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Backyard Wonder
It started when we noticed a higher than normal population of orange-breasted robins occupying the trees in our neighbourhood. We started counting them, I think the record was 27 in a single tree. I’d never seen this many robins before! They flitted to and fro as if looking for something, making an awesome raucous all…
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Spring Always Comes
Spring has finally arrived in Manitoba in full force. Our town is coming out of hibernation and taking a collective deep breath of rich spring air. When spring arrives every year, the memory of winter never seems so bad. But I remember this winter, somewhere between January weeks of sub -30 temperatures (Celsius, but…
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The Basie Way
When most of us think of a leader we think of the trailblazer, the person at the front of the pack, leading the way. That’s how I’ve usually thought about leadership as well. The leader needs to stay out in front, do most of the talking, and shoulder the weight of the team. The problem…
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The Promise of Advertising
I watched an interesting School of Life video the other day that struck me because it touched on a nagging doubt that plagues me as a marketing guy. The thought that I’m pouring all my creative juices into helping convince people to buy more stuff. Is buying more stuff really what anyone needs? Is this…
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It’s Never Finished
There’s that moment in summer, when you’re just finished mowing the lawn, trimming the edges, cleaning up all the clippings. You put the mower away and look over your yard, the smell of fresh-cut grass filling your senses. And for just a moment, you feel the satisfaction of completion. Aaaah….. Then a moment later you…
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My Top Reads of 2014
What did you read last year? I started 2014 with a hope of focusing more on long reading, rather than merely snacking on blogs and social media. While there’s so much great information available online, focusing on a single book or idea for a longer period is a valuable practice. A more deliberate pace and…
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Maybe This Christmas
Christmas is upon us, complete with its full calendars, packed parking lots, and growing to-do lists. My annual fear is that, amidst the flurry of activity surrounding Christmas, I will race from store to event to activity without taking so much as a single deep breath to soak in all the richness around which the…
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Perfectionism
“Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force (these are the words we are allowed to use in California). Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground –…
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Hide or Seek
If you want to do work that matters, you need to choose: Will you hide, or will you seek? You can choose to hide from discomfort, skirt around chances to lead, avoid the risk of failure. There are lots of great hiding places out there. Or you can learn to seek. To stand up, to…
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Stepping into the Darkness
Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada más; caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar. Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atrás se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar. Caminante, no hay camino, sino estelas en la mar. Wanderer, your footsteps are the…
