Leading like Superman or Spiderman?

I recently re-watched Spiderman 1 with my wife a few days ago, the one with Kristen Dunst and the guy from “Seabiscuit”. It was ok, I can’t seem to remember why it was such a big deal when it came out.

I am not sure if you are familiar with Spiderman, but in a nutshell, it’s a little nerd by the name of Peter Parker who gets bitten by a mutated spider. This encounter altered his DNA and gave him tremendous strength, agility and other attributes that we usually associate to spiders. In order to hide his identity he then takes on the persona of Spiderman, et Voila!!

While watching the movie, it got me thinking about another super hero that our society is much more familiar with, Superman. Superman is an alien (YES just like E.T.), born with superhuman strength, the ability to fly and other powers, he takes on the persona of Clark Kent with “human” characteristics.

Both have superhuman abilities and both have alter-egos. However the similarities go no further. In fact other than both of our super heroes feeling quite comfortable in their masculinity to prance around in a skin tight outfit in public, their way of life couldn’t be more different. Allow me to explore.

Superman was born with powers. He has never known a life outside of the one he currently lives. His powers, from a young age have allowed him to do extraordinary feats. He has known from a toddler that he was special; actually more specifically that he literally could do ANYTHING on his own, simply by relying on his “natural” abilities. He took on the persona of Clark Kent in order to hide Superman.

Peter Parker, by contrast, has lived a hard live. He lost his parents at a young age and had to live with his Aunt and Uncle. Though he lived under a loving roof, his small frame and nerdy look did not make him the most popular guy in school. Rather, he invested his time in study and science, basically the regular life of what we would commonly refer to as a nerd. Until a freak encounter with the spider that would change his life, Peter Parker did not feel special but instead rejected by his peers. Until the encounter, Peter Parker didn’t truly believe he could do ANYTHING by just relying on his own human abilities. When the spider gave him extraordinary powers Peter was given a chance to make a difference with all his powers AND flaws. He took on the persona of Spiderman to hide Peter Parker.

Here is the lesson. If you are in a leadership position and if you are anything like me; too often we have tried to take on the persona of Clark Kent believing we needed to be Superman. Meaning, we wanted to show our human side to our staff, team, and congregation but internally we wanted to be able to do ANYTHING on our own and simply rely on our natural abilities; we needed to be Superman, no flaws, no problems big enough to stop our own ego. We couldn’t be more wrong.

We are in fact just Spider men and women. We were never born with the powers to do everything, our gifts were not multi-faceted. By random encounters or pre-destined encounters we have honed our skills and abilities to become the person we are today. We are in fact, all Peter Parker, given a chance to make a difference with ALL our FLAWS and skills. But though we have amassed all that knowledge and skills we are still first and foremost human.

I believe that by recognizing that important facet of our own humanity, those we serve and lead, will embrace that very nature and find ways to compliment our shortcomings. If we choose to hide and lead like Superman and do things on our own, chances are people won’t think they can help us, because we act like Superman and therefore, probably wouldn’t help us in our time of need.

On the other hand leading as Spiderman is to accept that we were flawed FIRST and acquired the rest because of events surrounding our life rather than just a natural ability. Because we accept that frailty, I believe those who “follow” us, will be much more open to help.

Something else I would like to share. The one-man show leader is no more; the era of team leadership is in its full swing. So if you think you can do it all by yourself, just like Superman, it’s time for you to lay with the dinosaurs and leave the spiders to weave their threads.

Possibility vs. Positivity

I would like to share with you some thoughts I have been mauling over the past few days. The realm of possibility vs. the realm of positivity.

Looking back at my childhood, I discovered that my parents have instilled in us (my brothers and I) a deep sense of possibilities, but not necessarily of positivity.

I think it came from the fact that they left Vietnam to a country they knew very little about, leaving behind family and a life they had built for themselves to an unknown world because they saw the many possibilities that offered North America. It could have also been from the time my dad left a secure job with Sears to go into the restaurant business without any understanding of the business world because he knew that becoming your own boss would open doors to multitudes of opportunities, or when my dad shook my hand and sent me on my way to Calgary to start my own life and wished me "good luck", because he believed it was time for me to discover the world on my own and make my own journey . Or it may have come from even further back, when my grandfather and my grandmother built a successful store and business in Vietnam, because they understood that they were master of their destiny. In all cases, I always had an innate sense that anything was possible. Which is a very good thing when it comes to starting any project.

But I never was quite a positive person. You know the old question "Do you see the glass half full or half empty?" I always thought "just pour some water in it and the glass will be full or empty the glass and it will be completely empty, what is it about this half ass crap".

In the past few years I have met many people that were very positive people. I mean they were POSITIVE, sometimes too positive they became annoying. I don't know if they faked it, but I can assure you that to my eyes, THEY BELIEVED. And I looked at their life and kept saying to myself "these people have a lot of positive thinking, lots of hope", but was it enough to achieve their dream?

