The last year+ has been somewhat of a blur for me and I'm sure for a number of you as the pandemic continued to shift our work styles and lifestyle norms. For me, it was also a year of hard work, reflection, and ultimately change (I left my last company to take a sabbatical). I'm... Continue Reading →
COVID-19 – Impact on Corporate/Office Culture
My wonderful mother-in-law recently shared an article with me from The Atlantic called "Never Go Back to the Office:- The coronavirus killed corporate culture. Get used to working from home". The article talks about significant changes to corporate culture as a result of COVID-19 and focuses on the reality that most businesses that don't "have to" won't want to re-open offices anytime soon and probably shouldn't. I agree with the article in general, but it got me thinking about the actual impact an office has in developing cultures, habits, and tools/mechanisms for ideation and collaboration and how that influences how work is done. Office culture and the way we collaborate is often the reason why a company operates in specific ways and are often the tools/process and unsaid rules of how work is produced and how talent is nurtured. So when this environment is stripped away quickly, can the people, culture, and work output adapt quickly enough and compensate? Every company is different and some will adapt better than others. But beyond the company is always the people and how they interact, communicate, generate solutions and ideas. We are largely a social society and we often best convey ideas and stories best face to face. This is how we are taught by our parents, how we interact with our friends, training by our schools and universities, and how most companies (not all) conduct work pre-covid-19. Are we recognizing how different this is for some, but more importantly, as companies are we helping folks adapt quickly enough so we can get the same level of thinking and output from our people before the environment moved from the office to work from home (WFH)?
Podcast on what works and doesn’t in Digital Marketing
My good friend Adam Walker (Co-founder of 48in48 and Sideways8) recently asked me to talk about what works and doesn't in Digital marketing on his latest Podcast series "Good People, Good Marketing". You can check out the Podcast and transcript here. Episode 57 – Don’t follow the digital marketing crowd. In this Podcast, I talk about what... Continue Reading →
Bucket List Interview question
I recently heard the tail-end of an interview on Sirius Radio (no idea who it was) about candidate application questionnaires when interviewing for jobs. One of the questions asked was so telling on what really motivates a potential employee. That question was simply, "what's on your bucket list?". If you are unfamiliar with bucket lists,... Continue Reading →
Staying focused and organized in leadership positions
Over the past several years I've developed, borrowed, learnt from others, and adapted techniques I use to keep myself focused and organized in leadership positions. There is nothing earth shattering about these techniques, but I've found that when I give this advice to friends and colleagues they find it very valuable. So I figured I'd share... Continue Reading →
Innovate for the Inevitability
I don't consider myself a futurist, however I do enjoy thinking, learning, and discovering about new possibilities that will fundamentally change the fabric of society and our day to day lives. Elon Musk famously talked about "Accelerating the Inevitable" as a reason he set-out to create Tesla and SpaceX. For Musk, he believed Electric Vehicles (EV)... Continue Reading →
How my Executive MBA recharged my career
The past 28 months have been the most stressful and exhilarating period of my professional and personal life. In that time, we sold Enguage to Publicis Group, I embarked on an Executive MBA (at Georgia State University), while also merging Engauge and Moxie, and then became the CEO of BLiNQ Media (formally part of Gannett Ventures),... Continue Reading →
Take a Sabbatical – It will change your life
I just returned home after a 17 week family RV trip across Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest with my wife, Tovah, our two kids, Nina and London, and our two dogs, Stella and Chai. Read about the trip on Tovah's Blog. It's odd to be back and tough to get back into a "normal" routine. But, I'm... Continue Reading →
Goodbye Promenade Building
Yesterday was my last day as CEO of BLiNQ as we moved forward with the merger of PointRoll, Shoplocal, and BLiNQ Media. I fully support this move as I believe it will make all three companies much stronger in the market place as a combined company and properly leveraging the strong content and data assets owned by... Continue Reading →
If you want to change the world
Some friends shared a post on Facebook about a commencement speech by Naval Admiral William H. McRaven at University of Texas (Austin 2014). I just watched the video on Youtube and it's inspirational and humbling. The video is a little over 19 minutes, but worth taking the time to watch. Great speech, hope you enjoy.... Continue Reading →
Jeff Hilimire – Memories to Share
My friend Jeff Hilimire and my first business partner is leaving the roots of the company we co-founded some 14 years and 10 months ago today. It's a sad moment for me (and him) as we've shared a journey and this is the first time in our professional careers we'll be apart. We have been... Continue Reading →
My Five Truths
So Jeff Hilimire and now Donovan Panone have challenged me to write about my five truths. I think Drew Hawkins originally challenged Jeff, so the I'm next in line. I hope this is the first and last blog challenge from these guys. So here are my five: Truth #1 – I have no regrets. I've... Continue Reading →
The Apple Trap – Can I think differently?
I started off on a Mac when I was 15 (1991) and fell in love with Apple's GUI and all that was Apple. I started designing and experimenting with my Apple and always felt like a trend setter with my Mac. When I started my company, Spunlogic, in 1998, I traveled around the world designing... Continue Reading →
What Would Happen if the Internet was Gone?
I don’t often watch South Park, but when a friend sent me this clip I had to share it with everyone. As I watched, it dawned on me how much we rely on the internet these days, and nothing can illustrate it better than this clip. Click on the picture above, or visit this link... Continue Reading →