Strands of Genius: Building Human-Centered Organizations, The Future of our Homes, Maps Showing LGBTQ+ Inequality
plus our thoughts on: Pitcha Kucha & Cured Salmon
WRITING FROM | Camp Jelly | Wingdale, NY
WORKING ON | Planning a 4th of July gathering, some European travels beginning mid-July, and all the work associated with new business - pitches, proposals and procurement ;)
LOOKING AHEAD
June 15-30 | New York & Connecticut (Rosie only)
June 24 | Signature Speaker Series (Virtual) for AMA Richmond (TICKETS)
>> TALK: Paid Attention | How Brands Can Succeed in an Attention-Deficit Economy
July 1-8 | Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
As you know from Faris, we’re a distributed team until June 30th! For two people who are married, live, work, and travel together, it feels a bit strange to be apart for such an extended period of time. That said, I’ve been absolutely loving to get to spend time with one of my best friends, Jared at his gorgeous home upstate. Last week, we bought some salmon and citrus cured it — and y’all, all 4lbs have already been consumed. (Though to be fair, we did have a mini pool party on Saturday, so it wasn’t juuuuust the two of us.) I know it’s not the norm for Strands, but I’ve given you my recipe down below because I got so many requests on Instagram, and because damn, it was delicious.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Jared, Gracie, Camp Jelly and all that goes along with it, fireflies, Southern Charm, my birthday dinner at Troutbeck, Adam’s Grocers and their delicious salmon, The Pished Fish for our curing inspiration, Mel & Kim, Barry and his gorgeous home, Veuve Clicquot, cabins in Georgia, even if they don’t have kitchens, In The Heights & Cruella.
S C H O O L O F S T O L E N G E N I U S >> H I G H L I G H T S
//SOSG x PITCHA KUCHA//
Starts (Weds) June 23, 2021 at 12:00 PM EDT
Pitcha Kucha
Who wants to join a pitch deck Petcha Kucha? You'll have 5 minutes to share your favorite pitch or project with the group (the traditional PetchaKucha model is 20 slides with 20 seconds of commentary on each, but we won't be that formal). We want to hear about the research and insights that contributed to your creative idea, how it all came to life, and then we’ll open it up for 1-2 questions from the audience.
//SOSG June Yoga | Community Meetup//
Starts (Tues) June 29, 2021 at 12:00 PM EDT
We hope you'll join us for our fifth community yoga session! Our instructor will be Elea Soler, and she'll be leading us in a practice designed for all levels -- meaning you're most welcome whether you're new to yoga, or have years of experience.
Enroll at http://schoolofstolengeni.us
:: THE LINKS ::
THE TWO PRINCIPLES & THREE PRACTICES OF BUILDING HUMAN-CENTERED ORGANIZATIONS
There are so many gems in this post from Grahame Broadbelt. He writes that, “Too many organisations have dehumanised themselves, either deliberately in the name of efficiency, profit or exploitation, or unconsciously, as purpose and meaning become crushed beneath to-do lists, deadlines and targets.” It was the pandemic that reminded us just how important human relationships are in our lives, and now we need to remember that we created organizations to serve us, not so we could be servants to them. He offers up a number of ways that both organizations and individuals can begin to transform our places of work into human-flourishing organizations. One way to start? See the person, not the job. This Danish TV company created a beautiful video that brings to life this practice. (Impact International)
6 MAPS THAT SHOW JUST HOW FAR WE HAVE TO GO FOR LGBTQ+ EQUALITY
The first Pride march was held in NYC in 1970, and while we’ve come quite a long way since then, we still have hurdles to overcome. For example, in 27 states within the USA, it’s not illegal to discriminate against queer people in areas like housing. In some states, public school policies prevent teachers and school staff from talking about LGBTQ+ people and issues. As we know from recent news, some states don’t allow transgender youth to participate in school sports. More than 10 states allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children into households with same-sex couples. Here are 6 maps that show how far we have to go in the USA when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality. (Mashable)
WHAT THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN HOUSE LOOKS LIKE
After so many of us transitioned to working from home, how could the pandemic not impact how we view our homes, and what we might want from them?! These trends, from more than 170 architects and designers, show that while folks may be craving the cocktail bar… they’re also turning their homes back into social gathering spots themselves. Think: dining rooms that open into lawns, pocket doors that can disappear to turn small spaces into larger ones, dining rooms that can be used for dinner parties or WFH seating, and dark rooms where we can feel elegant without leaving the house. (Veranda) (PS: Looks like lumber prices are down 45% since their peak last year!)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: CITRUS CURED SALMON ::
Whenever we’re in the UK, I always make sure to pickup some Pished Fish, as introduced to us by our friends Antonia and Ronan. It’s booze infused smoked salmon — it has delicious flavor combinations without the strong smoked flavor, and the slices are substantial rather than those thin little pieces that often come in smoked salmon packages in the store.
I told my host Jared when he was visiting us in the Dominican Republic that when I came up to visit him, I wanted to give it a go — and thankfully, he was down for the adventure. So on Wednesday last week, we trekked out to Adams Grocers in Poughkeepsie to get some high quality salmon, and attempt to make some magic happen.
It turns out that people have been curing fish for quite some time, with the earliest documented reference in 1743. You can cure fish by fermentation, pickling, smoking or some combination of the three, though the earliest form of curing fish was actually dehydration. Most people believe that preserving meat by salting it originated in Asian deserts. According to Wikipedia:
‘As early as 3,000 BC in Mesopotamia, cooked meats and fish were preserved in sesame oil and dried salted meat and fish were part of the Sumerian diet. Salt from the Dead Sea was in use by Jewish inhabitants around 1,600 BC, and by 1,200 BC, the Phoenicians were trading salted fish in the Eastern Mediterranean region. By 900 BC, salt was being produced in "salt gardens" in Greece and dry salt curing and smoking of meat were well established. The Romans (200 BC) acquired curing procedures from the Greeks and further developed methods to "pickle" various kinds of meats in a brine marinade.’
We went for a gravlax, which is a traditional Nordic means of curing salmon and includes a sugar, salt & spice mixture. While Jared opted for a more traditional sugar and salt mixture that you rinse off at the end, I was inspired by The Pished Fish - Margarita, andwent for a spicy margarita iteration.
Ingredients you’ll need:
- 1.5lb-2lb salmon filet, bones removed, super fresh/high quality
- 2 cups of finely chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbs freshly ground black pepper
- 4 Tbs brown sugar (dark or light works fine)
- 4 Tbs of kosher or coarse sea salt (less if you're using a heavier salt)
- 4 teaspoons of chipotle chili powder (less if you don’t want it to be spicy)
- 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
- Zest of two limes
Preparation
Combine the cumin, chile powder, salt, pepper, sugar, lime zest and cilantro in a small bowl. Place the salmon flat, skin-side down in a long baking dish. Rub/press the spice / salt mixture on top of the salmon, and the sides as well.
Cover the fish tightly with plastic wrap, then place a slightly smaller baking dish directly on top of fish and weigh it down with heavy unopened cans. Refrigerate for 2-3 days.
When ready to serve, remove the gravlax from the refrigerator, and pour off the juices. Thinly slice the salmon flesh, taking care not to cut through the skin and arrange the pieces on a platter. Honestly you could just eat it on its own, but for brunch we went with English Muffins or bagels (we opted for everything bagels sliced into thirds for a thinner base), cream cheese, tomatoes, red onion slices. For dinner, flour tortilla, crema, lime, and slices of avocado would be great!
:: AND NOW… LOOK AT THIS SALMON ::
I’m so proud of how it turned out! And also kinda sad that it’s already gone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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