So, here is my take on positive thinkers. Positive thinkers have a high chance of becoming depressive..... don't get me wrong, being a positive person is much better than the alternative of being a negative person. But I learned something, our level of stress is DIRECTLY proportional to the gap between our present situation and the positive outcome that we envision. Therefore the shittier your situation is and the bigger your dream is, the HIGHER your stress will be. Furthermore, a positive person is someone who sees his or her situation in an optimistic, and more often than not, surrealistic view point, rather than simply realistic.

You tell yourself "What the heck are you talking about Duy? Every self-help guru out there says that we have to just keep on thinking positively", "Every experts in their field say think positive and the universe will conspire to make it real". I mean look at the amount of books out there, no wonder books like "The Secret" made a killing on the bestsellers list.

But to simply be a positive thinker is a far cry from reaching one's potential. However possibility thinking is slightly AND very different. While both have an innate sense of optimism, positivity looks at what is and spin it into an optimistic view point and the problems lies where the optimistic view point will hide the reality of the situation.

Possibility on the other hand looks at what is and extrapolate optimistic end results, which provides the beginning of a strategy to achieve one's goal.

One is not exclusive of the other one, meaning that it is not a matter of either - or, but rather it is subtle change in our reflection of a situation. Making possibility and not JUST positivity to be the motor running our thinking and strategic decisions.

As you start your projects or any endeavours: ask yourself "Do I see the possibilities rising from my situation?" or "Do I see the positive side my situation is giving me?". One will give you an plan to obtain and reach your goal, the other will make you smile and enjoy your present situation. Which is the one you seek??

Fear

Have you ever been afraid?

Of course I have been anxious, surprised and all sorts of other feelings that we usually associate with fear. But I am not talking about those. I am talking about true fear. A fear so fierce that you wake up in the middle of the night with your heart pounding in your chest trying to gasp for air. I am talking about a fear where you are unable to make any clear thoughts come to mind and make any rational decisions. A fear so strong that it paralyzes you from any thoughts and actions and engulfs you completely with....FEAR.

I have. In the past few weeks things have been extremely crazy for us. So many things happened lately, such as the beginning of construction for our site, the loan that the bank has given us and the loan that we acquired from the Canadian Foundation of Young Entrepreneur. With all that good news, also comes the added pressure to deliver the "vision", with it also comes the responsibility of shouldering this project. So many things are coming at us from so many angles such as re-design, contract negotiation, over-budget, marketing, hiring, operation procedures and more, much more.

I have been afraid for quite sometimes and it has been very hard to share that with anyone. Before I go on I have to say this. I believe that our decision to go into a franchising business is the right thing, for me especially. I also believe in our mission statement and our vision. I believe that through hard work, good strategies and sound judgment we can put all the cards on our side to achieve success in our endeavours. I am also confident in the opportunity that offers OZEN to me and my family and also importantly to our communities.

Now back onto fear, I have been engulfed by fear, not self-doubt, but true fear,the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown. But ONE fear has kept me from sleeping these past few nights and has been bigger and much more prevalent in my life that any other fears that I have faced.

The fear of letting my family down.

What would happened to Melissa? What would happened to Alain? What would happened to my mom and dad? What would happened to my family? What would happened, what would happened....It's killing me. This fear has such a stronghold on me that I don't know what to do sometimes. I am literally paralyzed.

And here is the irony in all of this. This same fear that paralyzes me is also my motivation to persevere and succeed, simply because I have no other options. I work my butt off because there is no other way. I am not sure people realize it, or maybe they do. Maybe it is just me who thinks I should shoulder all of the world's problem? But I feel I must pursue and that my life's work will always be to provide this sense of security to those I love...and sometimes to my detriment.

I am enjoying the journey, as hard as it is to believe by reading this blog, I am learning, I am growing, I am changing, I am living.

But I would not do you a favour or be honest with you if I only wrote about the success or some obscure lessons that I learn through my journey.

It is not until a man sees himself in the mirror as he truly is that he can change and become the man he truly should be.

My fear is a constant motivator in my journey. Maybe one day I'll be able to let it go, until then I hope that you to will discover your fears and face them or release them.

Lesson in Project Management.

I just spoke to my general contractor this morning. He just informed me of some of the cost of the construction and I was flabbergasted.

Mechanical HVAC, plumbing, electricity all cost that I knew existed but didn't expect to run that high.

Something I am going to have to re-learn or accept in any project I will attempt is that:

-Projects are always harder than they seem to be.
-Projects always take longer than they should.
-Projects cost more than they ought to be.

If anyway tells you otherwise they are definitely smoking something and the good stuff.

I am feeling a little stress with the knowledge of that cost hanging over us. I am putting my request for funds today and I will see how things will turn out.

It's for real!

It's for real now. Just got contacted by a bunch of people and money is starting to pour out of our pocket. Crap I am about to stain my pants.

2 W's

I am growing quite impatient with this project. Things are not going as fast as I want, or things are not getting done as well I would like it to be. Sometimes its my fault and sometimes circumstances happen. Or in lament terms.....Shit happens.

Through this project I am truly learning how to be more patient.

I am also not sure if all of us understand, or at least if not understand, truly accept the sacrifice that we are going to have to make soon. I think it scares some of us. However there are success principles that can not be bypassed and I am learning them as I go through my own demons.

