Author Archives: John Horn

Whitecaps FC Community Asset Review – Part 4

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Editors’ note: Kurt and John are firm believers that Vancouver can and should be the Canadian epicenter for growing the sport and culture of soccer football soccer. This is a self-described healthy community. We can play outside year-round, as fields are rarely closed due to snow and/or freezing. And, most importantly, Vancouver is the place to expertly develop the sport of soccer because our city’s team, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, shares this goal and so demonstrates this vision through its Club Structure and the Whitecaps Foundation, which aims to create the fittest generation of BC Youth by 2020.

As Vancouver Whitecaps FC season ticket holders, Kurt and John are well-positioned to evaluate how the franchise showcases its commitment to “be a significant community asset” – so, following every match we will reflect on this commitment by answering two questions, which are below. Sometimes we bring friends and/or family-members to the game. And sometimes those awesome friends and/or family-members write awesome blog posts about the experience.

How is the team a significant community asset?

Vancouver Whitecaps FC is not only a bicycle friendly organization, they make cycling to games easy by collaborating with The Bicycle Valet. This encourages bike riding to and from the game, which certainly aligns with the club’s vision to develop the “fittest generation of youth in BC by 2020.”

I was lucky enough to attend both home games last week and rode my bike to the games with Michelle on Wednesday and Kurt on Saturday. There was certainly some powerful community building in the lineup for the Bicycle Valet, too, as cyclist chatted about Eric Hassli’s brilliant goal (below), tips about how to get to and from the game, and how beautiful a city Vancouver is for cycling.

WHAT COULD MAKE THE CLUB AN EVEN BETTER ASSET?

With the summer season upon us and BC Place located in our city’s gorgeous False Creek/Downtown ‘hood, Vancouver Whitecaps FC has an opportunity to leverage the beauty of its community – there might not be a better place to spend summer than in Vancouver. For some cyclists, though, getting outside for exercise isn’t enough, so my proposal is that the club incentivize cycling to and from games.

What does this look like and how can it be done? Simple gestures, such as coupons or gift certificates to Whitecaps FC business partners, represent great strating points. Grander gestures, such as “Bicycle Day” or “‘Capscycle”, would go a bit further to honour the folks that travel to experience sport by, well, experiencing sport and emitting far fewer emissions en route to doing so.

So, think  about it, Vancouver Whitecaps FC. See you at the bike valet!

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Masthead photo courtesy of Mafue’s photostream on Flickr

Make Me Feel Important

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A good friend recently had her second child and instead of a baby shower, she had a small gathering where guests shared stories and our wishes for her journey through birth and into becoming a mother of two children.  It was refreshing to be a part of an intentional conversation that created space to tell a loved one how I feel about her.  People were shy at first but the group warmed up quickly and it felt great.

I was at a corporate event last night and 10 speakers took to the stage to share parts of their personal lives with their colleagues.  It was so cool.  Everyone spoke on different topics but the common thread was that they all spoke about what they really cared about.  Again, it was so refreshing to be a part of a conversation that was positive and personal.

I met a brilliant CEO last week who talked about how it’s easy to find people to work for her because she looks for people who lead with their hearts.  How awesome is that?  And how refreshing to learn that a business executive makes hiring decisions that way.

Thinking about these three moments, I realized that they were refreshing because they’re rare.  In our device-equipped society, we spend so much time computing, commuting, and snoozing that there’s not a lot of time left for real connections.  Don’t get me wrong, I love blogs and read a bunch regularly.  And lots of them are very personal.  But unless you know the person writing, it’s just not the same damn thing as talking face-to-face.  And I mean really talking.  Having lean-in moments that you find yourself thinking about for days afterward.   And maybe telling other friends about too.

So why is it rare?  Well, for one thing you need to be present to have those magical moments.  And it’s kind of tiring to be present all the time.  Especially when there’s so much good stuff around us to help us tune-out.  You have to work at it and be open to whatever comes your way.  Which means there’s a degree of vulnerability that comes with being real.  Like, you might say or do something silly and then feel silly then people will think you’re silly and you’ll wish you had of just been cool like The Fonz and didn’t say or do anything in the first place.  But I think The Fonz was as unsure as the rest of us and he needed love too.  Not just ladies, but real love.  Plus, he was just pretend anyway.

It’s so easy to slip into our same old soundtrack of negativity and self-doubt.  And it’s easy to be a part of gossip and useless sharing.  But there comes a point when that’s just way too boring for our spirits and those rare moments become the norm.  There’s nothing like a personal connection and as Claudia Garcia so beautifully says: “pretend that everyone you meet has a sign around their neck that says ‘make me feel important’”.  Then the potential to make those connections is limitless.  Love it – thanks cgg!

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Masthead photo from Franck Mahon’s photostream on Flickr

Claudia Garcia – Soulfully Photographic

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Who are you?

