Tonight is the 40th Anniversary of the 8th game between Team Canada and The Soviet Union in The Summit Series. The game is being replayed on TSN, a channel that didn't exist at that time. It is great fun to watch the game with my 27 year old son and my 14 year old son...they have lots of questions about the history of the game and the series at the time. I think that this series was a turning point for not just Canadian hockey but Canada as a country. I remember being a grade 7 student at Arthur Ford Public School getting to watch the game on 2 televisions that were set up in the gym. The whole school was there, screaming and cheering, for Canadian players who appeared to have serious hate for their Communist opponent. I remember thinking at the time how wonderful the technology was that the television signal from the games could be sent from Moscow to Helsinki to London England to Toronto. Never once did we think the reception was bad!!! Watching it tonight in its original format...wow...it sucked!!! We forget too, about the political incorrectness of the time as well.
Russia was still a hard-line communist country and the Canadian team members had complete disdain for them. At one point I watched as J.P. Parise skater towards an official and attempted to swing his stick at him. The General Manager of Team Canada, Alan Eagleson, got in a fight in the stands, was escorted across the ice and gave the entire arena the "middle-finger salute" as did the team members and assistant coaches who had to escort him. This display of classlessness would never be acceptable today. While there were many forgetable moments that occurred during the series...the series and the game of hockey signalled the beginning of change within Canadians. We took pride in our achievements. We celebrated our freedoms. We unified around a game that we long thought we were the best at. We decided at that moment, that we needed to do better...we woke up. Hockey schools began to appear everywhere, sports in general became more popular...yound people took to politics like never before. Not all of this was directly as a result of 8 hockey games in 27 days of September 40 years ago but it did provide the spark...the impitus...and sometimes that is all a great nation needs to light the collective fire.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
3 Generations of Parenting
I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a parent to what amounts to 3 generations at the same time in our home. My wife and I are the proud parents of 4 children, a son 27, a son 25, a daughter 23 and a son 14. In addition to this, my Mother-in-Law, who is 93 lives with us...now we don't 'parent' her but we are responsible for her health and welfare. My oldest son is engaged and moved out 2 years ago, my next eldest is getting married this summer and will be moving out and my daughter has expressed an interest in moving out this year.
I say that I am blessed as for most of the 8 years that my mother-in-law has lived with us, we have sat down as a family to eat, share stories and rejuvenate the soul. It is quite a sight...7 of us and often the 2 fiances, making it 9, sitting down to eat. The stories range from weddings, completing post-graduate studies, and going to job interviews for the older kids, to making a sports team or first girl friends for the youngest to knitting that grandma did or what she worked on in her painting class at the seniors centre. In variably my wife and I get a chance to talk, but mostly it is a great time to listen. Humans have this unbelievable need to communicate. We have Facebook, Twitter, BBM, chat rooms etc. etc. etc...but the most important communication place...the dinner table. The dinner table isn't always easy, sometimes you are eating late as a result of schedules, sometimes a little early as a result of schedules, often 1 or 2 people join late, as a result of schedules. But, in the end we all end up there, stiing and talking. For the youngest it has meant that he has had to grow up faster than his years if he wanted to be involved in what was going on a the dinner table. He once asked his Kindegarten teacher, when she was looking through her cd library for some afternoon nap-time music to play if she had "any AC/DC in there"! There was no baby talk at the table for him. He took up reading the newspaper in the morning so that he could be engaged in the conversations. But while he was growing up, his issues were pretty small when compared to the older kids. Parenting little kids...way easier and less dramatic than raising adult children...little kids- keep them safe, help them with homework that you understand, teach them right right from wrong and help them build friendships...big kids- drugs, alchohol, sex, homework that is way above your knowledge base and money...now the youngest is a teenager and we are back into the teenage issues again. I'm hoping we have some experience built up from the first 3. The uniqueness of the age gap though often lead to some our greatest memories. I recall one evening when our oldest was 16 and on the way home from a pre-season Jr B hockey game. He had just made the team and leans into the front seat of the van to inform my wife and I that he had a Rookie Party coming up on the weekend. Well my thought that was wonderful...to which I said to her...it's a Rookie party, to which she said again yes and that was great...I again said, a little more emfatically, IT'S A ROOKIE PARTY...she got it. So we spent the next 30 minutes coaching our 16 year old how to handle the alchohol that was in all likelyhood to be a part of the party. When we got home the youngest, 3 at the time was up in the family watching television...he had a fever, wasn't feeling great and very worried about what happened to Fozzie Bear on the Muppet movie that he was watching...we had to jump a very large chasm that evening!!!
