So amazing to join International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) at their conference in Kona, Hawaii to talk about the global economic outlook Thanks to National Speakers Bureau for booking! (and decided to share a picture of view from my balcony rather than the...
Gen Z is a unique generation, perhaps more likely to be dealing with stress and anxiety - or perhaps just more likely to talk about it. On this episode, Dr. Sarah Adler CEO/Founder of Wave Life, Inc. joins Linda Nazareth to talk about how organizations...
Awesome to be in Nassau to talk to BITAC Events Hotel Owners Conference about the economy and the megatrends changing work and the future of hotels...
Cool (like old times!) to be on BNN Bloomberg to talk about the big picture trends impacting the labour market...
What can an anthropologist tell us about the future of work? A lot as it happens, since they know a lot about societies and cultures, which means that their observations about the workplace can help us understand how things are evolving and what might come next....
Fun to join the ladies of The Social today to talk about the Gig Economy!...
The word 'networking' may seem a bit outdated, but perhaps it is time to update its meaning. To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Andres Lares, Managing Partner at Shapiro Negotiations Institute. They cover what networking means today and why and...
Workers want more than money when they accept a job and typical looking for things like a manageable commute and a good team to work with as well. Increasingly, they are also interested in working for mission-oriented companies, wanting to work for organizations that are...
At a time when the world of work is more stressful than ever, how can leaders avoid burning out? To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Lisa Earle McLeod and Elizabeth Lotardo, authors of the book Selling with Noble Purpose....
Artfiicial intelligence is changing the world, and it will inevitably change the world of work - but what will those changes look like? To tackle this huge topic, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Surface at...
Organizations talk about the need to have diverse organizations and they may be sincere about that, but actually making that happen can be difficult to do. Designing the right programs is not easy and getting people on board can be even harder. To talk about...
How does an organization get ready for the future and build a workforce that is ready for it when technology is changing so quickly? To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by David Morgenstern, President of Accenture Canada. They talk about...
Workers want a certain amount of autonomy at work, but leaders have always been wary about providing it. Finding the right balance is now more important than ever, and also more difficult than ever given that many workers are now working remotely. To talk about...
Such a pleasure to speak with American Express clients at their recent virtual event. Here is a short clip from the opening of my presentation on economics and the future of work. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://relentlesseconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/amexclipshort.mp4"][/video]...
Part of succeeding at work is building a strong brand and the kind of 'social capital' that has people thinking about you when projects and opportunities come up. That is hard enough if you are at the office every day, but a lot more difficult...
So happy to have been part of the recent 'Transformation' Professional Development Day at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. I spoke about the future of work and then enjoyed the Q & A from the very engaged audience....
Anxiety is everywhere, including in the workplace - but can it be used in a positive way? Better yet, are there ways that leaders and organizations can create an environment where anxiety is reduced if not eliminated? To talk about that Linda Nazareth is joined...
On this 100th episode of the podcast, Linda Nazareth is joined by Carolyn Byer, Human Resources Lead at Microsoft Canada who was one of the guests early in the pandemic lockdowns. More than two years later, Linda and Carolyn reflect on how organizations had to...
So great to be part of a panel on the future of work and the challenges for Pensions and Investments at the Canadian Pension Risk Strategies Conference last week. Such a great discussion with the audience and my fellow panellists on the ways that work...
Awesome event yesterday at BDO Canada talking about the megatrends impacting the future of work and the importance of having a growth mindset. Challenging times ahead, but exciting times too. Happy to be part of the discussion!...
In the future will we all wear headsets and communicate through avatars with our work colleagues? The metaverse is changing much of how we communicate and that has huge implications for the world of work. To talk about the implications Linda Nazareth is joined on...
If you have a job and you have kids, you know that one impacts the other. Logistics is part of it, but there is more as well. Our work impacts our life outside work, and our families, perhaps more than we think. To discuss the...
Getting worker communication right is difficult, but it is at the crux of running an effective organization and the technology that is supposed to help sometimes seems to make things worse. To talk about effective ways to use technology to improve communication, Linda Nazareth is...
We all know what ' imposter syndrome' is as it relates to the workplace - the idea that you do not really belong, but are faking it as you are surrounded by people more competent than you. Then again, maybe that’s a generational thing and...
We all want to be productive, get more done, accomplish more – but it is kind of ironic that the more we think about those things the more anxious we get and the less productive we get. If we want to be productive, we probably...
Was great to be in Ottawa to present to appy to be in Ottawa today to present to the Canadian Crops Convention #CdnCrops23 at their first in-person event in three years! We talked about the global economic outlook and about the megatrends that are shifting...
What a great event! Loved presenting at the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA)Annual Leadership Conference in Fort Worth to a super-engaged and enthusiastic group....
Workers are dealing with all kinds of traumas at present, both in their personal and in their professional lives. To talk about that, Linda Nazareth is joined on this episode by by Katharine Manning, author of The Empathetic Workplace: Five Steps to a Compassionate, Calm and Competent...
Awesome to be in Bonita Springs, Florida last week to speak to the super-engaged audience at the Touchstone Energy® Cooperative, Inc. Next Conference about the economy and the outlook. ...
A different episode this week as Work and the Future Host Linda Nazareth is interviewed about her just-released book Working it Out: Getting Ready for the Redesigned World of Work. Special guest Bridgett Anderson, President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, talks...
Working and making decisions go hand in hand. Every day we make dozens of decisions some thoughtful and good but others perhaps clouded by emotions or by haste. They are not all wise decisions – but maybe they could be, or maybe more of them...
So great to be in Banff (gorgeous in winter) to speak at the Western Connect event organized by BUKSA / Conferences + Associations . Thanks to National Speakers Bureau for booking!...
So great to present to #Cannexus23 this week (virtually!) about the themes in my new book 'Working it Out: Getting Ready for the Redefined World of Work' - thank you to CERIC for the invitation! #futureofwork #keynotespeaker ...
If we are going to work effectively and have any kind of balance we need to set boundaries, but how we can we do that? In a world where work demands seem to constantly be rising, saying 'no' to anything sometimes seems impossible. To talk...
Should organizations force workers to take vacations? With workers increasing reporting that they are suffering from burnout, it might help if people took time off even if they are forced to do so. To talk about the issues around that, Linda Nazareth is joined on...
Hybrid work has become the norm in many organizations but it is an uneasy norm, with many details to be worked out. From how many days workers should be at the office to how managers can best connect with workers, many key details are still...
If no one is in the office, how can you create a culture? On this episode Linda Nazareth talks to Ken Babcock, CEO and co-founder of Tango, a browser and desktop application that automatically generates how-to guides. Ken leads a fully remote team of 30...
Fair or not, people will trade off wage hikes for the ability to work from home. Read more in my latest piece from the Globe and Mail here...
