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Business Strategy

Ignite Passion before Money

February 5, 2010

This week I had the pleasure to be the luncheon speaker during the Ignite Entrepreneurship course put on by Guelph Partnership for Innovation,  aimed at University of Guelph graduate students from various technical fields including biology, life sciences, materials, agribusiness, etc.

It’s always a thrill to get into a room with 40 or so energetic and bright grad students who are …

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Business Strategy

Technology Visionaries in the 1990’s: A 21st Century Retrospective

January 1, 2010

“It is sobering to reflect on the extent to which the structure of our business processes has been dictated by the limitations of the file folder.”

-Michael Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering Your Business

Recently, I unearthed a 10 year old book by Bill Gates, Business @ the Speed of Thought and took a bit of time to re-scan that 1999 book. …

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Books

{Book Review} Here Comes Everybody

December 13, 2009
Here Comes Everybody Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky

Published by Penguin Books WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Clay Shirky does a fantastic job of explaining why lowered transaction costs from recent inventions like computing, internet and mobility have led to a new world order in which individuals can collectively achieve what organizations used to …

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Economics

Die Berliner Mauer – 20 Years After “The End of History”

November 9, 2009

“What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” – Francis Fukuyama, 1989

…

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Books

{Book Review} Outliers: The Story of Success

October 11, 2009
Outliers Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

Published by Little, Brown and Co. WorldCat • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

Malcolm Gladwell’s counter intuitive take on success. He downplays virtuosic brilliance in favour of timing and sheer hard work. Less research driven than some of his words, like all Gladwell books, a fast and easy read. It was almost spooky to read the …

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Business Strategy

MobileMondayToronto – Striving for Canadian Leadership in Global Mobile

October 2, 2009

Through the 1960’s, 1970’s and into the early 1980’s, Canada leveraged many of its best minds to develop technology solutions that span the great distances and empty spaces in our vast country to position Canada as a world leader in Telecommunications. Today, numerous examples from world leading companies like Blackberry to startups like Viigo or Iotum continue to show world …

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Investing

Lessons from Maplesoft Acquisition

September 23, 2009

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” Mahatma Ghandi

Recently I received a cheque as part of the Maplesoft acquisition and was led to reflect how this was definitely not “How To Get Rich Quick with a Startup“. Last night a Maplesoft co-founder reminded me that this strategic exit was “only 23 years in the making.” (See Cybernet Systems Co., …

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Books

{Book Review} Business @ the Speed of Thought

August 22, 2009
Business @ the Speed of Thought Business @ the Speed of Thought by Bill Gates

Published by Warner Books WorldCat • Read Online • LibraryThing • Google Books • BookFinder

The late 1990’s was a heady time for visionaries. Before the Dot Com Meltdown, it seems that every senior executive, myself included, spent lots of time prognasticating on how technology was transforming the world. From the perspective …

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Business Strategy

Gore Mutual Insurance Company Board Appointment

August 15, 2009

I am extremely pleased to share today’s announcement from Gore Mutual Insurance Company that I have been appointed to their Board of Directors. I was officialy appointed at the July 28, 2009 Board meeting and initially, I will serve on the Audit, Pension and Conduct Review & Governance Committees.

Because people may see this diferent from other activities I’m …

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Business Strategy

Has Microsoft Morphed from “Hungry/Nimble” Startup to “Fat/Stupid” Behemoth?

July 20, 2009

Bunny: Don’t you think you’d better go? The tortoise has the lead. Max Hare: Say, I’ve lots of time to play. My middle name is speed. SOURCE: Tortoise and the Hare, Walt Disney/United Artists, 1935

While I typically leave reviews of even major new products to others, my personal experience in the much heralded Windows 7 Beta to launch process provides  some interesting …

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