I am learning that in order to have success in either your professional life or personal life, in order to gain something significant in our life, there is this principle, that I believe some people from my generation don't truly grasp, this principle has been in the lives of our parents, grandparents and ancestors for generations. To be honest with you, with the advance technology that we have seen in the recent decades, I think I understand why we have forgotten this particular principle that governs our life.

Before I tell you about this principle, here is something about principles you need to accept, they will govern our lives whether we acknowledge them or not. It's like gravity, you can either deny or accept gravity, but if you jump off the bridge chances are high that you will go down.

So this principle that I am implying is something that many of us seem to know about. But we are not very sure how to harness it. To be honest with you, with the internet, the cellphones or instant messaging, the principle is a little hard to recognize. I call it the 2 W's....Work and Wait.

Here it is, we are either working for something or waiting for something. We are always in one of the 2 stages in our life.

And here is something for you to think about. The success that you are seeking or the freedom that you are yearning or maybe the lifestyle that you are dreaming of. Are you waiting for it or are you working towards it? Remember you are in one or the other....but here is the kicker......there is a sequence you must keep, just like the alphabet. A comes before B and so forth.

Well there is one W that definitely needs to be before the other W. So for your claim to fame...are you ready to put the 2 W's in the right order?

If so, are you ready to accept this next principle?

For anything significant GAIN in life we will LOSE something significant in our life.

Chew on that.

Dilemma

I just went and met with the director of finance of Desjardins. I am now torn between RBC and Desjardins. I like both of them, RBC were the first once I approached but Desjardins were the the ones pursuing our business. RBC knows our product, but Desjardins is a neighbor and a potential source of revenue for our new venture.

I like the guy at RBC, but the girl at Desjardins seems to be much more knowledgeable.

What to do, what to do? Time for a decision, sometimes decisions aren't easy, actually no one has ever said it would be easy, they actually warn you that things would be hard. But decisions, is what you must make. All our future postions are decided by our present decisions.

Business Taboo!

Today I went to the CLD. The CLD is a non-profit organization implemented for the sole purpose of helping the development of entrepreneurs and the local economies. And in our case, we are assigned an adviser, someone who can help us develop a sound business plan and be a sounding board for our ideas. So today, I had my second interview with this adviser.

He brought many good points and has shed good lights on some of the many discrepancies of my business plan. However, during our conversation he asked a simple question: "what guarantees do you have to insure the sale numbers in your business plan?". I had to think about it for a few moments and I started to blurt a bunch of random thoughts on how we came up with the numbers and how sound they were according to "our" experience. Truth be told, I didn't have any guarantees, all I have is confidence, but the question took me a little by surprise.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make in this blog. Confidence, where does it stem from? I think it comes from a concept that we don't usually associate to business. I think it comes from something we don't like to talk about because it is almost a taboo subject in our society, yet that subject is the driving motor for what we do and how we engage in all parts of our life, whether it be personal, professional or anything for that matter. Confidence stem from FAITH...I know, I know, I know don't roll your eyes yet, or shake your fingers at me or stop reading just yet. Allow me to make my point.

Faith is an important part of starting a business and if I dare say it, it is the basis of what we should start a company. Without it, it would be completely absurd to tackle a project like starting your own company or investing in a company. Why start anything if you don't have faith in the good outcome of your endeavors?

Anyway, I am stating a fact. Every part of our life we exercise faith, sometime at lesser degree than others but we all in some sort of way do. Whether we sit on the dentist chair "trusting" that the dentist knows what she or he is doing to getting in an elevator "hoping" the mechanic did his maintenance job on the wires. We all exercise faith and in business we often hide the word or the feeling with sentences like, "my educated guess" or "in my experience" or "the data suggest"....We all trust a 6th sense. That "6th" sense is simply faith.

So to get back to what my boy the adviser asked: "what guarantees do you have to insure the sale numbers in your business plan?". I don't have any guarantees, all I have is a faith that I did my job and will be doing my job to the best of my abilities and that "Someone" is going to provide.

I am not suggesting that faith is the ONLY thing in business, what I am saying is that without faith there is no point in beginning a business or a project for that matter.

Guilty

I had a little altercation with one of the cooks this week at my parent restaurant. Let me set it up for you.

The cook is in charged of all that is fried and grilled and one of the item that was to be served was an imperial roll, those are fried rolls that some of our Caucasian friends mistakenly refer to as egg rolls. Anyway, the rolls were, that day, consistently overcooked. At which point I told the cook to PLEASE ensure the quality of the rolls. She responded by saying that it was not her fault and that the oil needed to be changed for the past couple of days etc... I abruptly interrupted her, by "shusshing" her, emphatically, may I add. What you have to understand, is that the lady was older than I am and in the Asian culture, a younger person giving his "emphatic" opinion to someone older is not well reguarded. At that point I couldn't care less, I just wanted the damn rolls.

So let's fast forward a little bit, to Friday. My mom, upon hearing the altercation asked me to give her an explanation of the situation. After listening to me, she asked me to go apologize to the lady about being curt. Honestly, I couldn't care less if I did or if I did not. So I did, or at least I thought I did.

