Lessons from Henry V … Leadership Inspiration

Posted on February 27, 2013 by

Looking for inspiration in history (and movies …)

In a recent leadership course sponsored by my employer, we used The story of Henry V and the battle at Agincourt as a metaphor for leadership. I have watched this video of his speech to the troops every day since then and wanted to share it with you. It provides me with inspiration and hopefully some potential tools I can use to take my troops into battle every day: humility, decisive leadership, participative decision making, scenario planning, and clear articulation of vision and objectives are but a few reasons Henry V prevailed against overwhelming odds.

For a great synopsis on leadership lessons from this battle, read the article found on Knowledge@Wharton, from my alma mater. Enjoy the video clip and let me know what lessons you think are learned from his speech or the battle itself.

WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING. What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.

Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

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#TechReview: My Blackberry Z10 Experience

Posted on February 3, 2013 by

20130203-214505.jpg
I have now had my BlackBerry Z10 device for a few days and am beginning to get a sense of the device functionality and the overall experience. I am not a professional reviewer but like to share. I’m reserving my final judgement and not ready to decide for sure that I will be moving away from iPhone to this however I will say it is a pretty good device with some serious limitations I will cover.

The Hub

A big highlight in the advertising for the new device is the Hub, basically one spot where all of your email, social networking, and text messaging updates can be found. It is fairly easy to use, and quite convenient in allowing a simple view of all of the information you need to ignore (LOL) for the day. Is it absolutely amazing, best thing since sliced bread? Not really. But it is an improvement over iPhone where you would have to seperately open LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email, and messaging to get the same content. And even viewing the actual apps is easier on Blackbery Z10 because you can have up to 8 applications open at the same time.

Setup for Facebook and LinkedIn are incredibly easy, by the way. And, when I set up LinkedIn, the phone asked me if I also wanted to add the email address I used for linked in to my device email accounts. I clicked ok and setup took seconds! Only question is why it did not do the same for FaceBook.

The Hub

The Hub

Email and Typing

Confident now to say that text recognition is better than iPhone. It is intuitive and suggests words not just on the letters I type but on the context of the sentence. If you start typing the quick brown fox, it knows you are about to write jumps over the lazy … pretty cool. And with some keyboard under the keyboard functionality, it learns how your fingers work and begins to correct the keyboard. So if your fat fingers always type Q when you mean to type W, it begins to shift the keyboard over to the right a little. Its coll and it just works. Plus it is SO easy to delete words and whole sentences with a slide of the finger. Finally, email addressing feature rocks. It remembers some of the last people who wrote you or you wrote and suggests they may be the ones you want to draft a new note to.

Cons:
1) Annoying that I can’t just refresh to mark things like Facebook and LinkedIn updates as “read”. Drawback of the Hub is that email and social media feeds are treated the same.
2) The work/personal thing comes back to be annoying here as well as you cannot even see the work address list without unlocking Work. (See notes on Balance functionality below). This is good for those who want to let their children play with the device but since I do not do that, it just annoys me.

Balance Feature

So, on to Balance …. Balance allows you to partition your device between work and personal. This is EXACTLY what I have been looking for over the years. I carry a personal device and a work device because I just like to keep things seperate. With a swipe down from the top of the screen and a quick click of either the WOrk or Personal tab, you can go from your always open personally controlled apps and social networking things to a container that is locked down and segmented for Work. When in personal, you cannot access certain things in the Work side. And you can’t cut and paste between the two sides. But switching is very easy and only Work requires a password beyond the device password. You can choose whether to make it the same password for both getting into the device and getting into Work (though most Corporate security functions will not allow this … they shouldn’t!).

From a security perspective this function and its restrictions are great. Basically, things you do and emails you receive in your work world stay in your work world. This is very different from the iPhone experience without a container app like Good but similar to what you would experience with Good or Mobile Iron. If you have had a limited lockdown experience as many corporate iPhone users have, this Balance Feature may take some getting used to.

For instance, I emailed a photo from iPhone to the blackberry, saved it, but it is saved in work side. I kept saving it and thinking I had done something wrong because every time I tried to use it for my BBM profile photo, I couldn’t find it. It took me a while to figure out how to save a photo in personal side other than those I take with the camera.

Perhaps more frustrating is that I can’t even see my work calendar or contacts when in personal mode. To view details for an item I have to enter the work password. Again, from a security perspective, this is nice, but it can be a pain at first. Also limits the convenience of the Hub when BlackBerry Messenger is only in the personal side and the corporate version is still in beta. I assume the enterprise messenger would also be in the Hub however.

BlackBerry Messenger

BBM is pretty darn cool if you have other friends that use it. Like Whatsapp and now Facebook Messenger, it allows you to chat with contacts and share photos, voice notes, appointments, and other files less than a 6 MB. Given the ease with which you can take a video of yourself, you could send a video message as well. Strange that they did not add that explicitly as an option in BBM. The only way it seems you can send a video is to create one in Story Maker or Camera and then attach it as a file. It is easy to invite multiple colleagues to a chat and can even have a video or voice conversation.

WAY COOL application HOWEVER it only works with others that have a BlackBerry. So, it does not replace Whatsapp and/or Facebook Messenger given, frankly, not that many people have BlackBerry devices these days.

