The sand castle city my daughters built on the beach at the summer cottage

Growing up, the month of August was always a bittersweet time of the year. On the one hand, it signalled that the end of summer was fast approaching and with it, the return to the school routine of homework and earlier bedtimes. At the same time, though, August also seemed to be the month where the summer break began to drag as all the activities we’d planned to do were done and there seemed to be nothing left to do.

Perhaps that’s why the way my daughters spent their summer vacation this year stood out in my mind so much – there was probably only one day where they sat deflated on the couch, bemoaning how they were bored because there was nothing to do.

Now this wasn’t because we had every day of their summer break planned and filled with activities to keep them busy. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago my girls pointed out to me how we didn’t get to do some of the activities I had suggested as possible summer activities way back in June before the school year ended.

Granted, the weather we had this summer was exceptional, providing us with the kind of summer-like conditions we haven’t seen in the past few years. Faced with sunny skies and warm temperatures, it’s not hard to see why Click here to continue reading »”What My Kids Taught Me About Inspiration and Execution”

As we slowly approach the end of another year, there is once again a discernible feeling of anticipation for what the upcoming year will bring. In many ways, this is quite natural and expected since, like a present wrapped in shiny paper, the start of a new year often stirs a sense of optimism that better times and new opportunities for recovery, growth and development await us just around the corner.

While leaders use the end of the year to focus on developing plans for what they need to achieve in the new year, it’s also important that they not lose sight of the lessons learned over the course of the previous one. Indeed, the successes and failures incurred over the past twelve months can provide a wealth of insights that can help leaders chart a clearer path towards their organization’s goals, provided that they take the time to reflect and review on what came out of these past outcomes.

With this in mind, here are ten questions leaders can ask to reflect and assess both their own performance and that of their employees, and how they can ensure that their team remains focused and driven toward reaching their shared goals: Click here to continue reading »”10 Questions to Help Leaders Prepare for the New Year”

Last month marked the completion of my first year of writing for this blog and my second year of blogging in general. Looking back over the last twelve months, it’s hard not to feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction regarding the opportunities and relationships I’ve attained as a result of writing for my website. As this milestone also coincides with the year’s halfway mark, I also saw this as a good opportunity to review how much progress I’ve made in reaching the goals I set out for myself at the beginning of the year.

In some ways, it felt odd to be performing such an exercise in the middle of summer, especially when one considers the downtime most companies are experiencing right now thanks to vacationing employees and customers. As it turns out though, the summer downtime actually provides an excellent opportunity for businesses and their leaders to review their team’s efforts, in order to assess how much progress has been made in reaching their shared goals. By performing this review during the summer break, leaders will develop a better understanding of where to focus their team’s efforts when they return to full force at the end of summer.

Of course, in assessing the efforts made so far by your team, it’s important that you Click here to continue reading »”Using The Summer Downtime To Assess Your Organization’s Direction”

With the holiday celebrations now at an end, many of us are returning to our usual daily grind – refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to dive into the tasks at hand.  On the heels of celebrating the start of both a new year and decade, most of us have also been making plans or resolutions for what we’d like to accomplish over the next 365 days, and possibly beyond.

It’s only natural that we’d be motivated right now to create these lists of goals, as the start of a new year often inspires that feeling of a new start; of turning to a fresh page that’s filled with the promise of new opportunities and possibilities for our future.  Indeed, this sentiment is quite beneficial as it encourages us to take time for some personal self-reflection, of creating these aspirations of what we’d like to change in ourselves or what areas we’d like to further grow in.  The only point we need to remember though, is to include in this exercise the process of reviewing the events of the previous year, of taking note of what we endured, learned and gained from those past experiences so that we have a solid foundation on which to build upon as we move forward.

Of course, in developing these lists of goals, we should also consider Click here to continue reading »”How to Make Your Resolutions Have A Bigger Impact”