Three Mistakes I Made Early In My Career
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
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Good advice. I'm 75 and a retired aerospace engineer. I'll comment about employer empathy.
Midcareer, I pursued an MS in Computer Science. Two of my required courses were business and marketing. In those courses, I learned what management wanted from me. I always thought it was an ability to design products. That was part of it. My real job was to make products that made money for the business. Additionally, my job was to develop young talent.
After learning what the business wanted, I moved into an executive position in a few years.
I enjoyed this video enough to actually pause it while the toilet was flushing so that I didn't miss what you were saying.
The Flying Nurse ...a good reason to ban phone use back of house!
No joke literally just did this exact same thing, we are toilet comrades
@@ValS1312 haha awesome. Glad we have something in common.
TMI
Or you can turn up the volume while flushing :D
Pure gold. These are life lessons that the wise will take to heart! I come for the coffee talk but then you thoughtfully share about your experiences so others can learn from you and hopefully make better choices. Wisdom vs knowledge - you're definitely on to something there. Thank you for your generosity and keep up the great videos!
I watch some of your videos recently and what i learn so far is that, not just about coffee but other beautiful thing that come with it. It is very pleasant and motivating at the same time. Hopefully I can get more from you. Keep up a good work.
I wish more business/motivactional videos were like that - just honest and humble.
How apropos that this video comes right after I've just had a meeting with my CEO, general manager, and store manager about several of the points you've brought up, and thank you, as always, for your efforts and these videos. The meeting I had was incredibly useful from the standpoint of empathy, as you mentioned, and I think it gave all four of us insight on how to help veteran baristas improve themselves and reach (or just identify) their goals and aspirations, how to make the everyday minutiae on the floor more fluid and efficient, how to better communicate with employees and coworkers, how to attract coffee talent that is still also teachable and flexible, and how to take a novice and build coffee knowledge and talent. Often times, I feel that "work" gets in the way of "career", but a career is built on the work you do. Sharing knowledge in an accessible and transparent way is another important step in making a harmonious work environment and inspiring/cultivating interest, if not passion.
Didn't know coffee was such a huge world!! Til you!
So many exclamation marks lol, like every sentence really lol
@@Raphsophomes so many lols, like every sentence really
JUNGLE IS MASSIVE
@@hbi7605 lol
@@mylesgabrielhornstra4040 huh
The difference between information, knowledge and wisdom.
Thanks for sharing this precious info, I'm gonna try my best to make it useful in many aspects of my life from now on.
Number 3 is an excellent point. Such a simple thing but something that could easily be overlooked so it’s good to hear someone say it. Thanks
This is such an important video! Thank you for sharing! I totally feel it, specially the third mistake: in the very early stage of my career (well, it's not such a long career, but still... Lol) I was so desperate to dive deep inside the technical coffee skills, and I could only feel confident about my job if I felt like I've owned the techniques and the techniques only. But in the end coffee is way beyond that and my job started to have a way better result and greater impact after I've added other skills.
It's what makes you stronger and on the right path to succeed in life.
I really like this thoughts - it is a very rare thing to see someone having a good portion of self reflection especially on his mistakes. even though this video is missing about everyting a good video makes it might be one of the most memorable i have ever seen on youtube.
We all make mistakes , it's human . Hope you don't let regrets get you down James. I understand Wisdom comes to those who are prepared to listen and accept they don't alway know best.
Thanks for being honest and humble! Those are the two most important quality that people (whether successful or not) lack nowadays.
I really like the "mistakes" videos. These are super insightful and full of wisdom.
Great words oft wisdom, thanks for sharing. This goes way beyond coffee.
Great video, important subject, presentation....love your delivery!
I think the biggest mistake we make, as humans, and the mistake that is present in ALL mistakes, is not having an open mind and considering someone else's point of view. We are quick to judge and discard others opinions when they clash with our own beliefs. This keeps us in a box, enslaves us, and we are unable to break free.
I always agree with other people's opinions and decisions but I AM GOING NOWHERE. Why do I have to consider someone's point of view but they never consider mine even they know nothing about coffee. I'm an Indonesian and many new coffee players who have only little knowledge and experience but they act like they are the center of the coffee world
This makes me think of how you should answer the interview question of tell me about a weakness or time you have made a mistake.
this was really helpful unlike a lot of unsolicited advice ive received, from types who you described as whom dont really know why theyve succeeded
I like your honesty James. Here is one I have learned and No one can prove me wrong with this. Quality, Time & Value. Pick TWO but you won't get three from me. You pick the two you like from me in the world of business and that is what I discover about your character.