Amazing to be in Vancouver yesterday presenting to the Vancouver Board of Trade on the future of work and being part of the thoughtful Q & A session afterwards. Skills mismatches and shortages are everywhere and was awesome to be with a group so committed...
What an amazing event! Had the pleasure of both speaking and leading a workshop for advertising agency Dentsu on the future of work in finance. Great to be part of the discussion (and to enjoy their gorgeous workspace!). ...
We know that partnerships and teams matter to all organizations but movies are a little different. When you get a team together to make a movie, you are bringing together a lot of creative people and as well a lot of people with competing priorities....
Great afternoon joining the Ontario Private Camping Association at their recent conference to talk about an economist's view of climate change. Important topic and awesome that this group is being pro-active about what comes next....
So great to join CPBI Pacific at their Vancouver event on climate change and the economy. Enjoyed doing the keynote on an economist's view of climate change, but was also cool to moderate the discussion afterward. ...
Just about everyone - even if they work independently or remotely - has to collaborate with other people on occasion. Not everyone likes to do that and not everyone does it well, but when collaboration fails there are real business costs. To talk about how...
Awesome to be in Charlottetown this week talking to the Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation about the about the future of work. Great group, important topic and gorgeous city!...
Awesome to be in Vancouver to speak to the MGI Global conference about the global economy and the megatrends that will shape it in the coming years. So great to be back in lovely rooms like this one at the Pan Pacific Vancouver!...
After work usually comes retirement, except that the line between the two is not quite what it used to be. With people living longer and with investments not always working out, there are a lot of people aged over 65 who make their way back...
Always a pleasure to be on CBC Metro Morning as their future of work columnist. This week talked about the trend to being a 'digital nomad' and choosing to work somewhere sunny if you can! Listen here...
Had a great morning speaking to the Purposeful Intent conference in Toronto about the future of work. So much to discuss given that we really are at a pivotal moment in economic history. ...
Despite the inroads women have made in the workforce over the past decades, the progress may not be as good as it looks particularly when it comes to the C-Suite. On this episode Monika Hamori, Associate Professor at the IE Business School in Madrid joins...
Amazing to be part of a panel for ACCA this morning and to be discussing the future of work and the accounting profession with a global audience. ...
Lucky me - got to discuss the future of the economy in one of the loveliest places in the world, Banff, Alberta. Thanks to Canada Life for the invitation! ...
Was awesome to speak to the Ontario Municipal Financial Officers in lovely Blue Mountain, Ontario. Yes, the discussion was about the economy but it was also about resilience and why it is more important than ever to develop it both from an individual and an...
The workplace is in a state of flux, and that includes the physical workplace. It used to be the place we went to because that is where we could work – that was where the computers were and we had to sit in board rooms...
Is it time to deconstruct jobs and how do we do that? On this episode Linda Nazareth is joined by Ravin Jesuthasan, co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Work Without Jobs How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System. They talk about why it may be...
In my latest column for the Globe and Mail I look at the phenomenon of 'Quiet Quitting'. As much as it is easy to write off the Gen Z workers going this route as slackers, the reality is that they are sending a message that...
Resilience has become a kind of buzzword when it comes to business and when it comes to our lives. We are told to be resilient and to bounce back from setbacks, and we also hear about the need for resilient organizations, especially in the wake...
The finance sector has been one of the economic leaders over the past few years, with companies seemingly hiring as many workers as they can. And it isn’t just the finance sector…workers with skills in financial analysis have been in hot demand in all kinds...
Great to speak with CBC Metro Morning about how organizations should be thinking about attracting Generation Z. They are not the Boomers or even the Millennials! https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-39-metro-morning/clip/15928598-what-canadian-employers-need-attract-gen-z-workers ...
The heat waves in Europe this summer are a reminder that our planet is getting warmer and in turn that that will have an impact on the future of work. See more here in my latest column for the Globe and Mail...
This year has been a tough one for a lot of organizations. They have needed workers, sometimes needed them desperately, and it has not been easy to find them and they have been continuously losing them as we go through this thing called the Great...
I now do a regular column with CBC Metro Morning discussing the economy and the future of work. This week I covered the new report from the World Economic Forum on the gender gap as measured by several metrics including health and labour force participation....
Was awesome to join the Canadian College and University Food Services Association at their at their recent conference at Casino Windsor. Great to talk about the megatrends changing the economy and how they will impact food service ...
As we move to new models of work we have sometimes wondered whether remote workers are too isolated but are hybrid workers also isolated - and maybe even lonely? And if that is true, as some evidence suggests, what should organizations be doing to help...
So great to speak to the the Canadian Securities Lending Association at their conference in Toronto. Wonderful to be in front of a live audience talking about the future of work and the economy #futureofwork #keynotespeaker #economy...
What do concerns about ESG mean for the future of work? The pandemic aside though, we have a building awareness of what is going on in terms of environmental change in general, and a building awareness of ESG Investing. ESG-of course being the acronym for Environmental, Social,...
Have you ever been asked to do something at work that you thought compromised your morals? It could be something big and dramatic like in a movie, where a worker is asked hide a report on safety even though it might mean people die or...
How we work impacts many things including the environment and equity and income distribution as welI and there are indications that moving more work remote could help us achieve our societal goals. To discuss why remote work could have so many spin-off benefits, Linda Nazareth...
I am now working with CBC Metro Morning as their Economics and Future of Work columnist...
Is there a way to turn the Great Resignation into the Great Retention? For the past year we have heard a lot about the Great Resignation, the rush of people who are quitting jobs because they are not happy where they are, often for reasons...
The price of everything is spiralling which means all of the calculations that people made about retirement may need to be re-calculated. That might mean staying in the workforce longer or maybe returning after you have exited it. Whatever decisions people make will have wide...
Two years ago, business travel ground to a halt and we learned to communicate with each other without getting on planes or driving for miles. Now, travel in general is coming back and business travel is as well. That means we need to budget the...
Thanks to The Labour Market Group in North Bay, Ontario for having me kick off their Future of Work webinar series. I am so happy that we now have so many discussions taking place around the future of work - we are transitioning into a...
This is a special episode of work and the future sponsored by Microsoft, and it is on a special topic as well, the subject of disabilities in the workforce. More specifically it is about the disclosure of disabilities because there are far more people dealing...
Is leadership training going to the wrong people? Typically organizations give leadership training it either to very senior people or those who they have identified by conventional metrics as future senior people, but maybe that is not the best way to do things. On this...
As companies scramble to find hourly-paid workers, what can companies do to attract them? One thing would be to recognize that many of their workers are dealing with considerable financial stress, and that helping them to counter that would be of mutual benefit to workers...
Toxic workplaces are everywhere and are frequently cited as one of the main reasons why people quit their jobs. What kind of culture allows toxic workplaces to flourish? And if you are a manager, what can you do to turn things around? To talk about...
