Category: Uncategorized

One of the very first lectures in this class we were asked to do an exercise. We were instructed to empty our minds and ask ourselves a question, “How do I think?” Well…I had never really asked myself that question. It took me a moment to even understand what that question was actually asking. I had to THINK about how I THOUGHT, because I didn’t know. How come I had never been asked to do that before? Looking back at that I realized that that is a major flaw in my educational upbringing – no one teaches us to learn about ourselves. I didn’t write anything during that exercise. I didn’t know how. But now, at the end of this term, I think I can.

I analyze. I am deliberate in my thinking and my mind never ceases to move. It is always churning…the thoughts a nonstop flow of ideas, planning, decision making, feelings, emotions, insecurities, fears, joys, judgments, encouragement and insights. I wish I could escape from my thinking at times. My never-ending thinking gets in the way of quality contemplation or intuitive heart choices. I can break down situations, problems and events like there is no tomorrow. I overanalyze everything. I take apart issues like a small and intricate wristwatch, slowly but surely and expertly, delving deep into every fine, small, but vital and important piece of a scenario. Sometimes certain scenarios should be left alone, though. And if I’d listen to my intuition, I’d know that. But that is exactly what I’ve come to realize. That is my greatest takeaway from this class. I’ve learned so much about decision making in business and letting my creative energy flow. Allowing ideas that I would normally bury deep within my gut to bubble up to the surface. Because that’s what this class encouraged. That’s what this class inspired. It motivated me to be the best version of myself. It allowed me to learn about myself. It created space for me to share my ideas with others without fear of judgment, and in return I did not judge others. I believe that because of the positive and open environment that Moira initiated, it permitted classmates to really get to know and support each other. I’ve learned how wonderful it can be to work on a school project with strangers turned friends.

To be transparently honest, this has been the best class I have taken at University so far. It gave me confidence and broadened my perspective on all the things I could accomplish if I just released from my doubts – my fear of outside criticism and failure. I learned that none of that matters. All that matters is that I put my heart and soul and intuition into the equation. Throughout my years at school I have relied on my logical thinking to overcome any problem or situation. This class helped to restructure my thinking, helped to communicate that it isn’t always about what we think is best, but what we feel is best.

I especially loved one of our guest speaker’s presentation that involved the design compass. It was reassuring to have a successful businessperson reinforce the concept of commerce being a combination of both logic and intuition, and admitting that business does take heart. In fact it works better when a little soul is added. I have unfortunately invented a bit of a stigma around business ever since I arrived at University, and witnessed the way my cutthroat classmates operated amongst themselves and their opinions on profit and money. I went into commerce to foster the marriage of sustainability and business. This class, and everyone involved, provided a great comfort to me and quite frankly, renewed my faith in the direction of humanity. I feel silly writing that but I’m being honest – University is hard and it’s even harder when you think about the kind of people who don’t care about anything except for their own personal gain. Hearing Moira and the TA’s and the guest speakers and my colleagues brainstorm about the future of our planet and the wellbeing of our population, helped remind my why I chose to be in business in the first place. And for that, I thank them.

And a special thanks to my group, for being so supportive and magnificent and for always making me feel loved and included…even when I wasn’t there.

Give me an everyday situation that produces a somewhat undesirable problem. Ask me to solve it. I will no doubt use my ready logic and deductive reasoning to arrive at a rational solution. Because of my analytical and common sense nature, I have found that my arrivals yield, to my dismay, rather boring and textbook resolutions.

I was schooled in the conformity of mainstream public education. I forgive myself a certain lack of creative swagger. It has been long established that my left brain rules. I’ve been successful throughout my education largely because I’ve been able to ascertain the expectations of my elders and do the expected. This is because – I believe – that structured, in-the-box, follow-the-rules thinking is basically rewarded in public education. I find this an unfortunate situation. Most of my life, I’ve followed the rules and regurgitated the text and I now find myself immersed in University at a time of burgeoning innovation and entrepreneurial revolution.

It is at this time, in spite of my educational history, that I find myself in an exciting new world. So far this term I’ve landed in the perfect place ripe for exploration: the d.studio.

The first day in the studio, class was presented with the backpack challenge. It was then that I knew I was in the right place. I was, and continue to be, inspired by this class! All of my life I have longed for a little excitement, for something or someone to tell me to think differently. I never needed permission but these explorations finally make Uni worth the investment!