This made me really stop and think, and I think I now have the beginnings of a new perspective, thank you for the video!
Hats off to James for being this open with admitting your own mistakes and sharing such valuable lessons you learned. Luckier people learn from mistakes of others. The saddest people? They never think any mistake was theirs and always pointed to others as the culprit. I pity that kind of defensive and unpractical people. #1 fail to understand the gap between information, knowledge and wisdom #2 fail to empathize the employer #3 pursuing one specific skill at the expense of other skills
chapeau James! sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees.
Ya, as a 37-year-old who has done a lot of self exploration in the past few years, I resonate with everything you said. I am now entertaining myself by imagining a young cocky slightly douchey know-it-all James Hoffman (by projecting backwards my own development as a human). This might be the kind of life advice that you can’t really hear until you are ready for it, but for those that are, you have benefited them. Thanks for this candid share.
It's obviously the way he talks and conveys information which has made him successful
I am Joshua，a SCA Certified Barista/Gold Cup/Roaster in Taiwan and this video tells everything I am going through right now。I used to believe that getting these Certifications will make me the best of the best，in the Specialty Coffee world、but I was sadly mistaken。over many years of putting my learnings from the certifications to the test，and growing from the many experiences of crash and burns。It inspired me to perfect my skills in all areas of my love and passion for Coffee，It made me a better Barista，Brewer and Roaster。My sensories have grown many times more than in the beginning、when I first taste of Coffee。Thank you for your inspiring Videos，always keeping the passion for coffee flaring。
Hey joshua, are you from taipei ? :)
@@globanxiety yes I am
@@riverhsu7563 That's awesome. I live in taipei too. I moved to taiwan last year for my coffee business. it would be great to catch up for a cup of coffee buddy. :)
@@globanxiety do you have FB we can catch up there
@@globanxiety what's your business's name
Great video! So much truth in what you were saying! I can see my self falling into some of the traps and it’s not until you hear it that you realise! Thank you!
I totally agree. I learned all the things you talked about here... but not in coffee industry. I was a graphic artist. I didn't learn these things. I started seeing computers changing the landscape. I moved out of traditional printing/typesetting/etc. and started down a path as a software/hardware developer.
After years in this industry I rose to the level of manager. I saw things from the other side. I completely realized how selfish I had been previously. Then the Internet became a thing.
I'm now a Computer Consultant and look at the younger hires. They are bright eyed and eager. They are technically VERY smart. They have no business experience. They don't understand the businesses they are developing software for. They lack the knowledge around finance. School has taught them some amazing technical skills; they are sadly lacking soft skills.
I'm also a professional scuba diver. I have seen other divers who are very technically skilled, far more than I am, try to explain to me why I'm wrong. They believe they know best and get angry or frustrated when the industry fights them. The truth is really that they are not seeing the bigger picture; it is they who are fighting with the industry. The industry values technical skills but they also value so much more.
By the way, I like coffee. I also like learning. I was hesitant to buy anything good because I didn't want to waste money. I bought a lot of cheap stuff and hacked it as best I could. By shear luck, I did the right thing in a lot of cases. Sometimes things didn't work and I knew it but I didn't know why. Your videos have been instrumental in teaching me WHY. Thank you so much. Career number 4? lol.
I SO relate to number 2. I lacked empathy to my managers especially in one cafe I worked at. I frustrated them in my pursuit of my own goals and they frustrated me. I could have pursued my own goals in a much bigger way had I learned to work with them instead of against them. I'm so grateful to God that it didn't ruin my career entirely. Once I started doing some management on my own, I realized how they must've felt and apologized when I saw them again. If your employers are frustrated with you pursuing your coffee goals, there's a high chance you're making a mistake in how you're pursuing those goals. I watched a lot of other people make the same mistakes (some against me as their manager), and I hope they can learn their own lessons and not let it drag them down.
I need more detail about this lacked empathy mistake.
#2 reminds me of a book called "What Your Boss Really Wants From You". Anyway, some good lessons here. Enjoyed listening.
Good introspection. The lessons learnt are definitely applicable to other fields and are indeed valuable to others.
I do analog photography, especially silver prints, searching eagerly for every bit of information possible.
your tale about, information, knowledge and wisdom was enlightening. thank you for sharing it.
now I understand a little better the fundamental importance of constant practice.