Apologizing is not an easy thing for me to do. I don't like apologizing especially when I believe in the truthfulness of what I have done. However we have to ask ourselves a bigger question than "are we right or are we wrong?" Because being right and being wrong is just human rationalization, so we can swing both ways. The questions is more along the line of "what is the right thing to do?" See we should always strive to do the right thing, but too often we get stuck on just being right.

I hate being wrong, more importantly I hate when my nose is being rubbed in when I am wrong. There are 2 kinds of criticism we receive, the first one are just plain wrong and the second are just plain right ON. And it is never the criticism that are false that hurt the most,nope it is those damn right ON criticism that come in and pierce right through our heart, sould and mind, those are the one that are just.....well...right.

In the end I had to apologize. Not because I was wrong, as a matter of fact, I was right, the quality of the product was poor and completely unacceptable. No instead, I had to apologize because I did not give her the respect she deserved. We all need respect, we all asked to be respected, I do and I did not follow the golden rule: "Do unto others as I would have them do unto you"

I know it is easier said than done and many will crucify us for our wrong doings. But listen, those who criticize you are either your enemy or your friend and if they are your friends, you should take heed of their criticism. Listen-Learn and Grow.

And to those who have an easy way of pointing the faults of others, you should remember that a velvet glove is always better than a slap in the face. Sometime, just sometime, it is better to let the fire settle and than use a gentle blow to take out the rest.

Yup, I am turning into a Guerilla...

Yes, again Guerilla Marketing- Funny thing is that I took at look at it when Duy first brought it home, and told him I wanted it read it. I was sitting there taking a look at his copy of Guerilla Marketing, he takes a look over my shoulder and tells me "your thumb is in the wrong spot, you are going to break my bind". Hmmm.... now I know Duy takes very good care of the things that he owns, but seriously, my thumb? So needless to say the following day I get a phone call from the restaurant [Zen Asia] and it is Duy; "can you phone around and find out where you can get your own copy of Guerilla Marketing? I think we ought to read it together in order to be able to discuss it." My solution was I would read his in the evenings, and he would read it in the mornings... "Oh no- you need your own copy". Needless to say after a while on the phone talking to many people, we actually found me a copy, and now I have my brand spanking new copy of Guerilla Marketing, and guess what, I can put my thumb anywhere I want...

Cheerio!

M.

Guerilla Marketing

I am presently reading a book about marketing called Guerilla Marketing from Jay Conrad Levinson.

In the span of a few pages it has triggered a lot of ideas about how to market ourselves. But I discovered that it is very hard to contemplate an idea without a team around you. More importantly it is very difficult to get to the point when the members of your team does not know where you come from. So I decided to ask Melissa to buy the book and read it at the same time. I also think that I will recommend this book to any office employee coming on-board in the future, accounting, operation, who cares as long as they are willing to think outside the box.

Anyway all I can say is that all those ideas on how to brand ourselves or seek new opportunities and ensure our "future" client base are rushing in. Now I need to go get myself a camouflage outfit....hmmmm....maybe paint too...betonel!! JERONIMO!!!

Menu Signage

Ok, so I am making a decision, a blind decision, as I have no clue what either looks like nor their benefits for me the owner/taker-care-of-er!

I am deciding on my menu design signage for inside the restaurant. I have been given a couple of choices: acrylic or perhaps anodized aluminum ( with a satin finish on the surface)- I know what a satin finish is- but that is about it... so technically of three things presented to me, I know the finish.

I might be able to make a decision, if acrylic didn't come in a myriad of different shapes, sizes, finishes... etc. HELP! But wait! Just what exactly is anodized aluminum? and what are my final costs?

Out of curiosity, how many people who start something new feel nauseous a lot of the time? Anyone, anyone... Bueller?

signing off to go vomit,

M.

Designing; Good for the Human Soul.

We are so excited to be using a great product from 3form. This company is very environmentally conscious and goes along with our commitment to making the world a better place, one person at a time. This not only speaks to us being kind and courteous to our patrons, but it also means taking a look into the future and trying to determine how we can create a better future for our children and for your children. How can we as a business make sure that what we are using is the best possible option both for us and for our environment. This is no easy task let me tell you. Biodegradable plastic bags are more expensive then regular plastic... but paper bags aren't and they biodegrade. I'm not claiming that we will be perfect, no one is, but when we know better- we try to do better, and that is what we are trying to do here.

3form has a video showing its environmental efforts: http://www.3-form.com/about-path_to_zero.php

We have also committed to using a coffee from Rwanda. Land of a 1000 hills coffee: By the way, not only is this coffee good for the Human Soul, it tastes great! Knowing that you are making a difference, makes a difference. It is so easy to not think about where your coffee comes from, who is growing it, and whether or not they are being paid fairly for their product. We feel so honoured that we can bring this coffee to the Montreal area. Take a read, let me know what you think?

Can a Good Cup of Coffee really make a Difference?

Welcome to Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, where you can have a high quality cup of coffee that provides a Living Wage to coffee growers, micro-finance loans to widows, and engages redemption in a very tangible way across the world.

