If I knew the secret of solving every problem efficiently and effectively I would be significantly more wealthy and more famous. But I can say with confidence that my years of advising clients in some of their darkest hours have given me a few helpful perspectives. As trite as they may sound, these precepts are…
The summit of Mont Jacques Cartier is nearly a mile above sea level and snow remains on the upper slopes until late summer. The ascent is available to anyone in reasonable condition, and worth every blister and every screaming muscle, affording a view of the St. Lawrence in the distance and, on occasion, some of…
In our house we’re not really into “pink jobs” and “blue jobs”, although there are some like meal preparation where in the interest of safety, nutrition and tastiness, it’s better to keep Norm out of the kitchen. We also have our habitual jobs, and laundry has traditionally been in Karen’s bailiwick. But that doesn’t mean…
Some people love badges, especially badges of authority. They love hats, medals, uniforms, big offices, and pageantry. If you stand back and watch them you’ll quickly see that these people are needy and insecure and use “bossing around” to feed their own deep needs. And then there are true leaders. Many, perhaps most, of the…
Some years ago I was invited to speak to a group of seniors about estate planning, something I did quite a bit back in the day. There were two speakers, the other one being “an expert from Toronto”. I was the second act. The headliner was going to teach these seniors the rather complex math…
Frank Gusenberg was a gangster who went down in a hail of gunfire during the Valentine’s Day Massacre. As he lay near death, a policeman asked who had shot him. Frank’s very last words were, “Nobody shot me!” Unsurprisingly, during his career he had proudly borne the nickname “Tight Lips” Gusenberg. Perhaps “Tight Lips” took…
Frazzled in your job and your life? Take a lesson from medicine. Dominique Jean Larrey was a surgeon in Napoleon’s armies and understood that no military could ever have enough medical resources to care for every wounded soldier. Wanting to apply his limited resources to save the most lives possible, he developed a protocol known…
Most things in life fit on a bell curve. The vast majority of events fit in the big, boring middle bulge, but wise people understand that stuff occasionally happens in the happy “good news” tail to the right and also in the unhappy “bad news” tail to the left. The “bad news” tail is what…
The call from the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Home started out like the usual professional courtesy call about circulation issues or sugar levels. But then I heard the words “no vital signs”. “No vital signs?” The nurse confirmed no breathing, no pulse. Dad was gone. It’s a funny thing when someone reaches 102 and can…
Well, perhaps he was. We’re certain that Patrick was not Irish-born, but Wales, Scotland and England all claim to be his birthplace. Wales seems to have the better evidence, although even that is scanty and ancient. What we know for certain is that Patrick was of ancient Briton stock and likely from a wealthy family….