“I think it’s meaningless, almost, now,” says Mark Crumpacker, the chief marketing officer with Chipotle. “You could claim that something very heavily processed was fresh, I guess. I don’t think there are any rules around ‘fresh.’ You can just say it with impunity. And I think lots of people do.”

The Fresh Wars. 

Slate tackles Fast Food’s latest buzzword – Fresh. What does it mean? How can you realistically claim to be it? What does it mean for the future of industry? It’s a great look into the world of marketing, branding, advertising and all-things food. 

Source Slate

How Richard Branson used predatory thinking to build a company.

About 40 years ago, Richard Branson and his fiancée were in Puerto Rico flying to the Virgin Islands, when his flight was canceled. While other passengers were grumbling, he made some calls to see how much it would cost to hire a private plane to fly him and his fiancée there. He found a 50 seat plane that could make the trip for $1,800 and made a sign in the airport, right then & there, that said “Seats Available: Puerto Rico to Virgin Islands - $39.” As you can imagine, all the seats sold out almost immediately. 

Dave Trott tells the story even better & then dissects Branson’s approach to help you understand how you, too, could use predatory thinking. Very inspiring.

“Lagom (Swedish) // Maybe Goldilocks was Swedish? This slippery little word is hard to define, but means something like, “Not too much, and not too little, but juuuuust right.”

14 Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent. 

Exactly as it sounds… although, I now desperately need some education in foreign pronunciation. I never knew how badly I needed some of these words until now. #mamihlapinatapai   

Best long form of 2012.  This list features some good weekend reading. And since it’s a long weekend this weekend, maybe you’ll even have time to get lost in some good stories. In the list is Vanessa Veselka’s The Truck Stop Killer, which was featured in an earlier edition of The Tuesday Ten. Also on the list, New Yorker’s The Story of a Suicide and NY Times’ Cocaine Incorporated. While it’s not on this list, I’d also add Snow Fall, which is a beautiful multimedia story experience from the Times. High-res

Best long form of 2012. 

This list features some good weekend reading. And since it’s a long weekend this weekend, maybe you’ll even have time to get lost in some good stories.

In the list is Vanessa Veselka’s The Truck Stop Killer, which was featured in an earlier edition of The Tuesday Ten. Also on the list, New Yorker’s The Story of a Suicide and NY Times’ Cocaine Incorporated. While it’s not on this list, I’d also add Snow Fall, which is a beautiful multimedia story experience from the Times.

Mary Meeker’s 2012 Internet Trends.
[technology / culture / resource / inspiration / trends]

As someone who sent this around at work said: Mary Meeker is smarter than you. Or at least she spends more time doing research. Last week she released her 2012 trends deck, which is pretty fantastic if you look past the design. After covering the bases with stats on everything from tablets to mobile to smartphone, Mary then re-imagines certain industries or themes and the ways they’ve changed as a result of technology. While some of the “re-imagination’s are a bit more obvious, the good stuff comes after slide 59 when she explores the sharing economy.      

Why it’s better to hire the least qualified person for the job. [work life / culture / inspiration]A recent study from a few European academics showed that people who are under-qualified for jobs “feel indebted to the hiring manager” for choosing them… whereas the most qualified candidate can feel like they deserved the job and therefore approach it with a more relaxed attitude. The study found that while only 30% of principals choose the less qualified person, those that are under-qualified put in 50% more effort than the people who are more qualified. Maybe recent grads aren’t so bad after all ;)    High-res

Why it’s better to hire the least qualified person for the job. 
[work life / culture / inspiration]

A recent study from a few European academics showed that people who are under-qualified for jobs “feel indebted to the hiring manager” for choosing them… whereas the most qualified candidate can feel like they deserved the job and therefore approach it with a more relaxed attitude. The study found that while only 30% of principals choose the less qualified person, those that are under-qualified put in 50% more effort than the people who are more qualified. Maybe recent grads aren’t so bad after all ;)