A friend of mine works in a service/retail office.  As part of the culture this particular office wanted to establish, it was agreed that each person would wear a nametag as a way of encouraging a friendly, welcoming environment for customers.  However, one partner in particular never wore theirs.  As a result the nametags became something of an amusement or running joke around the office.

The time came when the person whose responsibility it was to order the nametags for new employees, asked whether or not they should go ahead …

Kids ask a lot of questions. They are naturally inquisitive and, being relatively new to the human race, they lack a great deal of understanding about the world around them – so they ask questions. Besides the obvious, ‘are we there yet?’ the most ‘annoying’ question I think kids ask is, ‘why?’ “Why is the sky blue? Why can’t I have ice cream for dinner? Why can’t I beat up my little sister?” And the list goes on.

As adults, it seems that we stop asking ‘why’. Maybe we’re just …

Gilbert Arenas, The Washington Wizards (the team he plays for), and the National Basketball Association have made headlines over the last couple of weeks because Arenas was found with handguns in his locker, which is a violation of the N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement.  To make matters worse, Arenas was later filmed warming up for a game laughing, holding his hand like a pistol, and ‘shooting’ at some of his team mates; a response to the situation that did not sit well with the commissioner of the league.  As a result …

I love short cuts, particularly when driving.  If there’s a way to shave off a few minutes of my trip, I’m happy to take it.  In the long run I’m not sure exactly how much time I gain versus how much time I actually waste trying to find these shortcuts, but I continue to look for them none-the-less.

Shortcuts in business however, are another matter entirely.  I was recently having a conversation with an individual discussing my company and the kinds of skill development I do.  We talked about that …

Back in September my thought for the month revolved around the slow erosion of something significant within us every time we found ourselves at odds or disconnected from our work place environment, or if we felt the pressure – great or small – to work differently than our values might suggest we should. This was called moral distress.

There are various kinds of moral distress; some of which are simply a part of life. When we interact with people who are different than us, who have different views or perspectives, …

“The Story of Success”

That is the subtitle for Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers.  In that book Gladwell considers a number of examples of ‘unusual’ success (for example, Bill Gates) and tries to understand what contributed to that level of success.  It’s an interesting read and includes discussions about Canadian Major Junior hockey and Korean plane crashes.

There is a great deal of material within the book worthy of pondering further, but one of Gladwell’s key points is that success, even remarkable success, really isn’t a matter of an exceptional individual, …

Just inside of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome there is a bronze statue of St. Peter that dates back to at least the 13th century.  Over that time a tradition of touching the right foot of the statue in order to receive a blessing has developed.  So many people have touched this foot over the years, that a portion of it has slowing been rubbed away.

This past May I was a part of two days of training with some ICU nurses from the Foothills Medical Centre discussing moral distress …

In the previous two posts I commented on something I had read from Randy Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture.  I thought two comments from his book would be enough, but I found a third story that I would like to share with you.  It’s a little longer than the previous two stories, but I think it’s worth the time.

Randy talks about a trip he and his family took to Disney World when he was 12 years old.  He and his sister wanted to say thanks to their parents for …

I would like to share some more insights with you from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

 “It is an accepted cliche in education that the number one goal of teachers should be to help  students learn how to learn. I always saw the value in that, sure.  But in my mind, a better  number one goal was this: I wanted to help students learn how to judge themselves.  Did they  recognize their true abilities?  Did they have a sense of their own flaws?  Were they realistic  about how others …

I have been reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and he makes an interesting observation regarding his football experience and how it relates to life. In High School, Randy had a coach who insisted on practising a great deal without a football so that the players could learn the fundamentals of playing as a team. In Randy’s own words;

“Fundamentals. That was a great gift Coach Graham gave us. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. As a college professor, I’ve seen this as one lesson so many kids ignore, always to their …