Thanks for your patience. Life got put on hold for a month while we dealt with my father's passing. Returning home to Winnipeg and into the company of my brothers and family felt like stepping into a safe space that didn't need to be constructed or negotiated first. For that I am grateful. One night my Mom pulled out a bottle of Dad's favourite wine, and we drank, ate, and told stories until it was gone.

Those who know me will gasp in mock surprise when I confess that I have a tendency to overthink things. Getting started is often the hardest part of a project. When I'm distracting myself from what I 'should' be doing, thinking about what I'm avoiding and why I'm avoiding it is helpful. This is when I try to remember that progress beats perfection, and breaking tasks down into smaller bits helps.

I'd just landed at Gatwick airport after a nine-hour flight, and I still had a three-hour drive to get to Bristol. I noticed the hubcaps on my rental car were all zip-tied to the wheels. I thought "that's not going to stop anyone from stealing them." I figured out what the zip ties were really for as I was driving out of the parking lot and into my very first traffic circle ever.

I spend years in the wilderness trying to "find my passion". It turned out to be a waste of time. So I started creating my own meaning instead. The best families, organizations, and companies do this well: Simon Sinek - The Culture That Converts Even the Biggest Cynics with former WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge The worst use emotions in a cynical ploy to manipulate.

Stockdale's essay and the paradox it inspired keep coming up in conversations about resilient leadership. But there's a wrinkle worth sorting out first: Collins' version of Stockdale's lived experience of Stoicism under the harshest conditions isn't quite right. Stockdale's original essay gives a much more vivid and interesting view of his experiences and challenges, including his suicide attempt. It wasn't optimism per se that killed, it was optimism anchored to a specific, uncontrollable deadline.

I was up on a roof the other day, doing repairs to the bathroom vent stack, and chatting with a friend who had dropped by. As one does. I was trapped and had nowhere to go, so naturally he started asking the deep, life-changing questions. I was trying to use the driver off-handed and across the ladder. He's going through the usual not-yet-a-father jitters as he and his sweetie think about starting a family.

Five techniques, then — ask, force precision, operationalize, document, wait. But the same question that reads as curious in one room might read as hostile in another. Where you're standing changes what "asking" looks like. Context Matters As with most things, context matters: Boardroom A boardroom is a stage. Challenge them like you're picking a fight you'll be the heel in the story — "got ambushed in the Q3 review." Challenge the claim instead of the person, and you've done something useful: you've shown what duty-to-care looks like.

I found myself explaining Checkpoint Charlie to a house guest this morning. For those who…

She predicted the fall of her city, and warned the city fathers not to bring the big wooden horse inside the gates. No one listened. Apollo had fallen in love with Cassandra, and tried to curry favour by granting her the gift of foresight. She rejected him anyway, but he couldn't take the gift back, so he cursed her: no one would believe her even when she…

Sometimes it's easy to spot a bullshitter. My sweetie took me down to Nashville a couple of years ago. We even visited Presley's Graceland. Something I would have never done on my own, but I'm glad we did. Before we even got out of the airport parking garage I got taken in by a scam Über driver. He spotted me a mile away, rolled up confidently and enthusiastically, and took us to our hotel.

I have a friend, Rebecca, who has a cerebral spinal fluid leak. She was lying on my couch the other day, taking a break from travelling between Golden and Radium. She has to keep a close eye on her blood pressur. Otherwise bad things happen. helpcarenetwork.ca And because we're both leadership geeks (she ran kitchens, consulted on restaurants, and worked for the Chamber of Commerce before her car accident), she brought up a YouTube clip about a secret boss who stopped herself and actually listened before leaping in to solve a problem.

When I was a kid, a long long time ago, we had a Sunday night tradition. Mom made a plate of open face sandwiches, cut in quarters, and piled them on a plate. We sat in front of the TV and watched the Disney hour. Made-for-tv specials, nature programs, or Disney movies edited to fit into the hour (or two, join us again next week!) It was a treat for us boys, and a break (kind of) for Mom from cooking dinner.

...to see if you see what they see My sweetie and I have assembled a lot of IKEA furniture renovating a farm house kitchen and all. The first time we did it, she lay all the bits and pieces out on the floor. I don't mean just in piles. Each nut, bolt, fastener, pin, shelf, leg and panel was laid out and aligned in a grid.

I once worked with a race engineer who raced, coached, and mechanic'd on the European F2 circuit. Her most often applied skills as dealing with the personalities of the many different drivers from different countries, all of whom drove differently. One or two of them might have had an ego. Even on identical cars on the same course, drivers will brake, steer, throttle, corner, lap, and overtake differently.

You need to set goals for the whole town

You need to set goals for the whole town