Three Ways to Make Someone’s Day
Great leaders – the ones who can really get the best out of people – understand the importance of working with folks holistically. It’s essential to treat people as human beings, not just employees, because human beings get pushed on the subway, dumped by a jerk,...
Five Lessons in Awesomeness from Tom Petty
My favourite podcast is called Stop Podcasting Yourself and a few months ago its hosts Dave Shumka and Graham Clark talked about Running Down a Dream, the documentary about Tom Petty that you can find on Netflix. I love Tom Petty and I think that Dave and Graham are...
Six Strategies for Solving Big Problems
In our professional lives, we’re frequently confronted with difficult decisions whose scope and complexity can be overwhelming. Big problems can place you in organizational paralysis. Here are six strategies for breaking out of that stasis to solve big problems...
The Case for Wal-Mart
The mega-company is called Walmart and its - or his/her, because corporations are people - motto is Save Money. Live Better. I will venture a guess that - ahem - about 99% of this blog's readers do not believe that Wal-Mart, the world's biggest private employer and...
Tailgating – Like a Boss
It was about an hour before game day. The Washington Huskies were taking on the Arizona Wildcats and it was do or die time for the Huskies after being crushed last week by Stanford. At least that's the story according to the local university newspaper, which had...
End of the Blackberry World? I hope not.
Photo courtesy of Fred Lum with the Globe and Mail. Several years ago I got a Blackberry as a gift from a friend. I've been hooked ever since. I like the streamlined push email notification. I like the rugged business simplicity of it all. I the way it looks and the...
Steve Nash’s Energy Efficient Community
During the month of October, youth in BC have an opportunity to Save Like Steve. Once again, my main man Steve Nash shows what it takes to build community. As discussed many, many, many times by the contributors to this blog, Steve Nash is the greatest. His resume...
Communicating to Community
Last week my friend sent me a few emails to see if I’d updated my iPhone 4 to the new iOS 5 so that we could use iMessenger from his iPad. He texted me later to see if I’d updated yet. And then finally when all apps and updates were downloaded and installed I got...
Awesome Our Community Bikes
I'm writing this on a sunny Saturday afternoon and I just returned from Our Community Bikes (OCB), which is located on Main Street in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood of Vancouver. As part of the PEDAL Collective, OCB provides an inclusive space for people who use...
Vacations and Canada’s Work Ethic
I love the rumour/fact that the French are in possession of the most productive economy on the planet. The argument that the French get the most done while spending the least amount of time at work was recently put forward by Business Insider’s John Carney and Vincent Fernando. The Wall Street Journal and MSNBC, however, counter with some solid arguments about American productivity – not only do Americans spend more time at work, but they also produce more wealth-per-person than anywhere else.
The Magical US Budget
We've all heard a lot about it these days. It really is doom and gloom as critics point out that the cuts just won't go deep enough to avert an economic Apocalypse. Raise taxes some say. Cut spending others say. Don't raise the debt ceiling, said a few angry and...
Eclipse of Strawberry Fields
Eclipse Awards is one of my favourite companies in the world. Not just because they enable the celebration of excellence. Also because they are major players in the Strathcona Green Zone and their offices just planted about 200 strawberry plants in/on their green...
Jazz and Social Entrepreneurship
Last Thursday - July 14, 2011 - I attended a fun, professional and meaningful event put on by the Sauder Africa Initiative. In addition to a supercool silent auction (I hope that I get the lantern and/or hiking poles I bid on...) and a snappy jazz trio of academics...