CEO Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

I am just back from a week of travel that ended with a break for Québec Winter Carnival. A plug for some of my investee companies (I don't often make my investments public): Well.ca is having a free sample promotion. Online drugstore (not prescription stuff) made easy to buy. Hitfix continues with awesome content. And I hope RuMe saves the world with nylon bags.

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Sample Sports Travel Entrepreneur 189

CEO Blog

JANUARY 27, 2011

CEO Blog - Time Leadership Thursday, January 27, 2011 The Elements of Power It is beautiful here. We got a light dusting of snow (over a foot) so I am now snowed in for a while. If I were a more frivolous person, I would be building a snowman or having a good snowball fight. I read a great book The Elements of Power - Lessons on Leadership and Influence by Terry Bacon.

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Blog CEO Power Leadership 190

CEO Blog

JANUARY 22, 2011

CEO Blog - Time Leadership Saturday, January 22, 2011 Secrets of Business Success I am having a productive morning. For some reason I find early mornings in themselves tend to yield productivity. I reflect on the charmed life I lead. Many people ask me my secrets of success and I am not sure there is any one thing that really stands out. Success is the result of a little small things done repeatedly like: 1 - Work ethic.

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Succession Leadership Pipeline eBook Long-term 190

CEO Blog

JANUARY 15, 2011

CEO Blog - Time Leadership Saturday, January 15, 2011 The Power of Reflective Thinking Beautiful weather we have been having. A bit of snow. Warm (but not warm enough to melt it) I always like adding to my Time Management Systems. Wall Street Journal had a great article that adds to my thoughts. I have been over busy lately. I know that I create my own busyness.

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Power Forrester Leadership Pipeline Blog 189

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JANUARY 4, 2011

CEO Blog - Time Leadership Tuesday, January 04, 2011 The Leadership Pipeline I often read more than one book at once. This is great for stimulating thought but may cause an intermingling of thought on my book reviews. The Leadership Pipeline - How to Build the Leadership Powered Company by Ram Charan , Steve Drotter and Jim Noel was awesome. It is a must read for any aspiring leader at any level.

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Leadership Pipeline Charan Leadership Drotter 190

CEO Blog

JANUARY 2, 2011

CEO Blog - Time Leadership Sunday, January 02, 2011 Management - Its not what you Think Management - Its Not What You Think is a book of articles edited and complied by Henry Mintzberg. Some of the chapters: "Accentures next champion of waffle words," Lucy Kellaway "PowerPoint is evil," Edward Tufte "The opposite of profound truth is also true," Richard Farson "Why most managers are plagiarists," Kellaway again "Change management is an oxymoron," Jim Clemmer "Ye gods, what do I do now?

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Mintzberg Management Outsourcing CEO 189

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 7, 2011

This is a Guest Post by Joe Folkman So You Think You’re an Extraordinary Leader? How good are leaders at predicting their own overall leadership effectiveness? Are they more or less accurate than other raters? At Zenger Folkman, we calculated the overall rating for 27,000 leaders. We then determined how effective a leader’s manager, peers, direct reports, others, and the leader themselves were at predicting the leader’s overall effectiveness.

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Dunning Report Learning-by-Doing Tips 172

CEO Blog

MAY 30, 2011

I was going to write a blog entry on how we create our own pressure - like the pressure to do a blog post. In reality it would make no difference if I skipped it. But then I tried to come up with the idea on what are the "must dos" and found that even those were choices created by our values. For example, I was going to suggest that there was a need to work out.

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Stress Class CEO Books 171

CEO Blog

MAY 3, 2011

I thought the following guest post by my friend Kenneth McCall might interest: Is Constant Change Stagnating Your Success? We're all after the thrill that comes with new ideas for our business, but if growing a business were all thrills, well, there'd be a lot more successful entrepreneurs out there. The energizing high that comes with change and brainstorming new ideas is fleeting.

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Succession Brainstorming Committee Self-aware 171

CEO Blog

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

I have long advocating asking big questions in order to get big results. It is much more powerful to ask how to double sales than how to increase them by 6% because asking for a 6% increase can cause no fundamental change - just doing things a bit better. Asking for a double usually requires a major change. I am also an advocate of asking "how" rather than "why".

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Learning-by-Doing Tools Course Project 170

CEO Blog

MAY 28, 2011

There is a great HBR article on how habits and rituals are the way successful people succeed - not will power. It talks about the limits of willpower just like Chip and Dan Heaths book Switch talks about. Ran a 5 K race today. Oppressively hot and humid (for me). Discouraging time (24:02) Garden is doing well. Asparagus, chives and sorrel are all done for the season.

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Innovation Meyer Open-book Outsourcing 167

CEO Blog

MAY 22, 2011

Finally a book that vindicates me. Work is good. Competition is good. Relaxation is not the goal of life. Todd Buchholz wrote Rush - Why You Need and Love the Rat Race. The book has 3 parts. Part I explains scientifically why our brains are made for stress, competition and challenge. I like brain research and he covers that the stress reactions are "exciting" in the right part of the brain.