I am thinking in ways I’ve only ever allowed during personal endeavours or when daydreaming. I can only really describe the process as an opening of my brain. Through the mini-lectures and the unique opportunities with Shifting Growth, I now start my thinking broadly. The problem is like the seed, and from the seed sprouts thought upon thought, branching connection to connection, and the birth of intertwined and diverse ideas.

The readings invigorate me. It is through lessons like The BadIdeas Toolkit that I realize I have nothing to fear. There is no right or wrong answer. Not every problem in life is like a math equation. In fact life and business are far better captured in the fluidity and artwork of writing. I always feared writing because I thought I was never good at it. Math came far easier to me because it always resulted in one answer; there was always a pattern delivering the one answer. But now, for the first time in my school life, I turn to my fear; I find solace in my fear – writing. Writing makes sense now. Writing is like life. This sentence, this paragraph, this story, will never ever be perfect. It will never be finished, because it can always be changed. This discovery can be translated into the brainstorming of ideas in the d.studio and for the business canvas.

I’ve realized that the only times this thinking process breaks down is when I stop believing in myself. The moment I doubt my idea, revert to bad habits and allow my negative subconscious to rear its ugly head, everything falls apart. I have to get up and walk away, re-center myself and revisit my analysis stages: what, why and when not. I am learning a lot about myself and solidifying my core traits. I thoroughly enjoyed the “About the Ten Faces” reading and identified with The Anthropologist, The Director, The Collaborator, and The Caregiver. I’m realizing more and more that I’m a very people-oriented person and that my empathy doesn’t have to be a detriment in the profit-driven business world, but an asset.

Even GROUP WORK is better than just bearable. I am enjoying the company of my classmates. I feel like I can rely on them; a feat that is truly worth mentioning. I find myself, more often than not, taking on the leadership role. I am comfortable in this position but I also value and appreciate a healthy team dynamic.

For some time now I’ve been at unease about the more structured practices that dominated my educational career. This class is settling that unease. It is opening up articles and opinions that root business in customer experience and differentiation through DESIGN AND INNOVATION.  All that logical, left-brained emphasis, no longer feels so sound. Times have changed. This is the age of entrepreneurs and I am so excited to be apart of it.

Will Papademos,

former vice-president of the European Central Bank, Greece’s new prime minister, 

pay the bills?

The democratic process is generally touted in the western world as the most desirable form of government, but you have to wonder; given the frequency with which countries have been going bankrupt lately, that there might be a better alternative to allowing an ill informed and self absorbed populace determine who should be running things.

The debt and democracy dilemma has us dangling from a whole lot of bull.

Buttonwood suggests a practical answer: “… if you don’t want to be at the mercy of creditors, don’t borrow lots of money from them.” 1

Well, we’d feel warm all over if so many of us weren’t already deep in the hole.

The problem is that there’s little incentive for any party in power to tell the people who put them there, that in order to meet the country’s financial obligations, their taxes have to be raised and their pensions must be cut by 50%.

Greece, high on the list of potential absconders is presently in this position. The Greeks are violently opposed to any change in the status quo that might put them back on the road to solvency and satisfy the IMF 110 billion euro bailout.

China has become banker to the western world and is likely to remain so into the foreseeable future.

Unless the critical mass realizes that debts need to get paid, and unless we elect to meet that end,

the majority vote for bankruptcy will remain the status woe.

Commenting On Another Blog

¹Buttonwood’s Notebook.”Reforming Europe: Debt and Democracy”.

 The Economist. Sept. 8, 2011.

Sienna Richardson-Isberg shines a bloglight on the funky phone app that won’t short change your next Starbucks fix…unless you forgot to load your phone.  The new payment method is indeed a nifty improvement on plumbing your purse for the exact change, however,

most repeat Bucks customers quite simply will not care.

It’s a coin toss whether this innovation will froth up enough interest in a currency shift or simply serve as one of the thousands of gimmicks to fade into obscurity. It’s likely the devotees won’t care either way, and they’ll still be fishing for the elusive oonies jangling in the far reaches of their Burberry couture.

