Five Reasons Why You Should Have a Place of Zen
I’m spending next week at my family home in Merville, British Columbia. It’s where I grew up and it’s my place of Zen. If people are the soul of our communities then our souls also connect to physical spaces that…
Bicycles
Two of my best friends and I are riding bicycles across the San Juan Islands this week. Bicycles feature prominently in my life (they represent the most awesome way to explore communities). In fact, more people on Earth ride bikes…
How to Break Toxic Culture at Work
Between April and September 2021, more than 24 million American employees left their jobs, which was a record. More than half of Canadian employees would rather quit their job than return to the office full-time. As the Great Resignation rolls…
Five Ways to Maximize the Potential of Small Talk
Most of us don’t like small talk because it kinda sucks. For introverts it can be terrifying. For people with big ideas it can be frustrating. For intellectuals it can be boring. During my undergraduate experience I made a friend…
Why You Should Invest in Boredom
Seth Godin, as he often does, captured our relationship with boredom perfectly in a recent blog post: “…the market has figured out that we simply don’t like to be bored. And so there’s more stimulation, more options and more noise…
Seven Tips for Your Next Sales Pitch from the Joker
The Joker is an iconic villain of comics, television and movies. Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 movie The Dark Knight was awesome. My favourite scene in the movie is the one where…
Five Simple Ways to Build Everyday Vitality
Everyday vitality means cultivating “the feeling of aliveness and energy that lies at the core of well-being.” According to Samantha Boardman, psychiatrist and author of Everyday Vitality, investing in energy inoculates us against disruption, unpredictable hassles, and micro-stressors that erode…
Three Tips for Creating Thriving Communities
Happy communities are more inclusive, productive and sustainable. Logically, great leaders should put happiness and well-being at the centre of any strategy for building positive communities at work, at school, and in their neighbourhood. Here are three tips for creating…
How to Give a Proper Apology
Saying sorry is hard and most of us suck at it. Apologies are uncomfortable, difficult and they can be embarrassing. They can also be healing, transformative and satisfying. They help us have better conversations in our worklife, too. Great apologies…
Three Ways that Circles Empower and Connect Communities
Elevating inclusion, belonging, and democracy in peoples’ worklife requires a delicate balance of autonomy and connection. Sociocracy is a type of organizational collaboration that cultivates psychological safety and inclusive decision making with the intention of unlocking human potential – in…