Navigation and Speed

Navigating will be hard for those uses to iPhones and likely easier if you’re coming from android or windows phone. But after a few days of using it, the peek and flow navigtion actually grows on you. And if you had an Android, I’m guessing it woudl be even easier to adapt to the BB10 gestures. Without the iOs style home button, the screen does get more space and navigation is done via any of the frame area on the device, which is pretty cool.

Cons:
1) Speed going between screens in an app is a bit slow and I can’t tell if it is a network or software issue.
2) Every once and a while the screen will not rotate. Not sure what it is but it just gets locked up and no matter how I move the phone it stays in portrait mode. In some apps, like Story Maker, this is intentional albeit still annoying. But others, it just seems like a flaw.
3) The App Store is PAINFULLY slow. And then you find out why … Almost like they were embarrassed to show you the limited selection so made it open very slowly …

BlackBerry World

The good news is that many major applications are there. The ones everyone would expect: Fcebook (though not as robust as in iphone), twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare, YouTube, Adobe Reader, and of course Angry Birds. And native apps for photos, videos, and messaging are strong. Docs To Go blows most of the iphone editing apps out of the water.

The bad news is that it is still a very tiny (I mean minuscule) store compared to iphone and Android. And unless I am missing something, Whatsapp and Kindle are still not there. They announced at the launch event these apps would be supported on BB10 but not they are certainly not in the store yet. Disappointing. If the plan is they will come soon, I think it would have been better for Blackberry to wait to launch. This will hurt their ability to drive excitement.

Highlights of Missing Applications

Banking and Finance: Citibank, PayPal, Capital One, Fidelity were missing. To confirm it wasn’t just my American biased apps missing on my UK device, I also checked (and did not find) apps for any of the major UK banks. Emirates Bank was there …

Shopping: no eBay or Amazon (really????) but they did have Ocado, a winner for Uk grocery delivery. The other shopping apps were so random and obscure it literally looked as if Blackberry went door to door in several third world countries and asked for volunteers.

News: CNN, BBC News, Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg were noticeably absent. The BBC iplayer was available though I must admit I’m not a big fan of that poor navigation system from BBC. Many of the dailies were there, including the London Evening Standard.

Communications: I did not find Skype, Whatsapp, or Viber. No yammer. No ooVoo.

Travel: No TripIt, TripAvisor, hotels.com, American Airlines or seat guru apps. Lots of off small apps but none of the big ones available on iPhone and Android. and, sadly, my ESSENTIAL Hailo app for booking London taxis is not there yet. That is a must before I give up the iPhone.

Most disappointing to me was THERE IS NO KINDLE APP. But, overall, I am highly disappointed in the apps available. This may be a known limitation for long term blackberry users but having been with iPhone for the past 4 years or so, sorry this is a nonstarter.

Oh, and No Google Maps but thus far the native map application seems at least to be better than the awful one embedded in iOs 6. And it has voice instructions. Only issue is that it is very very very slow to get started. Not sure if that is a network or device issue.

Music and Movies

Noticably weaker than the missing apps is the limited entertainment options in the store. That said, whilst the music and video stores are embarassingly limited, this does not matter as much to me as the missing apps. I thought perhaps I had put on a filter of some sort as the television shows available were the common ones that seem to be available EVERYWHERE. There is literally not an online service (or airline) in the world that doesn’t offer Modern Family, American Dad, and How I Met Your Mother…. and I’m just not interested in either! This must drastically improve before there is an easy move from iTunes. Especially given thus far, I can’t transfer my iTunes content to the new device. That’s Apple’s fault, of course, with their proprietary format. #Annoyed. I bought it and should be able to use it wherever I want to …

Social Networking

Integration of social networking into the device is great, with four easy icons automatically added on the home screen and easy setup. The tiles allow uyou to have multiple social networking sites open on the phone at once, which is great. And Hub gives you all of your updates in one place.

Cons:
1) Facebook – Inability to hold down on an image in Facebook and save to the phone is frustrating. Inability to add photos to an album from within the app. Also, if I did not tag a photo when uploadng it (via another device or my PC), I cannot tag it using the Blackberry Facebook app. Nor can I edit tags in the app.
2) Twitter – Cannot edit my profile to change text or photo, nor can I add another Twitter account so that I can easily change between, for instance, a work group and personal twitter handle. Both of these things I can do on my iPhone.
3) LinkedIn – just not as good as the one on iphone. Navigation and content limited.

