How the Economics of Friendship Shape Work and Life
Friendship is a fundamental and universal human need. This form of social connection cultivates mutual affection, trust, interdependence, and joy. According to one of modern social science’s longest ongoing studies, the social connections of friendship enrich and even extend our…
12 Things that Make Co-operative Leaders Different
Co-operatives are democratic, highly adaptable and very resilient. In my opinion, the world needs more co-opetition from its leaders – when we compete to make society better then we’re all winning. Leading as a member of a co-operative requires different…
What Needs to be in Your Next Corporate Retreat
According to the Internet, most corporate retreats suck. After all, many senior leaders aren’t even great at running effective meetings, so why would a group of us be awesome at designing and delivering what is essentially a multi-day million dollar…
Empathy is Harder than Math
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It involves perceiving and connecting with their emotions, fostering understanding, and often responding with compassion and support. Mathematics is the language of patterns and relationships in the world. It’s…
Five Ways to Embrace Your Mortality
We are all going to die. But we also avoid thinking about our mortality. And we are likely to reflect on our deathbeds that we didn’t spend time doing on the most important things during our life. I’ve had some…
The Unintentional Walking Boot Opening Listening Experiment
A little over a month ago, I partially tore my Achilles tendon and fully tore my calf muscle playing soccer. For nearly five weeks I have been conducting something called the unintentional walking boot open listening experiment. Let me explain….
How to Talk About Death at Work
For the last decade I’ve worked for two of Canada’s leaders in financial services (Vancity Credit Union) and pension administration (BC Pension Corporation). Through activities like estate planning and benefits changes many of my colleagues are required to talk about…
Four Lessons in Interdependency from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
In their excellent book, Laziness Does Not Exist, Dr. Devon Price argues that the myth of the heroes journey highlights how individualistic problem-solving and world/galaxy-saving is wrongly elevated in pop culture. While I take issue with some of Price’s examples (the…
Seven Co-operative Reflections from Bologna, Italy
For two weeks I am participating in the Emilia-Romagna Co-operative Study Tour, which is a Vancity program designed to enhance knowledge about the co-operative movement and inspire connections between each other, our work and co-operative leadership. The Italian home-base for…
What if Succession was Cooperative?
The hit HBO television series, Succession, is over. My wife, who is her own person, and I (any millions of fans around the world) are experiencing some cultural emptiness on Sunday nights as we reflect on an impeccably acted show…