When is a public forum a waste of time?  You’d know the answer If you attended the recent Mayor’s Forum hosted by the Owen Sound Chamber of Commerce.  Their intention was good, but regrettably inadequately planned, managed and moderated. The Chamber believes that hosting the annual forum fulfils its mandate of advocacy and leadership in […]

The Mayor’s Forum, an annual event hosted by the Owen Sound Chamber of Commerce was promoted as an opportunity to hear the Mayors of Owen Sound, Georgian Bluffs, Meaford and Chatsworth talk about “ways to cooperate” and to “create common efficiencies” among their municipalities. It did more to highlight the dysfunctional relationship between Owen Sound […]

  Surely someone’s told you to ’embrace failure’ before. Here’s what that means, actually, and how to do it. Failure can be extremely painful. Indeed, the “normal” psychological reaction to failure is to distract yourself and do something completely different right away. But extremely-successful entrepreneurs typically defy this “normal” reaction. They go back and try […]

  During Social Media Week, Quirky CEO Ben Kaufman said when it comes to product innovation, there are limits to what social media can do. Among the many events currently taking place as part of Social Media Week, Quirky CEO and founder Ben Kaufman spoke Thursday about benefits and, more importantly, the limitations of social […]

When you hear it, advice is just that, advice. You only know if it’s great after the fact. Wouldn’t it be great if you knew in advance? The father of my college girlfriend once told me that digital electronics–semiconductors, to be specific–was going to be huge. That was in 1978. I had nothing better going […]

  Today faith only goes so far. Earning trust is the sure path to success. Brian Halligan, CEO Of HubSpot, shares five tips for building trust fast. All collaboration is built on trust. Whether making sales, building a team, or managing people, without trust productivity falls apart. Often, you’ll take action, requiring trust even before […]

Offer expertise and knowledge to help customers–don’t just sell to them. Content marketing seems to be all the rage right now, right? But as it turns out, businesses have been using content to give customer-value for over a hundred years. Here’s a great example, if you’re a Jell-O fan, in 1904 Jell-O door-to-door salesmen would […]

  Forget cramming to learn your new industry inside and out. When you’re starting up, ignorance makes you more creative, unique, and effective. Maybe ignorance really is bliss. I talk with entrepreneurs all the time who started their businesses without a real understanding of what they were getting into. It sounds crazy, but I actually […]