For the past 8 years we have had my wife's mom living with us. She is the mother of 7 children, grandmother to 21 and great grandmother to 28!! While she requires more of our time as she gets older, the experience of having her with us has been wonderful. She has been a confidant for the big kids when they were teenagers, and someone who made lunch for the youngest each day as he came home from school. She goes to bed each evening early so that she has an hour to say the Rosary and pray for all of us...it is a comforting thought. She has been an inspiration to us as she has remained active by taking painting classes, working around our home, baking, going to fitness classes, coming to hockey and baseball games and most importantly feeling wanted. Her dinner table stories are often legendary. She will often tell us about the fact that her first mortgage payment was $17.00/month or that the price of bread was 5cents and that milk came from the cow next door and the vegetables for the family grew out in the backyard. I recall when I took her to get a Satellite dish from Bell Canada so that she could watch television, she was asked by the associate in the store if she was a Bell customer and if so, how long. My mother-in-law proceeded to proudly proclaim that she had been associated with Bell Canada as a customer for 71yrs!!! When she was 14 she signed her family up for telephone service with Bell Canada and it was in her name. It was hard for me to fathom being a customer of the same business for 71 consecutive years!! She has recently learned how to use the computer but still thinks the greatest invention in her life time was indoor plumbing... a unique perspective.
The skill required in all of the above cases, communication...the individual components of communication are listening, thinking and articulating. The most important of these is listening. Remember, we were given 2 ears and 1 mouth...we should use them in that ratio when we are communicating. Think before you answer your kids...be articulate and set an example for them that they will benefit from for the rest of their lives.
I say that I am blessed as for most of the 8 years that my mother-in-law has lived with us, we have sat down as a family to eat, share stories and rejuvenate the soul. It is quite a sight...7 of us and often the 2 fiances, making it 9, sitting down to eat. The stories range from weddings, completing post-graduate studies, and going to job interviews for the older kids, to making a sports team or first girl friends for the youngest to knitting that grandma did or what she worked on in her painting class at the seniors centre. In variably my wife and I get a chance to talk, but mostly it is a great time to listen. Humans have this unbelievable need to communicate. We have Facebook, Twitter, BBM, chat rooms etc. etc. etc...but the most important communication place...the dinner table. The dinner table isn't always easy, sometimes you are eating late as a result of schedules, sometimes a little early as a result of schedules, often 1 or 2 people join late, as a result of schedules. But, in the end we all end up there, stiing and talking. For the youngest it has meant that he has had to grow up faster than his years if he wanted to be involved in what was going on a the dinner table. He once asked his Kindegarten teacher, when she was looking through her cd library for some afternoon nap-time music to play if she had "any AC/DC in there"! There was no baby talk at the table for him. He took up reading the newspaper in the morning so that he could be engaged in the conversations. But while he was growing up, his issues were pretty small when compared to the older kids. Parenting little kids...way easier and less dramatic than raising adult children...little kids- keep them safe, help them with homework that you understand, teach them right right from wrong and help them build friendships...big kids- drugs, alchohol, sex, homework that is way above your knowledge base and money...now the youngest is a teenager and we are back into the teenage issues again. I'm hoping we have some experience built up from the first 3. The uniqueness of the age gap though often lead to some our greatest memories. I recall one evening when our oldest was 16 and on the way home from a pre-season Jr B hockey game. He had just made the team and leans into the front seat of the van to inform my wife and I that he had a Rookie Party coming up on the weekend. Well my thought that was wonderful...to which I said to her...it's a Rookie party, to which she said again yes and that was great...I again said, a little more emfatically, IT'S A ROOKIE PARTY...she got it. So we spent the next 30 minutes coaching our 16 year old how to handle the alchohol that was in all likelyhood to be a part of the party. When we got home the youngest, 3 at the time was up in the family watching television...he had a fever, wasn't feeling great and very worried about what happened to Fozzie Bear on the Muppet movie that he was watching...we had to jump a very large chasm that evening!!!
For the past 8 years we have had my wife's mom living with us. She is the mother of 7 children, grandmother to 21 and great grandmother to 28!! While she requires more of our time as she gets older, the experience of having her with us has been wonderful. She has been a confidant for the big kids when they were teenagers, and someone who made lunch for the youngest each day as he came home from school. She goes to bed each evening early so that she has an hour to say the Rosary and pray for all of us...it is a comforting thought. She has been an inspiration to us as she has remained active by taking painting classes, working around our home, baking, going to fitness classes, coming to hockey and baseball games and most importantly feeling wanted. Her dinner table stories are often legendary. She will often tell us about the fact that her first mortgage payment was $17.00/month or that the price of bread was 5cents and that milk came from the cow next door and the vegetables for the family grew out in the backyard. I recall when I took her to get a Satellite dish from Bell Canada so that she could watch television, she was asked by the associate in the store if she was a Bell customer and if so, how long. My mother-in-law proceeded to proudly proclaim that she had been associated with Bell Canada as a customer for 71yrs!!! When she was 14 she signed her family up for telephone service with Bell Canada and it was in her name. It was hard for me to fathom being a customer of the same business for 71 consecutive years!! She has recently learned how to use the computer but still thinks the greatest invention in her life time was indoor plumbing... a unique perspective.
The skill required in all of the above cases, communication...the individual components of communication are listening, thinking and articulating. The most important of these is listening. Remember, we were given 2 ears and 1 mouth...we should use them in that ratio when we are communicating. Think before you answer your kids...be articulate and set an example for them that they will benefit from for the rest of their lives.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Good Leadership is about Good Communication...more importantly...Good Listening!