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee is on a mission to provide excellent coffee, support sustainable economic development, and to be a catalyst for reconciliation in Rwanda. We invite you to partner with us to "Drink Coffee. Do Good."

From: http://www.landof1000hills.com/

Ceremony

me wife, isn't she pretty?

Today Melissa, Patrick, Alain and I are going to go meet with our architect. He has received material sample for us to look at and also it will be a time to discuss planning schedule for contract submission and construction schedule.

I finished my last project on Friday, so now I can dedicate a lot more energy on this project, which is a good thing. We are going to submit our business plan by the end of the month to the RBC and we are going to also asked for a loan from the CFYE (Canadian foundation of Young Entrepreneur).wish me luck.


I am also in the process of finding myself a mentor, someone who can help me through my business venture. For that we contacted Yes Montreal.


We were invited to the ceremonial opening of the construction site on Tuesday. It took about 25 minutes.

I have to admit being close to a construction field made me a little bit nostalgic, good "old" days of being in the "field".

We are the third hole from the left.

This "little" ceremony to many was a HUGE event for us. It was a reality check right in the... we are actually taking on a huge project, that is being completed even as we stand here gazing at our future. This may seem insignificant to others, but this is our life, it is scary, bloody scary. But then again, when you are young, it is easier to take some risks, after all you have nothing to lose right? (Maxwell said this) Thing is though, is I don't feel all that young and yup we have stuff to lose... so in the end, yup its pant crapping scary!

M.

Layout

Here is a first overview of what the architect sent us. You get to see the first draft. There is some work to be done but not bad isn't it? I am getting excited for this project. Now that Maximum Impact Simulcast is done, I can concentrate all my energy on this project!!

Business Plan - To be or Not to be

Ever wondered if you should or should not have a business plan? I always thought a business plan was for big companies, that it was needed for the bookshelves of multimillion dollar corporations. How beneficial would a business plan be for me?

I didn't really want to write anything, simply because I was lazy, and secondly I had no idea how to write a business plan. Either way, I started to do research on HOW to make a business plan, sucked to be me at that time.

However, interestingly enough, I started to believe in the necessity of a business plan for any organization, no matter how big they were or how small, no matter what they did in life. But writing a business plan didn't come without any headaches. For example, you should have read my first business plan, it went like this "A quick service restaurant that will serve awesome food, serving everyone and be awesome!!". As you can see, I had a very clear picture of what the business was going to be...not. I truly struggled while doing the business plan. And probably not where I thought I would have problem, such as the financial projection (I am an engineer, so I have been known to fudge numbers after all!!) or marketing positioning. No, the hardest thing I had problem with was the development of the corporate identity.

A lot of us have great ideas on how to run a company or an organization, we seem to inherently know the answers to the ongoing problems of an organization. So we jump ahead and provide the solutions and say: "do this, do that, eat this, eat that..." However very few of us are able to simply state on a piece of paper what the problem is and give a step by step execution manual to rectify the problem or put the idea into motion.

If you have an idea, a project or dream, you need a plan. A business plan is simply the blue print of your dream. Take the time to write one, take the time to see how you will be able to make your dream come true. It will help you see the value of your idea. If you can't put a step by step plan...maybe your dream is not yet ready to be birthed.

Repentance

Yesterday I had a set task that I was not looking forward to do. I needed to confront my partner, in order word my, brother.

So let me put everything in context and maybe you'll understand my position at the time. My brother and I are legal partner in this venture, opening a quick service restaurant. This business is the beginning of what we believe to be a legacy for our children. I jumped head first into this adventure, like most project I take on. I poured my heart and still pouring (just ask Melissa) into it, sometimes to detriment of other obligations I have, however it is presently my priority.I started to learn everything I thought was needed, I started to seek all the counsel that existed in the world of franchising, financing, operation, entrepreneurship, leadership etc...You get the picture.

I had envisioned that my enthusiasm of the project would inevitably leak onto my brother. That by some strange event, he would grab on to the exhilaration of a new project and he too would be swept and would before long would be running with me into the sunset where the sun never set and the leaves they never fade, in this beautiful city of gold!! I mean I was in the zone, I was pushing, prodding, lifting any kind of 'ing' you can imagine.

Alas, I felt alone in this endeavor and in the past 4 days I have started to resent the partnership.

This past Wednesday, I sat alone in my room mauling over the feelings of negativity I had towards my brother. As you can imagine, any new project starting with resentment between partners needs to be taken care of as soon as possible, however my nature is not to disturb anything and anyone unless really pissed off, stew and internalize any malignant thoughts and, sadly I must confess, to victimize myself.

I had to repent, in a flash of genius, I discovered that my brother was never at fault, but I was. You see, Alain was doing all he knew he could do, with all is heart and knowledge, he did pour HIS soul into this project. The problem was me, I wanted Alain to be EXACTLY like me, to walk, to think, to feel just like me (I was going to write to poop, but I didn't feel it would be value added, oh crap I just did, of well). And there lied my mistake.

