Blog
What Your Dress Says
I was wandering around the domestic flight terminal at the Vancouver Airport some time ago while waiting for a connecting flight. As I partook in people watching I was struck by the differences displayed across gates. There are gates associated with each airline flying domestically. Air Canada had several gates as did Westjet. Regional carriers, and discount airlines like Lynx (at the time), too, had their own gates. How people presented at gates was revealing. The business traveler waiting at
Embrace Effort to Elude Entropy
I have enjoyed running as a form of fitness over the years. Some years ago, I signed up for some events to serve as goals and committed to pursuing programs to give myself a chance at success. I ran a few half marathons and a marathon. It has been almost a decade since those days, and I continue to run but more so as a fair weather fan. I run a few days a week during the late Spring to
Leadership: Lamps, Lifeboats, and Ladders.
Kevin Kelly offers in Excellent Advice for Living, “Before you are old, attend as many funerals as you can bear, and listen. Nobody talks about the departed’s achievements. The only thing people will remember is what kind of person you were while you were achieving.” Unfortunately, a client and friend passed away in a tragic accident earlier in 2023 while pursuing his passion with friends. I was able to view his memorial some months later via a zoom recording. At
Work Works
We lived for a few years in the mountain resort town of Fernie in BC. The town is nestled in a valley between two mountain ranges one of which is the home to the primary draw of the town, its ski hill, Fernie Alpine Resort. It’s known for its reliable and substantial snow fall. As people flock to the resort on powder days, parking is a process that must be endured. In our time there we got to see a
Feature Creep and The March of Dimes Syndrome
In the 1930s a not-for-profit organization established itself with the hopes of finding a cure for Polio. The March of Dimes fundraised to spur research to rid the world of the scourge of Polio. Some decades later with the development of a vaccine against Polio, the cause had been accomplished. Did the March of Dimes wind itself down because of its success? No, instead they pivoted to a new cause. Now, it wasn’t Polio to eradicate but birth defects. The
OTP is The Place to Be
Shortly after Canada found out it would be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, several sports groups advocated government to obtain funding to drive podium performances at these games. As fun as hosting an Olympics may be, Canada had done so twice prior in 1976 and 1988 and as a host nation earned the dubious distinction of earning zero gold medals at home. The Own the Podium (or OTP) program was created by a collaboration of winter sports organizations
Majoring in Minors
Many years ago, I had purchased a downhill mountain bike for each of our three sons. While the boys and I were excitedly at the store seeking to pick up their new rides, I couldn’t help but listen in on a separate sales conversation. The store owner was chatting with a prospective customer about a different kind of mountain bike. The customer was hemming and hawing over a couple of options. He was looking for a cross-country mountain bike that
Owning Optimism
In The Optimist’s Telescope, Bina Venkataraman writes, “The decisions we make today can define our experience of the future. This is true for individuals, and also for businesses, communities, and societies.” As obvious as this statement may be, our ability to deliver decisions today that will favor our future is difficult. Just like it is a struggle to take a strong step from a slippery, soft, or unstable surface, it’s tough to make a strong decision when confronted with a
Skin in the Game (Four Ways to Spend Money)
Over the years, I have been introduced to several two-by-two matrixes that are offered as frameworks for which to consider difficult issues. One of the more useful ones came from the American economist, Milton Friedman who offered a 2 x 2 matrix referred to as the Four Ways to Spend Money. We’re either spending our own money or someone else’s and it’s spent either on something for our own benefit or that of another. The four resulting outcomes are: Your
5 P’s of Profit
Profit isn’t a four-letter word. There’s nothing dirty about it. Yet sometimes it seems awkward or inappropriate to talk about it. We shouldn’t scoff at profit. To the end of encouraging us to think positively about pursuing profit, here are 5 Ps for Profit to consider. Protection. Peace of Mind. Insurance. Profit allows you to perpetuate. It keeps your business going. It is fuel in the engine of your business. Without it, the business sputters, stalls, and ceases to continue. Profits