Everyone knows something, no one knows everything, learn to listen, try to understand throughly, these are my life lessons
Honest humility and empathy are sure signs of adulthood.
oh wow... I love this so much. I just turned 21. As I complete my requirements for the culinary course I took, I realized how much I want to pursue coffee as a career. Seeing this video gave me thoughts on how to adjust my knowledge and experience in the industry I want to be part in. Thank you!
100% totally agree. As others said, these lessons are more universal than one might think. Technical skills are important but if you want to be truly valued and have upward mobility you should try to bring a core skillset to the company and add coffee ontop. Not only does it benefit the company but it also allows the employees to be creative and apply their personal interests to their day to day work.
What are those core skills? What kind of company are you talking about? A Bank type of company?
I really love your videos. I always love the details details and details. And yes I too get carried away with an overdose of knowledge, which starts to feel pointless after sometime. Really helpful things pointed out. Thank you
There's a book written about consulting, and I think everybody should aspire to think like a consultant in some way, which has a very simple line. (Paraphrased) What is consulting: Consulting is all about improving your customers condition.
You don't have to work 18 hour days and suck up to your boss to do that, but if you have in the back of your mind that every day of work is about improving your customers condition then it leads to good decision making. And the customer could be your boss, it could be your clients, it could be your colleagues. Their success can be your success and vice versa
great idea to share this! And from the thumbnail I thought we'd get a "Funniest Home Videos" style compilation of you screwing up inverted brewing on Aeropress and the like 😂
Well said! Great to hear about people self-reflecting and fantastic that it was relevant to coffee and the real world. Captivating video, as always
this can apply to anything not just coffee, thank you so much man
Thank you for the introspection. It has helped me to voice and advance my own thoughts on youth and life.
James I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself. Too many people try to be good at too many things quite often, like myself. Being obsessed with the information, your goals and just everything about a good coffee has made who you are - not many people can stay obsessed. I think obsession for successful people is a compliment. x
Please James, make the latte art examination video!
It is about life. There are no mistakes only lessons and progression in depth of our understanding and life experiences.
This video proves you have wisdom.
Well done 👍
Can totally relate! Thanks for sharing ❤
I can definitely relate to the last one. Once I missed out on a really great job opportunity because this coffee shop was very coffee focused but they were also hospitality focused and despite what knowledge i had of coffee, I wasn't very well versed in what they were looking for in a server.
Well gee, I was waiting for the bit where you break your coffee cup by overzealously hulking out on your AeroPress, but I still enjoyed the video.
Coffee Wisdom Philanthropist.
There is also a gap between data and information. Data can be wrong (poorly measured), misleading, or just random. It takes experience to winnow the chaff quickly and get information from the data.
Very good of you to share.
Great comments for any career in any industry. People everywhere make the same mistakes. Thanks!
I agree, I went way to far down the latte art rabbit hole. Showing a desire to learn new skills was a challenge and it was at the expense of a bunch of new opportunities.
1. Know the difference between information. Knowledge and wisdom
2. Have empathy for your employer
3. Don’t over focus on one skill.
Best video I've seen so far!
While I do believe everybody should constantly evaluate and fix mistakes they are making, the fact you reached out to a former employer (I presume a pretty long time after your employment ended, and probably without any personal (i.e financial or otherwise) benefit to yourself does show your growth as person, as this must have been a humbling experience.
Very self aware video, very good stuff! Although I think you may be slightly underestimating the benefits of absorbing lots of information, even if not directly applied, it often has an indirect impact
Loved this video. I love your humity
Thanks for this James. I'd argue that you should *never* apologize to an employer since no matter what, they hire you because you make them a profit -- and your goals should be your goals, not the organization/business goals. Meaning, our business-centered global economy ensures a society where acting selfishly is in fact rewarded, so it would be unfair not to accept that individuals like you will see ourselves as 1-person enterprises with our own set of standards for achievement, and prioritize those above the group/business goals... because you didn't own the business, and your success wasn't inherently tied to the success of the business. However, if they were friends or other experts or scientists you're collaborating with, without profit motive involved... then sure, it's very healthy to work as a group! Just my $.02
Hey James, thank you for the video. It really open my eyes and I very much agree with your thought about learning from book. Honestly, I had had a mistake in my coffee carier too.
Kesalahan apa bang?
I really enjoy your perspective.
About latte art. I think it IS important. Not necessarilly the fact that you are able to do latte art. The point is that in order to make latte art , you have to extract a good shot of espresso with crema and you steamed some good creamy milk in order to achieve it, it's the fact that the individual spent hours in their career practising coffee extraction and steaming milk, which makes them more consistant in their work.
