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Like many of you, I go on vacation with my family every year. If you travel with others, you know that every detail of the trip is up for debate. Everyone wants to maximize their vacation time and take advantage of every free minute. That can take a lot of planning, and a lot of discussion and compromise to please everyone on the trip.

If a vacation is well-planned, most of the time everyone returns happy.

Stop! Think about what I just said: well-planned and happy. What a concept. Don’t you wish more businesses did the same thing?

My week has been brutal so far and I bet you’ve had some weeks like that, too. Every day things go right, and things go wrong. We spend most of our time fixing the things that went wrong which doesn’t leave much time for celebrating the things that went right. Not exactly a fun time, in my opinion. If you spend all your time putting out fires, how do you know when you’re really, truly successful?

I read an article yesterday that listed all the famous people who passed away in 2016. I couldn’t believe how many talented people we lost, and that I knew of each person on the list. It was mind numbing.

People all over the world take medication, or seek medical care, every day to help cure illnesses because we hate being sick. Being sick slows us down, makes our minds fuzzy and we just plain don’t feel well. It’s really no fun. Obviously!

Some of the decision making that I see going on in this industry is simply amazing. A lot of it involves the words, “Good enough!” I keep hearing those words over and over. 

Some kind soul took it upon himself to remind me that the galactically insignificant number that indicates my age will soon be advancing by one digit. Normally, I would have just smiled my characteristically exuberant smile, and not given it another thought. But today, the thought of this tiny digit change made me actually sit down and reflect on what has happened in my life since the previous number advancing incident last year.

Every once in a while, which lately is more often than expected, I come across an article that makes me really pause and think. In this case, the article in question struck me square in the face with the ‘hammer of truth’. Usually I don’t take reports by large organizations too seriously...

Myself, like many of you, look forward to weekends when I don’t have a lot of chores I need to do (or that someone has told me to do). Free of chores you actually get a chance to putter around, relax and...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “I’ve been around since before dirt was invented.” Another thing that’s been around since dirt was invented is companies saying their customers are being unreasonable. Those pesky customers, eh?

To constantly remind an athlete that they did not place in the top three medal-earning spots is like rubbing salt in a wound. The athlete deserves more encouragement than just being reminded that they were the first loser, or last loser. Some interviewers seem to take...

I was not going to write about this today, but I was provoked this morning. It was right after I walked into work and, like many of you, I am not the world’s happiest early morning person. I saw...

I love cooking! It goes without saying that I also love to eat good food. I love the adventure and even the romance associated with food.

A few days ago, I was asked if I had bought my ticket for that great big lottery prize everyone was getting excited about. I stopped for a second since I hadn’t heard how big the prize was.

During the holiday season, we spend a lot of time with friends and family to celebrate and catch up. Many of us do this year-round, but it really gets intense near the end of December.

I was driving to work this morning in what I would consider the worst weather we have had in a long time. Here in Vancouver, we have been getting inches of rain for the past week and according to next week’s forecast, the future does not look any brighter.

One enjoyable autumn day around lunchtime, my wife and I were walking through a piazza in Florence, Italy. We came upon a sight that was a first for me: pigeons resting in the grass.

I want to start by saying that no animals were harmed during the writing of this article. You’ll understand why I need to say that in a moment.

“Sorry, your price was higher than your competition, so we purchased from them instead!” This statement is heard by salespeople all over the world every day. They often don’t understand why they lost the order because their product is superior to the competition’s.

“Have a nice day!” The officer walked back to his car and sped off. There I was, standing on the side of the road. My vehicle had just been impounded for 7 days for going over the speed limit.

I have always been inclined to immerse myself in the culture of anything I do. Whether it’s travel, a hobby, a sport, work, home – anything! To fully understand something I think you need to understand the culture around it.

After getting up in the morning, many of us prepare ourselves for work. During this preparation, a lot of us will read the morning paper, which is usually full of bad news. I have heard that bad news sells much better than good news. I guess that means bad news makes money and good news doesn’t.

Almost everyone has purchased a new car during their lifetime. A few unsatisfactory situations aside, most people are very happy to have a new car.

There are moments in our lives that change the way we do things. When these moments happen in my life, they are so unexpected and make me really stop and reflect.

Do you hold yourself to the same high standards that you hold your employees to? Leadership is defined on Wikipedia as “a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”

Being busy doesn't necessarily mean making money. Are you spending enough time ON your business? If not, you're likely "Out of Control".

What on Earth does eating spinach have to do with being an effective and productive member of a team? Everything!

It’s obvious that everything is for sale given the right price. If I said that selling businesses is a big business then that would be an understatement. There are literally hundreds of businesses that make money selling other businesses. This means there must be a lot of businesses that are being sold.

Implementing these new trends would require us to make big changes in the way we do things, and set Modern Engineering in a new direction in order for us to remain competitive. However, if we were to ignore these changes, there is a high probability that we will be left to die as road kill on the economic highway.

Amazing enough, the paint had had yet to dry on my previous blog “When to Burn a Bridge” when I received a letter from one of our company suppliers. The letter looked innocent enough. There were no underlined or bold words or capitalized sentences that indicated screaming.

I, like many people, am not in the habit of burning bridges (destroying relationships or taking a stand.) I actually go out of my way to avoid confronting people or companies that are doing things that annoy me.

Most of us spend 40 hours a week at work. This means that over the year the average worker spends 2,080 hours of their life working. Sometimes companies offer a great experience where you see growth, teamwork, learning and communication.

I think we’ve all experienced bad leadership at some point in our lives, but I would rather talk about what makes a great leader… because frankly I’d like to see more of them in this world.

One of the things that we all like is to go shopping. Shopping gets us out, it fulfills our need to explore, and acquire things that we may want or need.

For some, Social Media is a way to manage their life, for others it’s a very confusing place filled with # signs and @ symbols. Whether you are an online junkie or a newbie trying to figure out what it all means, social media is here to stay.