Journalism
Hiring: Gut Feel or Hard Numbers?
Originally published in The Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine: Mike Brydon and Peter Tingling are decision theory specialists at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Business, and they have a question they like to ask when giving presentations to senior management groups, especially to human resources managers. “How many here have taken golf lessons…
Read MoreBlood Brothers
This article was assigned to me by Gary Ross, to whom I’m grateful. It was one of the most affecting stories I’ve ever work on. And I’m honored to be sharing it with people more widely. From Vancouver Magazine March 2011 *** It’s an unassuming storefront on a dusty stretch of East Esplanade in North Vancouver, opposite the industrial waterfront. Power…
Read MoreMaynards and the Future of the Auction Trade
First published in BC Business Magazine By Timothy Taylor There was a telling scene at an auction I attended recently. It was the Modern Woman show at Maynards, where the 108-year-old auction house had assembled a group of 35 contemporary fine art works from 24 emerging artists. Unlike the typical Maynards auction of items sourced…
Read MoreThose Weird and Wonderful Benford Numbers
From the Report on Business Magazine, December 2010 When WikiLeaks released nearly 80,000 classified documents relating to military operations in Afghanistan this past July, a wide range of journalists, politicians and members of the public were eager to see the data. Some of them were looking for a true tally of IED attacks, others for…
Read MoreWhat We Talk About When We Talk About “Buyer’s Pain”
Globe and Mail ROB Magazine My introduction to the topic of “buyer’s pain” came via a colleague, an editor of an American food magazine, who was describing the excruciatingly long line-ups he had to endure to get a hamburger at the Shake Shack in New York’s Madison Square Park. I’ve never eaten one, but I’ve…
Read MoreChef Mavro Interview 2010
For the essay series Global is the New Local published in EnRoute Magazine in September, October and December 2010, I visited Hawaii and ate my way around the island of Oahu. One of the best meals, of the trip and probably my life so far, was had at Chef Mavro’s, where extremely high-end does not mean pretentious.…
Read MoreTime Warp
Originally published in Saturday Night Magazine You might think it’s the year 2000, but a group of prominent Russian mathematicians is arguing that history is all wrong, and it’s actually 936AD. They’ve set off a battle that’s now come to Canada, and it’s getting nasty. …………………………………………………………………….. The man in the tweed jacket sitting ahead of me…
Read MoreBlink and You’ll Miss It
From the Globe and Mail Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 I was made to feel stupid by a video on YouTube the other day. Designed by neuropsychology professors Christopher Charbris and Daniel Simons, the clip shows some basketball players passing a ball around. Count the passes, the viewer is instructed. So I did, and got the right answer: 15. But…
Read MoreGarry Kasparov Interview from 2001
Originally published in Saturday Night online, 2001 Chess writers typically describe world chess champion grandmaster GarryKasparov as either the best player in the world or the best player inworld history. He won the title in 1985 at the age of 22. He hasdefeated all human challengers in tournament play since. Last year,Kasparov won a match…
Read MoreJacqui Cohen: Army and Navy’s Sole Survivor
Jacqui Cohen, Army & Navy’s Sole Survivor BC Business Magazine, July 2010 There was a story the newspapers used to tell about Army & Navy. It showed up a number of times during the late ’70s and early ’80s. It involved pointing out what was then considered to be a central irony about the company.…
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