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Library Cooper Stress Books 167

CEO Blog

APRIL 12, 2011

First an errata. I wrongly gave credit to the procrastination log yesterday to the wrong author (perhaps I read too many time management books). The audio program I as listening to was The Now Habit - A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. I like reading but I also like short books. Perhaps that is why my Time Management book is only 77 pages (or perhaps it is because it is more efficient to only write 77 pages).

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Leadership Development Books Development Review 166

CEO Blog

JUNE 8, 2011

I love Daniel Pink 's views. He studies the science of the mind. According to Pink "We all have an intuitive sense of what motivates people. Reward behavior and get more - punish and we get less of it." But when scientifically tested, this was not true except on the most mundane of simple mechanical tasks. If the job involved any thinking or creativity, it does not work.

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Creativity Constraint Motivation Morale 162

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Benjamin Zander - The conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra did more than speak. He sang and played the piano. He is hugely high energy and hugely positive. It drives home to me that energy and positivity are part of success. His topic was the Art of Possibility (the title of her book). I previously reviewed it. Had I heard him before I read it, I suspect I would have been more effusive.

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Energy Class Reference Review 160

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 5, 2011

I attended a small lunch with Malcolm Gladwell. The focus was Canada. What does Malcolm have in common with Einstein? I bet you said the hair but no, it is the genius. He is truly genius. His simple clarity is inspiring. He has been thinking of "what is the advantage of being marginal" (meaning not the number one player, or leader etc). There are many advantages: 1 - The ability or privilege to observe and learn. 2 - Being non-threatening (this is why there are disproportionately more Canadian c

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Advertising Budgeting Audience Innovation 160

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AUGUST 14, 2011

We are having a lovely rain day today. The gardens need it. I read a great book by Clay Christensen , Jeff Dyer and Hal Gregersen called The Innovator's DNA - Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators. Christensen is one of the great thinkers of our time. Start by reading his book - Innovators Dilemma where he explains what disruptive innovation is.

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Innovation Christensen Disruptive Innovation Learning-by-Doing 160

CEO Blog

JUNE 25, 2011

Yesterday, my run seemed hard. (I tend to push myself and rarely do an easy workout). What kept me going was the thought "discomfort precedes success". In that case, health would be the success. One mantra I have used "Successful people do tough things". This has inspired me to tackle some of the tougher calls, study some of the difficult things etc.

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Succession Travel Industry Books 160

CEO Blog

MAY 20, 2011

Influencing Powerful People - Engage and Command the Attention of the Decision Makers to get What You Need to Succeed is the title of a book by Dirk Schlimm. I was attracted to it partly because I need to influence powerful people and partly because I have my own views of how to do it. I have also been on the receiving end of trying to be influenced - sometimes well and sometimes in an irritating way.

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Influence Power Politics Learning-by-Doing 160

CEO Blog

APRIL 15, 2011

One concept mentioned in the Now Habit is how we make problems more difficult than they are (I partly bring up the Now Habit again due to the wrong credit I gave earlier this week). The analogy that sticks in my head is "imagine walking 20 ft on a 2 by 6 laying on the ground (no trick here- on the wide side). Now image walking across the same 2 by 6 strung between 2 sky scrapers.

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Management Efficiency CEO Tools 160

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JULY 31, 2011

Some businesses have such barriers to entry and such competitive advantage that they can still thrive even with poor execution. Companies that have patents, government regulation, rocket science(very tough intellectual property to copy) , massive development costs to get into the business, high capital cost, high market share etc. EMJ was an execution business.

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Execution Competitive Advantage Entrepreneur Cost 157

CEO Blog

JULY 5, 2011

I experienced my first Fourth of July in the US (think I was traveling last year). Complete with unbelievable fireworks and dinner with friends. My time trick for today is stolen from Nike. "Just Do It". "Just Do It" helps me get things done and off my plate. Questions I ask to spur me to action: 1 - Would I like to have done this by the time I go to bed tonight?

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Travel Stress 157

CEO Blog

JUNE 8, 2011

#wif11 Jeanne Meister, author of the 20/20 Workplace spoke about the increasing speed of innovation. 1880 - Industrial Revolution 1980 - Computer Revolution 1990 - Internet Revolution 2010 - Information Revolution Now - Participation Revolution She spoke about the new employee - the millenials. 20% of them come to work expecting to use their own phone and computer.

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Health Care Globalization System Participative 157

CEO Blog

MAY 8, 2011

I ran the Elizabeth T. McNamee Memorial 5K today. I was over a minute slower than last week coming in at 23:13. Still put me close to the top 10% at 89th out of 830 runners. It was a very inefficient way to run since the pollen killed my productivity for the day. I need to carefully plan my outdoors time these days. Someone really needs to develop a pollen filter that works.

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Sharpe Resistance Books Efficiency 157

CEO Blog

APRIL 8, 2011

It is my birthday today. So a time of reflection. Concerned I have much to do still and the clock is ticking (although I fight that also). I read a great book yesterday by Jane Stevenson and Bilal Kaafarani called Breaking Away - How Great Leaders Create Innovation That Drives Sustainable Growth - And Why Others Fail. I loved the title (although perhaps not the part about failing) since I think a large part of leadership is fostering innovation.

