It’s a frosty Saturday morning as I write this. The ski hill near our home is jam packed. The air is crisp and cold, and the clouds are parting to reveal a mesmerizing cyan sky. Yet the cafe where I’m sipping my morning coffee remains empty. In ten days, we’ll start our first COVID winter. As vaccines started to roll …
Responding to a Terrible Idea….
“It has taken decades and centuries to build up the wider business and economic infrastructure that supports face-to-face working,” points out ‘Macro Strategist’ Luke Templeman, writing in Deutsche Bank’s Konzept magazine. “Those who can work from home… should be taxed in order to smooth the transition process for those who have been suddenly displaced.” What a terrible idea. Perhaps Konzept’s …
Reflections of Our CEO: Using Legacy as a Verb
The inspiration of a strong, organizational purpose only runs as deep as its connection with each individual member of the team. Yet, while “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” too few leaders tend the connection their team members feel between their personal values and their work. Years ago, I was introduced by a prospective client to the founder of his organization. …
Team Engagement in a Time of Crisis
Doubling down on business as usual is an understandable reaction in a crisis. Some see it as a noble way to weather the storm. The orchestra playing on the Titanic in the midst of chaos is celebrated, even legendary. We are told that leaders should act this way, even when it’s an irrational or excessively risky strategy, because… that’s what …
Reflections of Our CEO: Leadership Lessons from a Global Pandemic
The view to my right, off the starboard side of a BC Ferry is magnificent. The ocean reflects the summer sky and is textured by the warm breeze. The distant mountains on the Sunshine Coast fade into the hazy distance, a towering reminder of the unceasing patience of nature. Despite my surroundings, a knot still sits at my solar plexus—a …
The Long Road Ahead
This has been one of those stare-at-the-keyboard days. When there are so many things to get done, it’s hard to know where to start. Climate. COVID-19. Black Lives Matter. Each of them an impossibly enormous challenge, demanding each of us to act. But what does it mean to take meaningful action, as one individual? Even as one company? Taken alone, …
Emerge Stronger with Empathic Leadership
When I was a kid, my favourite toy cars were those with a pull-back motor in them. I used to love to point them in a particular direction, wind them up and let them go. The speed as the spring uncoiled was a rush! But what I really loved was when they went precisely where I aimed them. If they …
Emerge Stronger with Projects
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the increasingly complex interplay of systemic challenges around the world was touching all of us—in all aspects of our lives. One thing that’s being revealed to us now is the once in a lifetime chance to reimagine how we think about our work—to embrace next economy thinking. At the organizational level, a strong project skillset …
Reflections of Our CEO: Making the Most of The Time We Have
I’ve always shied away from calling myself a philosopher. I feel brash or pretentious using it to describe myself. But recently a friend graciously indulged my inner philosopher, opening in me a new permission to take up that label. And it was just in time, for in this moment of crisis around the world, we will all benefit from thoughtful, wise responses.
In this week’s post, Mike Rowlands shares insights into a ‘juicy, generative conversation’ he had recently with his friend Steve Rio—a conversation you can now hear via Steve’s podcast, NOW with Steve Rio.
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