Last night I had the opportunity to attend the International Coach Federation-Toronto members’ meeting at The Old Mill here in Toronto (where I had my wedding reception by the way).

The guest presenters were Lynne Everatt and Julie Smethurst, authors of “The GREATER Good: Drink Wine and Giggle.” I didn’t know what to expect – but do know that the room is always filled with interesting people and is always a good time (coaches are great to be around!).

Well, the presentation was certainly different. If you had told me everyone in the room would be up and doing the salsa that evening, I would not have believed you. Lynne put on her i-pod and away we went—dancing to the tune of La Vie Es Un Carnaval (Life is a Carnival). Spoiler alert: I don’t like to dance, am very self-conscious but….dance I did!! It was loads of fun and a great ice-breaker.

And that wasn’t even the highlight. One of the exercises from the book is an “I Am From” exercise. We were tasked with writing (on some pretty neat stationery provided) an “I Am From” story about ourselves. There were no rules; nothing had to rhyme.

Julie’s (from the book) went like this:

I am from summers on the beach and memories,
My memories
My story.
I am from determination and conviction.
From the love of a devoted husband
From the bond of mother and child.
Faithful friends sustain me.
I am from a spirit that stirs within me,
A spirit that urges me to dream, to believe and to create.

Wow!

I scribbled this down:

I am from the streets of New York City
Strong….determined…..forthright
I wear my emotions on my sleeve
Devoted friend, wife, mother
Committed to helping others
Honest…frank….passionate
Always striving for what’s just out of reach.

She asked for a volunteer to read aloud (and offered up a bottle of wine). One tentative hand went up (no, it was not mine). Awesome poem. Then another brave soul, then another and another. Nearly the entire room took a turn and the poems were fabulous! We joked that a room of coaches finally got a chance to talk rather than listen. It was a like an AA meeting… [reader: “Hi, I’m John”; audience “Hi John.”] And another observation…all the men took a turn (in a room filled primarily with women).

Anyway, the next time you’re with a group of friends or with your team, try this exercise. You’ll learn a lot about each other and it’s a real feel-good session.

Till next time!

Not sure if it’s because I’ve been living in Canada 25 years (this month in fact!)…almost as long as I lived in New York City. But, of course, you can take the woman out of New York City but you can’t take New York City out of the woman!

So much has been written lately about the Target stores coming to Canada. I can honestly say I am not a Target shopper, do not routinely shop there when I go back to New York or Florida to visit all of my friends and family and have never ever travelled to Buffalo just to shop in Target. In fact, except for two – maybe three times in 25 years – I have never gone across the border just to shop (although I do admit to shopping across the border if I am going to Hamburg or Rochester or Chittanango to visit friends and family).

An article in today’s Globe and Mail talked about the pricing between Walmart and Target here in the GTA and how they were comparable – with Walmart just nudging Target with a few lower prices. Big deal. Ho hum. But then the article went on to say that prices at Target in the states were still significantly lower than here in Canada and a few folks interviewed talked about still going to Buffalo to shop at the US Target.

Really? Is your time not worth anything? As a consultant, I am used to thinking in terms of per diem and hourly rates and my time is far too valuable to spend it travelling to Buffalo (it’s Buffalo for gosh sake!) to shop to save a few dollars or to buy that illusive bottle of nail polish not sold in Canada. Time aside, what about the gas expenditure or the food you have to buy (have you seen the food court at the outlet mall??? I wouldn’t eat there if you gave it to me for free).

But that’s beside the point. How about this? The next time you go to Buffalo specifically to shop, pay each and every worker you come across in each an every store an extra $3 to make up for the fact that the minimum wage in Buffalo is $3 an hour less than here in Toronto. Let’s see…how many employees are there at any given time in Target? In Walmart? In Coach? In Banana Republic? In The Gap? In Aeropostale? In Macy’s? Start multiplying that $3….how much are you saving again? Oh, and in that DSW store where you spend hours and stock up on shoes.

Time, gas, food, and $3 to each and every employee in each and every store. Not such a bargain after all. Hope you don’t fall ill and need to go to the emergency room…no universal health care there either. And just to continue…wonder what the square footage cost is for stores in Niagara Falls, New York vs. the GTA. Just sayin’. Now back to talent acquisition, career management and career transition blogging. Stay tuned.

