It’s hard not to notice the alpha males among us or, in some cases, the alpha females. By that I mean those who are attractive, confident, assertive, and usually holding the highest ranking position of authority.

As one who typically hasn’t had those qualities, I used to envy their swagger as well as their ability to get things done by wielding their power and control.

Today, I’m not as convinced being an alpha is a good thing, or even something I aspire to be. It seems to me that an alpha persona might just come with a lot of… More Posted on 09-26-10

Just Google It Daddy

It wasn’t a secret sauce but there was a secret in the sauce.

This past weekend a high school student from Warsaw, Ontario named Alyson Bell, won a prestigious Manning Young Canadian Innovation Award for her project called “Another Tale My Grandfather Told Me”.

Her water filter used oregano to clean bacteria from contaminated water. She came up with the idea of using oregano to filter water as the result of testing her Grandfather’s spaghetti sauce.  Bell always wondered how her Grandfather’s spaghetti sauce could last over three weeks in the fridge without spoiling. Thinking it might be due to… More Posted on 09-20-10

I Didn’t Really Want to Go

Even though I didn’t really want to go, I attended a full day session this week simply because I trusted and liked the woman who invited me as well as the facilitator who would be designing the process. The intent of the session was to bring together a number of organizations and individuals who were knowledgeable about board governance and have them help design a series of modules that would be made available for self-directed learning for board members of service and utility boards and community non-profit organizations.

While board governance is important, and I’ve been lucky to have… More Posted on 09-06-10