Is it possible that relaxation has changed? I've always thought that relaxation was an entirely subjective thing, as unique as the individual seeking an escape from, well, anything from which one would want to escape. For me, traditional methods and modes of relaxation produce far more anxiety than they alleviate. Really. The idea of sitting [...]
Writing Archive
Seasons
When I declare, in the middle of summer "Yeah, I'm pretty much a true Northerner - summer doesn't do it for me," I can clear a room pretty fast. I've lived all over the world and experienced life in places where one season was it. Sure, when I lived in Phoenix it wasn't always one-hundred-and-sixteen [...]
Five Reasons You Need to Get to China. Now.
Having just (literally “just,” as I’m writing this piece on a 13-hour flight out of Beijing) completed my 55th trip to China, I left with a stronger vision than ever that you need to get to China. Now. Yes - YOU. Why? It’s not just the Sichuan food (though that’s a compelling reason in itself, [...]
To Curate or (ideally) not to Curate
"Curate" is a business term very much in vogue today. And, literally, today. Maybe I'm traveling in "better" circles but, honestly, until like three months ago, I rarely heard the word. Now, every time some one tries to pitch something to me, I guess-timate how many minutes into the meeting "curate" appears. I honestly don't [...]
Servant Leadership
This image is one that I captured this afternoon while showing a colleague through a Wal-Mart on his first trip to Beijing. We had been discussing leadership on and off, in various forms, since we left Stockholm last night for China. Seeing this picture not only tied together many of the loose ideas over the [...]
South Africa and Sweden this morning!
Really an amazing morning. At 03h00 Toronto time, I was wide awake and on a live interview on radio in Johannesburg. An hour later, I was on stage, through our good friends at Skype, in Sweden for TEDxBotkyrka. And now I have one day to get a million things done before flying to Paris. And [...]
Five Predictions for 2010
With five days to go until 2010, five predictions for what's right around the corner: 1. The true emergence of the iPhone: We ain't seen nothin' yet on the iPhone. In 2010, people will truly begin to realize "Hey, this isn't just a phone, an iPod and a player for all of these really cool [...]
Kicking the Beehive
One of my favourite Dale Carnegie quotes (and there are tons that I love) is: "If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive." I'm going to argue that there are a lot of beehives in the world of business that need to be kicked over. Hard. In business as in life we [...]
The Birth of Ideas
One of my favourite passages in my all-time most-loved documentary, "startup.com" is when Kee, a very minor player in the film and one of the original people behind Kaleil's and Tom's company, says: "One of the saddest things is when an idea outgrows you - like a child. And you get to the point that [...]
Slouching Towards Jerusalem
I think a lot about Jerusalem. Both of my maternal grandparents are buried in Jerusalem. Not Krakow. Not Montreal. Both of which would have made sense. Jerusalem doesn't. One of my favourite works of literature is Joan Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." There is something visceral about this work, something that moves me, touches my soul. [...]
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