Canada should be the global leader in international education. Millions of people around the world want to study in Canada because of our leading educational institutions, social stability, and high quality of life. The number of international students living in Canada has surged over the past decade, to 621,000 in 2021 from 239,000 in 2011.Continue reading “International students deserve to be treated as more than just a revenue stream”
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Art and Artist Entrepreneurship in Canada’s Future Economy
Canada’s artists are appreciated around the world. From renowned visual artists, such as Kent Monkman, Emily Carr, and Tom Thomson, to famous pop musicians, such as Drake, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd, Canadian creativity is celebrated around the world. At the same time, Canadian artists are much more likely than the average Canadian worker toContinue reading “Art and Artist Entrepreneurship in Canada’s Future Economy”
The world needs more compassion, not empathy
It is a truth universally acknowledged: Everyone needs to be more empathetic. Prominent leaders extol the benefits of empathy, with former U.S. president Barack Obama saying, “When you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers – it becomes harder not toContinue reading “The world needs more compassion, not empathy”
Canada’s ballooning mortgage debts could put a dangerous dent in entrepreneurship
Canada is a world leader in real estate price inflation. Since 2000, Canada’s housing prices increased in real terms by 168 per cent, compared with price growth of 55 per cent in the United States. Canada’s national housing agency predicts that home prices could surge by a further 14 per cent over the next year. Canadians are spending soContinue reading “Canada’s ballooning mortgage debts could put a dangerous dent in entrepreneurship”
Post-secondary students are graduating into a recession — here’s what that means for the social impact sector
The International Monetary Fund forecasts that Canadian gross domestic product will fall by over 6 percent this year, which will be the most substantial economic contraction since the Great Depression of 1929-1933 and significantly more severe than the Great Recession of 2007-2009. While no financial crisis is the same, economic recessions disproportionately negatively impact those entering theContinue reading “Post-secondary students are graduating into a recession — here’s what that means for the social impact sector”
Personality assessment tests are no substitute for truly getting to know your employees
American psychologist and author Adam Grant has famously described the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, arguably the most commonly used personality assessment, as being somewhere between a horoscope and a heart monitor in terms of accuracy. Unfortunately, many employers misuse personality tests to make significant human-resource decisions, from who to hire to who to promote. Personality testing is a $500-millionContinue reading “Personality assessment tests are no substitute for truly getting to know your employees”
When hiring new grads, employers should ignore grade point average
Canadian employers continue to face the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years, and more than 41 per cent of Canadian firms indicate difficulty filling job openings. From my experience working with hundreds of Canadian small businesses, many, but certainly not all, Canadian firms continue to screen out job candidates who are recent grads based on grade pointContinue reading “When hiring new grads, employers should ignore grade point average”
Mid-sized cities are the perfect places to build a startup
What do Verafin, Radian6, Kinduct, Coconut Software, Vendasta, AbeBooks, GranDuke Geomatics and New Horizon Interactive all have in common? They are all very successful Canadian technology companies that emerged in mid-sized cities, which for the purposes of this article are defined as Canadian census metropolitan areas with anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 residents. More thanContinue reading “Mid-sized cities are the perfect places to build a startup”
What’s holding Canada’s tech companies back? Surprisingly, it’s not a lack of technical talent
In television shows such as Silicon Valley, fast-growing technology companies are depicted as employing predominantly software engineers. The reality of most companies is quite different, as these types of firms often have more business than just technical roles. Consequently, many fast growing firms – often referred to as scale-ups – face more significant challenges recruiting forContinue reading “What’s holding Canada’s tech companies back? Surprisingly, it’s not a lack of technical talent”
Canada shouldn’t aspire to be the new Silicon Valley
*Please note this piece appeared originally in The Globe and Mail. Here is the link. When you think of startups, Silicon Valley likely comes to mind. The birthplace of Apple, Google and thousands of other technology companies is often presented as the global pinnacle of innovation. As a consequence of this branding, Canada’s respective technologyContinue reading “Canada shouldn’t aspire to be the new Silicon Valley”
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