Two questions you need to ask every client
Back in the 1980’s, I helped start a scuba diving store in Ottawa, Canada. We were young, we loved the sport, we paid ourselves little and we worked like demons. So not surprisingly, within 5 years, our store was certifying hundreds of people every year and we ranked in the top three productive dive stores…
Our Friday Night Pasta Fare
This is our go-to Friday night dinner in preparation for a weekend of longer training sessions. Elegant enough for company but easy enough to throw together at the last minute. We enjoy it with a piece of fresh ciabatta bread from the local Italian bakery. Perfect for sopping up every last drop. Yum! Makes 2…
The Madagascar Fruit Bat and Me
The big problem with reading glasses is the on, off, on, off. My nearsightedness is manageable though I am not sure Dave would agree with me on this – a while ago we were out for a run and I delightedly exclaimed “oh look, a bunny”. He calmly replied “that’s a leaf”. Oops. But while…
How a Graveyard Changed My Life
In 1973, I was 13 years old. Dad had been transferred to a Canadian military base in West Germany as part of Canada’s NATO commitment. Growing up as a military brat, I had grown accustomed to a transient lifestyle. It also gave me a broader view of the world as I found that people were…
Have Difficult Conversations (like a Real Human Being)
[Dave] I have struggled my entire life with having difficult conversations. I grew up in a loving and supportive family, but we didn’t have a lot of constructive debates about challenging subjects around the dinner table. People have a remarkable capacity for avoiding discomfort, so when Dad got upset and raised his voice, we all…
I Taught Him About Scuba, He Taught Me About Life
Some friends and I started a scuba diving store when we were in our early twenties. It was a great life, during the day we’d sell equipment in our store and evenings and weekends were occupied by teaching scuba in a local pool and in nearby lakes and rivers. Like many entrepreneurs, initially we were…
Networking – a new lifestyle!
Everyone tells us the best way to find a dream job is to network – but I’ve always found that most folks people dislike the concept of networking. They’re not certain why, but they believe it comes across as insincere or ineffective. The reason is that most folks treat networking like dieting. We use it…
The Hockey Player Who Taught Me and the Coach a Few Lessons
To be truly effective, a philosophy should be a simple concept, applicable to many situations and It must be able to be retaught by others. A while back I received a phone call. The high-pitched voice at the other end sounded like a young boy. Now I’ve got a few male friends who like to…
The Man Who Planted a Tree
I once connected on Twitter with April Hawkins, an archivist at the Royal Ontario Museum. I often employ the RHB Code networking strategy and so I asked her about her biggest challenge. Dr. Hawkins responded “It would be transforming interest about ancient/historic objects into ethical curation.” That caught my ear as 3rd gear intention is…