From the Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine When Oliver Stone’s upcoming sequel to Wall Street (Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) is released this fall, there will be renewed debate on whether “greed is good.” People may disagree with Gordon Gekko, just as his protégé Bud Fox ultimately did in the original film, but […]
Would You Walk 500 Miles? This month in EnRoute Magazine. The place has a gravitational pull all its own. Just passing Amenal, 10 kilometers east, walking through a light rain, before I even glimpse the tips of its famous cathedral spires, I feel Santiago de Compostella like a spinning vortex just over the green rim […]
When I was writing my architecture novel, Story House, I had a small library of images that I used to shape my sense of Packer Gordon, the senior architect in the story. It’s no secret that Arthur Erikson was one inspiration, particularly his wooden houses. And especially the beautiful Filberg House. But Vladimir Ossipoff, the Hawaii based modernist, was another […]
From the February 2010 Report on Business Magazine You may have heard rumours that the Mayan calendar forecasts the world will end in 2012. However, the Mayans missed a lesser milestone: In two years’ time, fully half of all federal government employees will be eligible for retirement. Yes, the work force is aging. There will […]
I went out with Diyah Pera, a photographer friend of mine, on Friday to watch the protests. She took some great pictures. I like the one above in particular. There’s hope and determination in the face. There’s another quality I’ll inadequately describe as “realness”. Experience, life lived. I don’t know about you, but I want to hear what this person […]
From the January 2010 Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine If you want to make people feel good about your company, it doesn’t hurt to make them feel good about themselves “Paying it forward” is an old idea with new life lately. Brands as different from one another as Dove, Starbucks, TalkTalk wireless in […]
It’s hard not to twin the phenomenon of the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, as reported in Time this week, and the release of Jaron Lanier’s new manifesto against Internet hive think You Are Not a Gadget. On the one hand, you have long time technology analyst describing the ensnaring culture of the Internet hive-mind. On the other hand, […]
From the December Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine Marketers already know we’re copycats at heart. Now science proves it Most of us believe we make up our own minds in the marketplace: Apple or Dell, Brooks Brothers or Boss, equities or gold. But recent studies suggest we exert less control over these decisions […]
From the November Globe and Mail Report on Business Magazine Blogging and tweeting can be a great way to promote your brand, and for saboteurs to torpedo it In our era of interactive social media, the marketing professional’s worst nightmare may no longer be a case of seeing his product merely ignored. Consider, for example, […]
In travel, while you don’t want to rush, moments of real speed can be exhilarating. I mean those times during a trip when you can feel the globe rotating under your feet, the landscape transforming before your eyes. Liftoff out of Vancouver, on a trans-Pacific flight, is particularly evocative of this sensation for me. The […]