Interesting article in Monday’s Globe & Mail newspaper on the labour market and how that market needs better career advice and incentives to invest in training for its staff: (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/canadas-labour-pain-13-million-jobless-but-not-enough-skills/article10595715/)
I remember not long ago when my sons were in high school here in Toronto, how proud the school was that the vast majority of their graduating students went on to university. In fact, when my younger son crossed the stage to pick up his high school diploma, they announced where each student was headed. Of the 200 or so who graduated ( don’t know exactly how many were on hand to receive their diplomas since convocation was in October and they actually finished school the prior June), I recall one or two who were still deciding what they were doing after high school, only a handful (as in maybe five) headed to a college and everyone else to one university or another.
While it is encouraging to see so many young people heading off to institutions of higher learning, is it right for everyone? Is university the answer for everyone? Certainly if you have a plan or a goal and that entails a university degree (let’s say doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, investment banker, physiotherapist, etc.), that is certainly the only way to go. But what if you’re good with your hands and want to do something else? What if you don’t want to invest another four years behind a desk at school? What if you want to work for yourself, want a steady income, want to be in the outdoors or simply want to try different options before deciding what to do? A $60,000 investment when you don’t know what you want to do is a lot of money to spend – or borrow!
So many of the students I knew who were graduating with my sons got accepted into universities but at what cost? Many took a number of their courses at pop-up strip mall ‘alternative schools’ just to get the grades to get into those universities. What happens when they get there and those alternatives are not available to them? How do they compete then? How do they differentiate themselves and succeed? But I digress.
More needs to be done at the high school level by teachers and guidance counselors to educate these students on career paths, career choices and the options open to them. Someone first needs to ensure these educators know what’s available to students, where the jobs are, what the post-high school programs are and where. They can no longer routinely teach the same programs and keep churning out students who then have to decide for themselves what to do and where to go.
A university education today is routine for so many people but what’s available to the vast majority after graduating from a general degree program? Where do they go and what do they do? In a world where you need a university degree to be a retail store manager in a mall despite perhaps having no other qualifications or experience, is a world in which something is wrong. When so many young people have a university degree and no jobs, something is wrong. When so many students are unemployed after university and go on to get master’s degrees and are still unemployed or are stringing several part-time jobs together to make ends meet and pay off their debt, tells us the system is not working.
We need to do more to encourage students to look at all of their options … to think about what they like to do and what they excel in. And then give them the support and tools and training they need to succeed in life. We need to give them the knowledge to understand how to prepare for the career that might be right for them. How to land a good job, to support themselves and their families, to be contributing members of our society.
I’m trying to do that…one student at a time…or as is the case now…in one classroom at a time. What are you doing?

As a career transition and career management professional, it’s my business to be well connected.  As the principal of a boutique consulting practice, it’s also my business to be constantly networking.  And finally, as a recruiter, I darn well better be connecting with folks through multiple channels – in person, by phone, via social media. My network is large and diverse – and filled with people I know well and those I hardly know at all but who are part of my network for current or future business opportunities.

I often encourage people to contact me if they want to be connected to someone in my network and I take the time to make that connection.  If I know them really well and can recommend them, I do that too.

What makes me crazy are the folks who reach out to me and ask me to refer them (actually to recommend them) to people within my network when they don’t even know me.  If I don’t know you, haven’t worked with you and can’t speak to your work ethic, your qualifications, your experience, etc. how can I possibly recommend you?  A recommendation is defined by Wikipedia as an assessment of “the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being recommended in terms of that individual’s ability to perform a particular task or function.”

Please don’t ask me to do that.  Don’t ask that of anyone you don’t know and who can’t honestly speak for you.  As for me, I’ve spent my career building my brand and my network of colleagues and other professionals know that if I recommend someone, it’s because I believe in that person.  It would ruin my credibility if I were to start referring people that I don’t honestly know.

Imagine this.  You reach out to me, don’t really know me, but want me to recommend you to someone in my network.  I do it.  You don’t live up to the recommendation and my contact gets back to me and asks “what gives?”  I have to admit I don’t really know you.  Do you think that person will take a referral from me ever again?  I think not.  Creditability ruined.

Is it familiarity that breeds this behavior?  Is it things like “endorsements” on Linked In where you only have to click to “endorse” someone?  Every day at least half a dozen people I haven’t worked with endorse me for skills they cannot possibly assess.  I don’t accept the endorsements and delete those folks from my connections.  Some people accumulate those endorsements and think the more they have, the better.  I don’t think so.  It’s all about your reputation; it’s all about your brand.

At the end of the day, our reputations – our brands – speak volumes about who we are.  If I know you and if I’ve worked with you and if I want to refer you, I will.  Reputation is everything.