It’s Acadiana: Out To Lunch

Hosted ByChristiaan Mader

OUT TO LUNCH finds journalist Christiaan Mader conducting business Acadiana style: over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

Inspiration Perspiration – Out to Lunch – It’s Acadiana

Thomas Edison was the 19th Century’s Steve Jobs. He invented the motion picture camera, the record player, and the lightbulb. Incidentally, Edison was known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park” which is the same part of Northern California where Steve Jobs lived and worked too.

Edison explained his genius as being “one tenth inspiration and nine tenths perspiration.”  That formula can be applied to success in business too. 

It’s pretty easy to define perspiration. It’s working hard. It’s a lot more difficult to find inspiration. Not just the great idea that gives rise to a business or a product, but the many ideas that you need to come up with along the way to make adjustments and even radical changes which in today’s business jargon are called “pivots.”

You probably know all about delegating the perspiration side of business – hiring, or partnering to share the workload. But you might be less familiar with who to turn to when you need inspiration. Yes, there are people who specialize in having great ideas. Like Jeff Benton and Aileen Bennett.

Aileen Bennett

Aileen Bennett describes herself as a Roaming Creative Director, an Idea thinker upper, and a Brand Experience Consultant. With her company, Creating Clever, Aileen has a unique perspective on making a business successful. She says, for example, it’s often the little details that determine how customers feel about your business. The look on the receptionist’s face. The smell in your hallway. The sign in your bathroom. The attitude of the staff when they are on a break. 

Jeff Benton

Jeff Benton is the founder of a company called The Stronger Company. Jeff is one of only 150 people worldwide certified to consult with businesses using EOS – the Entrepreneurial Operating System. It’s a business model and a set of tools that synchronize all the pieces of a business to optimize its chances of turning great ideas and great people into great companies. Jeff is also a certified Dale Carnegie Leadership Instructor, and co-founder of the enormously successful electronics company, Pre-Sonus Audio Electronics.

With the realignment of the oil and gas business there are a lot of talented, creative people who don’t want to leave Acadiana and who are branching out into all kinds of other businesses. Jeff and Aileen’s consultancies are among the new Acadian perspective contributing these new ventures.

Peter ricchiuti, Jeff Benton, Aileen Bennett

Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Gwen Aucoin.

peter ricchiuti, Aileen Bennett