Yesterday was opening day of the Major League Baseball season for the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays won their opening game in 16 innings, the longest Opening Day game in Major League history. The game demonstrated to many what good leadership is about, good communication. The General Manager of the Blue Jays, Alex Anthopoulas, is 34 yrs of age and has surrounded himself with many good assistants and scouts with specific skill sets. John Farrell, the on-field Manager of the Blue Jays, has surrounded himself with great assistant coaches all with specific skill sets. What makes these 2 individuals the talk of baseball as the best up and coming Manager and General Manager is that they listen to those that they have surrounded themselves with. Farrell has access to a top flight pitching coach, hitting coach, fielding coach, bench coach...you get the idea. While Farrell as the leader has the final say in all decisions, his growth as a manger this year over last year is his ability to listen and consider all the input from those assistants around him. He went to his coaches during the game, consulted with them, listened to them, then made in-game decisions based on that input coupled with his own views and a positive result was achieved. The General Manager, Anthopoulas, has done the same thing in building the team. It has been said that he takes input from all sources within his organization and uses those to measure his own opinions. The key for both is that their first action in the process of good leadership and good decisions is good communication and that all starts with good listening.
Woodrow Wilson often said, "The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people". More to the point on listening in business is this quote..."Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities."- Peter Nulty, National Business Hall of Fame Fortune Magazine. It could be said that listening may the single most important key to communication that there is. I have often told people who I have managed in a Sales Management role that "you were given 2 ears and 1 mouth, use them in that ratio when selling...listen twice as much as you talk! If you want a better relationship with your kids, take the time to listen to them...want a better relationship with a partner, listen to them...want to know what is going on in your business and how the people who work for you can help you succeed...listen to them. The Conservative Party of Canada is currently run by Stephen Harper and the cracks of a leader who doesn't listen to those around him but only to his own voice are starting to show. Not listening to the information provided to him regarding the F-35 fighter jet purchase may in the end be the beginning of his downfall as a respected political leader...it can't always be about what you think...as a leader, surround yourself with good team members and then listen to enhance your success.
Woodrow Wilson often said, "The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people". More to the point on listening in business is this quote..."Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities."- Peter Nulty, National Business Hall of Fame Fortune Magazine. It could be said that listening may the single most important key to communication that there is. I have often told people who I have managed in a Sales Management role that "you were given 2 ears and 1 mouth, use them in that ratio when selling...listen twice as much as you talk! If you want a better relationship with your kids, take the time to listen to them...want a better relationship with a partner, listen to them...want to know what is going on in your business and how the people who work for you can help you succeed...listen to them. The Conservative Party of Canada is currently run by Stephen Harper and the cracks of a leader who doesn't listen to those around him but only to his own voice are starting to show. Not listening to the information provided to him regarding the F-35 fighter jet purchase may in the end be the beginning of his downfall as a respected political leader...it can't always be about what you think...as a leader, surround yourself with good team members and then listen to enhance your success.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Technology...making it work for you.
Technology moves at an astonishing pace today, and all too often we feel overwhelmed or disconnected, rather than empowered and plugged in. Between email, texting, social networks, the web, smart phones, streaming media, HD, DSLR, GPS-- OMG, it's time to step back for a minute and get some perspective. Do you as a business owner know the benefit of technology management and can you move your business forward by restoring technology to its proper role? Are you incorporating Social Media into your marketing strategy? Are you trying to develop your own IT strategy.
IT strategies are a must for all businesses. You need to create a roadmap for the integration of technology into your business that matches up with the roadmap for growth in your business(if one doesn't exist, GET ONE!!!). Your roadmap doesn't need be complicated. You need to have an understanding of where you want to get to as part of your roadmap. What goals do you need to achieve? Do some simple research to see what types of hardware, software or peripheral devices can help you become more efficient. Look at your business operations and try and think without boundries. What processes need to become more efficient? A Technology Management consultant can then help you refine your criteria as well as the processes that need improvement and then determine the various costs for each project. Working with you and your executive a roadmap, based on financial and timing considerations, a technology roadmap is then developed outling the rollout process complete with timelines and milestones that can be measured against.
Don't be afraid of technology, embrace it, it can improve your bottom line!!! Remember to rollout it out with a plan in mind.
IT strategies are a must for all businesses. You need to create a roadmap for the integration of technology into your business that matches up with the roadmap for growth in your business(if one doesn't exist, GET ONE!!!). Your roadmap doesn't need be complicated. You need to have an understanding of where you want to get to as part of your roadmap. What goals do you need to achieve? Do some simple research to see what types of hardware, software or peripheral devices can help you become more efficient. Look at your business operations and try and think without boundries. What processes need to become more efficient? A Technology Management consultant can then help you refine your criteria as well as the processes that need improvement and then determine the various costs for each project. Working with you and your executive a roadmap, based on financial and timing considerations, a technology roadmap is then developed outling the rollout process complete with timelines and milestones that can be measured against.
Don't be afraid of technology, embrace it, it can improve your bottom line!!! Remember to rollout it out with a plan in mind.
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