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This week we’re talking about unconventional approaches: how a former consultant-turned-restaurateur chose to embrace complexity (cue consultants: ‘ew, complexity?!’), how sand dunes can be the key to winning, and how generosity is a solid financial decision. Happy reading!

Andy

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FOR INSPIRATION

Back in 2010, Shamil Thakrar and his co-founders set off to found Dishoom as homage to the 20th century Iranian cafes of Bombay, which broke down cultural, economic, and religious barriers by bringing people together over food and drink. Today, the company has grown to 10 restaurants and never fails to deliver on heart-warming meals and brilliant ambiance.

As outsiders, we can perceive Dishoom’s intentionality upon stepping in. For a taste of their hard work backstage, take a closer look at the menu next time you visit. You’ll notice a small box: “A Meal For A Meal”. Turns out, since 2015, for every meal you (so ungently) devour at Dishoom, the company donates a meal to a child who would otherwise go hungry. As of January 2024, Dishoom had donated 20 million meals.

What’s most inspiring about Shamil and his team is how they intentionally decided to build Dishoom, embracing creativity, complexity, and culture. An HBS graduate and former consultant at Bain & Co., Shamil could have built Dishoom on more traditional grounds. However, he took the unconventional approach and put his brilliance to better use.

Dishoom’s meal program is so impactful because it is inherent to the company’s core product: more meals sold equals more meals donated. That easy, and that hard. How about that for the beauty of what creativity, complexity, and culture can achieve?

Side note: exciting move from Dishoom on the Restaurant to Retail front, bringing their best sauces to your home (see below). Can’t wait to see these across supermarkets in the UK and abroad.

FOR CONVERSATION

Do you win by training harder, or training differently? If James Dyson (yes, the genius behind the expensive vacuums and airport hand-dryers) had to pick, my guess is he’d go for the latter.

The answer for most is probably somewhere in between. Had James Dyson not built 5,126 prototypes for his vacuum across 15 years (aka, training hard), he wouldn’t have built the 5,127th that catapulted his success. But, had he not thought differently (‘how about building a bagless vacuum?’), he’d probably still be working on prototypes.

His running technique while at school is a beautiful, crisp example of the power behind doing things differently. The power of being unconventional. Are you and your team training on tracks when you should be training on sand dunes?

For those of you interested, I highly recommend James Dyson’s first autobiography, Against the Odds (his second one is less… unfiltered). Feel free to reply to this email if you want to borrow my copies. David Senra’s summary and discussion in Founders is also excellent.

FOR ACTION

In 2006, TED’s CEO Chris Anderson was faced with dilemma: would sharing all TED Talks online for free kill the TED Conference (aka, its main revenue stream)? The company took the risk - and it could not have paid off better. Chris himself has stated that, had TED been for-profit, this would have been the wisest financial decision ever made by the company. This act of generosity (i.e. spreading knowledge for free) did not kill the Conference, it catapulted it.

Maybe you or your business are not sitting on hours of TED-like content, but you definitely have something to give. We all do. Ask yourself, what is the boldest thing you could give out to the world as an act of generosity? I don’t think generosity can be a solid financial decision, I believe it is (unconventionally so).

If you’re not sure where to start, start with kindness. If you’re an investor, take founders out for dinner and don’t ask about work. If you’re a doctor, make every single one of your patients laugh at some point. If you’re an entrepreneur, thank those who’ve helped you get to where you are. Sometimes the boldest thing we can give out to the world is our own humanity.

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