Claudia, a.k.a. “cgg”. Mother, photographer. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay & exiled to Canada in 1977.  My parents arrived with $450 in their pocket, 2 suit cases & 2 young children under the age of 7.  Through hard work, they were able to provide us with a happy home and education.  I have learned so much from all of their sacrifices.  Although I have lived most of my life in Canada, my roots and that “pull” to my culture has always been very much alive & raw inside me. This has inspired me to raise my girls as little Uruguayan Canadians. I only speak Spanish to them.  Spanish books and music are a big part of our lives. Thanks to YouTube we can watch different cultural events that happen in Montevideo, such as the yearly Carnival and various festivals and Skype keeps us connected to our family.  My husband (being East Van born and raised) has embraced this and has learned a lot of Spanish along the way. It is fascinating to watch our 2 ½ year old switch back and forth between Spanish & English depending on which parent she is talking to.

What do you do for fun?

Photography.  I love it.  When I was just a kid, I was fascinated with my father’s camera and would get in so much trouble if I touched it, but I didn’t care – I just HAD to hold it and sneak in a few pictures.  Those were the film days when film and processing was expensive.  At 14, I finally got my own camera and did black & white dark room photography for 5 years.  I have lugged my camera all over Cuba, Jamaica, North & South America through my travels. I love to document life – people working, people having fun.  I also have a thing for buildings.

What is your favourite community? Why?

My favourite community is the one we are submerged into right now.  We moved to the TriCities last year and our children attend a Parent Participation Preschool which is just amazing.  The group of families that run the preschool really walk-the-walk.  When one of the teacher’s husbands broke his leg, everyone got together and cooked up a storm and delivered meals to the family.  We put on a successful coats & toy drive this winter for our local food bank. The fund raising committee that I am part of has done a great job in raising the money that will keep the school up and running for next year.  Next month we are holding a big fair which will give back to the local community with bouncy castles, pony rides, and entertainment, all for a very nominal cost.  Thanks to this community and preschool, our children are in a positive play-based environment and it gives you the warm and fuzzies to watch them discover, thrive and gather confidence.

What is your superpower? People look at me and tell me stuff.  My skin must emit some kind of “truth serum” pheromone or something.  I am like the bartender in all the movies that you see working behind the counter and people come and sit down, order a drink and then tell them things their best friend doesn’t even know.

How do you use it to build community? Of course, this new discovered truth that people share now comes with a sense of responsibility because people often want words of wisdom.  This superpower helps me to build community one person at a time.  Someone once said “pretend that everyone you meet has a sign around their neck that says ‘make me feel important’”.  Every person is different, but fundamentally, people just want to feel accepted and we also want to feel hope.  By listening, it gives them permission to feel vulnerable which is very powerful.

My Three Favourite Things About cgg Are…

1. She’s Really, Really Nice. To make a long story short, Claudia played a very big role in getting my career to where it is today – when an opportunity came up at UBC’s Sauder School of Business it was with Claudia’s recommendation that I made it to (and through) the interview process and into the role. To this day, I am both incredibly grateful and also very much in her debt. Thanks, Claudia!

2. Photographic Awesomeness. Claudia has a wonderful eye that spectacularly captures the soul of people and places (see awesome photos of Uruguay). She’s creative, poetic, cool, and super-classy when it comes to the pictures she snaps, sure, but especially through how she presents her work – a knack for powerful storytelling is reflected by Claudia’s words and images above. Even through a lens people seem to tell her things! Oh, and any great photographer must have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, which totally shines through in cgg’s story of how her family grew a happy and healthy life in Canada while staying connected to their roots in Uruguay.

3. Intercultural Community Building. The fact that Claudia’s toddler can flip back and forth between Spanish and English – depending on the parental audience – will serve the child/children well in our hyper-globalized world. I love cgg’s stories about using technology (YouTube and Skype) to maintain a healthy cultural connection between the national/local communities of Uruguay and Montevideo as well as the very important connection to family.

Special Bonus Reason! URUGUAY! I love Uruguay. So does Michelle. We wrote about Montevideo a lot during our month in South America and, well, I can simply say that Montevideo is on of my “favourites” list of global cities. One of the reasons that we had such a great time is because Claudia gave me some great insider tips – because, like I said, she’s really, really nice!

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All photos courtesy of the lovely and talented Glaudia Garcia aka cgg.

The Age of Impatience

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Editor’s note: so, earlier this week I sent Kurt this infographic about impatience and asked him to comment on the two ideas below; hilariously, he wrote about 300 words for the first portion and left the second section completely blank (I did some editing to make it work). This kind of poetic irony is a beautiful thing. Enjoy!

