Governance
The world is less democratic than it was 15 years ago. Peoples’ growing malaise with democracy has been a disturbing trend that dates back to the 1970s. The way we govern our communities – neighbourhood associations, corporate boards, regional elections…
Six Professional Lessons From Six Movie Side Hustles
We tend to remember Indiana Jones as a Nazi-fighting, world-saving, rough-and-tumble adventurer, not as a Professor of Archeology. We tend to remember Erin Brockovich as a feisty, community-minded legal aid who held corporations accountable, not as a single mom. And…
What Comes After Burnout?
Burnout is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity. Due to factors such as recognition (or lack thereof), workload, and safety, nearly one third of Canadians are…
Finding a Job is Just Like Dating
Around the world, career practitioners continually search for meaningful, engaging and inspiring metaphors that will, among other things, drive clients their way. Powerful metaphors also help people better understand their work search, too. (Friend and colleague) Kimberley Rawes and I…
Sociocracy
Sociocracy is a system of governance and constant decision making that unlocks the potential of highly democratic, often member-led communities. It seeks to create psychologically safe environments and organizations through human-centric approaches and radical transparency. People feel included in decision-making…
Career Development is the Vaccine for The Great Reshuffle
There is a vaccine to address recruitment and retention in the wake of “The Great Reshuffle.” It’s called career development. A national survey recently conducted by Environics for CERIC — a Canadian charitable organization that advances education and research in career counselling and…
How to Bounce Back from a Bad Day
We all have bad days at work. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we have to fire people. And sometimes (hopefully not too often) we get fired or downsized from a job that we love and/or need. To overcome such hardships professionals…
From Isomorphism to Youniqueness
The right thing for your craft, your community, and your soul is to move from isomorphism to youniqueness. Year by year humanity embraces monoculture like agribusiness plants monocrops. Consequently, we have a lot of corn, and we have a lot…
Finding Your Values
Work is the purposeful application of energy to complete a task that creates value for a community. The value that we create is different based on the needs of our environment and its people. Finding your values will help you…