Author Archives: John Horn

XYBOOM Conference Discusses Workplace Community

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[Editor's note: whether you're an un-or-under-employed Millennial, Gen Xer, or Baby Boomer, you should be paying attention to an upcoming awesometastic collaboration between Service Canada, My Loudspeaker, the post-secondary community, and many change-making businesses from Metro Vancouver and beyond. It's called the XYBOOM Conference and it will be community-building at its finest!]

Vancouver, BC – January 10, 2012 – When a business loses an employee, it loses more than a staff member: employee turnover is estimated to cost more than double the cost of retainment. Loss of productivity, resources and time spent re-hiring and training are some of the burdens of employee replacement. The BC Business Council urges businesses to be more competitive in their retention strategies, suggesting investing in succession planning and staff development as solutions. The XYBOOM Conference seeks to address these issues with a dynamic, intergenerational approach.

Sustainable hiring systems and employee development and retention are key topics to be addressed at the conference on January 20th. This unique initiative, funded primarily by Service Canada brings togther business professionals and youth with experts from three generations – X,Y and Baby Boomer – to collaborate on finding strategies and solutions on mitigating the growing labour shortage.

The conference offers more than ten industry panelists who have diverse career backgrounds – including expertise in human resources, intercultural understanding, workplace organization and strategic marketing – as well as engaging, participatory workshops sessions, guaranteeing attendees will leave with strategies and insights on the issues at hand.

“The conference plays an important role in mitigating the pending labour shortage as baby boomers exit the workforce” says Alden Habacon, UBC Director of Intercultural Understanding Strategy Development and XYBOOM panelist. With baby boomers beginning to retire and a looming labour shortage, employee replacement is becoming a growing financial burden for unprepared businesses. Higher retention rates give businesses a competitive edge during labour shortages.

Business applications for XYBOOM will be accepted at www.xyboom.ca.

Hosted by My Loud Speaker, the XYBOOM Conference will be held on January 20th from 9-5pm at the Yaletown Roundhouse. This not-for-profit event will also include a live streaming feature for off-site youth participants across the Lower Mainland, XYBOOM awards for businesses, case study reports and an interactive art installation created by Gen Why Media Project at the W2 atrium from Jan 19-21st.

Please visit www.xyboom.ca for more information on the conference, issues at hand, and a complete guest panelist list.

Devon Wong – Media Relations
604 250 4662 | www.xyboom.ca
XYBOOM: January 20, 2012

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Masthead photo (The Train at the Roundhouse Theatre in Yaletown) courtesy of goldberg

The Art of the Thank You

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Wow. We’re almost in the middle of January. Have you thanked everyone for the holiday cheer upon-which they bestowed you?

It’s important to say thank you to people – or a community – who (or that) have done you right. Saying “thanks” is the good behaviour that builds the unshakeable blocks of a positive and productive community. Well, it’s not just good behaviour; it’s the right thing to do. And, whether you’re thanking someone for a gift, their hospitality, a delicious meal, or a kiss on New Year’s Eve, well-honed thanking-skills will make you a well-liked, respected and receiver-of-many-cool-free-things within your community.

All you need to do is follow this successful strategy for saying thanks.

First, here are three keys to a successful thank you:

1. Be Genuine. Mean what you say. Take some time to celebrate the gesture (gift, food, information interview, heirloom) by sharing with the giver of time/ideas/food/things how said gesture made you feel. Expressions like “Thanks very much for taking the time to cook such a delicious and nutritious meal, Mom. I know that you’re really busy and I appreciate the effort that you put into dinner. The leftovers will be great!”

2. Be Timely. Always ensure that your thank-you – be it written or verbal – happens soon after the gesture takes place. This could mean right after a big holiday meal or opening a gift. For written thank yous, such as emails or cards, try to get them in the mail or into the Internets within a day or so of the gesture taking place.

