I hear it all the time: “Let’s boil this idea down.” That’s a huge communication mistake.

What people are trying to do by “boiling it down” is get rid of all the extraneous information surrounding their idea to find something crisp they can share with others. The hope is that the crisp idea will be exciting and compelling.

Given I’m Italian, let’s make rotini. No, not spaghetti. I prefer rotini because it holds the sauce better.

How does you make rotini? You boil a pot of water, throw in a bit of salt, then throw in the rotini. You boil it until the pasta is soft to your liking. When you do all this, some of your water disappears into the air through a magical scientific process. When done correctly, you’re left with wonderfully firm yet tender rotini that’s ready to receive a generous portion of red sauce with pancetta and garlic tossed in.

No, this hasn’t turned into a cooking blog. Bear with me.

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