Summary of the Good

1) StoryMaker is really really cool. So easy to take photos, add music and quickly create movies for sharing via text, email, Facebook, YouTube, etc. My family and friends will likely get quickly tired of my photo montages.
2) Navigation is fairly easy once you get used to it and it is great to be able to easily switch between applications that remain open (up to 8)

20130203-214452.jpg3) Calendar is great, with nice view of individuals in the meeting and any connections you have with that person (email, LinkedIn, etc). It also has lists of any emails relating to the meeting, and shows adjacent events in an easy view.
4) The Hub is convenient and allows for easy view of all of the information overload with which we must deal.
5) Screen size is fantastic and the images are fairly crisp. I want to try it out for watching a movie or TV show but of course the options are crap so I will wait on that!
6) Nice browser experience with easy to use navigation and settings.
7) FLASH!!! Yes, I know people have moved on but it sure is nice to be back to a device that supports Flash.
8) Ability to make calls and conference calls very easily from the address book, home screen, within calendar entries, etc. Also I forgot how much I had missed the ease with which Blackberry integrates into corporate conference call systems with the ability to program the number and password in a calendar or contact book entry.
9) The size, weight and look of the device. Cooler than any BlackBerry ever and just as cool as the other phones out there today. Smaller than a Nokia 920 and just slightly bigger than the iPhone 5.
10) Proprietary without being annoying like Apple. I can use a standard micro-USB charger!

Summary of the Bad

1) App Store is pitiful, with many critical apps missing. I mean truly truly truly pitiful.
2) App Store
3) App Store
4) Music store is limited.
5) Movie and television show options are limited in a really sad, almost pathetic, way. BUt I could deal with this if more content services were available on the device. Most of what I watch on my iPhone is via CNN and BBC news apps, neither of which are available on this device.
6) BlackBerry Link, the tool with which you sync your device with your PC, is not intuitive, has relatively poor navigation and just doesn’t have the functionality and convenience out of the box that iTunes has. ***Update 5Feb12: Finding this is more of a user education issue. Having been 5 years since I had a blackberry, the Link functionality is different. Getting used to it now. This is not longer viewed as a weakness as much as a reminder of the annoying proprietary nature of iTunes and the iOS ecosystem.
7) While the camera is nice, and the new functionality pretty cool, the quality of the photos thus far did not seem as good as the iPhone 5, or even the iPhone 4G.
8) I REALLY miss the screen capture functionality of the iPhone. This is key for sharing some things and even for this blog, I had to go online to get photos of screens on the device that on an iPhone I could have gotten via screen capture. ***Update 5Feb12: User education issue, pointed out by Paul in comments below. I can do this, just had to know how. Nice!
9) Going between apps and sometimes opening them in the first place can be somewhat slow.
10) Nothing further found to dislike thus far…..

Overall, I think this is a great looking device with some cool functionality and special features. It is slick, relatively easy to use, and has fantastic blend of the good things from iOs and Windows phone with a bit of Android thrown in. Call quality and camera are strong and integration with social media is superb. But the app store will make or break this device. Without apps, Blackberry will remain “great for email”. And for those that truly just need a device for email, the Z10 is still not the best for them (though the pending Q10 may be).

So I would say the jury is still out. I love the device and really want to consider it for permanent iPhone replacement. If Kindle, Whatsapp, skype, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Hailo, and a few more critical missing apps are added to the store, I will definitely consider it and be happy to revisit this review. For now, I’m in “Neutral” on the BlackBerry Z10. ***Update 5Feb12: Neutral trending up.

If you have tried it out, I would love to hear what you think! Post your comments below.

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

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Blackberry 10 preview

Posted on January 30, 2013 by

From the BlackBerry Experience launch even in London at Old Billingsgate – 30 january 2012.

So this will be my first real-time Preview blog, reviewing SOLELY based on what is presented at the launch event. I reviewed iOS and Apple devices before and have been saying for months that I am moving on from iPhones. so the question remains where will I go? I will review the actual phone next week.

Windows Phone? Blackberry? Samsung Galaxy? Would love your thoughts!

Rough thoughts on BlackBerry10 based on the launch event:

BBM video chat – yet another option to compete with Facebook but perhaps more to kill upstarts like Viber and Whatsapp. But like iPhone messenger, value limited to Coms with other blackberry users.

Blackberry flow is awesome
Great folder organising scheme
Easy integration into tasks in outlook

Great camera and photo editing will compete with Instagram. Including really cool story maker tool that takes photos, music, and editing tools to quickly make videos.

Great work on apps with Skype, whatsapp and other competitors still working.
BlackBerry World now has all apps, music and movies like iTunes.
And you don’t have to reboot after installation.
Cisco webex

Rollout
By end of February tests done everywhere. US market price plans and preregistrations today. Avail in March.
Canada available in Feb 5. In UK blackBerry Z10 will be available this week. Very impressive for UK team (kudos Rob Orr) as O2, EE, Voda, car phone warehouse, and more will all launch tomorrow.

Alicia Keys as global creative director of BlackBerry? That’s a bit odd … Interesting new marketing partnership.

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Next: ACTUAL REVIEW OF DEVICE TBD

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

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My Soapbox: Take talent personally

Posted on January 28, 2013 by

Talent should be on the agenda and objectives of every leader at every level, every day, and in every organisation

Talent Matters.

I recently went on the soapbox when a conversation was started about forming a committee to work on ways to identify and develop strong talent. It’s clearly not because I do not find the goal relevant. In fact, I think Talent should be on the agenda and objectives of every leader at every level, every day, and in every organisation. That is the only way to be successful. Committees formed formally to focus on talent, regardless of intent, simply do not work without concerted action and interest from leaders with true desire to manage and grow talent. And, worse, the experience for those on such committess can be downright disheartening if they feel they are part of an academic exercise that in the end does not matter. Talent matters!