3. Be Specific. People will feel (and remember) the power of your thank-you when you focus on exactly what made/makes you so appreciative about the gesture. You might want to say, “Mom, I really appreciated the peas during dinner. They reminded me of growing up and making smiley-faces on my plate when I was 10 years old. I know peas aren’t really anyone else’s favourite thing, so thanks for doing that.”

In terms of the mediums of your thanking prowess, I always recommend a triple-bottom-line or “triple-threat” approach. [Editor's note: thank-yous should never be threatening]. First, say thank you in person, right away. Second, send a short and sweet email – follow the formula above )sometimes I list my “three favourite things” about the meal/visit/interview/party). Third, if the gesture is extra special, such as a year of yoga or, in the professional world, an information interview, then send along a handwritten thank you card. After all, everybody loves getting mail and your card will be on display as a constant reminder of how nice/awesome/thankful you are.

So there it is. The recipe for thanking people in your community.

Thank you for your time.

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Masthead photo courtesy of artnoose

Betty Annand – 84 Years of Awesome

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Who are you?

My name is Betty Annand and I’ve been around long enough to wear purple and drink gin!  I should be very sagacious by now, but I find that I learn more from my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren than they learn from me. I was born in 1927 in Vancouver and lived on Capitol Hill in the east end of that city until 1937 at which time we moved to the little town of Bevan on Vancouver Island. The #8 mine had just opened and the families that moved to Bevan had come through some very hard times and were still hard up, so everyone was in the same boat. This resulted in a bond amongst all the children that was, and in most cases still is, tantamount to belonging to one family. Although we only lived in that little town for two years before moving to Courtenay, I still enjoy being referred to as a “Bevanite.”

What do I do for fun?

I have a great time dabbling. Although I’ve never become an expert at anything, I’ve always had the desire to try new things. I’ve dabbled in oils, clay and even painted fish plugs. I’ve tried my hand at acting, playwriting, directing and producing. I’ve written three books of memories from local pioneer families and am now attempting to write my first novel. I’m also learning to play the ukulele, love to go for walks and play cards. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to many countries, but the most fun I have is just being with my kids!  The only hobby I don’t want to take up is “Boredom” and hopefully, I never will.

What is my favorite community? Why?

I would have to say that I love every community in the Comox Valley equally. When you have lived here as long as I have, you have good memories of every neighborhood and the people that lived, and may still be living, there.

What is my superpower?

Gosh, I wish I knew!  It may be my smile, or my interest in people. I think all people are unique and have an inner, if not outer, beauty so I like to smile at who ever I meet just to let them know I see it!  If I really did have a superpower, I’d want the power to make everyone tell the truth, especially politicians. There would probably be times when even I’d be caught bending the truth – but it would be worth it.

How do I use it to build community?

If my interest in people really is my superpower, I guess I could say that I’ve used it to record the stories of the courageous pioneer families who began building communities in this wonderful part of Canada.

My Three Favourite Things About Betty Are…

1. Storytelling Prowess. Whether during conversations, as part of a presentation, in essays, short stories, or novels, Betty’s unpretentious interest in people – and her ability to tell their stories – has made her the stuff of legend. With a natural ability – and well-honed talent – Betty pushes nouns against verbs with passion, wisdom and, as evidenced above, a wonderful sense of humour.

2. Lust for Life. Yeah, that’s a photo of an 84 year old woman riding an ATV. Awesome.

3. Family. My mom, Janet, and Betty’s daughter, Nancy, taught elementary school together. And, somehow, such a connection makes Betty and I family. And such a thing makes me lucky. And such a thing doesn’t even include the dozens of blood-relatives with whom she shares her energy, ideas, love, and, most importantly, stories.

It’s kind of a funny story…

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Last night was a weird and wonderful one. So, I arrive home – chatting on the phone – to find my lovely wife, Michelle Burtnyk-Horn, in the living room working away on her computer. I hang up, give her a kiss, and she says, “I got bread on the way home.” (We’re super-romantic, by the way). And I reply, “Oh, that’s funny, because I got bread yesterday.” Michelle chuckles and says, “Where is it?” And I said, “In the freezer.” And then all I hear is laughter.

