We were sitting in his office discussing what he recognized was a problem of sorts in his leadership: the way he sometimes communicates to people.  Empathy isn’t his strong suit.  He’s a good leader and he moves the ball down the field, but it’s sometimes at the expense of relationship. He is self-aware enough to know that empathy is a …

There are 3 kinds of people in this world – those who are good at math, and those who aren’t. Ok, I guess there are just 2 kinds of people. Have you ever heard that expression – “There are 2 kinds of people…”?  I have heard multiple varieties of this euphemism.  One of my favourites comes from Clint Eastwood in …

Small bites of wisdom feed an appetite for learning. I love small words of wisdom that contain a big truth: the kind of truth that shifts my perspective and my leadership.  Over the years there have been many words of wisdom – truth articulated by others – that have provided direction, clarity or encouragement just when I needed it. I …

“In a calm sea every man is captain.”  So the saying goes… What does it mean? Well, you don’t really discover true leadership until things get rough.  It takes the storms of life to stir up the strength of leaders.  When others withdraw, leaders step up and step in. We hit a little “storm” recently. Two buddies and I decided …

“That’s lame.” “There’s no way we’re doing that song – forget it.” And so went the response to Randy Bachman’s pitching of his song “White Collar Worker” to his BTO band mates. He liked the song. He knew there was something special about it, but he also knew it was lacking something.  He just couldn’t put his finger on it. …

I was reminded of an old proverb recently: “As a man thinketh so he is”. I had the pleasure of listening to Amy K Hutchens speak at a leadership event.  Amy is passionate about 2 things:  1. Changing how people think.  2. Changing how people behave. Isn’t that really what leadership is all about?  Enabling, empowering, equipping people to change …

They’d come so far.  They’d gone further than anyone had expected.  The odds had been stacked against them.  Their partnership, though born in humble beginnings, was still intact.  There were still on course.  They’d not varied from their plan, yet it had been far more difficult than they thought. They were now at a breaking point.  They did not know …

“What is this, some kind of vacuum on steroids??!!” she demanded. I couldn’t see her face, but from this end of the telephone line I could tell that she was not happy. “She” was the Director of Game Day Operations for an NHL franchise. She was looking at what had just arrived via courier from MacLean Sports Marketing. My sports …

We were discussing frustrations she had with her boss.  I could see she was down.  I could tell she was discouraged.  She was crashing into road block after road block set up by the very leadership for whom she was working. And then she said it.  She uttered the one word that clearly identified for me that this was an …

I found myself wondering, “Is this guy ever going to come up for air?” I was in a social situation where I didn’t know many people.  We were sitting at round tables of 8.  So, I introduced myself to the man sitting next to me.  I then asked him a couple of questions. And he was off… He was a …