I want each of my leaders to feel excited thinking about what they are doing for their teams. What opportunities are we finding for them to stretch and be rewarded? To train them and coach them? To sell them for career enhancing roles with peers and other teams (or even other firms) even if it means losing a critical resource in our world? Talent matters!

I view every top performer in my team as a future CIO, CTO, or executive. I LOVE being able to share stories of individuals who worked with me at some point and rose through the ranks to take on major leadership roles around the world. Love it! And I firmly believe that the only reason I have been successful (or recovered quickly from failures) is because I try desperately to hire strong, develop well, and appreciate greatly. Talent matters!!

Anyone that knows me recognises that I tend to hate governance and I disdain committees. I frown on talking and planning talent development “initiatives” unless I see the signs of true interest and passion. Because a committee or initiative without passion is …. sadly, like many many many leadership teams in the corporate world … just bureaucracy.

Just my soapbox for the week. Thanks for listening. And, one more time, as I hope you’ll agree … Talent Matters!!

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

I pledge to listen harder.
Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

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Contemplating a dream in 2013

Posted on January 21, 2013 by

I couldn’t imagine a more fitting tribute to the legacy and life of Martin Luther King Jr than the second term inauguration of President Barack Obama on the day Americans celebrate his birthday. So in honour of the day, I thought I would share a few of my favorite MLK quotes and what they have meant to me personally.President ObamaMLK

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For me, this has meant taking on challenges that are nasty, gnarly, and complex. It is easy to be calm and composed when things are going well, my daily challenge is to keep the positivity and fresh perspective even when it seems the cards are all stacked against me.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a leader of large organisations, I have found several people that spend weeks, months, years! trying to get to an agreement on direction and strategy. And nothing gets done. This quote inspires me to try to balance democracy with action. Getting things done by gathering opinion quickly and getting to a decision, then driving support for the decision.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If I had a dollar for every person that smiled in my face then stabbed me in the back … well France would take 75% of it in taxes….. Also, we all know those types that beat us up when things are bad and forget to make any comments when things are good. Finally, there are some people that despite the best intentions just screw up. For all of the above, my philosophy is based on MLK’s principles (borrowed, of course, from the teachings in the Bible): Forgive! Forgive! Forgive! I frankly don’t have the time or energy to hold grudges. Don’t be fooled, however, into thinking that means I can be walked over. I do act and take decisions based on the grievances. I simply move on immediately thereafter.

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

See above! And, also my previous blogs on who to love. Life is simply too short to do anything less than love unconditionally.

That’s my short list and there are many many more quotes from this great yet flawed man. I learn much from him and from others and look forward to gleaning from the texts of today’s leaders for examples, both good and bad, of being a leader in this changing world.

For today, I say congratulations to President Barack Obama and to his family. May the next four years bring you the sense of accomplishment you desire but also the peace and love that comes with family, friends, and a sense that you have not compromised your values.

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/alswhartonAdam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

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For more information on life, work, and death of Martin Luther King Jr, here are a few web sources:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_king_jr.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/king_martin_luther.shtml

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#Foodie Review: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (London)

Posted on January 1, 2013 by

dinnerbyhestonblumenthal

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Mandarin Oriental
66 Knightsbridge
London, SW1X 7LA
Above photo from restaurant website.

Summary: Highly Recommended / Special Occasion

Because the food is exquisitely near perfect, decor is fabulous, and service is exceptional, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental for a special occasion. A bit pricey (£30 – £40 for a main; £15 – £20 for a starter) and thus less of a value than somewhere like Avenue or Vivat Bachhus, it still is a much better experience for the money than Galvin La Chapelle. And you will only spend a bit less around the corner at Buddha Bar, an overpriced, overly trendy, good but not great food, disappointment.

I would be more than happy to go to “Dinner” again, with friends or colleagues, and especially to celebrate a special occasion or a visitor from the States. You will love it, I’m certain. Let me know what you think!

Long Version

FOOD: 5

mandarin, chiclen liver and foie gras parfaitStarters included this amazing Meat Fruit dish, a gastronomic pleasure that looked like an orange but was a chicken liver & foie gras parfait wrapped in a mandarin cream. It tasted as good as it looked.

I had the Rice and Flesh, a saffron rissotto style rice with calf tail and red wine. Our mains were fantastic, starting with my spiced pigeon which paired perfectly with my sommolier recommended 2010 Buio Buio Isola Shiraz. The pigeon, and I will admit I do not often do the rat bird thing, was so well prepaered I didnt even think about Trafalgar Square’s missing flocks once! Tender, juicy, goodness. Two friends had steak, one the ribeye and the other the fillet. Both looked, smelled and tasted exquisite. I tried the Herefore Ribeye and then stole another bite. May come back for that one night. The light eater amongst us had a rather standard cheese tray but shame on him for doing that at this place. (He had a dinner party just before our celebration meal, unfortunately)

tipsy cake

Tipsy Cake (c 1810)

Sides were perfect, including wonderfully prepared, clearly unhealthy, triple cooked chips along with buttered carrots, and finally green beans with shallots. To end the meal, we had coffees and the Tipsy Cake with spit roast pineapple, which was orgasmic. Not one person dining with me was less than blown away by the food from start to finish.