James is the ambassador of coffee from the 33rd Court of Illumimati.
Hey James, I wonder if you might consider doing a video regarding books you read about coffee (during your Information before Knowledge phase, or otherwise) that you could generally recommend to anyone interested in learning/expanding their knowledge on the subject.
Information, knowledge, and wisdom are often cyclical. You have to have a certain level of information in order to efficiently gain knowledge, you must apply that knowledge in order to gain wisdom, and often people such as yourself begin contributing back to the stream of information. You can give someone information, it's much harder to give them knowledge, and impossible to give them wisdom.
While I agree with your points, I think employment is really a two way street longterm you invest in them they invest in you. If you work very hard and put in the time and hours while others just do the bare minimum you should be given more responsibility ( if it is available). But in most companies my experience is the people who do the least amount of work, disrupt don't settle tend to get promoted faster. For some reason the people who post the most crap on linked in tend to be in these positions of responsibility. Clearly there is something missing -- "passion".
Wait james...let me get a bottle of wine...now i understand. Thanks for sharing.
It's a little funny (I mean this in a kind way) that you talk about once being too focused on technical aspects. I can't even imagine what you were like then if you consider that you've dialed the focus down more recently! My God, everything is weighed to the gram, measured to the milliliter, timed to the second, then analyzed through a spectrometer. I estimate the coffee I grind each day for my morning brew with, I think, fairly good consistency. If the brew turns out just the slightest bit stronger on a given morning then I'll enjoy a slightly stronger cup that morning. It seems fine to me but I can sometimes hear your disapproval in my head - "You know how I feel about scoops."
Humility is a rare attribute.
Excellent ans very wise tips sir. Actually you can apply these suggestions of yours to any field. I am an chemical engineer and I have experienced the exact things you said in my business. Anyhow, best of luck.
my pool-coach said once to me: "when all goes well, get to be focused "how that feels" (how the movement feels, how the hit sounds etc.)
because, all know how it feels, when something is going bad, and on a tournament, they can't turn it arround.
but, if you really know how the feeling is (not the joy and comfort) you'll find back faster, and maybe, turn arround faster.
1996 i won 35 tournements
So focusing on one field is the key, right?
Loved this vid
If everyone were so tactful and scrupulous, the world would be much more harmonious.
Firstly, thank you for this. Secondly, how do you empathize with a larger specialty coffee corporation. It feels like the disconnect and goals may be too far apart :(
As someone who independently came to the same conclusions as J Hoff, it’s not about empathizing with the corporation. You can’t. It’s about considering the challenges and pressures that the humans directly above you have to face.
It is my model, for example, that a lot of bosses who are overbearing don’t do so because they like the power or because they think you’re doing a bad job; they do it because they are concerned that they are not doing *their* jobs properly if they don’t push. They have to prove their worth. The solution isn’t that you have to suck up to them and tell them how important they are, but rather that you don’t take personally how they interact with you because it’s not about you.
Well James, you touched a topic I hope you never did 😅
Buying books... Well I stopped doing it jut because I didn't have money to get more 😅 same as you I already have few books about coffee I'm learning a lot from (but not 200 like you managed to "collect" at one pint 😱) I'm agreed, it did helped me a lot when doing trivia, but it doesn't seem to be at use when I had the chance to transform that knowledge into practice, the reason, some things work a bit different in real life. Yes we read 1.000 books and once we face a challenge, there's a way to do it that wasn't in that book, that knowledge comes from the experience and that's the knowledge I'm trying to acquire right now.
I think you're right when talking about going "against" your employer goals, I'm going through the same situation right now and it's a mess. The friction I manage to create sometimes to them and to myself when trying to "align" my goals to those of my employer it's incredible... I'm learning that lesson step by step and it's hard but necessary. At the moment what's helping me a lot is meditation, it's allowing to be more empathetic. Being aware of my needs and other people needs in real time is a must for everyone. I'm pursuing a career in coffee, at the moment I'm at the front end (facing customers in a daily basis) but my goal is to be at the back end (coffee farms, direct contact with the coffee farmers, consultancy) Of course that will take few years, I need more experience, knowledge and things I'll be learning in the years to come. This take me to the second point, learning another skill; well James, here again, you're right, although for me this is a little bit different. I tried that technique before and I ended up jumping from one field to another, let me be more specific. I was into programming and then I realized "Hey, it will be cool if I also learn about digital marketing! It will diversify my skill set!" and even tough it did, it also distracted me from my main goal that was learn programming and I ended up doing nothing 🤦🏻♂️
Now, I'm not saying that your advice is wrong, it is actually great that you're sharing this with all of us, but you see, the way my brain works is different, I need to "master" one skill before I start learning a new one. I wish I was able to jump from one skill to the other while learning it without creating a mess on my head 🤯
Again, thank you James for another great video.