I had to ask forgiveness to my brother for having negative feelings toward him. And in return, he accepted my apologies and shared with me some of his own inner struggle. I was able to see through his own eyes and we found a way to keep on running together.

When we partner with someone in a project, we are bound to be disappointed. Simply because of our expectations of others will never be the same as their expectation of themselves. We in response to that problem, must be willing to accept our own fault and be willing to walk in the other person's shoes. You may just be surprised how fast your project may fly once all the air has been cleared out.

Information vs. Decision

We were in a meeting last Tuesday with our architect so he could show us some preliminary drawings of the space. When I say "we", I mean Melissa (VP of whatever is artful and creative), Alain (VP just cause he wants to be), myself (President, this is just a title, trust me the other 3 still run the company) and my mom, VP of very slow decisions!!!

Which brings me to my little blog or as Al Pacino would say in Scarface: " Say hello to my little friend". My mom is the most experienced in the restaurant business, I mean you could add all my experience, Alain's and Melissa's experience in the resto business and we would still come short compare to her. Therefore her input is very important, she is very insightful and very helpful. I found however that in order for me to get her to make a decision, its like pulling teeth , but less painful. She wants to have information, information, information.

Do you know anyone like that? They are information data "HOG" (you guys know the Greek word for hog). Give me a lot of information give me, give me, give me, is their motto. So I started wondering where I stood in all this, I figured out that I was in the same category as the information nerd, man did I feel like a donkey (due to the sensitive nature of the donkey in Greek, we decided to use the English version!).

This brought me to ask myself, do we need ALL the information order to make the decisions? Do we ALWAYS required 100% of the fact in order to make a decision? In other words, if the guy falls unconscious do we need all the information of why, how and when he fell unconscious before calling 911?

Did you know that most CEO make 80% of their decision based on only 20% of the information? Which might explain why we are in the mess we are today....hahahahaha.... PSYCH. Seriously, CEOs are not well paid because of 80% of their decision, they are well paid because they have to make the tough calls, the rest of the 20%, that most of us wouldn't know what to do with, but they still make decisions without ALL the facts.

Here is what I am starting to understand of decision making, by the way pay attention to all of you who lead in any kind of position, decision making is not the be all and end all.

Make a decision follow it and be humble enough to back track if you find out it is the wrong decision. If you made the wrong call say you are sorry and move on, chances are that the rest of your team figured you screwed up before you did, so they won't be surprise when you say "I am sorry", actually they probably will say:"Thank you, now can we move on".

Where does it bring us? Crap if I know, all I know is that if you lead, you are not there to gather information but to make decision.

Taken

Well, everyone knows by now that we are looking at finding a great catchy name for our website and email address, for the business of course.

Anyway great brainstorming session yesterday, but I have to admit I had a soft spot for my own idea which was www.GOZEN.com, it is catchy, cool, hip it is a mix of our name Groupe Ozen, I mean it had it all. It makes you smile, it makes you laugh it makes you go go go.

Well if you ever type www.GOZEN.com, someone already has that website, but more importanly I discovered that there are people online that do "real estate" with domain name. Crap, did you know that you can make money "purchasing" a web domain? Do you know how much they want for www.GOZEN.com, my website by the way, over freaking $5,000 and that is probably US. They even have a "For Sale" banner.

But chances of us going with www.gozen.com or .ca are slim, because the other partners are not too warm at the idea.

Figures it is always the minority who gets it.....well my brother is vietnamese, but still I cry out racism anyway.

Dream

Tonight we were brainstorming for names for the website. We came up with good names and I will share them with you. But this isn't really about naming things. It is more about a small innocuous comment that made me doubt my dream. Made me doubt in the many possibilities of my new venture, I made a conscious check in my head not to share my hope with that person again.

I shared with you in one of my blog that one of the first responsibilities of a leader is to define reality. I still believe that it is a very important aspect of leadership . But here is the thing, defining reality is there to have a secure foundation to build your dream (vision) upon. Defining reality and just accepting reality rarely brings hope, it is just a futile exercise.

I remember, in my past careers, going into meeting when major problems were happening in the plant, the people of influence, the real leaders around us made sure that we all understood that the problem was real, but they also brought us hope, with their ideas, with their optimism, they were able to convey the message that a solution in time could be found, they had a "dream". Dreaming and forgetting to define reality is bad, but stating a reality and losing your dream may be even worst.

I dream of bringing my vision to all the provinces in Canada, I dream of one day having a corporation with hundreds if not thousands of restaurants all over north america. It is true, it is a big dream. I dream of having a legacy for my family, for my wife, for my kids, for my brothers, for my nices and nephews. I dream big, I always have, always will. Every decisions that one makes, one must keep their vision and dream in front of them, because if you dream small, might as well not dream at all.

Today matters, the decisions you make today affect tomorrow. Think of a small fish in a small pond and chances are your fish is going to stay small in a small pond. Think of your big fish in a small pond and chances will be that your fish will stay in its small pond. Think of your small fish in the big pond and your fish will stay small. Believe in your big fish in the big pond and there is a possibility that your big fish will be in a big pond. You have to think big to become big.