How do art and the world of work go together? If you are an artist, is that a conflict with working in a conventional environment? And if you are running an organization, is it good or bad to have artistic people working for you? The knee jerk...
When you hear the word ‘negotiation’ you probably think of a high stakes deal being made, but the reality is that we all have to negotiate in our work lives as well, whether that is for a raise or a promotion, or with workers that...
Is hybrid work the best of both worlds or the worst of it? Even before the pandemic organizations struggled to find the right mix of having workers in the office or elsewhere and two years into it many are still trying to find the right...
How will work have to change to accommodate longer life spans? A child born today has a 50 per cent chance of living to one hundred, but even now we know the workforce is aging. In turn, that means we need to change both organizational...
How do we give graduates the skills they need to make a decent living and give organizations the tech skills they need to operate productively? Ryan Craig is the Managing Director of Achieve Partners and he joins us to talk about ways to give students...
Happy to be quoted in this article in Bloomberg Opinion on inflation and how that is impacting generational spending choices. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-01-02/millennials-are-finally-buying-houses-what-does-that-mean-for-inflation...
What are the trends around the future of work we should be watching as we get into 2022? I take. a look at them in my latest column for the Globe and Mail...
What do space missions and remote work have in common? A lot as it turns out, which means that there is a lot that remote workers and those who manage them can learn from looking at what it takes for astronauts to operate effectively when...
How do you not just accommodate hybrid work but actually create an effective hybrid culture? To talk about the effective strategies for doing that, we are joined on this episode by Carolyn Byer, HR Lead for Microsoft Canada who shares her experience of leading a...
Virtual meetings bring people together but as they do they also shift power dynamics as compared to live meetings. Who will be the winners and losers in this virtual world? As we virtually bring people into our homes, how are we changing our work lives?...
We put so much into our careers, trying to do our jobs well and impress management with our performance – but is that enough? The fact is that there are career skills that go beyond the scope of our job and a lot of people...
All of a sudden the term 'The Great Resignation' is everywhere as worker leave their jobs in droves in the wake of the pandemic. The U.S. has seen this hit record numbers, and we have seen it in Canada and in other countries as well....
If some of your workforce is 'visible' in an office and some are 'invisible' at home, how can you ensure that everyone is treated fairly? There are many considerations for managers, particularly since hybrid work may disproportionately affect some groups of people, whether they are...
How do you bring together workers from different organization with different corporate cultures? Combining organizations may make sense from a business point of view, but when you do it you are often bringing together many disparate parts. Doing it effectively means crafting a communications strategy...
If you watch any kind of high level sports, you have to marvel at how much training it takes to get to an elite level as well as the training it takes to perform on game day. Doing things under pressure is not the same...
At one time mental health may have been a subject that organizations wanted to avoid discussing, but those days are rapidly disappearing . With the pandemic still ongoing, this is a very difficult time for many and as it is taking a toll on mental...
Remote work is not going anywhere so was great to be part of a panel hosted by the Globe and Mail to discuss the implications of it, You can see more here ...
It is the fourth quarter of 2021 and we are still in a state of flux in the work world.. Companies are struggling with whether to bring everyone back to the office, there are labour shortages all over, and just what normal looks like in...
Even in a post-pandemic world, it seems unlikely that we will ever go back to an old-style workplace where everyone comes into the office on a daily basis. Work from home arrangements and hybrid workplaces will be the norm, which means we will lean on...
With the pandemic not behind us yet, how can organizations be agile and willing to change up how we do things, maybe several times more before we get to the end of this? And how can workers come together to get things done effectively as...
Can you turn departing employees into loyal alumni? When a worker leaves, most companies bid them well, perhaps doing a hasty exit interview on the way out. That, however, may be a short-sighted way to do things. Today's guests are Dr. Alison Dachner of John...
Sooner or later we will be going back to offices and work space, but we will be doing it with a different mindset. Partly that is around how safety how do we set things up so we don’t spread the next virus, but there are...
Was great to have the chance to talk about the 4-day workweek with Anne Gaviola of Global News this week...
Frito-Lays workers have recently settled a strike (over appalling work conditions) but that is not the end of the discussion on the best way to get snacks into bowls. Right now the answer is apparently to grind out shifts from human beings, but the next...
How do you create a corporate culture where workers have a voice, and if you are a worker how do you decide to speak up? Employees are the ones on the front lines, the ones who know what is going on in a organization and...
Was lucky enough to moderate an awesome panel on education and the future of work for D2L yesterday (virtually of course, but amazing how well it works). So many challenges ahead, but also so many great ideas and plans around how to meet them. ...
Is there a way to fairly adjust salaries so that there are no disparities by race or sex or anything else? Our guest today says there is and she has put it into practice at her company. Marie Rose Roiux is CFO and VP Business...
Schools, colleges, universities - are they the right providers to educate workers for the future of work? Or are their models the wrong ones for the education we will need in future? I tackled some of these issues in my latest column for the Globe...
Can you use scenario planning to prepare for the future and the future of work? As the pandemic has shown, you can never be completed prepared for what might happen, but planning and imagining scenarios can definitely give you an advantage. Our guest today is Lance...
Have you ever been ghosted? Not on a dating app or by a friend, but in your work-life? It happens all the time. It may be the old we should have lunch thing- someone says it, you try to follow up and they never answer...
Is data-driven hiring the future, and if it is should we be happy or a little bit scared? With the economy heating upm we are seeing a surge in hiring, or at least a surge in companies trying to hire. As they look for the...
How do we present and communicate now that we are in hybrid work world? .We have gotten used to presenting virtually to a team that is perhaps far-flung, so what happens now when we have to get back to the office and communicate to a...
Is crisis mode our new normal in the work force? As the pandemic took hold in early 2020, it became clear that it was a case of “all hands on deck,” as everyone needed to step up to deal with a disruption the likes of...
As we move towards the future of work, it is becoming increasingly clear that that that might mean re-thinking education models. We tend to think of education as being a few years after high school then maybe the odd course to pick up new skills...
Australia is held up as an example to those of us in North America and elsewhere in the world. They did not completely escape the pandemic, but they came pretty close and for the most part, they are back at work in offices, if they...
We are getting good news on the economy and the labor market but are the statistics telling us the whole story? Even with a surge in hiring and a fall in the unemployment, there is a core of people who have been out of the...
YOLO - you only live once. Coming out of the pandemic, a lot of people, and in particular younger people are taking that attitude and it may have economic implications. An eagerness to switch jobs or industries and to travel more could shake things up...
Whatever else is going on in the economy or the world, one thing that never seems to change is our battle to have enough time to do everything we feel we need to get done in our work (and in our personal) life. We...
Is getting an MBA super important and the key to success, or is it an expensive waste of time that will not necessarily get you where you want to be? The market seems to go back and forth on it:some years it seems that there...
