This may seem like some two bit piece of goody goody cheeseball Grade 5 idealism.  It’s not, it’s about success and money. And it’s certainly not about the much yakked about ‘Win Win’ approach.  Accountability is key.  The person who is at fault should lose (though only to the extent that they are at fault). And I’m definitely not pontificating about where I am or...
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Looking back at the first four months of 2012, here’s what I did:  Answered emails, dealt with problems as they arose, answered emails, prepared for and attended meetings, answered emails. Here’s what I didn’t do, at all, during one third of an entire year:  Think. One day into a late April holiday, admittedly aided by the latest edition of Fast Company, a...
Read More About Killing Myself (Or, At Least, My Brain Cells) »

I have long admired Brian Burke; Ron Wilson not so much – I’m more the players’ coach type.  (I realize that I’ve just contradicted myself, Brian Burke is hardly the ‘players’ coach type’.)  Certainly, though, in terms of thinking about leadership, the firing of Leaf’s coach Ron Wilson is worth pondering.  Here’s a view with which neither Burke nor many others will likely agree. ...
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This Steve Jobs mania is a challenge for me.  We are all celebrating not just his genius, but his relentless pursuit of perfection, his refusal to compromise, his unconventionality, his prickly personality, his unforgiving drive.  We all want to be more like him (including me).  The thing is, we would never hire him, and if we found him in our midst, we would get rid of...
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  “The Privilege Of A Life Is Being Who You Are”    - Joseph Campbell I believe that there is a paradox available to us that we are missing.  I am all for effective teamwork, and understand that everyone needs to contribute according to their capabilities (when I go onto a construction site, people worry that I’m going to injure myself, so...
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" We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip, the trip takes us ."   - John Steinbeck  These four blogs are striving (OK, struggling) to express what may be wrong with the conventional wisdom around how companies should be managed.   Corporations are all about rationality and control. They set clear goals, clear strategies and tactics,...
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‘People living in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind.’        - Boston (of course)  Lots of people brag about being ‘Type A’ personalities. I probably did, until I read that the term was coined by a cardiologist who discovered that these personality traits are the leading cause of early coronary disease and premature heart attacks. Constant...
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‘Half the game is mental, the other half is being mental.’                               Jim McKenny, Toronto Maple Leafs Defenceman, 1970-78  What a great quote, even if a bit politically incorrect. It applies to far more than hockey, right? And I’m going to say that it gets right at why so many people...
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We struggle with the right balance between central control versus individual freedom around here. We have, at EllisDon, a very autonomous culture. We strive to maintain a strong core culture (and we don’t mess with financial controls), but we try hard to give everyone here as much freedom as we can, in the offices, on the sites, from top to bottom. We are not perfect at this but we try very...
Read More About Freedom Or Control: EllisDon vs … Apple? »

What is the right balance between central control versus individual autonomy in a company? We have, at EllisDon, a very autonomous culture. While striving to maintain a strong culture and financial controls, we try hard to give everyone here as much freedom as we can, in the offices, on the job sites, from top to bottom. We are not perfect at this I know, but we try hard and we certainly...
Read More About Control Freaks: Can Steve Jobs Possibly Be Wrong? »