Spice It Up

I just returned from a local event called a “Tiki Tour” here in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a fun event where a small group of people get to enjoy a collection of Tiki-inspired craft cocktails created by our host Doug Winship. This is the second Tiki Tour event I’ve attended, and one of my favorite aspects is that Doug doesn’t serve up cocktails that anyone could find recipes for online — he adds his own unique flavors and ingredients to spice it up for all the attendees.

Add your own unique blend of spices and seasonings

Doug will take a classic Tiki drink recipe or a new twist he’s discovered and then make it his own by changing a primary ingredient or adding a small twist that makes a big change to the flavor profile. He creates new ideas combined from the inspiration he finds in what already exists with the new things he discovers.

What can you add your own special spice to in order to make it uniquely yours?

You have plenty of existing products and services that your company manufactures and sells to customers. You also have any number of internal policies, procedures, forms, and processes that employees need to abide. What if you take just one of those elements and spice it up?

Everyone has ideas on how to improve a process they are forced to obey on a daily basis. You may have even been originally trained in the process by someone who said:

“Here’s how you’re supposed to do it — but here is the way everyone actually does it, because it’s more efficient”.

Combine the elements of what you currently do with the inspiration you’ve found in other industries, things you’ve learned in books, things you’ve observed at tradeshows (or maybe even something that caught your attention at a Tiki bar) to add your own unique twist and flavor — and then serve it with your colleagues and supervisors and see what they think.