DECOR: 5

Open Kitchen allows you to watch them work.

Open Kitchen

My favorite part of the decor is the fact that the entire kitchen is visible through huge all the way to ceiling windows. Throughout our meal, we watched large pineapples slowly roasting on a spit and a well disciplined kitchen team working their magic. It was actually strange after a while, watching them completely ignore us. I almost thought it was a two-way mirror like in police stations. (too much television).

Dinner by Heston BlumenthalThe colors of the walls and furniture, the unique lighting, and the general ambiance of the restaurant (warm, inviting, comfortable) made this a fantastic place to dine. (As an aside, this was a complete change from the absolute rubbish Mandarin Oriental Bar just outside, which was like a Marriott Courtyard lobby bar. Shamefully boring and shockingly plain in its decor, given this is a Mandarin Oriental.)

SERVICE: 5

Our primary server was Jonas and he was fantastic. But from entering the restaurant, service was perfect. Wine glasses promptly filled, food served on point and well coordinated, and food described exceptionally well. Jonas was patient as my partner kept discussing whether Amber came from the whale’s arse (waste) or his regurgitation. Long story there but clearly the remainder of our party of four had zero interest in this story, though apparently Dinner uses some Ambergris in cooking to add flavour. Ambergris is also an aphrodisiac so not sure if that adds more credence to one side of the debate or not …but I digress. (If interested in finding the conclusion of the debate, click here.)

Service was not pretentious and the staff seemed genuinely interested in our enjoyment of the meal and overall dining experience.

VALUE: 4

Clearly, we did not go to this place with a pretense that we would be getting a cheap meal so I compare its value to a group of restaurants in London with similar options, decor, and reputation, if not with a Michelin star as Dinner received in 2012. A bit pricey (£30 – £40 for a main; £15 – £20 for a starter) and thus less of a value than somewhere like Avenue or Vivat Bachhus, it still is a much better experience for the money than Galvin La Chapelle. And you will only spend a bit less around the corner at Buddha Bar, an overpriced, overly trendy, good but not great food, disappointment.

For those of you in Chicago, I would compare Dinner at Heston Blumenthal to Naha, Takashi, or Sepia more than Everest, Graham Elliott, or Les Nomades. Great food for moderately high prices that one can splurge on occasionally as opposed to ridiculously high priced indulgence that makes you feel guilty for not donating more to your favorite charity immediately after dinner.

Our meal for 4, had one of our friends not eaten beforehand, would have been roughly £400 including service and VAT. That’s steep given we only had 1 bottle of wine with the meal and that it excluded cocktails before dinner at the crappy Mandarin Oriental Bar. Mains were well prepared and presented, but I think you pay for the labour to put together such a presentation. Same food, of course, would be cheaper at most other restaurants. But, for a special occasion, I would suggest this place over Galvin La Chapelle without hesitation.

OVERALL: 5

Because the food is exquisitely near perfect, decor is fabulous, and service is exceptional, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental for a special occasion. It’s pricier than some but not all fine dining spots in London, so the only ding it got from me is in Value (4 out of 5). That said, I would be more than happy to go to “Dinner” again, with friends or colleagues, and especially to celebrate a special occasion. You will love it, I’m certain.

In relationship with #foodies,

Adam

Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

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#Foodie Review: Avenue (London)

Posted on November 20, 2012 by

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Avenue Restaurant

7-9 St James’s Street
Mayfair
London
SW1A 1EE
Above photo from Avenue website.

Summary: Recommended

Because the food is pretty good, decor is nice, service is really good, and most importantly because it is a darn good value where one meal here will not break the bank for most people, I RECOMMEND Avenue Restaurant and would be more than happy to go there again, with friends or colleagues, if in the neighborhood. Would I go out of my way, likely not. Should you try it out? I think so. Go for it, and let me know what you think!

Long Version

FOOD: 3

Before starting our meal, we had a glass of champagne to excite the palate and, well, we had just watched “Skyfall”, the latest instalment of the James Bond 007 franchise. Champagne just seemed right! We enjoyed the champs with some amazing brown bread with nuts that threatened to fill us up before our first course arrived. yum!

20121118-184750.jpgFor my starter, I chose a rather unique dish I actually may try for breakfast one Saturday morning. Wild mushrooms seasoned and sauteed in about a pound of butter were ladled over a heavy chunk of sourdough bread then covered with a slow cooked hen’s egg. While it was a tad salty for my taste, my stomach loved what my heart could later regret. My partner won this round with the venison carpaccio however, which was perfectly prepared, tender and juicy bits of perfection.

By this point, we had a bottle of the house white wine, acceptable yet completely unremarkable. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was.

My main was a simply grilled plaice with prawns and capers on a bed of greens. While the fish was good, I must say it certainly did not wow me. And the prawns were a bit tiny and dry. That said, it was an interesting presentation albeit with only ok execution. My partner again won the round with fish and chips which were devoured before my eyes. “It was ok” was all I was able to get from the other side of the table, but there was no sign food have ever actually been on the plate so I think it must have been better than ok. 20121118-184801.jpg

For dessert, I had to continue in my search for the perfect sticky toffee pudding, having now sampled the treat at at least a half dozen restaurants. My favourite remains that of Fishworks on Marylebone High Street and the Avenue version did nothing to change that. In fact, recalling the pudding at Fishworks reminded me, alas, that I also could have gotten fish of the same quality there as well. I also tried my partner’s Bramley Apple Crumble, also pretty good but not memorable. “It was fine.”