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Innovation Open-book Metrics Definition 157

CEO Blog

DECEMBER 6, 2011

I read a short book - Reviving Work Ethic - A Leaders Guide to Ending Entitlement and Restoring Pride in the Emerging Workforce by Eric Chester. Sometimes I like short books as they suit my short attention span. I love the topic. One of my strengths and one of the things that I attribute my business success to is my high work ethic. I have often wondered why I am so driven.

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Ethics Competitive Advantage Energy Blog 154

CEO Blog

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken. It is interesting that scientists seem to have broken the speed of light throwing into question the basic laws of physics. Thinking they will take my engineering degree back(although I have not done any real engineering for years anyways). So is that progress? Speaking of progress, I read a book - The Progress Principle - Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity at Work by Thereas Amabile and Steven Kramer.

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Video Creativity Engineering Guidelines 154

CEO Blog

JULY 21, 2011

Staff is the largest expense for most companies. Maximizing return from staff expense is a highly complex problem. People by nature are complex. I read a book by Anne Bruce, Brenda Hampel and Erika Lamont called " Solving Employee Performance Problems - How to Spot Problems Early, Take Appropriate Action and Bring Out the Best In Everyone ". I tend to prefer books with more positive titles (although bringing out the best is positive).

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Sample Mentor Books Positioning 154

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Beautiful weekend in Long Island this weekend. Cool and perfect for running. Apparently the weather in Toronto was a bit nasty for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. People have a very small range that they are comfortable. But there is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. I love CBC but they blew it on the live coverage that they promised.

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Bureaucracy Micromanagement Maturity CEO 153

CEO Blog

JUNE 7, 2011

#WIF11 continues. Jordan Cohen spoke about "getting rid of busy work so you can get to work". This is a huge challenge for us all. "40% of time is spent on necessary but not important" (I am actually surprised it is that low). His solution at Pfizer was to allow staff to send requests for research. Reports would come back the next day once the request was defined.

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Innovation Brainstorming Report Creativity 154

CEO Blog

JUNE 7, 2011

Today I am blogging live at World Innovation Forum (#WIF11). I have blogged before at this event. I love the stimulation I get from going to seminars like this. Attending and listening to speakers helps plant the seeds of innovation in my mind. First speaker is one of my favorites - Clay Christensen. Of course he spoke about disruptive innovation. He is a young guy but recently suffered from a stroke.

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Christensen Innovation Core Competence Outsourcing 154

CEO Blog

MAY 12, 2011

I have 2 bad time management habits (well I am sure I have more than that but.) 1 - I tend to accept meetings, appointments etc. if they are well into the future. I look at my calendar and don't see much on so I book them. Then when they arrive, I find myself in my usual over busy state. A lot of the Angel/Venture Capital stuff I do involves exits (selling businesses).

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Execution Review Books Self-aware 154

CEO Blog

MAY 7, 2011

Gardening is a good time to think and I just finished a couple of hours. Of course thinking and reaching conclusions are not the same thing. Some of my thoughts: Gardening is a poor hobby for someone with hayfever (like me) It is a strange world we live in where people need to go to the gym to get exercise then they pay their gardener. Any problems I feel are ridiculous and not really problems.

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Short-term Long-term Quality Learning-by-Doing 154

CEO Blog

JULY 15, 2011

I am never sure how much personal information to share on my blog. My usual formula is 10% personal and 90% business/self development. And of course lots of book reviews. I realize how lucky I am to be healthy. It is a privilege to be able to walk, run, carry things etc. I had minor surgery on my knee Wednesday and now have to keep my leg straight to let the stitches heal.

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Short-term Media Blog Review 150

CEO Blog

MAY 24, 2011

I have been traveling a lot lately and have been highly frustrated with the process (so you know I was not flying private). It starts with driving to the airport. Indeterminate traffic/drive. Wasted 25 minutes for traffic. Then navigating the maze to find parking. Then line after line. Boarding pass (if not printed ahead or if there is a problem), customs, security, check in. 20 to 30 minutes depending on the time of day.

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Cost Management Airlines Travel 150

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 28, 2011

Random tidbits: There is starting to be a chill in the air but the beans continue to yield well. The growing season in Long Island is at least a month longer than Guelph. I did not interview for Brainlogic that ended up on Collaborative Innovation. I have been sore from added weight lifting. Good sore and self inflicted in any event so tough to complain.

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Venture Capitalist Venture Funding Film Innovation 147

CEO Blog

OCTOBER 30, 2011

Beautiful day here. It was snowing late last night when I was on a short run. And some of it stayed. Snow in New England and area made the news primarily because 2.3 million people are without power. I was a bit surprised by the snow. It is still quite warm. Still have to harvest carrots, leeks and squash. Today I did a longer run but inside on a treadmill.

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Drotter Leadership Pipeline Uncertainty Short-term 145