Working virtually is awesome for a lot of people, although it might be slightly less awesome for younger workers. If your home office is actually a laptop propped up on your bed, and if you haven't got anyone to socialize with beyond your cat -well,...
Do you know what the bull whip effect is in terms of economics? A lot of us might not have known or cared about it before, but it could make a lot of difference to how robust the post-pandemic rebound turns out to be. Learn more...
The pandemic may be ending, but that does mean that workers are headed back to where they were in the spring of 2020. In some cases, their positions have been eliminated and they are going to be forced to reinvent themselves. In others, their jobs...
Was great to speak to Canadian network CTV about the future of work post-pandemic...
How important will reskilling be to our economic future and what role should business play in making it happen? And what about continuous training? Business has always been reticent about training because there is always the risk that you could lose those trained at your...
How do you take someone with one set of skills and gret them ready for a job market that needs a completely different set of them? It is an issue that we had started to grapple with a lot before the pandemic, but the pandemic...
Was an honor to speak to the recent 'Ahead of the Curve' event held by American Express for their Canadian team. I talked about the outlook for the global economy as we come out of the pandemic as well as the things to consider longer...
Should we be worried about pandemic graduates? If we are to go on the history, those who graduate during recessions tend to have a much harder go of it than 'luckier' cohorts, and the disruptions we have seen this time around could make things worse....
Over the past year we have leaned heavily on technology, but it has kind of been a love-hate relationship. We love technology it because it is cool that we can work from home, but we also get frustrated when it does not work, and we...
Our major economic problem right now is the pandemic and its offshoots, but that does not mean the economic issues we had before the pandemic have gone away. One of those issues is technology, or rather the speed of technological change and what that means...
Remote work used to be looked at with suspicion, but after nearly a year of trial by fire, everyone knows it is great - right? Actually, not right. Despite having tried it out for months, many managers still view remote work as very much second...
Was privileged to moderate a great roundtable on 'New Approaches to Reskilling and Upskilling Displacd Workers' for th Business Council of Canada and the Public Policy Forum last week. Moderating by teleconference is a bit different than doing it in person, but takes me back...
Guest: Bretton (Brett) Putter is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures. Company culture can be a fairly murky concept. Roughly defined as 'how we do things' it should be reflection...
Coming September 2021, my new book Where We Left Off: Ten Trends Changing the Post-Pandemic Economy. Looking forward to speaking on the topic in person then and virtually anytime! Contact speaking@relentlesseconomics.com to book. ...
Last column of the year for the Globe and Mail- what should we expect from the post-pandemiic labour market? Read more here ...
Can an organization actively build a a resilient workforce? Are there ways to create resilient workers? It would seem to be to our advantage to do that: according to a study published by PwC, programs that foster a resilient and mentally healthy workplace returned $2.30...
I have been talking and writing about the K-Shaped economic recovery for a while now. Basically, some sectors and individuals are going to be in favor over the coming years and some are not, with the split between the two getter ever larger. In many...
This is Episode 3 of aspecial series on Coming back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In our first two episodes we talked about how companies can come back stronger, and how workers can build the resilience to cope with their new stresses. Today we look much...
This is episode 2 of a special 4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. In Episode 1 we talked about what organizations should do to come back ready for the post-pandemic world, but what about individuals? Their...
This is episode 1 of a special 4-part special series of Work and the Future called Coming Back Stronger sponsored by Microsoft. We are still fighting this pandemic but we are also seeing light at the end of the tunnel. But how are we going to...
The gig economy’ sometimes gets a bad rap – people hear it and they think of ride-share drivers who really want to be full time. In fact though the gig economy is a much more nuanced place, one that encompasses different kinds of gig workers,...
With the pandemic raging and organizations in flux, is this any time to think about a vacation? In North America in particular, we have a mindset that taking vacations is a little bit lax and with the pandemic and its stresses that mindset is going into...
If you work remotely you are not going to buy your usual coffee and sandwich near your office, and that is going to have economic consequences so someone should pay for that through higher taxes. That is the premise behind a suggestion from Deutsche Bank...
Spurred by social media, intergenerational warfare seems to be on the upswing, including in the workplace. And, given the conflict and the idea that generations are working against each other we can lose sight of the fact that we could potentially gain from each other...
So much attention gets paid to the pandemic and how it is changing the work world that we sometimes forget how much disruption was going on long before we ever heard of Covid-19. The fact is, automation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution were already changing...
In a world where civility is in short supply, is there a way to keep our workplaces civil? These days, politics often divides us, with feelings running deep, and the extra stress of the pandemic can bring tensions to the fore. Still, there are ways...
The gig economy gets a lot of negative press, but is it actually a bad thing? Although some think it is synonymous with income insecurity and bad management practices, in fact for many it is the way they choose to work. For professional workers who...
I am so excited to share that I will be speaking at Microsoft's Future Now event, to take place virtually October 27th and 28th, I will be one of more than 100 speakers talking about digital transformation, the future of work, and being primed to...
We are getting close to a vaccine for Covid-19 and a return to something approaching normal in the workforce. But will normal look like for companies? And how should companies plan for the post-pandemic future of work? Our guest today is Cathryn Barnard a Partner...
Another day, another virtual presentation! Thank you to CPA Ontario for letting me to speak to their conference today on the economy and where it is going, particularly with the uncertainty of the political environment. All live-streamed from my home studio, with cutting-edge production and...
Are you afraid of unemployment or are you sure you are forever employable? As the economic outlook becomes increasingly uncertain, many people would put themselves in the first category but would certainly like to be in the second. Our guest today is Jeff Gothelf, author...
We are re-imagining everything else, so maybe we need to imagine the office as well. The physical office we are familiar with has its roots in designs first imagined a hundred years ago, with a bit of a Dilbert-style reboot thrown in during the 1950s....
Yes I miss in-person presentations, a lot actually, but cool that we can still keep the conversations going. Here I am on someone's laptop (you can see his coffee mug to the right) as I speak to the Ontario Municipal Human Resources Association fall conference...
Are there things that animals can tell us about how to cope wth work stress and ultimately how to work better? Our guest today is a psychotherapist with a passion for horses, and she has found a way to marry the two together. As she...
Six months into the pandemic and with more months to come, most workers are coping but not without difficulty. Whether it is stress about being home and isolated, or stress about going back to work and possibly getting sick, a lot of people are under...
It may have been a bit of a struggle to make it work, but the pandemic has forced many companies to keep their teams intact even when they are not under the same roof. As workers have de-camped to far-flung places, perhaps permanently, we are...
What does flexible work mean to you? It might mean leaving a few minutes early to catch your kid's soccer game, or it might mean totally restructuring your job so you can travelfor a few months. In both cases, however, employers have traditionally been hesitant...
