PABCAS, the blog of Paul Martin Campbell

My title purposely paraphrases Chris’s slugline, as I’m writing this from Citizen Space where I am once again since my visit here last May. A good bit has changed since last I sat here, blogging about my chat with Chris and my thoughts on coworking in general. But it’s not the changes that I want to focus on right now—it’s what hasn’t changed: my constant searching for inspiration and personal development in the sights, sounds and people around me.

I think that’s one of the main motivators of the Paddy’s Valley trip and the twenty or so Irish who have descended on Palo Alto for the week. Damien is giving a daily update of what’s going on and it sounds amazing. My schedule’s been a little different. Despite missing a tour of Facebook yesterday and what sounded like a really revealing audience with Ross Mayfield yesterday, my path over the last few days has taken me elsewhere and taught me a few things from outside the technology scene. It kinda flies in the face of the whole trip, but sometimes that happens. Two key events have taught me the importance of three words: Perfection, humility and finesse.

I ate in the French Laundry on Monday night. Knowing I’d be in the region, I made the reservation two months ago. I’ll not going to go in to too much detail about the meal (of course if you want to know about it, feel free to ask me, talking about it is like crack). In short, it was just about as close to perfection in terms of human experience that I’ve ever sat through. What stuck with me though was a plaque that I read that was hung in the kitchen. I noticed it when we took a short tour yesterday afternoon. I can’t remember the exact wording, but the message was this: Perfect food is impossible. Accept this, and then accept that in place of perfect food, the highest goal in the service of the restaurant is the happiness of the customers. Exchange food for anything you like, and the message is clear.

Next, humility. Humility has always been an issue for me. I have a loud mouth at the worst of times and a short tolerance for certain… deficiencies… in the world around me. But there’s not a days goes by that I don’t try and check myself, that I don’t remind myself that I’m still (and probably ever shall be) a shadow of the person that I could be, that I waste so much time that I could be improving myself, aspiring to greater things and doing so in silence, letting the world blow my mind.

This morning I sat in the Davie’s Symphony Hall in San Francisco to watch a rehearsal of the San Francisco Symphony orchestra who are performing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique this week. I didn’t get to see the Symphony as a whole, but the orchestra would play through sections, with the conductor, (Michael Tilson Thomas ) pausing and interrupting to make a few comments, give direction. As a musician, I was humbled both by the technical execution of the music (to my muck savage ear it was ecstacy), but also by the understanding of the music, the attention to detail and by Thomas’ use of the word that caps off the trio of words that have inspired me this week: “Finesse”

I could go on at length, but I’ll finish now with a dictionary definition of the word, that I was told is posted above the door of the kitchen in the French Laundry ( I didn’t look up ):

fi·nesse noun, verb, extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste, etc. (from dictionary.com)

Perfection, humility, finesse. To strive for perfection and apply it to even the tiniest of details, with a smile, a nod and an affirmation that “you’re welcome, sir.” What a goal.