Wal-Mart: A Victory Lap and Some Cold Water

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Well I’m feeling flush with excitement.  First I got it kinda right on 3D printing, and now there’s another case where you’ll need to check my ego: Wal-Mart seems to be obviously moving forward with e-Commerce.   Awhile ago I suspected Wal-Mart could indeed “go geeky”, so I’ll consider this a partial victory.

In short, Wal-Mart clearly has to move with the times to have a presence in e-Commerce, and is clearly doing it.  I’d add that when you throw on it’s mobile investments, Silicon Valley skunkworks, and Vudu, it can play pretty big.

But since I first speculated on what Wal-Mart can do, I think their reputation has gotten worse.  I’m no fan of Wal-Mart at all, so consider my bias pre-announced, but I think that people think even less of them than they did a few years ago.

So here’s where I see a potential issue: Wal-Mart’s reputation can affect their ability to move forward.  I present this, of course, for analysis.

First, there’s a recruiting issue.  I know plenty of people who won’t even go into a Wal-Mart, so how many are going to want to work for them?  Not sure how a big of a dent this’ll put into potential talent, but I’m sure the dent is there.

Also keep this in mind – working at Wal-Mart puts that on people’s resumes.  How many people who would work for Wal-Mart would not do so due to what others may think.

Secondly, there’s the competitor issue.  Yes, Wal-Mart has a huge “install base,” but it also has penny of people gunning for it directly (Target, Amazon) as well as indirectly (virtually everyone else).  All it takes is an alliance between several ornery competitors to give Wal-Mart some pain.

Third, I think Wal-Mart may be at a demographic disadvantage.  I’m not sure how well their current demographic is going to adapt to a more high-tech Wal-Mart, and what kind of heavy e-commerce base they can count on.  I’m not sure, frankly.

Fourth, back to reputation.  Wal-Mart has a repetitional weakness that competitors, issue #2, could probably use against them.  If you think others won’t get nasty, think again – especially considering Wal-Mart could be a serious threat to them.

So quick summary of this:

  • I think Wal-Mart is moving forward.
  • I think competitors will use Wal-Mart’s reputation issues against them, and in some cases they won’t have to try.  It could lead to some very strange bedfellows.
  • If Wal-Mart gets highly aggressive, this is going to be really interesting.  I suspect they’re going to go for gradual evolution instead – far easier.

Could be a very interesting time in the Geekonomy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Job Update

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Well I start a new job shortly – I’m going back to contracting for now!  But the job search is over, and it took about 5 weeks to make work out.  This also means I can start getting back to my books and projects – but you’re still going to get plenty of recipes out of me.

But the goal of this blog was to cover everything in my writing, coaching, and more, so hang in there, the ride is back on track.

But again, still recipes.  I got more coming you need to see . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Recipe: Quick Leftover Cassoulet

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This is my quick version of the classic french meat-and-bean dish.  It’s a great way to extend leftover meats (read, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and the 4th of July) into a filling but surprisingly light dish.  I just made it with leftover turkey with some sausage tossed in.

Cassoulet itself is a traditional French dish whose history and taste is hard to do justice too; there’s a lot of pride in it that is akin to the pride taken in chili or barbecue in the United States.  It also seems to have been an influence on the American Baked Bean.  You can learn some more here: http://www.dartagnan.com/60201/a3519/Eat-Like-a-Local/page-1.html

Ingredients.

  • 2 14 oz cans white beans, drained
  • About 1 1/2 lbs assorted meats pre-cooked and/or preserved, diced.  Roughly, match meat to the beans.  It’s best with at least two kinds of meats, and if you don’t have enough meat, add precooked sausage or ham.
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp crushed garlic
  • 2 tbsp Herbs De Province.
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 cup beef or vegetable broth.
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Up to 1 cup water
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Dice your meats and set aside.
  3. Mix pepper, garlic, herbs de province, tomato paste, broth, olive oil.
  4. Pour beans and meat into casserole dish, mix thoroughly
  5. Pour mixture over beans and meat.  Mix thouroughly.
  6.  Add enough water to just cover beans and meat.  Stir to mix.
  7. Cover with foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.
  8. Remove foil.  Bake for 30 minutes

I made this for a get-together and went over pretty well.  Not overly remarkable, but also filling and it had a certain something to it – I have leftovers I’ll definitely be enjoying.  It’s a basic recipe, one you can easily tweak.

A few suggestions:

    • The Herbs De Province have a sharp edge not everyone may like.  Replacing them with a different spice mixture might be a good idea – though I’m fond of Herbs De Province as a quick way to get a “French Flavor,” though it’s important to remember they’re basically an approximation of herbal mixtures from Provence.
    • Adding a dash of ground cloves might be good.
    • I think baking it uncovered for the entirety of the hour might be a good idea to really bring out the flavors.
    • I served it with baked potatoes, which wer delightful in the sauce.  It would probably go well with bread, or on smashed potatoes

The mix of meats was really delightful, so the more kinds the better!