The school year is starting and the pandemic is not ending and Generation Z will have to deal with that. In fact, they will probably have to deal with the impact of the pandemic for years as the effects of it shape the way that...
It is something you hear about a lot - the need to be innovative. We hear that innovation is the key to economic growth, or the companies need to encourage innovation – but what does that really mean? Our guest on today's episode is Anders...
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is in full swing and according to the World Economic Forum, the transformation it imposes on us will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. For business to weather this revolution and come out on the right side of it will...
Climate change it was an issue before the pandemic, and it will be an issue when the pandemic is over.More than that, the issue of climate change will be a long term issue that impacts the future of work. Between the ways that we operate...
When we think about the words that go with 'leadership', 'heart' is rarely among them but perhaps it should be. The pandemic has shown us that business as usual is no longer going to get the job done, and as well we are all acutely...
Why choose one career when you can do more than one at the same time? In these days of gig jobs and the need to pivot as the economy change, maybe we should thinking hard about 'portfolio careers' or doing several things at the same...
What does a Navy fighter pilot have in common with leading during the pandemic? A lot, at least according to our guest today. Communicating wel, reinforcing core values, remembering to listen- these are all things that leaders in the navy are trained to do, and...
We are all used to interacting with one another in person, at the office, at meetings, just casually. Particularly when it is a business context, we tend to think about how we should present ourselves and we know all about the firm handshake (now a...
Freelance work something of a controversial workforce trend. To some, it is the dreaded gig economy, those who are forced to work on contracts or driving ride shares because they cannot find that holy grail, the full-time job. To others though, it represents freedom, the ability to...
The pandemic has forced a giant-scale experiment in online education, and by many accounts it is going very poorly. From first graders to college students, everyone seems to be frustrated at having to take the classroom experience to a crowded space in the kitchen, and...
Remote work is having a minute, or rather a series of them. Some companies have used it for years, some have been adamantly against it, but both kinds are being forced into it at the moment. As the pandemic forces millions to figure out some...
Many sectors have been impacted by the pandemic, but none more completely than the travel sector. One week is was functioning at full capacity, and then the next the lights had completely gone out, or so it seems. When they go back on, they will...
As the labor market goes through an evolution that started long before the pandemic, our communities are being transformed as well. In many cases that means good things, as when successful companies hire and prosperity increases. Other times there are less-positive spin-offs, with some people...
All of a sudden, front line workers are being treated as the heroes of this pandemic and that is only fair. Bus drivers, grocery workers, cleaners, meat plant employees – all of these people jobs that need doing and they put themselves at risk in...
As a society, we tend to both love and hate our arts sector. Love them, because we do value the contributions that music and visual arts and theater and film make to our lives particularly now. In the midst of this pandemic, how many lives...
Ready or not, the world of work is changing. And, whoever you are, you need to figure out your place in the future of work. We need to re-imagine everything. Who are the workers that will be in demand in the future? Will robots take our...
Was so great to speak to Manitoba Tech's Disrupted Future conference last week..I spoke about the future of work, which is scary and challenging but something we need to come to terms with now. There is lots to be optimistic about, and I think people...
I am excited about my upcoming speaking engagements in 2020, none more so than the presentation I will do to the Connect Travel Market Leadership Summit in February in Kissimmee, Florida. I will be talking about the megatrends for the travel industry and will be...
Let's face facts: tech is indeed replacing workers, especially at places like grocery stores where simple functions like scanning labels can be done without employees. A labor group in Oregon wants to legislate that away, but can you even do that? Read more here in...
Maybe we will have a recession, maybe we won't, and anyway by all means use a different word if you prefer.'Slowdown', 'Soft Patch', 'Downturn', any of them will do, and any might describe where the economy will be by next year. If we do hit...
One of the big worries regarding the future of work is that jobs are going to disappear altogether, replaced by breathtaking technology and clever robots. That is happening to an extent, but apparently some dregs are being left for humans, for better or work. 'Ghost...
Do not get me wrong, I love tourism as an industry and have huge respect for its economic force. I want to see it grow, and frankly I want to keep travelling myself. However, I cannot ignore the conflicts between tourism and climate change and...
Did a shift in corporate culture have anything to do with the issues with the Boeing 737 Max, the (now grounded) plane that was involved in two accidents in recent months? Maybe we will never know the truth of that accusation (which comes from a...
An hour to answer questions about the future of work - what could be better? I really enjoyed the hour I spent on CBC Radio earlier this week, supposedly talking about a re-think of the five-day work week but in fact covering all kinds of...
When I speak to employer groups about the future of work, they are often keen to know what they should do to both attract and hold on to workers. In tight markets, that often means attract anyone, anyone at all, they are not fussy. Still,...
It is almost like an urban myth: we were supposed to get a wave of baby boomer retirements that were going to make it a seller's market for younger workers. And it is happening - except that it is apparently more like a splash than...
The future of work is a huge subject, not one that can really be tackled by in a forty minute period, but we gave it a shot at the Globe and Mail's recent Future Forward conference. I was part of a panel that touched on...
Will cutting-edge layaway plans be the salvation of the retail sector and the broader economy, or are they a disaster waiting to happen? The newest experiments in making it consumer payments easy is creative, but may not bring the long-term results that retailers hope to...
Industrial revolutions are always kind of scary, at least for those who have to make a living. The idea that some crazy new technology can do your job, and maybe do it better..well who can blame the Luddites of the 19th century who took hammers...
Last week I had the chance to be a guest on my old colleague Bruce Sellery's podcast, Moolala. We talked about Income Share Agreements, about which I have kind of mixed feelings. They are a way to spread the risk for students, in that they...
Someone asked me about this the other day and I decided to share in a Linkedin article. See it here (and feel free to share the best advice you ever got in the comments) ...
It always happens the same way: the economy slow and births go down, and then it gets better and there is a mini baby boom. Except - not this time. It is ten years after the end of the recession and births in the U.S..and...
After I give keynote presentations at conferences, I often do a Q & A session, and inevitably people ask what they can do or what their kids can do to make sure that they are not left behind as the tech revolution (this one, we...
A big misunderstanding? Uber and Lyft drivers are protesting across ten U.S. cities this week, as well as in the U.K., South America and Australia, saying that the companies are treating them unfairly. The companies say that they are a great deal for the drivers,...
No one is saying central bankers ever had an easy job, but at least in days gone by it used to be a bit more straightforward. If labor was in short supply wages went up and people had more money to spend and prices went...
Whenever I speak before an audience I inevitably bring up the subject of demographics, because to me it is the aging-elephant in the room. Whether I am engaged to talk about the economic outlook or about interest rates or about the future of work, it...
The 'nine-nine-six culture' (working nine to nine, six days a week) is something close to the norm for Chinese tech workers who are supposed to embrace it with no complaints. Now, some are pushing back on it, and employers are not thrilled (and are not...
