Last weekend I cooked every day. This weekend, I only cooked on Sunday. My wife made a very nice pasta with tuna dish Friday. Saturday, we ate out and that left Sunday. I entered the day thinking a side dish would be the recipe of the week. The entrée was steak and I needed a starch. After purchasing some pencil thin asparagus, I decided upon risotto. The combination of asparagus and artichoke hearts creates a very balanced set of flavors. However, these vegetables can be replaced by mushrooms, peas and other favorites. Finally, I know that risotto recipes call for constant stirring. I have found that occasional stirring creates almost the same product. Stirring early in the dish helps to release more starch which develops a natural sauce. Finally, to lighten the dish, the cream can be replaced by low fat milk. By the way, it was very good with the New York strip steaks. You won't miss the potatoes. Risotto with Asparagus and Artichoke Hearts, enjoy!

Leadership

On Friday I had the opportunity to speak to an organization of small carriers called FISPA. Upon discovering the group Broadvox decided to sponsor lunch and in exchange we were given a speaking slot. The surprise was a request by the leader of the group to have us talk about leadership. The first thought through my mind was, I did not have a speech on leadership. Moreover, I find that for most of us in leadership roles, we do not find such discussions enlightening. Therefore, I took a different tack. I acknowledged that most of these business owners and managers know a thing or two about leading. However, did they have a clear idea as to where they wanted to lead their companies or organizations? As such, I identified the following seven objectives for leadership style or identity of company:

•       Price Leader

•       Market Leader

•       Service Leader

•       Innovation Leader

•       Thought Leader

•       Quality Leader

•       Trendsetting Leader

Broadvox works on three of the above; Service, Thought and Quality. Our VP responsible for customer service is the VP of Customer Experience. Our network and SIP engineers work to handle any quality issues and levels of customization and, of course, I write this three times a week to establish Broadvox as a company that is aware of industry activity and has an opinion.

Where are you leading your company? What identity are you trying to establish?

See you on Wednesday.