Overall, I must say that the creativity in the meal declined as each course progressed. Appetiser was unique, main was fairly standard, while dessert was just common. That said, for the record I love basic desserts. so bring in the brownies, apple crumbles, and sticky toffee puddings. Just make them spectacular please. ;)

SERVICE: 4

The team here seemed happy to welcome us and the other guests. The place was not very crowded for a Saturday but busy enough to suggest they could handle the larger crowds as well. The host that greeted us was helpful, the server consistent. They were friendly and prompt and able to keep things on track and flowing smoothly. The courses were well timed and our glasses were always filled. Minor annoyance: server asked if we wanted our coffees with dessert and we said hello. Our coffee arrived as we were finishing dessert. Adam pet peeve!

DECOR/AMBIANCE: 4

This restaurant is apparently one of a few owned by the DandD team that I believe is affiliated with the Conran Group, but definitely includes Orrery, one of my favourites yet to be reviewed, and Coq d’Argent. I am a sucker for accent walls, especially when of a warm and vibrant colour. Avenue did not disappoint with a nice red wall with quirky yet subtle (and reasonably priced) artwork hanging. It was a bit loud yet still allowed us to have a decent conversation, get a decent amount of people watching in, and sit relatively comfortably. Privacy was fine and I didn’t feel as if they tried to cram every inch with seating as at Asia de Cuba. And despite the recent trend of restaurants with DJs and blaring lounge music, Avenue was reserved. No disco with dinner!

The restaurant was well suited for the quiet area of Mayfair that is St James and the crowd seemed there for food and service versus to be seen; a welcome change. One miss is that I could not see the chef or kitchen.

VALUE: 5

For reference to those who have not read my other reviews, I have dined at La Chappelle in London and Graham Elliott in Chicago, Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia and Le Bernadin in New York. Yet, my greatest joy comes not from proving world renowned restaurants deserve (or do not deserve) acclaim. Rather, it comes from finding fantastic value restaurants where food is great and value for money worth noting. London provides ample opportunities for this with toptable and other websites always offering discounts.

This meal was booked via toptable.co.uk and I signed up for the 3 courses with half-bottle of wine offer. I reviewed the full menu upon arrival and am confident in my review ratings for regular meals or for those taking on the offer.

I have been excited to spend this year finding contrasting restaurants that offer similar quality food and much better prices. I found one such restaurant in Vivat Bacchus, and now in Avenue. The meal was approximately £100 for two, compared to about 3 to 4 times that much at La Chapelle and it was a bit cheaper than the bill at Balleria, the last restaurant I reviewed. Vivat Bacchus remains the top value for service, food and decor for me thus far in London.

OVERALL: 4

I love great food and great service. Avenue had pretty good food and really good service. I want to know the place in which I dine is attractive and cozy enough for both business dinners or romantic nights out. I would take a date or colleague to Avenue. However, as I eat my way across London’s amazing options for dining, I find myself rarely repeating unless a place is really stellar. Alas, Avenue was good, no attitude, good service and a nice space. But it was not stellar.

Because the food is pretty good, decor is nice, service is really good, and most importantly because it is a darn good value where one meal here will not break the bank for most people, I RECOMMEND Avenue Restaurant and would be more than happy to go there again, with friends or colleagues, if in the neighborhood. Would I go out of my way, likely not. Should you try it out? I think so. Go for it, and let me know what you think!

In relationship with #foodies,

Adam

Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

For all reviews, go to my yelp profile at http://www.lanechange.yelp.com

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Yet another blog about Change!

Posted on September 14, 2012 by

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Building Airplanes in the Air

EDS (now part of HP of course) ran a fantastic ad campaign years ago that highlighted how they help businesses manage through periods of major transformation. My favorite was called “Airplane” and showed a team of employees working on building a new airplane in the air. Yep, I wrote that right. In the commercial, filmed reality show style, there are several people who are discussing their pride in what they do. What do they do? Build airplanes while the planes are actually flying. Despite being a bit awkward in post September 11 times, the ad has always been such a great metaphor for what so many of us in Technology leadership roles have to do.

Transformation is never easy to begin with, and is made even harder by the mere fact that business does not stop and wait for you to finish with your initiative. While building the future, you must still keep the present up and running. Like building an airplane that is still flying!

The only way you can be successful in an environment like this is by remembering these principles:

1) Surround yourself with good people.
I can’t believe I am quoting Oprah Winfrey in one of my blogs but one must admit she clearly knows how to lead and drive change. One of her popular statements was “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” I completely agree this is essential. People who surround themselves with positive people naturally become more positive. Likewise, surrounding yourself with depressing, negative people leads to adopting their attitude.

