Kind of says it all...

Coffee Talk is Good for Your Brain!

An article from RealAge says the key to stimulating your brain over a cup of coffee isn't the stimulant in the brew, but your choice of chat...

From the article...
"Whether you engage in conversation with a friend, a family member, or the guy behind you in the express line, keep talking. In a recent study of young adults, a mere 10 minutes of face-to-face conversation about a social issue was enough to boost working memory and mental processing speeds. Chitchat was as good as a crossword puzzle, in terms of brain benefits. In fact, the more people socialize, the better their brainpower -- regardless of age.

Conversation requires us to pay attention, remember what was said, deduce the other person's meaning, and come up with appropriate responses -- some pretty serious mental gymnastics. And when it comes to mental muscle, it's use it or lose it."

Caffeinated Combustion Engine

Coffee and Creativity certainly go together, but who knew it would lead to a gasoline alternative?

The Cafe Racer is a 1975 GMC pickup that essentially burns up used coffee to create a combustible gas. The gas is filtered on its way to the engine and, Viola, a caffeine-powered truck.

Read more about it here and here.

It's About The Howards

Is one of the qualifications for running the king of caffeinated stores that you have to be named Howard? Do they just throw away your resume if your name is Mike, or Joe, or Don?

The other Howard (Behar, not Schultz) has written a new business book based on the learned leadership lessons of a life among the beans and brew. "It's Not About The Coffee" focuses on the ten principles of personal leadership to which Behar attributes the success of the company -- and there isn't a reference to coffee among them:

10 Principles of Personal Leadership

-------------------------------------------------

1. Know Who You Are:

Wear One Hat

2. Know Why You're Here:

Do It Because It's Right, Not Because It's Right for Your Resume

3. Think Independently:

The Person Who Sweeps the Floor Should Choose the Broom

4. Build Trust:

Care, like You Really Mean It

5. Listen for the Truth:

The Walls Talk

6. Be Accountable:

Only the Truth Sounds like the Truth

7. Take Action:

Think Like a Person of Action, and Act like a Person of Thought

8. Face Challenge:

We Are Human Beings First

9. Practice Leadership:

The Big Noise and the Still, Small Voice

10. Dare to Dream:

Say "Yes," the Most Powerful Word in the World

Download a complete PDF file of the list by clicking here.

I've just started reading the book, and I have a lot of favorites on the list -- but more importantly, I've selected the one I know I need to work on the most. Ironically enough, it's Principle #3, "Think Independently."

It's not that I personally have a problem with thinking independently, it's the second part of the principle I struggle with: "The Person Who Sweeps the Floor Should Choose the Broom." I can be such a control freak about the execution of my ideas, I feel that I probably try to give too much specific direction on how to accomplish the implementation. I'm a firm believer in the idea that the best concepts come from 'outside looking in' -- it's just tough to take my own advice sometimes. ;)

Take my advice on this, though: go get yourself a copy of Howard Behar's book "It's Not About The Coffee." It's sure to give you some strategies on which to reflect, and even if you're telling yourself that you already know everything -- ask yourself how GOOD you are at it. And be brave enough to tell yourself the truth.

Learn more about the book, and download bonus content at HowardBehar.com.

Haiku. Can you?

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is holding a contest in order to collect coffee-themed haikus that will be printed on their coffee cups.

All entries must follow the three-line 5-7-5 syllable format of the standard haiku. You can enter once per day until December 1, 2007. Extra points are awarded for entries that address sustainability and environmental issues.

Fourteen winners will be selected to have their poems featured on Green Mountain's earth-friendly hot cups, and will receive a Keurig B60 single-cup coffee brewer and two boxes of K-Cups.

Click here to register your entry -- and feel free to post some of your submissions below. Here's one of mine...

Needs cream and sugar?
You add before tasting it
So, how can you tell?

Caffeinated Findings

A friend told me about a DailyCandy-ish website that publishes an email list about food, and wouldn't you know it? Only a couple days after I discover it, they print an article about COFFEE...

from HungryGirl.com...

We recently heard that drinking three cups of coffee
or tea a day could actually help older women sustain their memory. According to
a French study, it's the caffeine that plays the biggest factor in these
findings.

And speaking of caffeine, a separate US study found that a combination of
exercise and caffeinated water (aka coffee or tea) could actually reduce the
damaging effects the sun has on the skin. But don't think that means you can
chug some iced coffee and skip the sunscreen... you can't. Click for more on that.

Their newsletter is well done, and hungry GUYS as well as hungry GIRLS will be equally engaged in the content.

High Five for Starbucks

Brandchannel.com has published its Readers' Choice Awards culled from surveying a market-savvy audience from around the world and asking them to nominate the most "high impact" brands.

Although fun to note that Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia also found lofty perches, its a bit predictable. What most folks might not have seen coming is that in both the Global as well as the US & Canada lists, Starbucks scored a #5 and a #4 placement, respectively.

How did Starbucks win such high placement? Starbucks opened 733 new licensed retail stores in the US. between October '05 and October '06. They've cultivated an attitude that it's not merely a coffee brand -- but a lifestyle brand that just happens to sell coffee.

Starbucks also owns and operates "Hear Music." A typical Starbucks only sells a few CDs within their store, but some Hear Music locations feature listening stations that allow users to purchase, download, and burn custom CDs (all while lapping up a few lattes!)

Truly caffeine and creativity at its best.