| Home | My Account | Directories |
It's Not Enough
Published on 2010-01-23 06:50:00
This winter I had all my flu shots. Somehow that didn't make a difference because I caught a bug that knocked me out for 3 days and had me operating at half speed for close to 4 weeks.On the worst day of this affliction (a work day) I went to a local walk in clinic. I expected to have to wait but instead was in and out in less than 5 minutes with a prescription in hand. The piece of paper led me to believe that whatever I had would get knocked down. The drugs helped for a time but it was clear t
It's all you need
Published on 2010-01-16 06:24:00
When I first started my career in sales and marketing in the 80's the one tool you absolutely needed was an American Express Card. Often I was dispatched to open up a new geography for my company. In those situtations having the card was great, I could buy air tickets, book hotel rooms, hire translators, rent cars, entertain (I mean negotiate) with customers and local partners. I could get things rolling without having to see my banker for an increase in my credit limit before each trip or pr
NYT Year in Ideas
Published on 2009-12-13 12:04:00
My favourite edition of the Sunday New York Times was published today. This is the article called The Year in Ideas. The piece is full of very cool ideas related to Business, Technology, Design, etc...The idea I like the most is - Random Promotions, here's a quote:“…we wrongly assume that people who are good at their jobs will also be good at jobs that are one rung up on the corporate ladder — so we promote them. But often the new job is so different from the previous job that the employee
Hey are you there?
Published on 2009-11-07 07:00:00
David [10:45 AM]: Hey do you IM? I'm sure you do but do you Instant Message at work? I do and I find it to be a productive tool. It works particularly when when all I need is a simple answer. So instead of composing an email, sending it and waiting for an answer, I Instant Message for info, get my answer and move on to the next task.Simple right? Not really! Much like with email there are subtleties. For example I've found that there are two styles to initiating IM chats.The first style is when
Real leadership is....
Published on 2009-07-26 17:30:00
Real leadership is......working 20 hour days for weeks to ensure that your staff and their charges are safe...reacting to a crisis with confidence, even when you're in a never imagined scenario...sacrificing of yourself so that a long time tradition can survive for the next generationCongratulations (you know who you are), you made it through and I'm so very proud if you!
Where are you from?
Published on 2009-07-26 07:56:00
Being relatively new to Atlantic Canada I'm asked where I'm from. I'm asked this since I'm hard to place, given my mix of Toronto and Montreal backgrounds.I think you agree that our backgrounds impact our attitudes and responses in every day life. But what about at work? How does a past experience guide us?The writing of this piece was prompted by reading an article in the Wall Street Journal called "A Class of Generals" The article is about West Point's Graduating Class of 1976. West Point is p
Send the CEO to Summer Camp
Published on 2009-07-02 08:34:00
I've lived in some of the largest cities in the world - Mumbai, Montreal and Toronto. As a result I'm used to noise, pollution and high population densities. Some city dwellers must escape from time to time. Not me. When on vacation I prefer to be in other big cities like NYC, Paris or LA. I'm a inner city type of person.When I was a kid our family spent the summer in the city. Before I was old enough to get a summer job, my parents would send us to summer camp. Actually it was a day camp at the
Tech Takes Over
Published on 2009-05-03 10:17:00
Parts of the tech industry are in growth mode in the midst of the current economic downturn. Surprising but true!A recent article in the National Post by Karen Mazurkewich asserts that while Automotive declines in Ontario, technology takes over...particularly in Waterloo. Ontario is the centre of Canada's manufacturing sector and automotive in particular. Waterloo is situated about 112 km east of Toronto.Here's a quote from the Post:"Situated in the heart of the auto parts manufacturing region,
What I Learned from Hollywood - Part 7
Published on 2009-03-08 07:07:00
Did you see that WALL-E won the the Academy Award for best animated film? For those of you that don't know WALL-E, it's a Pixar film about a robot that is left behind after mankind abandons earth.Naturally for some people the message in WALL-E is an environmental one - save the planet! For others it's a love story. Yet others, including me, see the movie as an amazing example of what the talent at Pixar can produce. But what I really learned from WALL-E was something completely different...one p
Making Lemonade from Lemons
Published on 2009-03-01 05:45:00
Seems like there are some interesting articles coming from the LA Times these days. One headline caught my eye - "About to do time? Meet your best pal" . Here's a quote:"At a time when no job is safe, Levine is among a small but growing number of consultants who are poised to find work in the economic meltdown as prison life coaches to the perpetrators of Ponzi schemes, mortgage scams and financial swindles."Levine is Larry Levine. He's an ex-con and consultant who bills six figures annually! He
It doesn't matter
Published on 2009-02-22 05:59:00
It's Academy Awards night and we'll be watching. I know, I know...in this dire economic environment, isn't there something less shallow and less celebrity oriented to write about?We consider ourselves movie people. We would rather watch a movie than broadcast TV. So naturally we've got our thoughts on which of the latest movies should get recognized. But never mind predictions on who's going to win, there is a more interesting business story buried in the celebrity media buzz. That story i
Planes, iPods and...Lawyers
Published on 2009-02-07 07:23:00
This isn't about the iPod habits of lawyers at 30,000 feet! Occasionally I collect interesting news articles, with the intention of writing a post on each. Of course there's never enough time to write. So instead of having some of these links languishing on my personal task list, here's a sampling of three links that caught my eye and the insight to be gained from each:Airbus A380 is a mixed blessing for LAX:Summary: The LA Times writes about the giant A380 aircraft causing headaches at LAX. Her
10 Things I'll Miss about Trade Shows
Published on 2009-01-17 15:00:00
Dean Takahashi's of VentureBeat wrote a post about Sony Electronics holding a virtual trade show. here. Virtual sales calls and seminars are being done via the Internet, so I'm thrilled that a cost effective solution now exists for trade shows.A virtual trade show has to be more cost effective, time efficient and highly targeted for both exhibitors and attendees. Sure enough Sony says: "...the virtual trade cost less than 50 percent of a real world event, not to mention that most of the virtual
HP's Garage Rules
Published on 2009-01-04 19:49:00
A few weeks ago I wrote of a list of top performer competencies. When I read today's post on Wired's Epicenter Blog about the twelve rules that served Bill Hewlett and David Packard (and their company - HP) so very well, I thought there would be value in linking to those rules also.Here's HP's Rules of the Garage:Believe you can change the world. Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, work whenever. Know when to work alone and when to work together. Share tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues. No
The Importance of Social Networking
Published on 2008-11-23 06:30:00
Over dinner with friends, my wife and I provided a social networking talk of sorts. Ruth is a leading Food Blogger and I've been posting on this site since 2005. Consider us as true believers and practitioners of the value of open online conversations.We embraced social networking after reading the Cluetrain Manifesto back in 2002. Our friends are starting to explore social network sites to help their business and wanted to know more. In actual fact they're skeptical of the bottom line benefits
Judged by the Quality of Rivals
Published on 2008-11-16 05:24:00
Quantum of Solace the new James Bond movie got me to thinking about leadership, when in it, Bond says - "you're judged by the quality of your enemies." Bond's enemies are evil villans, in the real world...in business, we usually are just rivals.Would you put your rival on board your team? This past week there was a news leak that President Elect Obama is considering his rival Hilary Clinton for the position of Secretary of State in his cabinet. Many leaders wouldn't bring on their rival into the
So...what do you do for a living?