But your team members can’t simply be positive thinkers. You need talent! I worked with a manager once who truly seemed intent on only hiring people who were not as smart as he was. Perhaps it was ego, perhaps insecurity, but it seemed that he was always needed to make decisions, solve problems, and break impasses. His people were neither empowered nor enabled to drive effective change. If you hire down, your organization dies. Period. I strive to always surround myself with people who are complimentary. I know my strengths and weaknesses, so why would I hire someone with the same strengths and weaknesses?

Find people that are intelligent but flexible, driven but not mercenary, loyal but not naive. Your change will be more successful. In the airplane example, a pilot only needs one co-pilot. The rest of the crew know more about customer service, cabin safety, in-flight entertainment and dining. They speak with clients more regularly and can get a sense of satisfaction. The team is made better because there are lots of good people doing their part to make the whole better. That should always be our goal!

2) Think like the successful automakers do. When I recently tried to explain how I think Technology shops should run with respect to relationship between Service (run) and Change components I thought of Mercedes Benz, my beloved car company. The change teams at Mercedes, those designing new cars and features, get a lot of glory when the next big thing is announced. Yet most people buy Mercedes both because of the design and styling of the car AND the fantastic service experience of owners.

  • The Design team constantly thinks of service while designing: periodic service alerts, inboard monitors, quality control, etc. They do not sit in an ivory tower in Stuutgart making stuff up! They talk to Service, Sales, and others to seek out ideas for what comes next.
  • The Service team, while striving to deliver quality service when you visit for service, also continuously feeds back to the design team things that need to be improved. And sometimes they advise the customers on how features in newer models go even further to address certain issues. Service is frequently the best source for add-on sales and upgrades!

Think about it! What if everyone in Technology worked in this mutually beneficial relationship structure? Applications would be designed for performance, infrastructures would be built to last, and customers would have a better overall experience “driving” the best solutions for their unique needs.

If we never forget the important relationship between change and run, we can effectively manage “building planes in the air”.

3) Communicate with your customers
Think about the last time you were on an airplane, or perhaps even in a taxi. Often the pilot or driver will inform passengers at the very start of the journey of pending problems. Turbulence ahead! A lot of traffic in one particular area may delay arrival! The light above your seat does not work! But on United Airlines in particular, you are also greeted at the beginning of the flight with a video from the CEO. In his intro, he highlights changes being made, explains any temporary issues that may frustrate clients, and thanks them for their loyalty and patience.

How many of our internal clients would be shocked to hear such messages?
Dear Clients: 1) We are going through a period of change that will bring enhanced stability, service, and innovation to better enable your success. 2) We know there will be some times of disruption and instability in the current environment and of course we will do all we can to minimize impact. 3) Thank you so much for your patience and support. Please know that everything we do is to add value for you.

Don’t surprise your clients with change, or downplay the risk so significantly you lose credibility. Be honest. Be open. Be consistent. And, of course, if the change is not something that adds value, rethink doing it at all!!

Let me know what you think. How do you effectively handle major changes while still managing to keeps things going? How do you build airplanes in the air?

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

This blog was originally posted Feb 2012. Reblogged Sept 2012.

Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/alswhartonAdam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

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#Foodie Review: Bellaria Restaurant and Wine Bar (London)

Posted on August 12, 2012 by

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Bellaria Restaurant and Wine Bar

71 Great Titchfield Street
Fitzrovia
London
W1W 6RB

Overall Verdict: Neutral – Not recommended, but I would not suggest you avoid it.

DECOR: 3
From the other reviews, I surmised that the basement was nice and quaint. I guess that depends on what you prefer. I did not sit down there but I did see the basement when I went to the Gents. overrated would be my conclusion, looking a bit like a dungeon and perhaps causing a mild claustrophic reaction. The upstairs was fine, albeit plain and boring, but the tables were WAY too small. We had to request a table sized for 4 guests to actually fit the starters, mains, and wine we ordered.

FOOD: 3
20120812-122923.jpg I had a calamari and zucchini starter that was quite well prepared and lightly floured. My partner had the crab and passion fruit starter that was bland and boring. And we think they may have forgotten to add the passionfruit. For our mains, we both had the sirloin steak with Parmesan shavings over rocket. The steak was prepared okay. They are a bit to the over side on temperature so if you want medium rare, order rare, as my medium rare was more medium and my partner’s medium looked kind of well done to me. Besides the temperature, I was not impressed by the thin steak nor the lack of flavour. If it were a thicker cut of meat, it likely could have held its own with little seasoning but the thin steak was rather flavourless. Dessert was fantastic for my partner (tiramisu) and acceptable for me (strawberry cheesecake).

SERVICE: 4
Perhaps I expected to be treated like a second class citizen after reading the reviews about discount diners, but I would say that service was pretty good. Very attentive staff, but not overly so. I don’t think they poured our wine after the first pour but our food came hot and things were timed fairy well.

VALUE: 3
Based in the average quality of the food, and considering the Neighborhood, I would say this place is about average. The discounts you can easily get via the reservation sites and dining clubs give you a bit of wiggle room for wine and extras. We spent £125 for two people including the automatic service charge of 10% plus another 3-5% service gratuity we added. This included the red wine of month, a nice Barbera d’Asti, plus two starters, two mains, two sides, and two desserts. Given I know that I could have had the same meal on Marylebone High Street for about the same price without the discount, I’m giving Balleria a 3 for value.

