Why Conflict is a Good Thing
The Potential of Dialogue Meaningful dialogue is an elusive thing in our communities. Having a respectful conversation with someone about something on which we do not agree isn’t common. Yelling opinions overtop of someone else or building a newsfeed that reinforces...
Three Professional Tips I Learned from Cooking in the Backcountry
This September, John, Godfrey and I along with a gaggle of other fellows headed north of Vancouver to hike Elfin Lakes in Garibaldi Provincial Park. That day we had a lot of fun climbing to the top of an ancient volcano setting up our alpine camp and recalling...
Eight Professional Lessons from the Movie Chef
Last week I re-watched Chef – written, directed and starring Jon Favreau – on Netflix. The film is about Carl Casper, the head chef at a high-end Los Angeles restaurant who loses his cool, loses his job, loses a lot of peoples’ respect, but then finds himself on a...
Tips for Landing an Awesome New Job!
Take your time with offer – on the happy day that my offer letter arrived in my inbox, I was so excited that I would have signed it on the spot. I got some great advice to take my time with the offer and really think about what I was signing. Negotiate – be gracious and consider the offer letter as the starting point in a conversation. It’s not easy but it’s not that hard either. Ask a friend to help you practice so you’re comfortable and position yourself to start your new job on the right foot.
Main Street’s Coffee Block
In Vancouver it isn’t uncommon to see a coffee shop juxtaposed to a coffee shop juxtaposed to a coffee shop across the street from a coffee shop, especially in my neighbourhood, Mount Pleasant.
And yesterday things in my community just got a bit darker, frothier and sweeter, as Forty Ninth Parallel Coffee Roasters opened their newest location at the corner of 13th – wait… Thirteenth – and Main.
The Tiffin Project
One of my favourite food-related tools is my tiffin, which I purchased a few years ago with some tasty Indian food at Granville Island. The tiffin reflects both my and Michelle’s passion for using – ahem – reusable containers when we get takeout from restaurants. Speaking of which, styrofoam is one of my least favourite things.
Laneway Learning: crowdsourcing education
Ever wondered who invented the roller coaster, or more importantly, why on earth they thought it would be a good idea? Or maybe you’re living with a secret longing to learn the ukulele, but you’ve never had the time to learn how to play anything but a slightly Hawaiian version of Smoke on the Water. Or perhaps, like me, you really love to learn stuff, but the thought of attending (and paying for) a 10 week course in meditation is a little too high on the commitment scale.
The Inspiring World of Adult Education
Last Friday, I got a chance to witness the hefty emotions and cathartic experience that graduation frequently illicits in people. It was a scene that I missed during my own graduation from high school thirteen years ago. When I graduated from Prince of Wales in 1999,...
Be Interesting (this may require ridiculousness)
One becomes memorable – if not a legend – by collecting stories so compelling that others do the marketing spread the word on your behalf. Which is what I will do right now for another FOB, Zac Whyte, whose Road to Sparta campaign represents a story worth telling about an unsual character bent on ridiculousness (re: causes/missions) who has clearly gotten over himself. Zac, like so many members of our Get to Know Your Community, um, community, have stories worth spreading.
Did Slash from GNR write the perfect business book for 2012?
If you remove all the drugs & debauchery from Slash's memoirs, he may have written the world's best handbook for building a career in today's complicated world. Slash grew up in 20 square blocks of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. He discovered guitar as his passion and...
A Hunch about Lunch
Sharing a meal is one of the most powerful ways to build community and being “a place where people eat lunch” can benefit a workplace both culturally and in terms of productivity. Unfortunately, I have been noticing a major absence of shared meals in my working life and have heard this same thing echoed among many of my peers. I’m starting to think I’m going to have to move to Europe to locate this appreciation for the mid-day meal.
The Age of Impatience
When I’m working – at work or at home on this amazing publication – I like to be watching/looking at things on at least three screens. Within these three screens are a variety of open windows and tabs that yield an exciting opportunities, ideas and projects on which I work and by which I am, at times, distracted (curse you, mobile-Scrabble!). Oh, and while all the spreadsheets and cloud-based-docs and mind-maps and timelines and mobile games are benefiting from my spectacular ability to multitask, I listen to music or podcasts or have some sort of sport or movie I’ve already watched playing in the background. Basically, if something doesn’t load quickly I flash to another screen and lose interest or – hey, do you guys wanna go ride bikes?!
The Next Generation of Sustainability
Explore provocative ideas with a leading UBC researcher, staff and strategic partner at the May 26th panel discussion “Next Generation Sustainability,” to be held at CIRS at 10:45 a.m. This free event is an opportunity for the public to learn about how UBC is integrating operations, research and learning to accelerate sustainability, and what this means for our communities.