Tuesday Morning Focal Point

Yesterday morning I was standing in the aisle of an aircraft waiting to disembark when my eyes settled on the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) sitting in the overhead bin above the front row.  As a frequent traveler and a licensed pilot of 22 years, I know the importance of this device.  It does absolutely nothing!…unless…

Last week on the west coast of British Columbia, we had a major wind and rain storm, which took out power to a couple hundred thousand residents. It was a great opportunity for individuals and families to reflect on how well prepared they are to weather a storm.  Given that my family lives on acreage…

It never ceases to amaze me the number of leaders I encounter who don’t quite understand how much power there is in acknowledgement – specifically in acknowledging those who work so hard for us and help us achieve our business or corporate objectives. It is surprising that there are still leaders around who believe that…

The more I interact with clients regarding tricky issues and difficult decision points, the more I become convinced of the necessity to have and to hold a set of core values in business. I’ve lost count of the number of times during coaching conversations, where I’ve pointed a client to reconnect with his or her…

In recent weeks I have been in on a couple of email strings where I have observed something very interesting about the lead executive in an organization. In both cases, the initial emails were directed towards this lead executive in a not for profit society – the same leader in the same organization both times. …

Two weekends ago over “Family Day Weekend” I had a conversation with a relative about the importance of budgeting with respect to personal finances. I had assisted this same relative almost 20 years ago, with setting up a personal budget.  At the time, he was about 17 years old and was in high school and…

This continues last week’s topic of not being able to control what we don’t understand. I continue to use the business of “life and living” as an example, with home ownership and property taxation as the more specific tangible example. My thesis remains the same, and that is the fact that many homeowners don’t get it…

My clients often hear me talk about the fact that they cannot control what they don’t understand. Of course when I say that I am usually talking about the importance of understanding their business and having data and metrics that help them understand various aspects of their business.  At this time of year, another topic…

Recently there has been a lot of talk in the sporting world about one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football, likely being on the brink of retirement. This player, Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos will leave an incredible legacy when he does leave the game, whether at the end…

Last week one of my tasks was leading a team building day with an executive team of a national company. We had a fantastic day together, with one of the highlights being the very last activity of the day. The final activity of the day was what I called a “random acts of kindness” activity….