We have an enormous tendency to confuse confidence with competence. We want someone who can do the work, but we tend to trust the person that looks the part. Doing so is inherently dangerous, and points to some significant biases we may not even recognize.

Schedules are a source of tyranny. They often force us to produce, even when we don’t want to. Leadership and success isn’t always about endurance and sheer bloody-mindedness, though. Listen to the cues along the way.

Risk is an interesting topic. We think we are supposed to manage it. But all too often, risk manages us. A better question to ask is, “How well are we positioned to cope with what could happen?” Why coping is more than just getting by.

Sooner or later, it all devolves to work. Success is about showing up and doing the best possible work we can. Much of the role of purpose is helping us to adapt that mindset. Which means it’s all a bit of a mind game. But it’s a really important mind game.

Accountability is a complex and difficult thing. We expect it of others, but reserve wiggle room for ourselves. Especially when we are making promises to our selves. The need to set ourselves up for success, rather than leaving the door open for failure.

A version of this article was published in the Edmonton Journal on 27 May 2015. Certainly, it can be argued that the Alberta health care system has its challenges. Efficiency and the cost effectiveness of health care services were a key issue in the most recent election, and reining in health care costs has been…
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Actually, the journey continues here. We don’t get a lot of do-overs in life. Life continues. We move forward. We build on what comes before. With luck, we learn from it. It’s part of us. Not only can’t we undo the past, it is pointless to try. What matters is what happens next.

Some of you may have noticed that this site has been quiet for the last couple of months. Not that I haven’t been writing; I just haven’t been writing here. That’s less of a reflection of my commitment to post here than it is acknowledgement of the reality that I can only do so much….
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It has been a little quiet here of late. Not that there hasn’t been a great deal of activity in the background, but it has largely been exactly that: alot of activity in the background.

There are days and times when our expectations don’t line up with our reality. Often, we go into a situation with expectations of how it will turn out, and then—for whatever reason—what actually occurs fails to live up with how we imagined it. At the same time, there are occasions when our expectations are quite…
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