While I’m typically much more interested in grass-roots leadership, the federal budget temporarily shifted my attention to the grass-tops. And, despite my aversion to politics, I have to tell you that I’m not surprised it was defeated as it missed a lot of what I’m seeing as the priorities of the average citizen. As such, it seems to reflect a major disconnect between the grass-roots and the grass-tops of Canada. 

As a result of having delivering some 25 workshops across the country on the topic of community building, I’m hearing that a growing number of Canadians believe government priorities,… More Posted on 03-27-11

What if?

It seems there is a time and a place to ask, “What if”?

My husband sells kites. As well as the kites most would recognize from their childhood, he sells large traction kites that are used for snowkiting, kite surfing, or kite buggying. Not a sport for the faint of heart or those in less than stellar physical condition, this past December he received a query and subsequently sold and shipped a kite harness to a guy in his 50’s who appeared to fit that description. Normally that would be the end of the story.

However, this week… More Posted on 03-20-11

On Being Happy

At a recent staff meeting our team discussed the challenge of juggling escalating work demands against the need for ensuring a balanced lifestyle.  As someone who tends to spend a lot of time working and therefore not really walking the talk, I ended up being the recipient of a number of jests.  While I get how ironic that is, given I’m in the business of supporting individual and community well-being, the truth is I love what I do and ultimately consider myself to be a pretty happy person.

Later that same day, I happened to talk to my mother… More Posted on 03-14-11

A Spirit of Striving

It might not sound like a big deal to some, but this week I did my first interview via Skype.  I had to push myself to get comfortable with the technology but in the end it was much less complicated than I thought it would be. What wasn’t quite as simple was the focus of the interview itself. The entire interview was based on one question, “How do you position, or in some cases reposition, an entire field, profession, or industry?”

While my field for the most part has been the community building that falls within the profession of… More Posted on 03-06-11