Published on 2008-11-08 05:58:00
I wish the answer to that question was as easy as saying - I'm a fireman, or I'm a lawyer, so people could understand what I do for a living. But it's not that clear cut.These days many jobs are a mix of professions and disciplines. Perhaps much of this is due to the change and convergence caused by technology. So why is it so difficult for some people to get what for example a Program Manager does? (Even my wife doesn't know what that means.)Personally, I fit in this category of job. I've been
Leadership Lessons from Obama and McCain
Published on 2008-11-06 16:00:00
Now that the elections (both in the USA and Canada) are over, what's a news junkie like me supposed to do? Go cold turkey? Nope, the answer is simple - read through the post-mortems and the pieces on "how they won/lost" on the Blogsphere and in the mainstream media.The best material I've come across is a seven part series in Newsweek. It's an in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting from the McCain and Obama camps assembled by a special
Harvest and Growth in 3D Graphics Software
Published on 2008-10-26 10:34:00
I read Montreal Tech Watch to keep up with technology and innovation in Montreal. A recent post about a change in ownership of SoftImage caught my attention.Based in Montreal, SoftImage (animation and 3D graphics software for movies and TV) was bought by Microsoft back in 1994 and made into a subsidiary for four years, before being sold to Avid in 1998. Last week SoftImage was acquired from Avid by its primary competitor Autodesk.Montreal Tech Watch made a very pointed assertion about the deal:"
An Opportunity to Take Courses at Yale
Published on 2008-10-20 19:53:00
I just received notice that Yale University has opened access to a number of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at the University. All you need to attend is an Internet connection. Open Yale Courses provides high quality video of the most popular classes at Yale. There are courses in Astronomy, Biomedical Engineering, Classics, Economics, English, History, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology and Religious Studies.These are open to *anyone*. This
Predicting Leadership Success
Published on 2008-10-18 06:45:00
What's the key predictor for leadership success in business and government? In many organizations it's prior success. Years ago, one of my supervisor's placed individuals in important roles only if they tasted success. Not just any kind of success, the kind that changes an industry. Another leader said that she only wanted key jobs filled by people who failed in an assignment (but learned from it). This is what "failing forward" means.Reading today's endorsement of Barak Obama by the LA Times ma
The Ichan Report
Published on 2008-10-16 06:06:00
I just added the Icahn Report to my Business Favourites list on the right hand sidebar on this page. Yes, that Icahn...Karl Icahn...the billionaire and private equity investor. He's a blogger and I understand that he writes each post himself. I found the site through Kevin Meyer on the lean enterprise blog - Evolving Excellence. Meyer's focus is on Icahn's value of people and waste...that when addressing waste one should get to root causes before acting. Personally I like reading Icahn'
Did you stack?
Published on 2008-10-15 04:30:00
Last night was an exciting time for Canadian political and technology junkies like me. It was Election Night! In the past I would have simply turned on my TV and flipped between channels to watch the results roll in. Now thanks to the Web, there's way more real time information at my disposal. So, I "Media Stacked." That is to say I surfed the Web, blogged and watched TV all at the same time. What did I stack?Not much really...here's the list:AliantTV tuned to the CBC and CTVA Web browser tab op
They Predicted It
Published on 2008-10-13 07:38:00
I once worked for a senior executive at a leading software company that predicted the bursting of the Dotcom Bubble back in 2000-2001. In the midst of rising expectations he advised us to go liquid on all technology and telecommunications stock investments before it was too late. We heeded his advice. Fast forward to 2008 and we're in a similar crisis. This time it's one that's related to debt and the worldwide financial system. I wonder what my old boss would say about current events? Co
Weathering the Storm
Published on 2008-10-11 05:32:00
It's been a while since I've written in this space. But given the world wide financial crisis I thought I'd share the direction provided by a well know Venture Capital Firm (Sequoia Capital) to it's portfolio of companies on how to weather the storm.You don't have to be in a startup to benefit from this great advice. Click here to here to view the presentation on TechCrunch. In my opinion the best info is on slide #47.Related Links: Business