In the 80’s, customers were of the mind-set that “[they would] continue to do business with you until you gave [them] a reason to leave.” With so much competition these days, the mind-set is now “[they] will LEAVE unless you give [them] a reason to stay.” That’s business in the 21st century – like it or not. For the consumer, it’s great! The more choices, the better. It forces each business to compete for their attention and hard-earned dollar. The standard of service must be elevated and the business has a strong incentive to never take their customers for granted. For the...

Dear “Old Farts” in the UFC, As a famous athlete, I know that you may naively think that how you live your own life is no one else’s business, but on behalf of all ‘loyal’ UFC and MMA fans, I feel that I have an obligation and a right to express (and influence) any concern that I may feel about how you should choose to exist on this planet. You say that you are in the best shape of your life? So what? Didn’t you get the memo? Dude – you’re old. You are not currently the Champion and I am not at all convinced that you will ever be able to compete at the highest level...

In adventure as in life, wisdom is passed down from father to son. This past summer, I decided that it was finally time to take my 9-year old son Jacob out on his very first canoe trip into the vast wilderness of Algonquin Provincial Park. Camping isn’t just a good way to learn about nature together. It’s a wonderful way to learn about each other as well. The experiences that we shared will last a lifetime and I have learned to understand the many beneficial effects of a father-son canoe trip such as lessons learned through; physical exercise, having fun together, and relationship building. First...

It was with great satisfaction that I watched Vitor Belfort defeat Rich “Ace” Franklin in UFC 103. Not because I don’t like Franklin. Quite the contrary. It’s just…who really wants to watch Rich Franklin fight Anderson “The Spider” Silva again for the third time? Not me. I admire Rich Franklin very much as a person and as a fighter. I admire his intelligence and his total commitment to the sport. I feel that he is a class act and definitely has earned the right to call himself one of the greatest martial artists in the world. With that being said, however, I still fail...

In a recent interview with ‘Fanhouse’, 80-year old Bob Arum, a renowned boxing promoter, boldly proclaimed that “UFC and mixed-martial arts fans are a bunch of skin-head white guys” – “rolling around like homosexuals.” Hilarious! What I found particularly interesting was that Mr. Arum, a Harvard Law graduate (and presumably not a stupid man), made these comments no doubt fully aware that he would be offending a very large demographic of fight lovers. The question is, why would he do such a thing? Just this past week, I was involved in a discussion with my class about the business...

As a teacher and counsellor, one of my main responsibilities is to always offer whatever level of service and guidance that I can to young adults who constantly struggle to choose the right career path that best suits their personal life goals and interests (and in some cases, their dreams). Of course, it always helps that I went through a very similar process myself. Like many before me and many since, I too went through my own personal version of a mid-twenties crisis, where I strenuously deliberated on the next major step in my pursuit of a career worthy of a modern-day adult. As a proud...

Welcome, The following is the resulting conversation from an assignment that was given out on September 2, 2009 between my students (and myself) to help add clarity to the definitions of “Soft Skills” and “Hard Skills” – but more specifically, the classification of “reading and writing” within those skills. The instructions were for my students to visit 3 other random websites and then come back with their own determination/opinion. . . . http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid182_gci1314710,00.html. http://www.2020insight.net/Docs4/PeopleSkills.pdf http://www.linkedin.com/answers/hiring-human-resources/staffing-recruiting/HRH_SFF/531813-34024960?browseCategory=HRH_SFF . Please...