Community. Creativity. Groups. Ties. History. Friendship. Friendly competition. Variety ... these are the things that bind us together and bring us back. After a while, Flickr isn't primarily about photography, it's about sharing and connecting through photos and stories. ...
Read MoreI'll bet you can recount all the plot details of your favourite movie. You can still tell that funny high school story to some new friends, even after all these years. And that hilarious news article you read word for word last month ... it seems stuck in your mind forever, along with photos in the article.
Why do we remember these details from long-ago, but we can't seem to recall ANY details from an important business presentation we sat through last week from our CEO? Why can't we remember our organization's annual goals or corporate values (provided to us verbally, through video, and in writing) and we all feel our leaders should communicate more often? ...
Read MoreIn the spirit of a deficiency becoming an asset when circumstances change (e.g. Malcolm Gladwell's book, "David & Goliath" or the academic paper: "The Strength of Weak Ties", I collect globes and some maps because my knowledge of geography used to be so poor. We'd moved fairly often when I was a child and, while I'd taken Canadian History a few times in my youth, I'd never studied international geography or even many cultures by the time I finished high school. ...
Read MoreI don't have a green thumb, but find that a perennial garden is easy to create and maintain in Calgary, Canada. It satisfies that human need to create, but doesn't tie me to a weekend of weeding throughout the growing season. Each spring, my plants emerge and paint my yard with colourful forms, textures and flowers.
Calgary is an amazing place to live, despite our relatively a harsh climate: cold and snow in winter, hot and dry during our brief summer. Plants such as roses, cedars, and petunias don't thrive (without a lot of human help) in local gardens. ...
Read MoreI love to find a loud classroom when I enter to teach a course. To me, it means the students have arrived early, they've already made some friends and connections, and the room is reverberating with energy as a result. It also ensures the students don't expect me to talk "at" them in lecture format for the whole class. While it is my job to teach in an engaging mannger, it is the students' role to actively learn. ...
Read MoreA wise colleague taught me many years ago that imperfection can play a strong role in business and in life. He was a new VP in a telco where I worked and I was helping him prepare some presentation slides that he would use as background in his introduction to the team. He wanted me just to take a look to see if there were any glaring errors. The goal of the presentation was simply to share his background, his style of leadership, as well as some priorities he was considering for the team. ...
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