I had a powerful experience this morning in a Starbucks in Niagara Falls, Canada. I sat in my car enjoying the overnight oats that I made the day before, in front of the Starbucks where I intended to set up to prepare for a meeting later in the morning. My mind was full of concerns: …
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A new project: 52 weeks on the Bruce Trail
I have always be an avid hiker, a habit that I gained from my father, who would take me on long hikes after church on Sunday afternoon in the Hockley Valley north of Toronto. We would go to Mass, have lunch and then drive the 80 or so minutes from our home in King City …
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What makes the McMaster-Syracuse MCM program so special?
Last week, I was happy to host my 17th residency as director of the Master of Communications Management program, offered in partnership McMaster University and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. It was, as they all have been, a beautiful, warm, exciting and fascinating experience. The MCM program and community is …
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New Year’s Resolutions 2018
2017 – A year of resolutions met The last few years, I have focused my New Year’s Resolutions on well-being, and I have made progress – in 2017, I built my fitness by doing more cardio, going vegan. I wrote a draft of a book on social media and management, which I hope to get …
The first snow – a moment of regret? or an invitation to contemplate?
We spend so much time in the waiting room of life, anticipating a future in which the conditions will be right for us to take action. The first snow fell today, in silent sprinkles. I am watching its flakes drift and glide in a zig-zag as they fall, in a manner similar to leaves. I …
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On a chill night (and a warm heart)
Sometimes, in the dead of summer, we forget that in a few short months, the heat will be replaced by icy winter paths – shivers, tingling faces and a chill wind blowing around the ears. What does this changeable environment mean? Being cold reminds me that I am alive. Today I was in Ottawa, walking along …
On illness, loss and identity
We begin life fresh and surprised at the sensory assault of even the limited confines of the birthing room. After that initiation into chaos, followed by the first reassuring embrace from our mother, we linger through the slow days of childhood, looking forward with anticipation to our adult years, which we think may signal freedom …
My faith in humanity is renewed
Last Friday I did an intensely stupid thing and left my wallet on he GO bus from Pearson Airport in Toronto to Hamilton. Wow I felt so dumb and hapless. I spent the weekend worrying about all the applications I would have to fill out to replace all the cards in the wallet. Plus, it …
Beauty of the moment.
I walked past a homeless man today in Hamilton, who stopped me and told me a story. He was old, smelled of cigarettes and looked as though he may spent a little too much time indulging in the juice and maybe even some smack. His eyes were grey and vacant, ringed like an ancient tree …
Digital and physical life?!
So I was thinking about social media and social networking and how difficult it is to get a handle on the different ways people understand them. It’s a big mashup of old school and personality and metrics that don’t mean anything and bots and fake news and broadcasters and networkers. What’s a social media strategist …