A recent spate of fake news has gotten everyone in a tizzy. But, this isn’t news – phony stories have been around forever.It’s just that the internet is delivering them faster, in greater quantities, and to more people than ever before. Fake news is a virus of the information age. We inoculate ourselves with skepticism. The net result is that people have lost their trust in authority. And, I believe this is a good thing.The opportunity to deceive people online began almost immediately. On July 5, 1993, The New Yorker magazine published Peter Steiner’s cartoon of a dog sitting in front of a computer with the now famous caption: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a...
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded – here and there, now and then – are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. “Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. “This is known as ‘bad luck.” So said Robert Heinlein.Your boss, your coworkers, your friends, and even your family don’t want you to be creative. They resent your trying to change the methods, practices, systems, and rules they are...
Over the next decade, the job market is going to change dramatically. Old jobs will disappear because of the rise of automation and new ones will arise from new technologies. This change has already begun in Canada, with experts pointing to the “quiet crisis” currently affecting our young people that makes it increasingly difficult for them to find meaningful work.According to RBC Economics, these changes have led to a growing importance of what were once known as “soft skills”.Soft skills are the things we don’t learn in school but are invaluable in the real world, including communication, collaboration, leadership and problem solving. According to RBC, employers should...
Janis Joplin famously sang the lyrics of Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster in the song Me and Bobby MaGee, “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.”But is freedom simply the lack of entanglements, obligations, and responsibilities? Is the homeless beggar on the street corner free? He certainly doesn’t have to be at work by 9:00 am, pay rent or taxes, raise children, or keep up with friends and family. There might be freedom from stress in such a lifestyle, but is he free? I think most of us would answer, “No”.Some say that freedom is a spiritual concept. Osho, an Indian spiritual teacher, said, “True freedom is always spiritual. It has something to do...
I share a strange story from my early days in advertising. Back in the early 1990s, the marketing director of a small software company called me in for a consultation to help them with their advertising. She told me that I had been recommended to her by one of their customers, and by one of their vendors. She explained that the company was in crisis. Until recently, they had been very successful. Their software was a business application which served many different types of companies, and they had grown rapidly. During this time, they had enjoyed the tranquillity of being the only player in a niche market. Their success inspired the owner of the company to send out press releases...
