Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Six Lessons Learned

We invited our summer interns to the Food Network Kitchens this past Monday. I was asked to speak to them about the company and my experiences.
I started by telling them that I too was a summer intern in New York City back in 1985.

I tried to boil what I've learned during 22 years in the media and entertainment business down to six key lesssons. Six lessons that I wish someone had shared with me all those years ago. I also included some of my favorite quotes related to the lessons.

Work for love, not for money.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."- George Eliot

Emotional intelligence is the most important intelligence of all.

EI is:
Self-awareness - the ability to read one's emotions and recognize their impact while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

Self-management - involves controlling one's emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Social awareness - the ability to sense, understand, and react to other's emotions while comprehending social networks.

Relationship management - the ability to inspire, influence, and develop others while managing conflict.

Leadership is the most important skill to master.

Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. – Vince Lombardi

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because
he wants to do it. – Dwight Eisenhower

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton
A leader is best when people barely know he exists; Not so good when people obey and acclaim him; worst when they despise him. but a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say "We did it our selves!" - Sun-Tsu

Servant Leadership is the most effective leadership style.

The greatest leader forgets himself
And attends to the development of others.
Good leaders support excellent workers.
Great leaders support the bottom ten percent.
Great leaders know that
The diamond in the rough
Is always found “in the rough.”
- Lao Tzu

He who wished to secure the good of others, has already secured his own. - Confucius

Success depends on making the right choices during a handful of defining moments and building relationships with a handful of key people.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. - Dr. Martin Luther King

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend. - Abraham Lincoln

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. - Maya Angelou

Never stop learning.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. - Eartha Kitt

I don't think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. - Abraham Lincoln

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Toffler



Friday, June 6, 2008

My Favorite Computer Brand

I love Sony VAIO computers. They look slicker than anything except for maybe the MacBooks and they seem to hold up through the years.




Left to right it's my 2004 T150, 2006 AR150, and 2008 TZ190.

I've probably spent over 4,000 hours with one of these three in my lap than over the past four years. It's sort of weird how we spend so much more time these days with inanimate objects than with real people.


Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

In 4 weeks I'll reach my 10th anniversary at Food Network. A lot has changed over the years. I know more about cooking than I ever imagined,


I've learned a company can be nice and still make a lot of money, and I've learned the crown of my scalp


is starting to look an awful lot like my dad's (who's also pretty handy in the kitchen.)


So it was off to the pharmacy on 39th Street and 2nd Avenue today for the magic bullet.


But at $80 per monthly supply, I might just let nature take its course.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Next Food Network Star



A popular Food Network show called "The Next Food Network Star" returns this Sunday night at 10pm. We had a fun event this morning to promote it where the contestants from reality series cooked and served breakfast to commuters at New York's Grand Central Station.


It was a fun way to start the day.

Diffusion of Innovations

One of my favorite classes in college was called Diffusion of Innovations. It's all about how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. So it's something I;m always thinking about, especially when people get overexcited about new technologies and how they are instantly "revolutionary."


It's interesting how long it takes for technology to change behavior. The Sony Betamax VCR was positioned as a time shifting device (see attached) when it was launched this month in 1975. It's taken 33 years, but consumers finally seem to be getting with the whole time shifting thing.

Some may remember that while color TV launched in 1950, the number of color television sets sold in the U.S. did not exceed black and white sales until 1972. WCBS-HD launched the first US HD broadcast in April 1997, and still 11 years later, less than 30% of US homes get HD service.

Who knows, using these sorts of timelines, online video and Video On Demand will really catch on around 2025.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

A Prediction




Barack Obama will select Hillary Clinton to be his VP running mate this fall.





It won't make any difference in the end, but he knows it's the right thing to do.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Chef Jeff Project



Today I'm in LA with some of our team shooting press photos and TV commercials for a new show we're working on this fall called The Chef Jeff Project.




It's all about the power of food changing the lives of young adults from troubled backgrounds. Chef Jeff Henderson went from drug dealing to jail to the head chef at one of the nation's top restaurants.




The kids each have really moving and inspiring stories. I spent a fun day sharing stories and advice with all of them. It's days like these that I think I should be paying Food Network instead of the other way around.