This past December, I received an email from the Globe and Mail with a link to their holiday crossword puzzle. Full disclosure, I am not a fan of crosswords, can’t stand the things. But, hey, I thought it could be a fun sideline with family and friends coming over [...]
Wow, what a rush! It was 1993 and I was on the convention floor in Ottawa for the Conservative Party Leadership Race. It looked like my choice for party leader, Kim Campbell was going to win if we could muster enough votes for the second ballot. It was organized [...]
As a self-confessed chocoholic I am always delighted to see a chocolate fountain at any event I’m attending. I love to watch the way the thick warm chocolate flows down over each layer. What a treat! And, have you ever noticed how a strawberry, stuck [...]
Have you ever been embarrassed at a leadership retreat? A few years ago, a colleague of mine went to a week long leadership development retreat and, as is often the case with these retreats, a day was spent doing a physical activity that was supposed to enhance leadership skills. [...]
Many years back as our family was growing we moved to a larger home in a new neighborhood. Our new street had lots of children and on days when I wasn’t working, the bewitching hour just before dinner was spent out on someone’s driveway, visiting with the other mum’s [...]
“Where is it written that boys can’t get their ears pierced?” Have your kids ever challenged you on “family rules” and you realized they were right? It’s damn disconcerting, isn’t it?! For my son, he didn’t understand, or agree with, the idea that it was okay for my daughters [...]
Winning Culture? Every leader wants to build a “winning” team. They want a team that is willing to take on new projects, learn new ways of solving challenges, collaborate and engage in healthy conflict. Ultimately, they want teams that are excited to come to work and have the “can [...]
In her first year of work after graduating from University, my daughter experienced an aggressive corporate culture that was based on harassment and bullying. At that time, she still lived at home so each night at the dinner table we would hear about her horrible work day and we [...]