Ugh, the college admissions scandal. Rich parents buying their kids into top colleges, coaches taking payoffs, entitled kids pretending to be athletes or scholars or whatever, and sometimes not even really wanting to go to school. It is all pretty distasteful - but is there...
After this Globe and Mail column came out, I had a friend call and ask whether he should re-jig his portfolio to get rid of his auto stocks. The piece is about demographics, and specifically about the implications of the fact that people spend differently...
Jobs come and jobs go, but are the ones that are coming as good as the ones that we are losing? I was taken by some new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which looked at the job titles being added and found a...
I was intrigued when I heard about 'Income Sharing Agreements' which are basically a way share the 'risk' of paying for an education between the student and another party.See my column for the Globe and Mail here ...
I am thrilled to announce that my book Work Is Not a Place: Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy has been nominated for Canada's National Business Book Award. Last year at this time I was sitting looking at my laptop and wondering...
It's a new year so how better to celebrate it than by throwing away all the junk you bought last year? And the one before that, and before that? Seems like so many of us have piles of unwanted 'stuff' and nothing feels better than...
I actually am a fan of the hashtag gigeconomy..in many ways it is a better way to get work done and for some workers it offers a ton of flexibility, or is at least an alternative to the traditional model of work. That said, not...
Okay, we have to talk about a recession. It might not happen, but enough indicators are suggesting that it is a possibility that we do have to go there. At the moment, we have these incredibly low unemployment rates in Canada and the U.S. but...
This is my latest article for the Globe and Mail..this time on 'Perennials' as older workers are sometimes called. Those over 55 now comprise about 23 per cent of the U.S. workforce and 21 per cent of the Canadian one, which should not surprise anyone....
I recently had the chance to do a great interview with Anne Gaviola of VICE on 'How Not to be Replaced by a Robot at Work'. For those of you who are not aware, VICE is a site that primarily attracts those under the age...
In my latest column for the Globe and Mail I write about the controversial subject of a robot tax. In one sense it is fair enough: if you hire workers you have to pay a payroll tax, so if you go with robots (or cobots,...
Money is cool but workers need more than that: after all, there are droves of well-paid workers who right-this-minute are sprucing up their resumes because they feel like they cannot stand a single more day at their jobs. If you asked them why they are...
Work Is Not a Place (the new book) is officially out on December 9th which is exciting..has been a long process (but a fun one too. Some days.). In the meantime, I have been out talking about the subject of it, which is basically the...
We have kind of been moving to a winner-take-all world for a while, but a decade after the recession the trend only seems to be intensifying. The McKinsey Global Institute did a pretty thorough job of looking at the phenomenon in a recent paper, making...
The Bank of England seems to be asking the hard questions about future of work...
Automation is cool in so many ways and it is going to do great things for business. It is even going to create amazing new jobs that we cannot even get our minds around yet. But here's the thing: they may not be jobs for...
My latest column for the Globe and Mail sparked a bit of a reaction – I got a lot more comments than usual. The subject? ‘Class’, and whether originally coming from a lower socioeconomic class hurt people’s careers right from the time they sent out...
Seems like a ridiculous concept (at least in North America) but some British researchers say you should. I see it more as a sweetly retro concept, a last ditch effort to separate work and leisure. See my Globe and Mail column on the subject here ...
We have a labor crunch now, and for the most in-demand talent it is only going to get worse. That's why I have to applaud Disney's new 'Disney Aspire' tuition reimbursement program. See my piece for the Globe and Mail here....
We have a labor crunch now, and for the most in-demand talent it is only going to get worse. That’s why I have to applaud Disney’s new ‘Disney Aspire’ tuition reimbursement program. See my piece for the Globe and Mail here....
If you want to pick a restaurant you might check out a Yelp review, and if you want to pick a hotel you might check out TripAdvisor. What happens though when someone is deciding whether to hire YOU and you are at the mercy of...
If you want to pick a restaurant you might check out a Yelp review, and if you want to pick a hotel you might check out TripAdvisor. What happens though when someone is deciding whether to hire YOU and you are at the mercy of...
Here is my latest Globe and Mail column an d it is kind of radical. Given that lives are getting longer, should we think about starting careers later, maybe as late as 40? Crazy right? Maybe, but maybe we need to at least open our minds...
Well maybe most people do still work 'normal' hours but they want to shake things up as well. See the column I wrote about the topic for the Globe and Mail here. ...
You pay too much in taxes right? Well, everyone thinks they do, but honestly some people have more of a case than others: single taxpayers (who are a growing group) are actually the ones getting hid the hardest these days. See my column about it...
Here’s a piece I wrote for the Globe and Mail on the way that demographics are affecting the supply of young hockey players. Millennials have provided lots of young players which have sped up the game, but that may change, You can read the whole...
You pay too much in taxes right? Well, everyone thinks they do, but honestly some people have more of a case than others: single taxpayers (who are a growing group) are actually the ones getting hid the hardest these days. See my column about it...
Well maybe most people do still work ‘normal’ hours but they want to shake things up as well. See the column I wrote about the topic for the Globe and Mail here....
I kind of love the way that Vermont is dealing with its old-and-getting-older labor force problem. They want millennials (or anyone) who usually just shows up to ski to think about setting up show and telecommuting from the state with the lovey autumns – and...
Changing technology is turning into tragedy for some of those whose lives and likelihoods are…but I don’t think we can legislate change away. See my latest piece for the Globe and Mail and here....
Coworking spaces are springing up everywhere and attracting businesses of all sizes. That is good for everything from the bottom line of large companies to the lonliness epidemic, which is actually something with economic implications. See my Globe and Mail column on the trend here ...
The Organisation for Economic Development has put some odds on the you-vs.-automation battle for your job. The net net is that automation is coming and that Canada (and other countries) net a plan. See my new piece for the Globe and Mail here ...
Due to popular demand, I've added a new speaking topic: The Side Hustle Economy. The Globe and Mail column I wrote on it garnered a lot of interest and I'm looking forward to expanding on it on the speaking circuit. Here is a brief synopsis...
Side Hustles are not just a tiresome millennial trend - they are how a lot of people are filling in income gaps. If you want to know what one looks like on a royal scale check out the Queen, who has made $9 million plus...
March 8th was International Women's Day and I had the good fortune to celebrate it in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, speaking to the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. The occasion was their 'Trailblazers Lunch' which honoured high-achieving women in their community. It was a great event, and...
Canada just presented its Federal Budget, which was ostensibly about helping women's economic power. I'm kind of underwhelmed (and old-fashioned enough to wish they would just balance the books, for everyone's sake). Here is my piece on it for the Globe and Mail ...
A blog that covers economic and labor market trends may seem to be a strange place for a fiction book review. Then again, maybe not. The changes now going on in the workplace are saga-worthy, and there is something to be said for looking at...
