Meeting Topic Ideas 
Warehouse Optimization and the Golden Circle: Reduce Picking Errors
(0)Earlier today a Warehouse Manager posted a question in one of my professional discussion groups. Here is his question: “Are you facing problems with wrong quantities picked by your staff? Do you have any suggestions on how to decrease it?” Lately I have been applying the Golden Circle to a lot of work related stuff. This will be… Read More ›

Effective Meeting: “Three Es in Team”
Earlier this week I created a task force at work in response to a scheduled audit. I decided to apply some of the concepts I have been learning and to set the mood I used Alex Pentland’s article in “HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Teams”. It turned out to be a very effective meeting so… Read More ›

Kafka, Salinger and Watterson: the Gift
I guess I was a little distracted when I sat with my wife to watch Metamorphosis last week. We were really looking forward to watching this play. Back when I was a kid I re-read the first line of the book several times: “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed… Read More ›

John Wooden: The Wizard of Westwood
I grew up with a Michael Jordan poster hanging on my bedroom wall. Before moving to Canada I gave that poster to my school coordinator, Hudson Ventura Teixeira. He was my first mentor. Most of our talks were rooted in our love for the game of basketball. Back then my signature move was the superman… Read More ›

Psychometric Assessments: The MBTI
A guest lecturer came to my latest class and talked about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I am going to try to address the following questions that came up in class: Why isn’t this assessment used more often? Would results change over a lifetime? How come this is not administered in High Schools? How accurate is it?… Read More ›

The Golden Circle. Why do we work?
The Golden Circle, Apple products, The Law of Diffusion of Innovations and The Simpsons. Last year I gave three presentations at work outlining our corporate values and giving my employees a chance to come forward with their core values. One of the things I asked during that presentation was, “Why do you come to work?” Take… Read More ›

Dealing with Difficult People: The Know-It-All
I interrupted my reading list to check out a book given to me by a co-worker. In “Dealing with Difficult People”, Dr. Rick Brinkman pinpoints the following criteria for people to feel better. According to research, people feel better when… – They clarify their values – Update their concepts – Learn effective communication – Learn… Read More ›

About: Meetings at Work
English is not my first language but I never really had a problem speaking in public. Back in college I gave excellent presentations. I’d even present as a character in costume sometimes. It was fun. About a year ago in my new role I was tasked to begin every day leading a meeting. I thought back… Read More ›

New Corporate Guidance: Customer Service presentation
Today I had a meeting with my employees about quality of service. If you run a pre shift meeting at a busy restaurant, home depot or clothing store… or even if you are someone that deals with customers on a daily basis… the talk that follows may help you do better. I opened up with… Read More ›

Core Values Presentation: Three day format
Yesterday I finished my third presentation at work on core values.Here is a summary. Goal: Ensure employees are aware of each other’s personal values and their own. Understand company values and how they can make a contribution. Materials: Whiteboard and at least three different markers (black, red, green and blue used). One big envelope. A… Read More ›