positive deviant, you must lead by example. It forces you to study your environment, identify its flaws, and then seek to follow the positive models that others around you are setting.
Looking for a few positive deviants to get you started?
- Idealist.org believes that it's time for the world's idealists to work together where we all had a better community and a better life, where we were able to connect with others and share our skills, ideas, and resources, and where we can act on our good intentions, and help others ot act on theirs. Imagine, Connect, Act.
- Slow Money believes that we must use our money wisely; investing and spending as if food, farms, and fertility mattered. Connecting investors to the places where they live, creating vital relationships, and new sources of capital for small food entrepreneurs will enhance food security, food safety and access to healthy, sustainable foods. What would the world be like if we invested 50% of our assets within 50 miles of where we live?
Are you a Positive Deviant? Be one.
Be the change that you want to see in this world, and use your business as a tool - not just to make money - but to affect long-term positive change around you.
Posted by Emily Brooks
Julia Child has been called one of the most beloved figures in twentieth-century American culture. She had a source of inner power that the food industry has spent millions trying to replicate. People trusted Julia Child. She was a rare celebrity who never fell from grace.
There are EIGHT entrepreneurial lessons that can be taken from Julia's life as it is every entrepreneur's dream to accomplish what she did: to single-handedly change the world and make it a better place, while finding one's own happiness in the process.
Lesson # 1 Do What You Are - Refuse To Fit The Stereotypical Mold
At 6'2" with a nasally voice that could summon lost ships at sea, a contagious sense of humor, and a bluntness that made many shudder, Julia did not fit the typical mold of a diminutive, nonopined housewife. She spent nearly 50 years on television and has remained in our memories alongside Lucille Ball, Steve Allen, and Milton Berle. She allowed herself to make mistakes and laughed alongside with us as she did so. She swam against the tide, didn't fit any existing "pretty girl" categories, refused to invent a palatable character through which to placate us, staged no formal stunts, and proceeded to use her media time to hold true to herself and her mission - to teach.
Lesson # 2 Fail Gracefully, but Never Make The Same Mistake Twice
For all of Julia's endless, obsessive study of her craft, she clearly understood that failure might still have a horrible way of occasionally seizing control. Chin held high, Julia said "I don't believe in these women who are always apologizing for their food. If it is vile, the cook must just grin and bear it, with no word of excuse. Never apologize." The other side of that coin, when failures graced her table and her life, the harder she worked. It's safe to say that she never made the same mistake twice.
Lesson # 3 Learn, Study. Study, learn, and Study Again.
Julia Child was a detailed perfectionist. She spent long hours in the kitchen under hard labor, writing page after page of instructions. She tested and retested, often remaking the same dish 10 times or more in one day. Cooking was Julia's passion. It lit a fire in her soul, but she didn't just rest on those laurels. She mastered her own skill set to keep that fire burning. "Life is hard & earnest," she scribbled. "Most pains - most results. If you know what doing - half battle is won." And she is right! There are too many books and articles on how to do things quickly, and very few on how to do things right.
Lesson # 4 Climb Obstacles and Master Doubt
It took Julia Child nearly 10 years to write and publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She suffered through multiple publishing houses, defended her stance (against current popular trends towards convenience foods) that American cooks actually want to learn to do what chefs do, in their own kitchens. Her first draft of Mastering, which only included 2 chapters to that point on poultry and sauces, exceeded over 800 pages. The book was rejected outright. "I am deeply depressed, gnawed by doubts, and feel that all our hard work may just lay a big rotten egg."
While doubts come, Julia also was wise enough to let them go again. She trimmed her recipes, abandoned her plans to write a gigantic treatise to French cooking and, capitulating to Americans need for speed, decided to "prepare a short and snappy book directed to the somewhat sophisticated housewife-chauffeur. Everything would be simpler, but nothing humdrum." The new manuscript ran about 300 pages, requiring another year and a half of hard labor, another agonizing round of finding a publisher, and Mastering the Art of French Cooking was finally published in October of 1961.
Lesson # 5 Trust Thyself And Thine Own Expertise
When Mastering was finally published in 1961, it sold only about 16,000 copies. Knopf, the book's publisher didn't really want to invest in advertising, and wasn't particularly interested in pushing sales. "Our publishers really are about as unbusinesslike as any I have encountered," Julia fumed. Quit? NO. Julia and her co-author Simca, created and funded their own media tour. In its second year, 65 thousand books had gone out; orders were coming in faster than the book could be printed. Twelve years later in 1974, Mastering appeared on the New York Times list of the century's best-selling cookbooks, with 1.3 million copies sold. And more than half a century after publication, Julia's book still sells more than 20,000 copies per year.
Lesson # 6 Tend Your Image Carefully
Julia tended her public image with great care. The only photographs allowed to be used were the ones taken by her husband Paul. She believed that commercial endorsements were demeaning, and that they tarnished one's reputation. She held her stance firm on that point, and kept her name free of commercial taint throughout her career. She closely guarded her privacy, and vigilantly controlled her media exposure.
Lesson # 7 "Bon courage!" Be of Good Courage!
Julia's sign off to the famous flopped-potato-cake show is wise advice not only to home cooks but all entrepreneurs. Julia held her personal beliefs in line with her craft and her mission. Whether you agree with her opinions or not, she believed in herself and, knew her path, and stuck to her guns.
Lesson # 8 Support All Of Those Around You
Julia Child generously supported the career aspirations of every gifted cook who came her way, regardless of her prejudices. Why? Because it was the art of cooking itself that was important, and she simply would not allow any prejudice, not even her own, to rob the world of a good chef. Julia fostered and encouraged her cooking competitors. In doing so, she single-handedly launched a new generation of "wacky, off-the-wall" newcomers, like Alice Waters, who in turn have shaped the American culinary landscape in their own way.
Julia Child has much to teach entrepreneurs. She followed one simple dogma: To Thine Own Self Be True. In doing so she forged a career path that made her personal life both happy and fulfilled, and she nurtured her competitors without threat to her own brand. Julia Child found what made HER happy. Her tools and the product she sold were perfectly cut onions, the right wrist angle for lacing caramel, and copper pots with singed bottoms.
When Julia Child died and our country mourned, it was clear that we never remembered anything about veal Prince Orloff. What we do remember is that Julia taught us that determination is what really matters, that skill is the only shortcut anyone in any situation will ever need, and that any task that takes a long time is probably worth it.
She used the skill of perfectly measuring the temperature of roasted duck to teach us something more important: cuisine as an art form, available to everybody as a joyful endeavor of love.