Kurt and John identify with the infographic below for these hilarious/semi-problematic reasons:

Kurt Heinrich on waiting in line: The 2010 Olympics were lauded by many as a fantastic opportunity to take in dozens of unique exhibits, attractions, bands and other performances. But with Sochi House and the Dutch/Heineken pavilion came ridiculously long lines approaching Disneyland lengths. Each day, as I walked to work, the line to take one 15 second zip-line across Robson plaza grew by about 25 minutes until by the end of the Olympics, it took a 6 hour wait for the 15 second experience. Really, you have nothing better to do than cue-up for half-a-day? And this was only the most egregious example.

Across Metro Vancouver, long snaking lines sprung up like weeds; chock full of tourists, locals and angry looking Russian athletes. After hours of waiting (often in the pouring rain) line-goers were frequently rewarded by a half-baked hyper-commercialized “exhibit” crammed with bright oil company billboards or (in at least one case) an absolutely empty room. So much for the myths of wonder associated with Expo and propagated by my parents since birth.

John Horn on doing six things at once: it’s not a big problem, but it’s not not a big problem, either. When I’m working – at work or at home on this amazing publication – I like to be watching/looking at things on at least three screens. Within these three screens are a variety of open windows and tabs that yield exciting opportunities, ideas and projects on which I work and by which I am, at times, distracted (curse you, mobile-Scrabble!). Oh, and while all the spreadsheets and cloud-based-docs and mind-maps and timelines and mobile games are benefiting from my spectacular ability to multitask, I listen to music or podcasts or have some sort of sport or movie I’ve already watched playing in the background. Basically, if something doesn’t load quickly I flash to another screen and lose interest or – hey, do you guys wanna go ride bikes?!

This affects Kurt and john’s interactions with communities because…

Kurt: The longer I wait in lines, the more disappointed I am in the end result and the whole process. Maybe this means that I don’t have an patience. Or maybe it means I do not possess the psychological means to view a long wait as a worthwhile experience in itself (packed with good conversation with fellow line-goes) like Editor-in-Chief, John Horn. While my attention span is likely not as bad as that illustrated below by the infographic, when it comes to lines, I’m not to far off.

John: Multitasking doesn’t work and instead of doing one good thing really, really well I often do six things well or, on bad days, with unfortunate mediocrity. I don’t believe in mediocre community-making, so my habits need to change!

Instant America
Created by: OnlineGraduatePrograms.com

So, how do you identify with this infographic? And what does this say about our community?

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Masthead photo courtesy of Ed Yourdon’s photostream on Flickr

The Next Generation of Sustainability

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Koerner Library (NOT CIRS) at UBC / Spicks & Specks on Flickr

Sustainability: the Next Generation. That’s what will be on the agenda at UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) on Saturday, May 26. If you are passionate about building and maintaining sustainable communities then I highly recommend you check out this opportunity for provocative dialogue within North America’s greenest building.

Here’s the pitch:

What if there was a new way of approaching sustainability? What if the old environmental agenda of doing things “less bad”—using less energy, taking shorter showers, sacrificing our Western lifestyle—wasn’t the best way forward? What if instead we built buildings and neighbourhoods that actually contributed to the wellbeing of the planet and those that live on it?

Explore these provocative ideas with a leading UBC researcher, staff and strategic partner at the May 26th panel discussion “Next Generation Sustainability,” to be held at CIRS at 10:45 a.m.  This free event is an opportunity for the public to learn about how UBC is integrating operations, research and learning to accelerate sustainability, and what this means for our communities.

The panel discussion features Professor John Robinson, Executive Director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative, Kera McArthur, Director of Public Engagement for Campus and Community Planning and Robbie Zhang, Managing Director of Modern Green Development (Canada).

The panel discussion takes place in the Modern Green Development Auditorium within CIRS, a world-class showcase of green construction that celebrates its location and setting, has minimal impact on the environment and maximizes every inch of interior space to create functional and inspiring spaces for teaching, learning, research and community building. “CIRS is a place for big ideas that have global impacts,” says Prof. Robinson. “It serves as a living laboratory to test, learn, teach, apply and share the outcomes of sustainability focused inquiries.”

Sustainability defines UBC as a global university. In 1997, UBC was the first university in Canada to adopt a sustainability development policy opening a campus sustainability office the next year. In 2010, UBC established the UBC Sustainability Initiative integrating UBC’s academic and operational efforts on sustainability.  Campus and Community Planning ensures choices about UBC lands, buildings, infrastructure and transportation meet the goals of UBC’s strategic plan, Place and Promise, including sustainability. Modern Green Development Co. Ltd., one of China’s largest property developers, together with UBC has entered into its first North American strategic partnership to advance green building research and development.

The panel discussion will be held on May 26th from 10:45-11:45 in the Modern Green Development Auditorium at the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (2260 West Mall, UBC Vancouver Campus).

