going too far, too fast

With a buyer during the setup of a tearoom in Gloucestershire, England, 2004

I used to talk very fast and regretted that I had never been able to catch up with the speed of my thoughts. That was quite many years ago when I began to teach. Somehow later, I began to understand that it was not how fast I think but how the speed of my words synchronizes with the pace of how my listener understands that matters.

After I stepped into the business world, my ex-wife used to warn me not to go too far ahead in leading, cause the others would not be able to follow. When I go too far, she said, others could not even see what I was seeing. I think she is right.

a little beyond their capability

Since the launch of teaguardian.com, besides compliments and supports, one other category of response has been "you have been writing too much and too detail…", implying that no one is interested in knowing so much about the subject.

When I did similar thing, but in lesser details, in my tea classes over a decade ago, I had the same criticism. Now so many tea sites are trying the same level of details and tea classes sprang up even in the US, where traditionally East Asians and Europeans would see as the place of McDonald culture. I think they may have more tea classes than Europe, and definitetly all of China and Hong Kong combined.

In education, some people think that you should teach only what your students can handle. I think I should always excite students with something a little beyond their capability, and have maintained that in both my education career and later in the training of my staff.

enlightenment for a path of development

In marketing, some people think you should sell what the market want. I think successful marketing is always leading the market into newer horizon. I have always push for that in my career as a creative consultant.

In the world of tea, I am hoping that the Tea Guardian is going to bring consumer and trade enlightenment for a path of development that would be healthy for all. Well, maybe almost all.

Indeed the art of such an endeavour relies on how far I am pushing and how well the audience is being engaged. I ponder sometimes. Like now.

a way of making money

Are people more interested in the very act of buying a few ounces of tea a lot more than the process of understanding? Without a commercial element in the site can we sustain the growing of such a body of information?

An old friend who's also an old colleague in corporate communication once expressed, all of a sudden in an otherwise casual dinner gathering, "You really don't need to put more information in it, there's so much already. You need to find a way of making money with it…" Tea Guardian is only beginning. I have so much that I want to see in the site, but am I going too fast, too far with information already? Should I focus more of my time in other business? What is the best way to sustain its growth?

LK