Innovation, especially in a business that puts a heavy emphasis on customer service is like trying to hold onto a frog smeared in Vaseline. Demographics are increasingly unreliable as people become more mercurial and individualized in their consumer preferences. Predicting consumer trends in order to enact effective innovation methods is like trying to find a good reason to keep the penny in circulation.

Bottom line; it’s got to be good and we want to feel good when we’re there.

It will be interesting to see if other businesses will hitch a lift

on the smart-tech wagon.

Commenting On A Classmate’s Blog

In response and in full support of the message in Jaskaran Chauhan’s blog, titled “Eco Friendly or Brand Friendly?”, I would further suggest that Air Canada’s Zerofootprint propaganda is offensive.

In the years prior to the 1970’s, BC’s lower mainland experienced some nasty pea-soup smogs. Because they were a serious threat to commerce, the hue and cry went out that this was unacceptable to the populace. The biggest contributors to the smog were the waste wood beehive burners-so they were effectively condemned. Lo and behold, most of the burners were decommissioned and the smog disappeared.

At no time during this period was it suggested that massive fans should be installed to blow the smog out to sea or that one million trees should be planted to offset the effects of the burners.

But the world is faced with the immediate threat of global warming and we are fully engaged in self delusional games.

Yes, airplane engines and aerodynamics are more efficient and yes, less polluting fuels can be developed, but unless a government cap is imposed, projected airline growth will offset any techno innovations.

Tree maturities vary depending on their species and most won’t function as carbon converters for another 5-50 years. Crunch the numbers on carbon emissions from one Boeing 747 jet flight (at approx. 31 kg carbon/hr ¹), then multiply that by thousands of flight hours daily, subtract the conversion ratio (a mature tree can absorb CO2 at a rate of of 22 kg/year ²), then apply it twenty years down the road and you will find your ‘zerofootprint’ program has made ‘zeroimpact’.

By all means plant trees; trees are beautiful and in the natural order of things they help maintain the carbon-oxygen balance, but let’s not kid ourselves…

and shame on Air Canada for trying to ‘fuel’ us.

Commenting On A Classmate’s Blog

¹ “Math! How much CO2 is released by Aeroplane?“. Small-M. May 8, 2007.

² Pareja, Marlon. “Trees and Climate Change.” Green for Life: One Million Trees and Beyond. 2009

The recent contretemps

over the routing of the

Keystone Oil Pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to Texas brings the whole business of sending

Canadian resources south into focus again.

Whether we agree to supply the US with electricity and water, or the US, China and the Pacific Rim countries with our oil and natural gas, once the taps are turned on, they can never be turned off except by mutual agreement.

 Should the US economy continue to decline and threaten their ability to pay, Canada would either be left bleeding resources without payment in return, or would have to cork the flow and brace for a clash with the strongest military nation in the world.

It must be said, that the US have never fully abandoned the concept of Manifest Destiny; viewing Canada as a kind of repository of resources to be tapped when needed.

So what do we do?

The proposed scheme to pipe natural gas and Tar Sands oil across to a BC port for shipment to China and the Pacific Rim countries might be seen as a viable business alternative, but unless the Keystone Line was already in place, the US would see this as an act of aggression and Canada would be made to pay through obstructionist trade policies.

Canada is going to have to accept the fact that its resources, and quite possibly its identity, are caught between a rock and a U.S. place.

Mayeda, Andrew; Quinn, Greg. “U.S. Review Delay May Doom TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline.” Bloomberg. Nov 10, 2011 9:02 PM PT

Given that business must grow in order to survive; an ever expanding world population would seem to be the ideal. There’s only one problem; sustainability suggests humans will affect the demise of this planet before we find another planet to inhabit.

 So unless you’ve reserved seats for a self sustaining stealth capsule secretly circumnavigating Earth’s outer thermosphere, you should worry.

Environmental blogger Mireya Navarro acknowledges that, “…the population issue has been conspicuously absent from the public discourse on global warming…” in her blog entitled, “The Elephant in the Room.” 1

The world population is expected to climb to 9.5 billion by 2050, up 2.5 billion from the 2011 figure. The majority of these 2.5 billion however will be born into poverty and rather than contribute to a healthy business climate will depend entirely on aid from western economies.

Long before the end of this century, famine will have reached catastrophic proportions.

Clearly, radical global birth control measures need to be implemented now if any of this is to be avoided.

