A Different Kind of Burn: Stepping outside my comfort zone (one tablespoon at a time).
Building brands worldwide is about precision, but I find my true "flow state" at the cutting board. Today was a rare solo lunch: an Indo-Korean Gochujang soup that was way too spicy for the kids, but perfect for a CMO needing a creative reset.
There is a specific kind of peace that can only be found at the tip of a chef’s knife.
In my day job as a fractional CMO, my life is a whirlwind of high-level strategy, global Zoom calls, and market trends that move faster than a toddler on a sugar rush. But when I step into the kitchen, the world shrinks down to the size of a cutting board. I take a strange, borderline-obsessive pride in the "uniform dice." Every carrot, every onion, every stalk of celery cut to the exact same dimensions. It’s not just about cooking; it’s about control, precision, and the quiet joy of "feeding myself"—a skill we often overlook in the hustle of building brands and businesses.
Usually, my culinary repertoire is a moving target. I don’t have that one "signature dish" (though, for the record, if you ever want to win my heart, wake me up at 3:00 AM with a bowl of Minestrone). I just love the exploration of it all.
Today, however, the exploration got a little... fiery.
Last week, the woman at the tiny Asian grocery around the corner tucked a tub of Gochujang into my bag. I’ve watched enough Korean cooking shows during late-night hotel stays to know the name, but I’d never actually brought it into my own kitchen. Today, I turned it into a Gochujang-based soup for lunch.
The verdict? Deep, complex, and incredibly delicious. Also, significantly spicier than anything that usually clears the "dad-of-two-toddlers" safety inspection. It was a solo lunch—a rare moment of Indo-Korean fusion that would have had my kids staging a formal protest.
But that’s the beauty of it. Whether it's a new marketing funnel or a fermented chili paste, I’m a sucker for a new "flavor profile." It’s a reminder that even when we’re experts in our fields, there’s always something new to taste, test, and learn.
Back to the spreadsheets now, still feeling the heat of that soup. Life is short; cook something that makes you sweat a little.