Hey, James were just being humble in this video. It IS his mastery of coffee that got him into success. Say he has some programming skill like you do, e.g Web Dev and Digital Marketing. Does that skill made him significantly better in the coffee industry? What do you think?
Great video I'm gonna take some time to reflect on these
Great points in here. Any tips or suggestions for coffee RUclips channels ?
All of these points are very very true.
thank you, layin it on us !
Sometimes I’m being pretty hard on myself when I develop my languages skills, art, etc. I’m thinking at that moment ‘fuck, what am I doing? I could spend this time improving my coffee skills, searching for new information, making some experiment to solve some questions’. Thanks for this video to calm me down and to let me know that it is very important to keep the balance. ❤️
God those embarrassing moments are so torturing, they never leave your mind 😆😥
The problem is you are talking from the "I have achieved my goals" perspective and you are right BUT I do believe there is no way in which one can achieve half the goals you have achieved if we don't walk the same or kind of the same path of your mistakes... or not? Is there any other path ?? Please, tell me !!!! 🙏
ahhhh I like you more now....you are human ! ❤❤❤❤
Thanks
So what would you suggest for someone who is interested, thinking of opening a coffee roastery business, because my approach would have been by reading a lot of technical books.
Thanks for the videos! I enjoy them very much.
You are right, I just guess at what's made me successful, heck if I really know!!
@Potato Gun HAHAHA
Now film the grinder dropping into the coffee like the thumbnail
I think these aren't so much mistakes as stages in a natural progression in life. The sad part is that some people don't progress through these stages to more mature and nuanced stages. Instead they get stuck and end up never fully actualizing themselves or at the least delaying their progress and wasting time.
They stuck because they always consider other people's opinions as the truth
The education system in a nutshell: the absorption of "trivia" without the life experience to convert that into knowledge.
Concur
As a rabbid information hoarder, I feel attacked. I jest, of course. It is a good tip.
I definitely feel bad about how I’ve treated some past employers.
You have the best hairline on any Brits I have seen
I don't work in coffee, but a lot of these lessons can be applied more broadly. Thanks for the video 👍
Not the 2nd though :)
My immediate thought on hearing the first lesson was "gee, that's just like programmers memorizing design patterns and antipatterns. Or learning new languages. Or _making_ new languages."
Its so refreshing to have just honest humility that is lacking in our culture right now. Your advice is applicable to my own experiences even if our career fields are vastly different. Cheers and keep up the good work!
Yes good stuff. Coffee is is not that important but still James is good value and worth a youtube look.
when you said you apologized to your employer for the disconnect in empathy, it made me want to do the same. i wish i could take back walking out on my job, but 3 years later and many jobs later i found myself working at a coffee shop again. we are gaining knowledge everyday to become a better person, or barista, and it made me realize not everything is the employers fault, sometimes its just a misunderstanding and im happy to say theres been a clear difference in the way i work now because ive learned how to communicate properly
Thank you for your motivating words james, "Often successful people dont really understand why they have succeeded."
What I really appreciate about your videos is a constant expectation of connecting with your subscribers. Wanting to hear our thoughts makes us feel valued and creates a unique dynamic. Love the content and I will continue to support what you are doing here on RUclips!
You talked about possibly pursuing your personal goals in better concert with your employer's goals and how you didn't do a great job of this early in your career. Do you have a concrete example of this to help us better understand where you are coming from and to help us apply it in our roles (employer or employee)?
Three lessons from James Hoffman that you can apply to your own life:
1. (0:55) Apply what you learn. Don't just consume information, convert it into knowledge.
2. (2:30) Ask what you can do for your job (or employer), not what it (or they) can do for you.
3. (4:14) Build a range of skills. Technical skills in your discipline is only the minimum.
1. Knowledge is not useful unless it is applied. ( I'm looking at you polytech and universities) 2. Companies often don't know what they want, when they get what they want they are usually dissatisfied (you can please some of the people some of the time..) 3. True. 4. Most people want to do good by working hard but actually prefer talking over doing. 5. Talking and arguing doesn't get the job done past a point 6. It always amazed me in companies how the people who did the actual work got paid the least, the system is rigged and unfair you have to fight. 7. Knowledge is power