I know, I know – you’re getting tired of my harping on about Donald Trump. But this one’s different, I promise. Neutral, neither praising him nor damning him. In writing about professional success, I spend part of a chapter in my book talking about luck. Yes, luck. Because luck sometimes becomes a significant factor in…
How many countries in the world label their electoral districts as “ridings”? Actually, just one. Canada. We are unique in the world using the expression, notwithstanding it is an ancient English term. The Brits don’t use it, nor do the Aussies, the Americans, or the Kiwis. Just us. The term “riding” meaning an electoral district…
Recently I was reviewing an excellent paper written by Rylee, one of my granddaughters, discussing Canada’s Residential School history. I was curious about some of her stats and decided to investigate, slicing and dicing in different ways. Then I thought I’d ask this baseline question: “During the period, what was the average mortality rate for…
In Malcolm Gladwell’s important book “Outliers”, we are introduced to the notion of “ten thousand hours to success”. In example after example, Gladwell demonstrates that for almost any discipline, roughly ten thousand hours of focused practice is required to gain mastery. He uses the Beatles’ grinding years playing the clubs of Hamburg, Germany, among many…
George Smith accomplished much in his thirty-six years, becoming one of the Nineteenth Century’s leading Assyriologists, that is, an expert on the ancient peoples of the Fertile Crescent, one of the birthplaces of civilization. A leading figure in the study and translation of cuneiform script, he led in the discovery and translation of the Epic…
It only took me the first thirty of my thirty seven year legal career to understand that my actual Giftings were writing, analyzing, and solving. Law was simply a vehicle, a beloved vehicle, but my Giftings could have been exercised just as well in any of a number of other professions. It also took me…
As the sun sets over the badlands and the sagebrush, a lone rider comes into sight and dismounts by his campfire, frees his horse to browse the dry grass, and walks toward the camera. As his face comes into focus you recognize the weatherbeaten, leathery visage and white walrus mustache of none other than Sam…
I own probably fifteen or so hammers. A tack hammer, a ten pound sledge, several ball peens, brick hammer, claw hammers, framing hammer… you name it, I probably have one. I also have enough saws and levels and squares and power tools to start a small construction business. But that makes me no carpenter. While…
There are eight billion of us on this earth, so it’s easy to treat each of the hundreds we encounter daily as just another statistic, just one more blob of protoplasm. Easy, but not smart, and not right. Take the technical help line calls. More often than not the individual on the other end announces…
One of my favourite clients was a guy named Phil. He was one of those guys who led a simple, uncomplicated life, loved everybody, and everybody loved him. He sold accounting products in the auto industry, and everybody bought from Phil just because he was sweet and honest and always did what he said he…