Jiro Ono is a three star Michelin chef, an honor bestowed on a select few world class chefs. He runs a small restaurant called Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo, Japan that seats only 10 people and has a set menu that costs approximately $300. You can’t just walk in off the street into Sukiyabashi Jiro – reservations are required, a few months in advance. Oh, and Jiro is 91 years old. Jiro wakes up early every morning and goes to the market to select only the choicest ingredients from the finest vendors. Sushi apprentices clamor to work for him even though for the first few years (!) of their apprenticeship they are restricted to making rice and cleaning the dishes. He has singularly focused his entire life on one thing: sushi excellence. Jiro was the subject of a critically acclaimed documentary, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. During one insightful moment, the filmmaker asks Jiro why he continues to work so hard, especially given his advanced age. Jiro replies, “Because as a sushi chef, every day I learn new things.

Every day, I get better.” Jiro’s approach to life resonated with me. If a 90-year-old Japanese sushi master sees it as his life’s mission to better himself every day, surely I can do the same thing. So I sat down and made a list of “stretch goals” for myself – i.e. achievements that were challenging but attainable. And one of those goals was leining (reading) the Torah in shul. For the uninitiated, let me explain why leining is so difficult. The entire Torah is written on scroll parchment in the ancient tradition which has been passed down for thousands of years. The script is not the common Hebrew script but a stylized one that has no vowels or punctuation. Let’s look at that sentence again the way it might look if the Torah were written in English: th scrpt s nt th cmmn hbrw scrpt bt stlzd n tht hs n vwls r pncttn In addition, the Torah is chanted in a complex melody called “trop”, which – you guessed it – is also not in the Torah scroll. Finally, the person leining on behalf of the congregation cannot make any mistakes in reading.

If he does, vigilant congregants will correct him on the spot. When I told my friends that I was thinking about leining in shul their response was always the same: “Why would you want to do that?!” It was as if I had told them that I wanted to try getting waterboarded. Apparently there is a commonly held belief that in order to be a good Torah reader, you need to start young, soon after your bar mitzvah, and then continue to lein in shul over the years so that the Torah portions remain fresh in your mind. When we are young our minds are like sponges and whatever we learn sticks with us for life. Case in point, I can still rattle off ‘Mon Autobiographie’ in fluent French from Monsieur Bauer’s sixth grade French class. So what is an old guy like me learning to lein for the first time? I asked myself, WWJD – What would Jiro do? “Every day I learn new things. Every day I get better.” So I began the journey. First I had to learn the trop – the musical notes.

Then I selected a Torah portion. I started putting the pieces together – chanting the words together with the trop. My friend who is a rabbi and seasoned Torah reader gave me some pointers and then sent me on my way to practice. game memasak sushi rollsAnd practice I did, every day. sushi conveyor belt barcelonaAt first it seemed daunting – my brain felt a sieve, not a sponge. sushi online potsdamBut little by little I made progress.sushi grade tuna indianapolis I practiced with anyone who was willing to listen, including my eight-year-old son who would at times correct me. yo sushi discount voucher 2013

Ah the wonders of a spongy brain.All I had to do was deliver the goods…and deliver them I did! No. Did I perspire profusely? But did I experience a deep sense of gratification from accomplishing a challenging goal that enriched my spiritual life? sushi grade fish sydney My wife together with a friend sponsored a Kiddush at shul in my honor to celebrate. where to buy sushi grade fish torontoThere was the typical Kiddush food like herring and Tam Tam crackers, but also an array of chocolate pastries that I love called “kokosh.” I don’t eat herring but on this occasion I made an exception. As I took a bite, I imagined that it was a piece of sushi and said, “This is for you Jiro. Thanks for helping me dream of leining.”Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures If you haven’t seen the beautifully shot documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi by David Gelb, I highly suggest you set aside some Netflix time in the near future to do so.

The movie is touching, gorgeous and inspiring. That being said, I also found myself thinking about the documentary for days afterwards – and applying the lessons from the film to a variety of different pursuits – including marketing. The film follows Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi master who has spent his life perfecting his craft at his deceptively modest 3-star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo. Jiro is supremely dedicated to the art of sushi (some would say obsessed) – and has earned a reputation for serving the best sushi in the world. So, what does sushi have to do with marketing? The more I thought about Jiro’s story, the more I realized the parallels between his life’s work and success and great marketing. Here are a few lessons we can take from the movie and apply to the marketing world: Perhaps what’s given Jiro the reputation he has today was his desire to only serve sushi at his restaurant. There are no appetizers and no menu. Guests are served the sushi Jiro has prepared that day, in the order he has decided.

This allows Jiro to focus entirely on a single menu of sushi every day – and ensuring the perfection of each piece. This same principle can be applied to marketing. Stop focusing on the things that don’t matter (i.e. the fluff). When marketing your product and/or services, focus on the narrow message you want to deliver. Don’t make an audience think too much about what you are offering. Too many choices leads to paralyzation. Provide an experience that focuses on exactly what you are trying to communicate and limit anything that distracts from this core message. Much like Jiro found appetizers filled diners up too much to truly enjoy the sushi, you don’t want bloated marketing to fill your audience up too much to understand your message. What does your business/product/client do exceptionally well? What message or benefit are you trying to communicate? Focus in on these elements and the resulting marketing efforts will be tight, easily digestible and often very effective.

Jiro thinks about every single detail that goes into his sushi. From the seating arrangements to the ingredients to the temperature of the rice – absolutely nothing is overlooked. In marketing, the same attention to detail can make the difference between a mediocre campaign and a great one. I was recently part of a team that helped with the redesign of the Virgin America website. What resonated with audiences about the new site was not only the overall look, feel and function, but also the attention to all of the small details. Instead of standard (and boring) copy to alert passengers they had completed a step in booking a flight, we wrote cheeky, on-brand and fun messaging that made the experience feel completely Virgin. It was a little detail that went a long ways in creating a holistic experience. Which brings us to…. Jiro thinks about EVERYTHING when it comes to his guests’ experience. He serves one piece of sushi at a time to every customer that sits in his tiny, 11-seat restaurant.

He’s focused on ensuring all patrons finish eating at the same time, so he makes bigger sushi for bigger people and smaller sushi for smaller people, adjusting on the fly. He also notices which hand people use to eat their sushi, and then places each piece on the plate accordingly to make it easier to pick up. Everything from seating arrangement to portion size is handled in the background by Jiro and his staff so customers can focus on the one thing they came to do: eat the best sushi in the world. Jiro understands that it’s all of these components that contribute to the experience – not just the output (the sushi). In marketing, we may not be able to sit and closely observe the way an audience is consuming our efforts, but with today’s technology, we do have powerful analytics and data that can help inform you of an audience’s interaction with your marketing and their experience. Smart marketers will use these insights to adjust tactics on the fly in order to create the best, most effective experience.

All of Jiro’s sushi is extremely simple. This not only allows the ingredients to shine through, but makes the end result pure (and delicious. and beautiful). Essentially, Jiro edits his sushi down to only the most crucial elements – and then makes sure those elements are perfect. Do the same with your marketing: Edit. Reduce your marketing and messaging down to its most essential and important elements. Allow the “ingredients” of your marketing shine through. Focus on making each piece of marketing boil down to only the most essential elements. This will help drive a clear, easily digestible and effective marketing messaging and strategy. At 85 years old Jiro is the best sushi chef in the world. And yet, he proudly states that he is not perfect and there is always room for improvement. Jiro was nine years old when he left his home, and he has only done one thing since then: keep improving. Even after he received an award from Japan declaring him a national treasure, he returned to work the same day to further improve his skills.