OVERALL: I would not recommend this restaurant but would not turn people away from it either. There are too many nice restaurants in London for me to tolerate average, but if I lived nearby and wanted a quick Italian dinner, I would certainly visit this place.

In relationship with #foodies,

Adam

Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

Notes: Booked via toptable.co.uk and signed up for 50% off offer (why would I ever choose the “no thanks” offer?). Whenever I book these types of offers, I take the opportunity to try more of the menu and always have a bottle of wine or cocktails. The little card they put on your table when you sit down does make you feel a tad low class, especially if you happen to be on a date. Luckily, I was not! The card stipulates rules for the discount and the items on the menu that are not fully discounted like tuna, sirloin steak, and other specials. Not a big deal, actually, and I’m not sure there would be an easier way to make this clear without the waiter having to actually say it out loud.

For all reviews, go to my yelp profile at http://www.lanechange.yelp.com

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Top Traits: Fun to Work With

Posted on July 6, 2012 by

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Defining the perfect employees

Let’s face it, for most people work is a means to an end. You work so that you can eat, keep your brain active, connect with other people, learn, or reach some apex in your ambitious plan to take over the world…. Whatever the reason, for very few people work is about finding intense joy and personal satisfaction every hour of every day. That is simply not reality. But, like any other required part of our lives, we can choose how we want to handle work. We can come in every day, do what is required, talk to nobody, and leave. Or we can bring a smile into the office, do our jobs and encourage others to do theirs, and try to bring fun into what can be otherwise mundane or stressful.

I worked with someone for years that was by far the very best at a particular function. This individual was 1)Both talented and hard working, and 2)showed a true pride in the products he created…..good so far, right? If you’ve read my two preceding “Top Traits” blogs, you’d say he is a perfect employee. But wait! This person was so depressing, so negative, and so, well, just not fun! There were days where despite the value I could get out of a conversation, I could simply not do it. It would drag me down into a depression instead of inspiring me to be better. Like the Dementor guards of the Azkaban prison in the Harry Potter movies, this kind of person can simply suck the soul out of a team, an office, or a company. Which brings me to my third top trait ….

… Trait # 3 – Fun to Work WithFun People

If you’ve done interviews, you’ve perhaps been asked to assess “fit” with the culture of your particular company. When I started my career, I thought those interviews were inappropriate. Fit translated into Golf Club network, family connections, and politics. But as I advanced, I realised more and more that fit can make or break a leader. A leader whose style is perfect at one place will bomb elsewhere. So, to be clear, being fun isn’t always going to make you successful. You still must deliver. This is my personal opinion and what I personally look for. I want employees that are fun to work with. Period.

What I like

There are some people that simply bring joy to the office. They bring smiles, jokes, the occasional cupcake or brownie …. They bring personality and just enough of themselves to break down barriers and create a culture of openness that makes work more rewarding.

I’m not talking about class clown, chronic joking, or distraction. I’m talking about balancing the “what” with the “how”. Say you have a complex team challenge that must get done in 24 hours. You have to work pretty hard to get it done and, especially as a leader, you can be a humourless tyrant and slave driver. Or you can be an inspirational and personable motivator. I’m choosing to be the latter.

I recently spent time with some of our colleagues managing technology in Europe. During the evening, we had a team dinner and drinks and I had the opportunity to get to know the Poland, Spain and Italy leaders. We laughed, joked, and had a really great time but occasionally someone would bring up a problem facing our firm and I would ask for a recommended solution. What amazed me is how smart the team was at coming up with ideas but at the same time they were having fun and enjoying being together. That’s the kind of team I want!

In short:

Don’t be a dud.

What I need to do as a manager to enable

Smile.

When I’m having a funk of a day, I either stay home or avoid meetings. Smiles are contagious, I truly believe that. So if I can’t bring a genuine smile to the office, I try desperately to avoid contact with people! We can’t expect everyone to be happy all the time, but as a manager I need to both set an example and reward those that also bring fun to the office.

Last week, I woke to yet another rainy London day and, frankly, I was disgusted. I was so sick of rainy weather that I knew I would be in a bad mood. I went back into my kitchen, made a huge breakfast with a large strong cup of java and read a low intelligence required novel. Then, I went to the office. I was later than intended but by the time I got to the office I was refreshed and able to deal with another grey day.

Solicit feedback from team.

Talk to your teams on a regular basis to determine what makes them happy. What motivates them and when they smile, ask them why they are happy. Find something that brings them joy and do that.

Support and understand that some people just have bad days.

Recognise that some people will have bad days. Support them. Make sure they feel comfortable detaching if necessary. Make them leave if you must. If they need help, try to get it for them. And reward those that bring joy to the office and perform with a positive attitude.

In short:

Don’t be a dud.

Let me know what you think. What do you view as top employee traits? How do you build the best teams around different types of team members? Are you working hard on something worth doing?

Be Well. Lead On.

Adam

Be sure to view all of the Top Traits:
Trait 1: Hard working AND talented

Trait 2: Pride in work product

Trait 3: Fun to work with

Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/alswharton

Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections

Follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/alswharton
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