Mike’s Blog

Do you know those moments where you walk into a room and immediately sense something just happened? What about when you're in a conversation and that little voice in your head is telling you something? Over the past number of years, I've learned to trust my intuition....

I’ve been watching how organizations are responding to the pandemic. Some companies are working to keep things the same, seemingly waiting for the day things will go back to normal. Other companies are adapting to find new ways of doing business. I don’t believe we’re...

I’m missing some of the things I used to spend time complaining about. For example, I used to complain about the days I had to spend hours commuting. Some days the trip to downtown Toronto was such a burden as it would take 2-3 hours each way. When I catch myself...

I've observed how leaders can be rewarded for their ability to take action. It may even be just an unspoken expectation in an organization. Given this, when a leader doesn't know what to do, they still act. When leaders take action for the sake of being in motion, it...

Recently, a friend ask me, “If you were given more than enough money to live and were free to do anything you wanted — what would you do?” The question pointed me to something I want, which I figured I might get to one day. What gets you out of bed every day? Do you...

Leaders create the conditions for people to do their best work. The same is true whether people are working from home, or they’re on the front lines right now. I was brainstorming a post to write on the ways leaders can support people’s best work. That’s when it hit...

I’ve worked companies who wanted to do something new without letting go of their old ways. For example, they want to adopt Agile practices and still have highly detailed predictive plans. They want to build products iteratively and yet have their requirements detailed...

The other day I was having one of those moments where nothing was going my way. Yet, I felt very upbeat and positive about life. For me, the best remedy for a bad day is to remind myself just how much I’m winning. I might even make a list of all of the things I...

Do you know the saying that you should never burn a bridge? I’m not sure I agree with it, as a rule, to live my life by. What if the place I want to leave is toxic in some way? What if the relationship was impacting my mental health? What if the situation I find...

At the time, it was easy to lay blame on the manager who fired me. After all, he was pretty unreasonable. It wasn’t long after being fired that I was feeling full of shame. The shame got me into a downward spiral, and I started to question if I’d ever find another job...

It seems we humans are conditioned to see scarcity in the world around them. Perhaps this behaviour is a survival mechanism from a time when our ancestors worked hard to have enough food to survive. Scarcity can be found all around us. You need to lose so that I can...

I love the inspiring stories emerging from around the world. Strangers are saying “hi” to each other. Neighbours are checking in and looking after each other. Companies are donating medical gear to keep our front line workers safe. We will get through these times by...