Could we be moving to an era of shorter work weeks? See my latest for the Globe and Mail here ...
Demographics always matter - even when we are talking about the Olympics. Here is my latest for the Globe and Mail, which talks [caption id="attachment_2029" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir carry the flag of Canada during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics...
My latest piece for the Globe and Mail tackles the issue of the pay gap between men and women in Hollywood. It isn't fair, but what is exactly? See it here...
Here is my latest piece for the Globe and Mail. I write about - hot topic these days- minimum wages but more specifically why they are an issue at a time when the unemployment rate is so low. I mean, the market should be pushing...
Of all the things I do work-wise, one of my favorites is speaking to live audiences. You cannot fake it: you are up in front of people who are investing their time and you have to give them something that makes them believe it was...
My latest piece for the Globe and Mail on why Prince Harry is one of many young men 'marrying up' ...
Here is my latest piece for the Globe and Mail, It talks about the way that inequality is going to follow this generation of workers into their senior years....
Here is my latest column the Globe and Mail. The subject is youth unemployment and underemployment...
I am thrilled to now be writing a bi-weekly column for the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. See my first here - it is a look at how the gig economy is in force but our social policies are woefully out of step with...
Is there a better way to see the future of work than to follow the drama that is Uber? The ride-hailing service burst on to the scene in San Francisco just about six years ago and nothing has been the same ever since. From how...
Walmart buying Modcloth? ‘Say it’s not so’ went the lament from Millennials and other assorted cool people earlier this year. After all, Modcloth is a cutting-edge, online retailer that offers funky clothes for those who consider themselves the opposite of everything the world’s biggest retailer...
North America is aging, and a lot of the rest of the world is aging as well. It is something to think about as we consider where we are going to get the labor we need to grow our economies in the years ahead. That...
Demographics drives a lot of things including Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A) activity. That is a lesson we are now learning from Japan, where there are apparently too few heirs to take over large companies as their boomer-aged Chief Executives head for retirement. This piece...
There are a lot of things robots can do, but they cannot make societies any younger. Canada and the U.S. are aging – there is little debate about that. What exactly that will mean for the labor force and the economy is a bit more up...
The inside itself is still a work in progress, but here is the (provisional) cover of my upcoming book Work Is Not a Place: Reimagining Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy. I am at work on it and the plan is to...
What if you built a wall to keep people out, and it turned out that no one really wanted to get in anyway? Okay, some people might still want to enter the U.S. from Mexico and other countries which have typically supplied low skill labor,...
So I see it as kind of too little too late, but Canada's 2017/18 Federal Budget (presented yesterday) did kind of address some of the big labour market issues to come. Skills Development and Innovation were kind of themes, but identifying the issues is really...
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I'm happy to have been able to contribute to Macleans' list of '75 Charts Every Canadian Should Watch in 2017'. My post was on the 'Gig Economy' and you can find it here (you have to scroll down to find it, but that gives you...
If I had to think of an industry prone to poisonous industrial relations battles I would probably think first or the auto sector, or maybe even something like education or health. The battles in those industries, however, are apparently being matched by orchestras (can I...
Collaboration, sharing ideas, boosting creativity, creating bonds – all of these are reasons that are typically given for having open plan workspaces. Sit next to your colleagues in an open plan office or cubicle, goes the reasoning, and productivity will rise. Not so, says new...
Sure you can go for a run for free, but if you did you would be off trend. That is one take-away from some new statistics on where people are spending their fitness dollars. According to this article from Quartz (which quotes data from the...
Maybe I’m late to the party, but it was only recently that I heard the phrase ‘side hustle’. Apparently it has been around a while: way back in 2013, Entrepreneur.com tacked up an online definition, calling ‘a way to make some extra cash that allows...
Robots, joined by Gig Workers, are now making Twinkies, and they are doing such a good job that their parent company is going public. That’s a powerful statement about today’s manufacturing and economy, never mind our nutritional preferences. Twinkies, those flaky, cream-filled snack cakes that are...
Amongst the problems with the Sharing Economy – and its offshoot, the Gig Economy – is the fact that shares in it tend to be pretty unequal. In fact, even more than is the case of a usual employee-employer relationship, oftentimes the ‘employee’ in this...
A year ago most of the us knew little to nothing about the Zika virus, but at the mid-point of 2016, it appears that its existence is one factor that could disrupt world economic activity for years to come. The existence of the Zika virus...
Really, it seemed like the universal basic income (UBI), was going to be the hot new thing in economic policy. It sounds like such a simple solution to economic woes, so uncomplicated, just so basic really. Give every citizen in a country some form of...
Here’s a new one to me: the ‘divorce mortgage’. No its not some crazy, invented term to describe a financing vehicle (my mind went back to ‘plain vanilla swaps’ from the days when derivatives were the buzz), but rather exactly what it sounds like: a...
You might not have noticed it, what with one economic crisis and stock market meltdown after another grabbing your attention, but the last few decades have actually been great ones for investors. Thanks to a perfect storm of factors, investment returns for the period from...
Goodness knows, there is nothing better for the economy that productive workers. After all, an economy grows through having people working, and by having their hours at work be efficient. That can come through having them use the right equipment, or just by having them...
The rise of Robo Advisors highlights a trend of jobs traditionally thought of as high skill potentially being replaced by technology...
Billionaires are getting a bad rap these days. We would love to see the middle class (good luck defining what that is) expand, and the poor shrink in numbers. Even millionaires are more or less okay, since what with real estate wealth and all it...
We all know the how the narrative goes: manufacturing is dead, and those old cities known as industrial centers are as well. It is not a hard case to make it if you take a quick tour of places like Pittsburgh or Detroit in the...
Millennial women want to launch global careers but companies are missing the boat by not giving them what they want. That’s one of the most interesting points I found from reading the new study by consulting firm PwC on talent pool of Millennial women, published...
Twenty and thirtysomethings would apparently rather buy experiences than things, and that has some very definite implications for retailers – or as least that is one theory. As this article from Bloomberg Business suggests, the stock market tells the tale of what is happening very...
Way back when I studied economics, I don’t actually remember learning what a ‘negative interest rate’ was. In fact, even a few years ago when I taught graduate-level economics (a whole other post), I don’t remember it being in the curriculum, or even being asked...
When people rhyme off the things they want to do in retirement, ‘pay off debts’ is never on the list. Nevertheless, it is something that baby boomers will have to do anyway, if data from the New York Federal Reserve (NY Fed) is to be...
Like it or not, the sharing economy is everywhere. I’ll go as far as saying it will be one of the big economic stories of 2016, although its influence will extend far longer than that. It’s a different way to do business, and it works...
New study says it is better to avoid toxic employees tha...