Unfortunately all we hear from our governments is how best we might increase crop yields or improve water supply. Very little conversation is enlisted about how we might effectively implement draconian population control measure to offset the real problem.

Assuming that humanity can achieve some kind of utopic future population-consumption, there is no doubt many of the business giants will have made adjustments to survive in a no growth sustainable business economy.

But it seems to take events of catastrophic proportions to effect any real change. Perhaps environmental collapse might be the stimulus.

In the meantime, let’s face facts and talk about how we are giving birth to the end of the world.

Commenting On Another Blog

¹Navarro, Mireya.“The Elephant in the Room.”Green: A Blog About Energy & the Environment. The New York  Times.  Nov. 1, 2011. 11:20 am.

Since the fall of the wall in 1989, Germany has struggled with reunification and the rebuilding of their infrastructure. Despite these colossal undertakings,

Germany has emerged with the strongest economy in Europe.

It’s not surprising then that when they’re asked, as a reward for all their diligence, to bail out most of the rest of the Eurozone, that their kraut’s gone a bit sour.

 Greece, Italy and Spain are all in need of huge cash infusions to avoid economic collapse. The average German is resentful of the fact that his tax money must now be spent to bolster up what he sees as incompetent and corrupt regimes with no guarantee of a successful outcome. It’s enough to cramp a leader’s hosen.

The French, with Europe’s second most buoyant economy, must also throw money into the hat. In addition to being equally indignant, they disagree with the Germans as to how to proceed. …but of course!

Should an accord as to how to avoid economic meltdown in the Eurozone be reached and implemented, and should these bailouts put the defaulters back in the black, then the resentment and frustrations may cool.

Should they fail, then the breakdown of the Eurozone is highly probable and we’ll all be eating pickled cabbage.

A recent airing of female infuriation over gender-based pricing, or to put it plainly, gender gauging, has women losing their shirts. CTV’s Lynda Steele hosting ‘Steele On Your Side’ has taken a closer look at the market differences between the sexes.

Many women have a subliminal awareness that they pay more when it comes down to larger purchase negotiations, but Steele suggests it’s more widespread than we think. She points out that, “…it is estimated that Canadian women pay 30 to 50 percent more for many goods and services, from cars to items at the cosmetic counter … .” ¹

Steele goes on to expose dry cleaners and hair salons as two of the worst offenders, and when interviewed, Tim Silk of UBC’s Sauder School of Business added, “…gender pricing won’t change until women actively fight back against discriminatory pricing.”²

Given that, “…Women earn less money than their counterparts — 78 cents for every dollar a man gets. But they make more than 80% of buying decisions in all homes. And…Females research more extensively and are less likely to be influenced by ads.” ³ women should be expecting equity when the bill shows up.

In the end, men may be from Mars and women from Venus but the girls still want to know why it costs more to fuel their rockets.

More hot fudge or nuts with that contentious banana split?

Maybe both in the case of the Dole Food company vs. Tellez et al. with lawyer Juan Dominguez leading the charge in 2007.

Sifting fact from fiction and the ethical from the immoral has become a hot mess and a hard legal nut to crack.

Since Fredrik Gertten’s airing of his ‘Bananas!’ the case has become more than a question of ethics; it has become an exercise in corporate power play and the malleability of the American justice system.

At first declared a victory for Nicaraguan banana workers made sterile due to exposure to the wrongful and prolonged use of a banned pesticide by Dole, it has become an involved appeal process, overturned ruling and nauseating expose on the unchecked power of a multinational corporation possessing ample financial leverage.

Rather than acknowledge what may well have been a profound executive mistake, Dole’s choice to launch a formidable counter attack following their initial jury trial loss casts further doubt regarding their slippery ethical skin.

Their subsequent efforts to indict Dominguez and block further documentary releases about their actions have mired the case in so much legal hot fudge and fraud that those with the intent and fortitude to challenge them have long since collapsed to the financial burdens of the legal system, or have died due to the effects of the pesticide.

This case is bananas. Dole’s disgrace is as certified as it’s fair trade stamp of approval; proof that multinational corporations are still king of the jungle.

Haven’t watched the documentary? Pull up a chair…..

IDA Editorial Staff. “Controversy Surrounds ‘Bananas!’.” Documentary.org. June 12, 2009.