Spaghetti Sauce and the Power of Reflection

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This evening I made spaghetti for dinner. [Editor's note: John's spaghetti is fairly amazing]. As I chopped and stirred and blended and spiced I reflected on the day – as well as the weekend, which was socially busy and did not allow much time for reflection – and, currently, sit on the couch relaxed and with many problems solved and ideas strategically prepared.

Because reflection is useful, educational and important. Whether you want to develop your product, service or yourself, thinking about what you did and how you did it will help you get to where you want to be more quickly and efficiently than just driving forward with your head down in a straight line.

I’ll admit that I have reflection on the brain today because my boss mentioned Kolb’s experiential principles today – what? so what? now what? and all the rest of it. Anyway, my point is this: whatever it is and however you do it, build reflection into your process. When you experience something – good, bad or meh – take some time to think about what happened, how it happened, what you accomplished (or failed to accomplish), what you learned, and how you feel about the whole thing.

Savvy?

There are a few ways that I like to do my reflecting: making spaghetti sauce (obviously), watering plants (any gardening, really), and bike riding represent my solo-reflective favourites. And if I’m reflecting with friends, colleagues or a/several nemesis/nemeses, I prefer to do so in a cafe or public house over delicious caffeinated or carbonated beverages that provide lubrication to the conversation. I encourage you to find your preferred style of reflection and to consider all the myriad ways that you’re awesome after you’ve done something that reveals such awesomeness.

When we go too fast we miss things and, frankly, we fail to explore opportunities to grow our skills and, by extension, better impact our communities. The motto of work, life, hustle is fine for getting stuff done quickly, but true community building comes from sustaining ideas and success for a long time – or forever – by constantly thinking about how to make things better.

So get out there, experience life and reflect on the positive impact that you make on it. Be sure to have some fun, too.

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Masthead photo courtesy of J. Chris Vaughn on Flickr

Size Matters – Making the Big Small

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Last week I spoke at a Bishop’s University recruitment event – I was one of three alumni who were tasked with answering questions from prospective students and their parents about the Bishop’s Experience.

Most of my conversations wound up with me talking about size – how it matters and how small is beautiful. And I talked about size because Bishop’s University – with 2,300 learners – is one of the smallest universities in Canada.

I kid you not, in alumni circles around the world we debate whether 2,300 is “ridiculously large” or “a bit too big” or “just pushing it” in terms of student numbers at BU. For the record, I graduated when the school had 1,945 students, which felt like a really good number.

So, the evening combined community-building with a genuine personal touch – more on that in about 150 words…

Earlier this week I read a post by Seth Godin called “What’s the right size? The quantum mechanics of growth” – the marketing guru explored ways in which organizations can know their size:

The physics and economics of a business determine whether it’s the right size or not, whether it ought to get bigger or smaller. Starbucks, for example, was not the right size when it had 11 stores. That’s too many stores for just one senior manager to handle, but not enough stores for centralized purchasing and marketing and organization. The cash flow from an eleven-store chain just doesn’t easily connect to the staff requirments necessary to make it efficient.

Also earlier this week, I read an article from the Academica Group about how some of Canada’s research intensive universities are endeavouring to “pull a Bishop’s” [Editor's note: ©Copyright John Horn 2012] and make the big small. Check this out:

How Ontario institutions are wooing top applicants: Last week, a York University recruiter drove to an admitted applicant’s high school to deliver the student’s $24,000 scholarship in person — it’s one of the ways York U has upped its game in the competition for the best and brightest students. University of Waterloo faculty send handwritten letters to top applicants to their faculty, and the personal touch pays off, says uWaterloo’s director of undergraduate recruitment. Ryerson and Western Universities are among institutions that court top students with the promise of an exclusive inner circle “where membership has its privileges — mentoring, advising, invitations to networking events with the president,” says a Ryerson spokeswoman. Other examples of PSE schools wooing applicants include Brock University stuffing confetti into its offer packages and Collège Boréal sending offers in the form of a packing box that says, in French: “Get packing; you’re going to college!” ParentCentral.ca

Size does matter. And Bishop’s University does all the things above with inclusiveness – as opposed to a priviledged inner circle building – in mind and with a sense of community at heart. This is funny, too, because I’m not sure if Bishop’s even teaches quantum mechanics, but I’m pretty sure that York does…

While Bishop’s searches for its sweet spot of size in an ever more competitive post-secondary landscape, I hope its leaders keep in mind that when you make the big small – or keep things small – there exists a natural setting for a vibrant and inclusive sense of community to be built. And this becomes an edge in the marketplace.

Stay small and stay beautiful, Bishop’s. You’re clearly doing something right when so many of higher educations giants are trying to emulate what you’ve been doing for over 150 years.

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Masthead photo – of a small puppy – courtesy of RLHyde’s photostream on Flickr