Start the morning with “espresso shots of intelligence”!
– Keith Ewing, Humble Hogs

Make your work day better by starting with good business insight! Zingerman’s co-founder and author Ari Weinzweig will share the “secrets” to Zingerman’s success he wrote in A Lapsed Anarchists’s Approach to Being a Better Leader (Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 2). You’ll also hear from Zingerman’s staff, we’ll be inviting employees from around the organization to engage Ari in a dialogue about Zingerman’s, building the business, being part of this organization and how you can apply Zingerman’s approaches to help strengthen
your organization.

Call 734.663.3663 to reserve your seat
Please provide credit card number when reserving
(this card will be charged)

$10/person

In the meantime, we thought we’d share an interview with our illustrators, Ian Nagy and Ryan Stiner. Ari caught up with them while writing Part 2. Here’s an excerpt from the book!

Ari: I love the illustrations in the books, and I really appreciate the amazing artwork you’ve contributed to them, so I thought it might be nice for folks to get a better sense of who you are and the story behind the drawings. How did you get to Zingerman’s?

Ian: Thanks, Ari. I started in 1991 as a sign maker when the only business was the Deli and became the first full- time Zingerman’s illustrator in 1997. A friend of mine who worked at “the Zing” taking sandwich orders (thanks, Vicky!) told me there was a job opening in the art department and I practically begged to work here. Before that I made art soon after birth, encouraged by my fantastic family and inspirational, art-degree-having mother. See iannagy.com for more details and stuff I’ve made.

Ryan: Thanks! I’ve been here about seven years now. I started out as a part- time illustrator, but quickly started building signs and other random constructs. Now I’m a full-time illustrator and thing-maker. Otherwise, I’ve been creating stuff since I was a kid. I went for a year to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, lived there for a few years, and then I moved to Ann Arbor. Soon after, my future wife (thanks, Lauren!) saw a flyer that Zingerman’s was hiring a part-time illustrator and the rest is history. Also, feel free to take a peek at ryanstiner.com if you are interested in more.

How do you feel about getting to draw and do design for a living?

Ryan: It’s pretty amazing. It can be easy to take it for granted, but when I see other artists who are in the same spot I was seven years ago, talented people who can’t do art for a living, it reminds me how amazing it is.

Ian: Ryan pretty much summed it up right there, I agree with everything he said. It is the best job I have ever had and there is nothing else I would rather do.

How did you decide on scratchboard drawings for the Guide to Good Leading series?

Ryan: Well, you’d asked us for something in the style of woodblock printing, of the art from the ’30s and ’40s. Ian and I talked about it, and he really pushed for scratchboard. It was a way we could give you what you were looking for, and also do something special that we liked.

Ian: We kicked around several different techniques but I thought scratch- board would look the best for the entire book. It’s one of my favorite ways to make pictures and I feel it is the best black-and-white medium.

What’s the history of scratchboard? Where and when did it originate?

Ian: This is what our friends at Wikipedia say:

“Modern scratchboard originated in the 19th century in Britain and France. As printing methods developed, scratch- board became a popular medium for reproduction because it replaced wood, metal and linoleum engraving. It allowed for a fine line appearance that could be photographically reduced for reproduction without losing quality. It was most effective and expeditious for use in single-color book and newspaper printing. From the 1930’s to 1950’s, it was one of the preferred techniques for medical, scientific and product illustra- tion. During that time period, Virgil Finlay made very detailed illustrations, often combining scratchboard methods with traditional pen & ink techniques, and producing highly detailed artworks. In more recent years, it has made a comeback as an appealing medium for editorial illustrators of magazines, ads and graphic novels.”

Ryan: Uhmmmm, that sounds about right.

The drawings look fantastic. How does the process work?

Ian: After Ryan so kindly takes reference photos for us based on ideas we sketch to the scratchboard, then scratch like a maniac while touching up a few things with marker. The scratchboard we buy from an art supplies store comes pre-inked on hardboard, and we scratch it off with a small tool that looks like a tiny metal spear and fits into a basic pen-tip holder. The white part of the board that the black ink sits on is a thin layer of clay, so you have to be careful not to scratch off too much or go too deep because you will hit brown board!

Ryan: I almost always hit the brown board.

How long does it take to do one of these pieces?

Ryan: The one I just finished today, the one with Robert Greenleaf and Emma Goldman in front of the Deli (page 258), took me about eight solid hours of artwork. Some take more than that, some are less, but that’s a good ballpark number.

Ian: About a day’s work minus the photos.

What do you like about it?

Ryan: There’s a certain finality to it. I mean, you can adjust a little bit after the fact. But, really, once you cut away the ink, that’s it. That isn’t necessarily there with other styles of drawing. And I like that. Plus it’s out of the ordinary. You don’t often get a request for two dozen pieces of scratch- board art!

Ian: One of the things I love about it is the “noise” that you can leave in any area. For example, if you’re depicting a loaf of bread that had a black outline, you can roughly scratch the inside of the loaf. This leaves small jagged pieces of visual shrapnel, or tiny organic black and white shapes. The more you scratch, the less noise you end up with. The noise is my favorite part! I leave as much of it as I can.

$45/person includes a signed copy of Ari’s new book. Call 734-663-3400 to reserve a seat!

We’re thrilled to share the news that we’ll be sending Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 2: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Being a Better Leader to our local printer this week!

Part 2 in the Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading series continues on sharing the “secrets” that have helped take Zingerman’s from a 25 seat, 4 person start up to a nationally known, $40,000,000  organization employing over 500 people.

While Part 1 looked at the “secrets” behind Building a Great Business, Part 2 will look at the leadership style that has helped make Zingerman’s such a special place to work and to eat. The book includes “Secrets #19-29″ of the Zingerman’s Experience, including essays on the energy crisis in the American workplace, servant leadership, stewardship, why everyone’s a leader, Zingerman’s entrepreneurial approach to management, and Ari’s approach to Anarcho-Capitalism. While everything in the book draws on what Ari and others have learned and live at Zingerman’s, it’s all totally applicable to organizations of all sizes and scopes—it is, as Ari says in the introduction, leading towards a new way to work.

In honor of Ari’s visit, the dinner will be centered around bacon, but as always, they welcome vegetarians to share the evening as well. Each guest will also receive a copy of Ari’s book.

Chef Tory has designed a multi-course menu for the evening. Follow this link to the Special Dinner to read more about the fun! Hope to see you there!

Ari will speak about the 12 Natural Laws of Business, and his thoughts on why operating in violation of them has created an energy crisis in the American workplace. His approaches are applicable whether you’re running a law office, a library, a restaurant, a record label, a software firm, or an organic farm – they are the behind-the-scenes “secret” stuff that goes into making a very special, sustainable business of any kind.  On a less serious note, Ari’s previous book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon, gets into the story of America’s favorite meat; its history, what makes better bacon better, tales of bacon makers around the country, chocolate gravy, and other enticing tales of pork bellies. Come on over and say hello!

Bookshop Santa Cruz has been voted “Best Bookstore” in Santa Cruz County for more than 15 consecutive years. If you’re in the area, stop in and say hello! Among their exceptional collection, they have made room on their shelves for Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon and A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business. Read more about them here! Have some fun and look around. They’ve got a great new book blog as well. Happy reading!