Fishy fishy fishy fishy!!!

Anyway keep dreaming, whether it is sandy beach or global corporation.

PS: Ok here are some of the name we came up with for the website. Remember the name of the company is Groupe OZEN

So:

• www.gozen.ca
• www.webozen.com
• www.resto-ozen.com
• www.ozen.qc.ca
• www.restaurant-ozen.com
• www.ozen-resto.com

Well your comments would help us decide on a name.

Name

Ok, a lot of people (outside of my 3 followers) asked me where does OZEN come from? It is actually a very short story.

6 years ago my parents started a restaurant on the south shore of Montreal, after 35 years in the restaurant business they were to finally have the chance to experience an "overnight" success, a 35 year overnight success. The restaurant took off. Usually any business takes its time to mature but not this one, within 5 months it drew a crowd of enthusiasts and mavens that would spread the word like wild fire that a new restaurant opened its door in St-Lambert. Thus the birth of Zen Asia Restaurant. The spring rolls were a hit and if you have never tried them, next time you come to Montreal come to one of our 2 restaurants I know you won't be disappointed.

Anywho, a year ago under a tree, Melissa and I were reading at a park near our house with a new puppy, it must have been in July. Suddenly an apple fell off the tree and hit me on the head and I discovered the law of gravity!!!! No, not really, no apple just a tree, seriously, as I was reading E-Myh from Gerber (a fantastic book for anyone who would like to start a business) it dawn on me that I could merge my parent's product with a existing business model. So Melissa and I started to imagine the many possibilities now in front of us and the future seem much brighter than it looked at the time. The idea was met with great enthusiasm by both Alain and my parents.

So the idea was born, but what were we going to call it? I thought of calling it "DUY the BEST Restaurant EVER" but it was too much of a mouthful and I would have to explain how to pronounce my name and yadyayadyada or simply surrender that people would say DOOEY (a very selected few good friends call me that). Anyway, we were still on the hunt for a new name, since Zen Asia already had a based clientele and we wanted to draw on their market power we struggled in finding a suitable name and incorporating the word Zen Asia. So Zen Asia Express was thrown in the mix, Zen Asia II was flung in the conversation. Couldn't settle for one name, we just new Zen Asia was to be included, damn name.

One night Melissa and I were eating at our friends, interestingly enough we were eating take out from my parent's restaurant and shared our vision with our friends about our new venturet. Melissa started to talk about how we wanted to provide a healthy option to the fast food industry and that is when our friend blurted out: "why not call it option zen or zen option". From there the seed was planted. Many weeks later Melissa thought of OZEN and wanted to do a play on word because french people would then say: "On va au OZEN" which would be crudely translated as " We are going TO TOZEN". We thought it was fantastic and we settled on the name, until my parents said we needed toput in Asia because of the existing clientele. If we called OZEN ASIA the existing customers would be able to make the link between the two companies.

So we went ahead and incorporated OZEN ASIA, even though our heart was set on OZEN. Anyway here is where bill 101 in Quebec came into play. If you are not aware of that bill it is there to insure the protection of the french language. Well, the Office de la Langue Francaise, decline our request for OZEN ASIA, saying that it was not compatible with the bill. We said FINE, we will call ourselves, Le Groupe OZEN ASIA. They still decline stating this for a reason: OZEN is a made up word so it is not french and Asia is an english word. To make a story short, thanks to Bill 101, we got back to OZEN and thus was born, Le Groupe OZEN and OZEN Group.

I knew there was some good in all evil! Thank you Bill 101.

Stealing or adhering

I have noticed that I tend to take others' ideas and make it my own. Most people think it's stealing. I am not sure if it is. If was to be kept a secret why would any authors or anyone share with the rest of the world?

I do buy into others explanation. I also think I made a choice to accept the rationalization of their theory. Funny part is most of the people around you will still believe you stole that idea.

I thought the same thing of a friend the other day.

Stress

The restaurant's opening is coming faster than I anticipated. I am a little stress as far as the project is coming along, we still haven't submitted our business plan to the bank and we are awaiting our architect to start on the design. Time is getting shorter and shorter, we still have to go for quotations and select equipments.

However through the ordeal, I am starting to enjoy the very nature of project managing. I am learning quite a lot of necessary skills that will be required to run projects.

Starting a business starts with an idea, but in order to take your business where you want it, doing a schedule plan would be very necessary to accomplish your goal. Otherwise you may feel overwhelmed.

YES Montreal

Yesterday I went to a conference with a few friends. It was great experience. It was put on by YES Montreal a not-for-profit organization dedicated to young entrepreneurs in the region. They had guest speakers and discussion tables, all in all I was very impressed by the session.

But I sat at a table where the topic was great, but these ladies kept on interrupting the session with questions that really didn't have any relevance. Who said there were no dumb questions obviously had never met those 2.

Questions are not stupid per say, but people really need to pay attention to the context of when they ask questions. For example, why would you ask about marketing ideas, when we are discussing solution for franchising businesses? Listen, listen, listen.

