My Story of an African Farm
<1156 words> Apparently it was necessary for me to have a crazy dream of registering for a farmers’ expo here in Nova Scotia. The rule was that if you could register a VOF (Very Old Farm) you somehow could claim senior status. I thought I might use my grandfather’s farm outside Mafikeng in South Africa – […]
RESPECT & CURIOSITY: On Elephants and Others
<1281 words> I have a great deal of respect for wild elephants and am careful to show that respect by backing out of their way when they come walking down the road towards my car. I believe I’ve learned a thing or two about elephant culture in my multiple trips to various game reserves across Africa […]
Syrian Refugees: Who Helps the Helpers?
<1160 words> The harsh truth about helping Canada’s Syrian refugees is with us now. The state of their kids’ teeth, our inability to communicate in Arabic, and all that. I’m sure there are many misunderstandings that have the potential to gnaw at the goodwill cloud that swept the Canadian nation when first our new PM […]
On Friendship and Getting Ahead
A business guru’s best-selling book told me some time ago that I have the wrong friends. The advice was that, if you want to be a winner, you have to associate with winners. It was clear from the text that by ‘winner’ was meant someone who had a track record of being a success in their chosen field, and by implication, someone who had/is making money and establishing a name for themselves. Winners are people who are leaders, innovators, visionaries, and above all, who are financially secure beyond most folks’ wildest dreams…..I have come to disagree totally with the notion that you need to cultivate friends who can help you get ahead. Those aren’t friends: they’re tour guides, agents, mentors, coaches, and even well wishers, but they move on. Friends are the ones who know what makes your heart ache and what music makes you leap up from your chair.
Oven cleaning as a leadership story
Cleaning an oven takes vision, initiative, planning, determination, resilience, some level of physical ability and skill, plus the right tools and time. These are also the typical leadership requisites described in textbooks and expounded upon by consultants and leadership gurus.
Yet, do we ever ask our students in our leadership programmes how they approach oven cleaning, or whether they have ever cleaned an oven? Maybe some leaders would say “I don’t do ovens”; “my people clean my ovens”; or some other high level response.
Atlantic Meditation: from mindless to mindful
|
My soul is full of longing For the secret of the Sea, And Sends a thrilling pulse through me. |
|
The Secret of the Sea – Henry Wadsworth |
I’ve spent quite a few
hours in the past week mindlessly staring at the movement of the Atlantic Ocean. I normally live on the edge of the same ocean some 21 degrees of latitude to the north, but I don’t do this at
home. I stopped just gazing out at the ocean for hours about six weeks after I moved in.
Sure, I still look up out
of curiosity when a container ship passes too close by the house for my liking. Every time I see a submarine slink in or out of the harbour I think of the U-boats and the net spanned …