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Episode 222: Coffee Culture Chronicles - Building Community One Cup at a Time

Sacha's broadcasting live from her Antarctic igloo (aka Christchurch in winter), complete with puffer jacket indoors, preparing for this week's Momentum conference, where she's the lone woman among a lineup of "bros and me." This leads into the fascinating origin story of Coffee Culture and what it really takes to build a business that becomes part of people's lives.

PS: This episode is brought to you by Coffee Culture (Sacha's going back to negotiate the sponsorship budget with marketing). Also, Ish's brilliant business idea of in-store cow milking behind glass walls is still available to the highest bidder.

Main Topics

• The Coffee Revolution - When Chris pioneered in-store coffee roasting in Christchurch and everyone said "nobody will pay $3.50 for coffee" (oh, how times have changed), plus the genius move from cocktail flair to coffee craft without the drunk drama
• Franchising vs. Growing with Your Own Money - Why Coffee Culture chose franchising not for capital reasons, but because coffee shops are simultaneously "a license to print money and a license to lose money" - and the person behind the counter makes all the difference
• Choosing Your Hard - Through earthquakes, GFC, pandemic, and cost of living crises, Sacha's philosophy that "life is hard, so just pick which hard bits you want" - and why giving up was literally never discussed
• Beyond the Coffee Cup -- The woman who's visited Coffee Culture almost daily for 30 years, and the two friends who got matching tattoos of Coffee Culture cups before travelling overseas separately

Key Insights

• In hospitality, location matters for petrol stations, but personality matters for coffee shops
• The transition when selling a successful cafe is everything - introduce the new owner properly or watch your customer base disappear
• As you scale, you move from being the cool young player to the incumbent, making talent attraction harder
• Creating a place for community and connection is "so much more than a cup of coffee"
• The audience relaxes when speakers own the stage - same principle applies to service

The Bigger Picture

Sometimes you don't realise you're part of something's origin story until years later. Sacha's honest about claiming "none of the inspiration, birth of the idea, or incredible hard work" for Coffee Culture's start, but her role in its growth and resilience through multiple crises shows how businesses become woven into the community fabric.

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Not So Breakfast Show - Episode 221: Say What You Mean Without Being Mean

Ish and Sacha are live and in-person for only the third time in 222 episodes. Today's topic: how to challenge ideas and give feedback without being mean, plus how to receive that feedback without taking it personally.

Also, the irony wasn't lost on anyone that an episode about "saying what you mean without being mean" started with Ish immediately talking shit about Hamilton.

Main Topics

• The Board Room Problem - Why New Zealand's cultural tendency to avoid conflict means we don't say what we think because we're worried about upsetting people, and how this confusion between supporting the person versus supporting their idea kills good decision-making
• Context is King - Setting up conversations properly by clarifying what type of feedback you want: "I'm only at 20% and want gentle guidance" versus "I need you to tell me everything that's wrong with this"
• Beyond the Shit Sandwich - Why the CRC model (commend, recommend, commend) actually makes feedback less effective, and how some people go overboard with the "CCCCCRCCC" approach where the critical part gets completely buried
• Creating Feedback Culture - Starting from day one by asking new team members how they like to receive feedback, then building regular rituals where rigorous conversation about work (not people) becomes the norm
• AI as Your Critical Friend - Using AI to transcribe meetings and ask: "What questions did we fail to consider?" and "Where has our desire to agree got in the way of high performance?"

Key Insights

• Separate the person from their idea - you can fully support someone while critiquing their project
• "We're after high performance, not harmony" should be your team's mantra
• Give presenters time to lay out their whole concept before jumping in with challenges
• Know your role: if you're always the challenger, try asking others to weigh in instead
• Prepare like they hate you, present like they love you

The Deeper Question

What's the essence of who you are when you strip away all the external stuff? Sacha shares her profound cancer journey insight about identity - if you lost your glasses, your job, even parts of your body, what core "you" remains? This separation helps you receive feedback about your work without it feeling like an attack on your worth.

Movie Recommendations Ish loved the new Brad Pitt F1 movie (action without violence!) and the latest Superman film that breaks the invincible hero trope from the opening scene.

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Ish opens with a ChatGPT-generated fairy tale intro featuring "the evil rental property™" as the villain tormenting Sir Ish, while Sacha reveals her big news: after 13 years in Hamilton, she and Chris are moving back to Christchurch! This house-hunting adventure becomes the perfect segue into exploring why storytelling is the secret weapon every salesperson needs.

Plus, Sacha finally realised that "Tina from Turner's" is a play on Tina Turner (better late than never!), while Ish discovered The Sound of Music was based on a true story. Also, Sacha's moving poem "Late at Night" perfectly captures the parenting experience.

Main Topics

• Story as Universal Language - Why Harvard Business School teaches everything through case studies (aka stories), and how stories engage logical thinkers, visual learners, and emotional decision-makers all at once
• From Complex to Simple - How the right story can take complicated information and make it instantly understandable, with real examples from construction, car sales, and gym memberships
• Building Your Story Bank - Starting with borrowed stories when you're new, then developing your own experience-based narratives that actually resonate (and why using Nelson Mandela stories makes everyone tune out)

Home Work

Record yourself telling a work story, then listen back and ask: Could I cut words? Am I making my point? How can I set this up differently to create a greater impact?

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