Personal Growth – Page 3

Another rant about email etiquette

January 2, 2015

I am reverting back to a topic that I have ranted about in the past: lack of email etiquette and the damage it does to personal brand and possibly your career success (How email damages your Personal Brand and What do your email habits say about you). I recently introduced two people because there was ...

Backing a Winner

February 5, 2014

As some of you may know, I am an avid skier and ski & teach at the Georgian Peaks Club. It is a private ski club (a phenomena known only to Ontario). The club has about 750 families and has a reputation for strong competitive ski and snowboard development programs that have produced a number ...

The Value of an Apology

January 29, 2014

One of my clients hit a bit of rough water in their business a few months ago. The problem was serious, not fatal, but probably could have been avoided. During the lead up to the rough patch, they had been getting advice from another adviser in areas of their business where my expertise and experience ...

What do your email habits say about you?

April 15, 2013

If you can't manage your Inbox, Can you really manage your company? Email is a fact of life in business communications and I don't see that changing. Many people now advise on their voicemail that for faster response, instead of leaving a voicemail, send them an email instead. Some people are more blatant and state ...

Being Vulnerable

December 7, 2012

A number of years ago, I learnt an important lesson about leadership. Many courses and business books talk about leadership attributes in terms of being strong, confident, assertive, driven, high energy, and focussed. I am sure you have heard or read this many times. What I learnt is the value of being humble, open, honest ...

Style versus Substance

December 1, 2012

One of the hardest parts of being a leader is developing the skill to differentiate between when an employee doing something wrong or when they are just doing something different from how you would. If you do not manage the process properly, you risk project failure or demoralized teams. A good leader does not micro-manage ...

Giving Advice

November 22, 2012

A few weeks ago, I met with a friend for a catch-up meeting. He is a senior, experienced, multi-time successful entrepreneur whose opinions are worth heeding. During the catch-up, we started talking about some of the work that I am doing and in particular a couple of companies with whom I am working. He weighed ...

The Best Advice I Ever Received

October 23, 2012

This Blog was first published on October 22, 2012 by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation as part of their The Best Advice I Ever Received series After thirty plus years in high tech, it is very difficult to narrow down all the advice to the "Best Advice I Ever Received" so I ...

Firing

July 5, 2012

Firing an employee is one of the hardest tasks that a leader has to do. I was recently in a discussion with an executive faced with the decision of terminating an employee. They wanted to discuss their thinking with me and get my opinion. After a long discussion, they reached the conclusion that they had ...

Privilege

May 23, 2012

There is a thing out there called Privilege. It exists but many people, especially inexperienced start-up founders, often don't recognize it, understand how to use it and more importantly, understand the ramifications of misusing it. Simply put, Privilege is "a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most". It ...

Category: Personal Growth