Seeking and Providing Feedback

In the course of a conversation this week, a colleague and I discussed how we’ve learned that others don’t always see us for who we are. Even when we’ve tried to be open and authentic and operate with the best of intentions, others may see something quite different.

This really hammered home for me several years ago when a woman I worked with who had become a good friend told me she was glad she’d had a chance to get to know me. She was glad because she learned I wasn’t at all the kind of person she had… More Posted on 08-31-09

I Might Just Be An Edupunk

Every year toward the end of August I feel a compulsion to buy a new pencil case and load up three ring binders with fresh paper. Then I pause, give my head a shake, and remember that I’m not going back to school in September. The resulting emotion is both relief and sadness.

The truth is that while I never really liked school, I’ve always, and still do, love to learn. Although one would think the two would go hand in hand I have yet to translate my passion for learning into another post secondary degree even though I know… More Posted on 08-24-09

Three Paths to an Active, Creative, Engaged Community

I’m not sure exactly who, but one of our staff posted a quote in our board room that captures the nature of the challenge faced by our ACE Communities initiative - ACE being an acronym for active, creative and engaged. The quote? “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

It is one heck of a challenge. Not only are we charged with the task of attempting to enhance the quality of life across an entire province, we are responsible for being able to explain how we did it when we’re finished. 

More Posted on 08-13-09

Media Can Be a Powerful Catalyst

Ok, I confess. I am an information junkie. I don’t collect thimbles like my aunt or souvenir spoons like my sister in law. Instead, I collect information. This is good, right? Information is a wonderful thing, right?

Well, the truth of the matter is nowadays I’m not so sure. There are times when collecting beer steins is beginning to look mighty attractive.

Unfortunately, in an age where the experts predict that by 2010 the amount of digital information in the world will double every 11 hours, my pastime is becoming an increasingly stressful one.  Like many others, I… More Posted on 08-09-09

Paying Attention to Our Intuition

So far this vacation really sucks.

Much as I like Canadian Tire it’s never been on my list as a vacation destination. And yet here we are sitting in yet another waiting area in a third location during the first two days of our precious week of vacation.

Three hours away from home our van sputtered, stuttered and eventually lost all power. One tow, five hours and four hundred and fifty dollars later we were back on the road breathing a sigh of relief. Not for long however, as forty five minutes later we were once again stranded at… More Posted on 08-02-09