Five Mindfulness Lessons I Learned from Spilling Water on my Laptop
Two weeks ago I my enthusiastic hand-talking resulted in a lidless water bottle toppling its contents all over my laptop. Several tabs, documents and emails were opened when the catastrophe ensued and the screen went very black very quickly. All…
The 10 Qualities of People with Amazing Presence
Amazing leaders have amazing presence. People who possess this simple, but rare quality are naturally able to put their colleagues at ease, take charge during chaos, and instill confidence when things are changing. Based on my own experiences– as well…
Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity means being able to use our right and left hands equally well. It means being able to hold multiple competing perspectives or realities simultaneously. Hybrid work is requiring all of us to be ambidextrous in terms of shifting between…
How to Establish Team Norms for Hybrid Work
The Great Resignation, which is also The Great Retention, is challenging outdated models of work. The global pandemic has revealed that full-time, office-based, commute-dependent labour is not necessary for knowledge workers. In fact, organizations that are resisting the transition to…
Gratitude
Expressing gratitude reduces stress, elevates wellbeing, and enhances relationships. Our family practices gratitude pretty much every night at the dinner table (we like the “star and a wish” method). Every day I take stock of good things that happened and…
007 Examples of Terrible Career Advice from James Bond
The latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, will open in theatres around the world this weekend. Bond’s character has been played by seven actors in over 20 films during the last sixty years. Daniel Craig is the most…
Returning to the Office Will Be Weird
As I wiped down my chair and a nearby desk that I may or may not have touched with various cleaning supplies, I looked up at my colleague, Deanna, and said “okay…returning to the office will be weird for everyone.”…
Three Collaboration Tips for Canada’s Minority Government
Canadians just engaged in one of the riskiest wastes of human, financial, natural, political, and social capital in modern history. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election with hopes of achieving a majority government; however, the country’s government looks pretty…
Three Ways to Reframe Winning
Human beings have a problem with winning. Too often we focus on winning as a zero-sum game and define “winners” highlighting the failings of folks who didn’t win – when we do this we call peoples or teams “losers”. Focusing…
Three Ways to Write Your Professional Journal
Writing makes your life better. Fast Company’s Drake Baer has his reasons for why writing cultivates knowledge, wisdom and a powerful personal narrative. For me, writing is the thing that slows down my thinking, sorts out my ideas and goals,…