Youngji Lee is the founder of Wicked Wife, a wine bistro with subscription services. What started as a wine shop and wine classes for regulars expanded into a bistro pairing Korean-inspired contemporary dishes with the perfect wine.
Her team delivers monthly wine packages, while publishing newsletters and blog posts for wine beginners who want to know more about the drink. On newsletters and offline shop, Wicked Wife team picks out its distinct language for wine beginners to intuitively grasp the taste of bottles offered.
One of the shopโs main bottles, Cabo da Roca Vinho Verde White, is described as โa perfect wine to feel what itโs like to enjoy crisp autumn breeze in Lisbon, Portugal.โ The shop recently launched branded items, selling dishes, wine glasses, bottle openers imprinted with its signature lioness logo.
Translated Excerpt to the Interview
What are the keys to managing internal communications successfully?
Here in Wicked Wife, we donโt waste the work hours with unnecessary meetings. We also never beat around the bush to say something. We go over all suggestions quickly and move on to the next. The teamโs communications is done in a warp speed, and itโs suffocatingly fast. I push them hard on this front, asking direct, unfiltered questions. I always require quick, lean responses with clear answers. I try to make sure the team has the clear perspective and vision while working, delivering results without wasting anyoneโs time.
If you push for quick, lean and clear answers, when can the team spend time on new ideas?
Ideas donโt come out from dragged-on meetings; they come from fun hangouts or a short walk across the neighborhood. It is unproductive to have brainstorm meetings intended at milking out ideas. Instead, the teamโs creativity explodes during the 5pm staff meal hour, eating together as a group. I open the conversation up to all ideas and suggestions, and thatโs when crazy ideas burst out. Work meetings are not for throwing out news ideas but going over them. My job as a leader is to provide insights into finessing it and to help members distinguish good ideas from bad ones.
