What we do next No matter how experienced we are, there will be times when we react more strongly than we intended or handle something differently than we would have liked. There isn’t a point where we become so seasoned that we stop getting things wrong from time to time. We’re human. A little distance can give us a much clearer view of a situation. We may recognize what we could have done differently, something we need to own or make right, or simply how we want to handle a similar...
8 days ago • 1 min read
The story behind a career We tend to describe careers as a succession of jobs, when maybe the most interesting story is what we carry from one experience into the next. Our resumes and LinkedIn profiles reinforce that. They show where we worked, from which date to which date, the titles we held, and how we progressed. We organize our careers into a timeline and, by doing that, make something that is anything but linear look remarkably neat. Over time, I've come to think about my own career...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Let them hear it This week, I had the gift of having dinner with three incredible people who have been part of my life through different chapters of my career and, much more importantly, have become very dear friends. Mario and I met at KPMG 26 years ago when we worked in the same department. When he moved on, our friendship travelled right along with him, and years later our paths crossed again at the City of Toronto, where I had the privilege of being on his team for a short time. Mario...
22 days ago • 4 min read
What would Dolly do? This week, we lost a beautiful, irreplaceable soul. There will never be another Dolly Parton. I've never heard so many admirable adjectives used to describe one human being, but the one I've heard most since her passing is authentic. From the time she grew up in a one-room cabin with eleven other siblings in Tennessee to the moment she passed at 80, Dolly was unapologetically exactly who she was. And I think that's why she was such a unifying force and was beloved by...
29 days ago • 1 min read
What Age Knows Maybe you’ve seen the “I once was…” reels filmed in nursing homes. One by one, residents turn over signs revealing what they once did for a living. Some need help holding or turning the sign, but the words appear one after another: Engineer. Registered Nurse. History Professor. CEO. Midwife. Soldier. Surgeon. Every time I see one, I think about what those few words represent. All that knowledge, capability, and experience. A lifetime’s worth. I think our culture has lost sight...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Creating Space Let's talk about clutter. It's something I've wrestled with for most of my multi-path life. Or maybe more accurately, it's something I've continually put off. As my paths have branched and multiplied over the past few years, it has become even easier to convince myself there were more important things to do. Why would I spend an afternoon cleaning out a closet when there are children with congenital heart disease to send to camp or work to be done to strengthen our response to...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Waiting or Becoming? Last weekend, I spent six hours in two theatres in Stratford. One story was about waiting. The other was about change. By the drive home, I realized those might be the only two stories any of us ever really live. Some of us spend years waiting. We hope something will change. A relationship. A career. Our circumstances. Ourselves. We tell ourselves that maybe tomorrow will be different. Sometimes it is. More often, tomorrow looks a lot like today. And then there are the...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The Person Who Stretches Your Thinking This week, I spent three hours over dinner with a friend. We shared deeply and without filters. We asked each other thoughtful questions, challenged each other's thinking, and explored ideas from different angles. By the time I got home, I realized I wasn't carrying just the memory of a wonderful evening. I was carrying new perspectives that hadn't existed for me a few hours earlier. It reminded me how much the people we surround ourselves with shape who...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The Courage to Surrender Surrender. It's an easy word to write in the sand, but far more difficult to practice when you've always had a plan. Some words are easy to write in the sand. Learning to live them takes a little longer. Today I find myself in a place where this is my challenge. Not something I need to force myself to do, but something I need to learn. I've laid the groundwork. I've sown the right seeds. I've had the conversations that mattered and led with humility, honesty, and...
2 months ago • 1 min read