Are you suffering burnout?
Like many people, I was facing significant challenges and burnout last year. It was so bad that I told my team in September that I was going to take a three- to six-month sabbatical starting in December. However, by the time January rolled around, and after just a few weeks of holidays, I was ready…
People look for two sets of cues in leaders: one signals warmth and caring, the other power and status. Both are necessary
During a break in a seminar I was conducting on collaborative leadership, a man from the audience told this story: “My wife is an attorney and I’ve always been a supporter of women in the workplace. I also believe in collaboration and try to make everyone feel included and appreciated. So I was taken aback…
Reaching out to wayward customers will reinvigorate your sales and allow you to do a lot of market research
Grant was on the ground yelling as I came around the corner at high speed on my mountain bike at dusk. He had flown off his bike instead of hitting a moose standing on the trail. I skidded to avoid him. I could still see two moose, a cow and her year-old calf, on the…
Many won’t survive
After a slew of confinements and closures, restaurants are still not out of the woods. Far from it. Over the past year in Canada, restaurant closures outpaced openings by a whopping 43 per cent. The industry is still shrinking. Inflation-adjusted food service sales will be around 11 per cent below 2019 levels by the time…
Creative hiring strategies can be the big difference between success and failure
Hiring employees has been difficult for many employers in the current job market. This is a result of a number of factors, including an aging workforce, the "great resignation," and a booming economy. While this will change in time, here are five things you might consider that will improve your chances of success if you…
Ottawa does not fully understand the consequences of its policy
By Nathalie Elgrably-Levy and Valentin Petkantchin The federal government’s new luxury goods tax, which took effect on September 1, targets luxury cars, private jets and yachts. Without originality, it is part of the traditional logic of taxation which aims to “make the rich pay.” However, we often forget the economic, indirect and longer-term effects, which…
Those who can adapt will thrive
I once facilitated a meeting of a group of more than 100 retailers. Seventy per cent of them were either fearful or concerned about the future of their stores. And so they should be. Retailing is changing – you would have to be blind not to see that. When I started in retail in the…
It’s hard to be successful if you can’t survive the crashes
I’ve been head over heels in love a couple of times – but in cycling and business, I’ve been head over heels many times. Once, for example, I was on an early-morning ride on my road bike. I was doing hill repeats to get into shape to be able to keep up with the “fast…
Its time for the labour movement to turn its attention to those hard-working Canadians in the small business sector
For many of us, Labour Day simply represents the last long weekend of summer, the end of vacation season and the time to get serious and back to work or school. We forget that the purpose of Labour Day is to celebrate and honour workers. Workers have not always been honoured. From the beginning of…
Learning from the pros Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Amplify Your Business, produced by Amplomedia in partnership with Troy Media, will interview professional entrepreneurs who are currently in the trenches growing their businesses. Through insightful conversations, we will be unpacking their common business challenges and identifying the lessons every business owner needs to learn so…
Your performance and the performance of those around you are often the results of conditions that are within your control
Unless you are a manager complaining about your employees' lack of performance, most of us don't consider our own performance on a regular basis. But we should. Our performance is typically defined as the level at which we can accomplish our tasks and goals as they relate to the expectations of our employers. If we…
Instead of asking which single attribute fosters leadership, we should be asking which patterns of human qualities create the best outcomes
Look up any list of bestselling books and chances are at least one title deals with leadership. People have pondered the topic for millennia but are still chasing a clear answer to the question: what makes a good leader? That may be because we’re asking the wrong question, says business professor Ian Gellatly. Human beings…
Learning from the pros Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Amplify Your Business, produced by Amplomedia in partnership with Troy Media, will interview professional entrepreneurs who are currently in the trenches growing their businesses. Through insightful conversations, we will be unpacking their common business challenges and identifying the lessons every business owner needs to learn so…
Collaboration begins by building on those positive qualities that already exist in your team
Several years ago, I was in Germany working with a group of high-potential employees worldwide. Their organization had identified them as valuable candidates for leadership development. It was quite an event – a week of various topics and speakers with dog sledding as the team-building event the afternoon before my program. (Which was quite a…
Learning from the pros Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Amplify Your Business, produced by Amplomedia in partnership with Troy Media, will interview professional entrepreneurs who are currently in the trenches growing their businesses. Through insightful conversations, we will be unpacking their common business challenges and identifying the lessons every business owner needs to learn so…