Revitalized organization helps entrepreneurs create impact through innovation
The University of Alberta Health Hub and Accelerator has a new name, a new mission and values, and new services to offer innovators and entrepreneurs starting out in the health sector. Located at Enterprise Square in downtown Edmonton, the accelerator is being rebranded the Health Innovation Hub, effective this month. The vision is for the hub…
Why are you in the business you’re in?
My sister Catherine loves fishing and, to be honest, she’s much better at it than I am. Catherine could catch 10 fish to my one because she knows what she’s doing. Before you even go fishing, you need to know why you’re going. Typically, people go fishing because they love fish and like spending time…
Going digital is “kind of a life-or-death situation for small businesses”
A group of students led out of the University of Alberta School of Business is helping small businesses get ahead of the pandemic-induced warp-speed retail overhaul that is pushing customers online in droves. The students are at the heart of the new Digital Economy Program (DEP), a free initiative that sees a team of U of…
Strategic opportunism is at the heart of innovation
A wise old sage hosted a dinner. Toward the end of the meal, everyone was given fortune cookies and told they were holding their future in their hands. The guests eagerly opened them to read the words of wisdom they contained. The paper slips inside each cookie were blank. “Is this a joke?” they asked.…
Try naming your year
Our guest today, Troy Media columnist Dave Fuller, uses “Naming Your Year” as a method to accomplish what resolutions are meant to but never do. Dave shares how he stumbled upon “Naming Your Year” as a business management method and will tell you what it does and how it works. You’ll hear how he puts…
Setting goals gives us something to motivate and rally our team around
If you’re burned out at the thought of another daunting year and trying to plan, you’re not alone. Trying to figure out what will happen and how it will affect your organization seems like a crapshoot. Yet many leaders who recognize that they need to change still fail to understand how to make the necessary…
And watch your business go down the drain
A lack of productivity is a serious concern because the more it costs us to produce something, the less competitive we are in the global marketplace. And the less competitive we are leads directly to fewer jobs, diminished earning power and a lower standard of living. The usual explanations as to why we struggle with…
The current method is fatally flawed
How business leaders evaluate the landscape, make sense of the environment, proactively shape the opportunities they see and then decide on which course of action to take – in other words, Strategic Planning – deserves far closer attention than it has received so far. There is a strong argument to be made for a more…
Could improve your performance by 10 per cent and double your profits
Imagine slaving away for years in your own business only to find out that it isn’t worth anything. I regularly meet with business owners who ask me how much their business is worth and I have to tell them the disappointing news that it’s actually worth very little. The reason their business isn’t worth anything…
Attitudes and beliefs equal character, while values and competencies equal competence
Sitting just alongside the attitudes and beliefs of an organization is a companion set of attributes that round out the cultural blueprint. It is represented by: The Values: espoused and held to be important. The Competencies: nurtured to drive performance and build talent. It is a pretty simple formula – so simple that many seem…