Hugh Morgan

el Panadero – A Mexican Fixture

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Yeast leavened bread, while not as core to Mexican cuisine as corn tortillas, is nonetheless quite popular..  The baker – el Panadero – in Mexico, bakes all manner of large, kind or rough, pastries (Dulces) and bread that is not memorable by Artisanal standards.  Flour is a regulated staple in Mexico and so bakers have access to only a few types and these are not particularly high quality.  This regulated supply of flour aligns nicely with industrial scale baking and so it is no surprise that the multinational baker Bimbo has roots in Mexico and churns out millions of loaves of Wonder Bread-style loaves daily.

 

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Cold Calling is Dead: Long Live Cold Calling

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Films like The Wolves of Wall Street, The Boiler Room or Glengarry Glenross, memorialize the punishing ritual that salespeople undergo as they learn to cold call.  Indeed, cold calling is baked into American business culture.  It is a little harder today: many folks do not have desk phones, you may have difficulty finding their mobile numbers, and even if you do, they’ll likely screen their calls.  So, the cold calling process – still robust – has moved to short emails, thoughtful notes, or referrals (even if faint) from mutually known parties.  Systematically, doggedly “working” a prospect list is still essential in making sales happen.

Cold calling is dead:  long live cold calling.

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Getting to Self Awareness

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Here’s the thing about self awareness.  If you are pretty self aware, you likely are in good shape: if you’re not, you likely need to work on it but are not aware that you need to do so.  Beginning to think empathetically about those around you (Something un self aware folks often lack) is an essential step in this direction. So, as a self test, you can spend some time reflecting on how you interact with folks and how they appear to perceive you.  What do they care about? Have your framed your conversation in a way that communicates reasonable care?  Do you know what your foibles are and have you figured out a way to manage them?

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How Most Jobs Are Found

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The Internet has changed many things about how you find your next gig but one thing has remained constant:  Most jobs are found through personally developed connections (That would be your network).  And, if you think about it this makes sense;  if you were looking to fill a particular role your first step would be to work your personal network, people you know.  You then would look for friends of friends and only when that had failed, would you post an opportunity on Linked In, Indeed or Monster.  Likewise, when looking for a job, most of your time should be spent on building relationships; I recommend that only 10 – 15% of your time be spent on job posting sites.

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Brioche

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Brioche dates back to the 1500s in France and is considered a subset of the Viennoiserie, which includes croissant.  Made with eggs, butter, milk and sugar, sourdough brioche needs to be managed carefully through the proofing process as these additional ingredients make things hard work for the yeast biome.  Brioche was baked by parishes as a “Blessed bread” throughout France, though likely as a luxury for the clerisy than as a part of communion.  The French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau attributed “Qu’ils Mangent de la brioche” (Let them eat cake) to Marie Antionette but there is not evidence she said this.

 

 

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