..And What are the Odds That they Will Do It? I am happy to be included in the 'Ten Thinkers' That the Globe and Mail asked to answer that question. See my answer (and everyone else's) here.....
The ‘sharing economy’ is apparently making inroads in the education field. These days, savvy teachers are selling their wares on a site called TeachersPayTeachers.com, which is a kind of Etsy for teaching plans and the like. In fact, the CEO of the company is a...
Young voters seem to be okay with allowing their parents and grandparents to choose their political leaders. Could things change in Canada's October election? For this piece for the Speaker's Spotlight website (they do a great job representing me if you'd like to book me...
We all say it, and we worry about it too: we are an aging society, and that’s going to have repercussions. In Canada, the median age of the population is now close to 41 while in the U.S. it is still-youthful 37ish but rising (according...
What do you think of when someone says ‘HR?’. For a lot of people, the ‘Human Resources’ department of their company is the group that makes them fill out a lot of forms, takes a bunch of surveys, and handles the admin of filling positions....
I had barely heard about Campus Coliving and their business model before I saw the sad announcement yesterday that they were closing down the company, a result of not being able to make any money at it. The problem I'd say is that as a...
Is Mickey Mouse a snob? According to this article from the blog Theme Park Insider (reprinted by Quartz), while once Disney (NYSE: DIS) was all about welcoming the middle class into its parks, these days you have to be rich to party with the well-heeled...
‘Employee Engagement’ – you may want to brush that off as just another HR buzzword, but the truth is that unless your employees are engaged its doubtful you are getting the most from them. If you’re an employee you can confirm that actually: the less...
I admit, I have watched television shows set in law firms for a long time now. When I was young and impressionable, I watched the excitement on L.A. Law and was intrigued enough to eventually take the Law School Admissions Test (I did get accepted...
Everybody hates the suburbs right? Or at least all the cool people. They talk about a return to the downtowns, about walkable spaces, about riding bikes to work. It is all interesting stuff, but are people really rallying against the suburbs? Any look at population...
Etsy (ETSY) and I go way back. My first purchase from the online crafts marketplace was a set of personalized aprons to give as a gift that I bought back in 2010. Since then I’ve purchased baby blankets, Christmas ornaments, a ton of custom invitations,...
“I’m trying for Freedom 95” says a friend explaining his retirement plans. It’s a joke, sort of. Some people try, or used to try, to save enough to get out of the labor force a good ten years ahead of the norm, and maybe they...
How can a city with a unemployment rate of 19 percent scoff at any industry, especially one that accounts for 15 percent of its GDP? That was my first thought when I heard that the city of Barcelona is actively pursuing a strategy to keep...
Hey I’m a politician – again! I’ve declared to be a candidate for Town Council in my home town for a by election coming up in a few weeks. It’s my second try at this, given that I unsuccessfully made a bid for a seat...
Issues about whether a hereditary monarchy should exist aside, I have nothing against the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They seem cool, and they seem to work pretty hard as well. They do more than their share to bring tourism into Britain. It appears that...
If you were a brand new graduate from a top tier university, you had a degree that made you a hot item and you could work anywhere at all, where would you choose? Say it came down to Wall Street or Silicon Valley – both...
There are so many facets of the shuttle-bus-to-Silicon-Valley story that fascinate me. The fact that people are willing to commute a fair distance to be able to live in San Francisco while working for tech companies 60 miles away has big implications, and not just...
Was it all big one fun, Technicolor roller-coaster ride never to repeated? The economic growth of the past fifty years was awesome, at least in a historical context. Question is, was it a one-time-only, and are we destined to go back to the sluggish economic...
Attention interest rate watchers: Walmart is raising wages so the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to be hiking interest rates. It is not as simple as that, but it kind of is actually. In case you missed it, here is the New York Times’ take on...
How would you like free college tuition for you and for your kids? It would really take the pressure off, right? Of course you’d take it if offered – but what if there was a catch, the catch being really high taxes forever? That’s the...
Here is the good news for U.S. restaurants: it costs less to fill those SUVs and minivans these days, so some of the saved money is going to be spent eating out. (Blooming Onions for everyone!). The bad news? That windfall to restaurants is not...
Former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries (yes, I said ‘former’, he stepped down today) said some pretty dumb and offensive things about who he wanted his clientele to be. If the company’s numbers were good nobody might have cared, but in this retail environment he rightly...
Do you go to the mall? I used to, quite a bit actually. In the 70s, 80s, 90s, even the 00s – the mall was the place to buy stuff, and I liked stuff as much as any child and young woman in North America....
Trust me, I am not saying that ‘Oprah’s Favorite Things’ are a good approximation of anyone’s holiday shopping list. Still, I think it is an economic indicator, of a type, just the same. The Queen of Daytime Talk (and the Forbes-magazine certified 580th richest person in...
Everybody has their favorite so called-called ‘bellwether’ company, the one that tells you where the economy is going if you scan its fortunes. A lot of people like Federal Express, since tracking shipments tells you a lot about the level of activity. Another favorite is...
Advertising, television, media – they sound like cool places to work right? What with Mad Men like a giant commercial for the glamorous industry of advertising, I imagine more people than ever are lusting after careers writing copy and crafting campaigns. Maybe though, their better...
I never thought I would admire Mallory Keaton, but I really do. Okay, the person I admire is actress Justine Bateman, not Mallory Keaton, the ditzy teenager she played on television show Family Ties (it ran from 1982 through 1989). For those of us who grew...
Thought I would post this nice book review of Economorphics that appeared in the publication Canadian Government Executive. The reviewer (Harvey Schachter, who also writes for the Globe and Mail) says that ' Economorphics is a book that government executives can learn from, as they establish...
Freelancing, the best thing ever to happen to the workplace or an evil idea designed to make workers poor and companies inefficient? We are not even close to a consensus on that, but apparently we are getting closer. According to one new study, 41 percent...
Ah, street theater. Buskers, break dancers, the sidewalk artists that sketch – they bring a city to life, and they attract tourists as well. The right ones – like the guy I saw do a marionette show to music in Charleston, South Carolina last summer...
Is being a ‘solopreneur’ – someone who basically runs their own shop –a good thing or a bad thing for the economy? We had better figure it out, because apparently the number of them (us actually, I am one as well) are increasing a phenomenal...
Yes, it is an economic story. Goodness knows the Jian Ghomeshi mess has a little something for everyone - horror, drama and apparently porn – but if you were making a movie it could also be a financial thriller. So much of the drama of...
A long time ago, when I was deciding what to do when I grew up, I gave some thought to being a newspaper reporter. I liked to write, I was good at it, it sounded fun. I have always been a practical person though, so...
If you grew up watching The Jetsons, how can you be afraid of Robots? And really, given that it the show about the space age family has run in repeats forever (it was first broadcast in the early 1960s, and then some new episodes were...