Here is the thing, when you run a meeting or go to meetings, especially informational meetings, you have to open your mind and listen. From their make comment or question according to the topic. Too many time people go in with their own agenda, it takes away time from the teacher, the other people and their own time where they can put it toward a subject that is more suitable to their questions.

So please don't go in meetings with your own agenda, just go in with an open mind and see where it takes you.

Layout

Hey here is a look at our layout. Not much yet but cool nonetheless!!! We are unit 140

Reality Check

I always thought of myself as a realist, however life has a way of reminding us of our shortfall.

Yesterday morning I was sitting on my couch before going to work like I do most mornings and talking to my wife. The subject of the restaurant project came up, which is not unusual in itself. We started to randomly talk about how we felt the project was coming along and how things were developing. She then mentioned how she did not believe that my financial projections were close to what would be needed. In other words we would fall short of cash flow in order to bring the project to term. For anyone of you who has ever been in charge of a project, hearing a member of your team (and especially someone close to you) doubting the feasibility of your endeavour is disheartening, especially as you are forging ahead.

I instantly recoiled, shutdown. I told myself that everything was going along well. That our financial forecast was close to reality. How dare she be negative? Especially so near the start up of construction.

However she taught me a lesson. For all of you out there who lead in any sort of capacity, whether it is your own business or your are a manager or a pastor, your first responsibility as a leader is not to cast vision or to empower people, your first order of the day is to DEFINE REALITY. In order for my project to run as smoothly as possible, I must define, with the help of my team and staff the shortfalls of the project. Not to point fingers at anyone, but in order to never be blindsided and enable my team to find solution and to go forward. Otherwise anything I do will be based on a very weak foundation.

John C. Maxwell talks about this principle in his book the 17 laws as of teamwork, he calls it the Law of the Scoreboard. In order for any individual or organization to lead efficiently, we must be able to know where we are in the game. What is the score?

Leaders will always be too positive, will never see all the angles, will rarely be realistic and will always need to to define reality.

Vision

When we started this project Alain and I really wanted to make sure we had a good vision. A moral compass of sort. Something that we can read when it time of trouble and something that would always be a mark to follow during decision making, hiring or any business related issues.

We came up with a set of values that we truly want to spread within our corporation.

I have worked with some major companies in my past career and I have often noticed that employees do not often understand or see the vision of the company and more often than not, because they do not have good grasp of the vision, will not adhere to it.

So I wanted to start, with my first significant blog, with a transcript of what we wrote in our business plan and share with you what our values are and our vision is of what Group OZEN represents and stand for.

I believe that any good business plan or even life plan should have one of those written down somewhere a set of values that the company or the individual will uphold. I think that if all of us were to do so, a world of higher integrity and authenticity would exist and impact our world.

So without further a due:

Our Vision

To create and cultivate a relevant generation - one man, one woman one person and one community at a time.


Our Values

• Trust and Honesty
• Generosity and Reciprocity
• Family and Community
• Creation and Innovation

Our Product

It is and will always be, about quality. We are passionate about our products and it is through ethical sourcing and environmental friendly choices that we strive to improve and impact the lives of the people we touch (our partners, our suppliers and our customers). We deeply care about the legacy we leave behind.

Our Partners

Because it is not just another job, it is our desire to create and cultivate an environment of passion. We embrace diversity, a place where each of us can become ourselves. With trust, honesty, generosity and respect we will hold ourselves to the highest level of accountability and standards.

Our Customers

Through a smile or a laugh we believe we can uplift the quality of life of each and every one of our customers - even if it is just for a moment. It is more than just serving and delivering a product, it is about human connection.

Our Stores

We strive to become a haven from the worries of the outside world. An environment where one can come, and for a moment release the tension in one's life. We endeavour to give an environment in which one can savour life as it was meant to be. It is about humanity.

Our Community

Every store is part of a community and we take that responsibility very seriously. We want to bring together all the ingredients of a community through our partners, our customers and our business. We want to contribute our part to create a thriving and active community. We want to lead in the transformation of each and every community that Groupe OZEN will set foot in.

Our Conscience

It is not simply about success but about impacting and leaving a legacy. We believe that through a high level of integrity and honesty and aligning with our own internal moral compass, we will serve our conscience and become leaders in the business wold and community. Through this standard we will become a value for our shareholders, our partners, our customers and our world.

This is Our Mission, this is Our Commitment, and this is Our World.


A vision is primordial. It is the responsibility of the leaders of the organization whether a church or a business to insure that all adhere to the vision and commitment of the organization. But before we can ask for all to follow, we need to define what to follow.

When was the last time you looked at your company's or even your own life vision?

Genesis

My brother and I (and our family by extension) have decided to jump head first into the restaurant business.

This blog really will be about our triumphs and our struggles as we go along in the next few months opening a business in the region of Montreal.

Sharing with all of you the relationship strain that we may go through with a partner or even our spouse. Maybe the technical difficulties, with vendors, bankers and other potential partners that we will encounter during the day or weeks to come. The good moment and the no so good moment.

I hope that through this blog I will share with you some insights both on a professional level and a personal level.

So thank you for coming along and I look forward to reading some of your comments.