Here’s why:

Coincidence, connection or conspiracy? You decide!

Oh, it got funnier. We also bought delicious Apple Fig Bars, too – they’re a delectable impulse purchase at the counter of Kea Foods on Main Street.

Long story short, we each bought the same thing at totally different times without talking to each other about it.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

The Facts:

FACT: I bought Uprisings sourdough light rye bread and a package of apple fig bars from Kea Foods at 6:17pm on January 3, 2012.

FACT: I purchased the apple fig bars at the checkout counter because I know that Michelle likes them a lot.

FACT: I originally stopped at Kea Foods for mushrooms and I knew we also needed bread (for the weekend, though, not that night).

FACT: Michelle bought Uprisings sourdough light rye bread and a package of apple fig bars from Kea Foods at 5:58pm on January 4, 2012.

FACT: Michelle bought apple fig bars at the checkout counter because they are delicious. And she was hungry and wanted to eat one on the way home.

FACT: She ate more than one.

FACT: Michelle had no idea that I bought these items the day before. The bread went in the freezer. The apple fig bars went in the cheese-drawer. And I cooked dinner, so I was the only one in the fridge on the evening of Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

FACT: Michelle and I rarely shop at KEA Foods.

Testimonials:

 

“We just laughed and laughed and laughed. And then we hugged and jumped around a bit, you know, because we’re huge nerds. I mean, in our lives, this is pretty exciting stuff! It’s weird how it all came together, though, because neither of us said anything about it to the other – not an ‘I’m gonna get bread’ or anything. Like I said, weird. I guess it’s just out loving superconnection!”

- John Horn

“Despite the fact that neither of us routinely shop at KEA foods or purchase those items, it – oddly enough – didn’t seem that odd that we had purchased the exact same items. I mean, as John said, we do have a super awesome love superconnection! That being said, this occurance definitely warranted jumping, laughing, and examination on a world-renowned blog*”

- Michelle Burtnyk-Horn

Theories:

  • The Great Minds, Deep Love Theory:
    • Everything is connected. We all consist of protons and electrons and stuff.
    • Michelle and I have an uncanny mental connection.
    • Our minds, like our connected hearts and souls, work as one.
    • Each of our brains simultaneously informs the other of our intentions, thus, periodically, creating “double-up” anomolies wherein each person carries out the same thought independently of the other person.
  • The Boring Routine Theory:
    • We do the same thing so friggin’ often that our stale routine (unlike the delicious sourdough light rye) has trapped us in an inescapable rut.
    • Saying we need to “shake things up” is an understatement.
  • The “Big Sourdough” Conspiracy Theory:
    • It’s simple. The Sourdough Industrialists are controlling our minds with their delicious, delicious product. They have a plan. And it involves enslaving the world.
    • Bakers are merely the minions of this unstoppable doughy juggernaut of a world domination scheme.
  • The Total Coincidence Theory:
    • The universe is random and cruel hilarious and bestows wonderful surprises of bread and figs upon its inhabitants!
  • The Hidden Meaning Theory:
    • There’s something more to this than we know…like Michelle and I are going to have twins…or two sets of twins.

So, what’s your theory?

Whatever the case, this is just another story that shows how important it is for people to appreciate the little things in life. After all, such a silly moment of joy was a marvelous muse for the evening!

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*This claim refers, of course, to The Daily Gumboot. “World-renowned” claim according to John Horn, Kurt Heinrich, and their parents

 

Stories from the Writers’ Room: Kids, Creativity and Careers

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A burgeoning superstar being tutored by a gentleman in a plaid shirt who needs to do a better job of knowing when the camera's on him...

Last week I was lucky enough to work with Sarah Maitland and the Kidsafe Writers’ Room team to create and deliver some superawesome – and super educational – literacy programming for kids from East Vancouver during their Winter Holiday Break. The program content was career-related – Wait, where are you going? No, trust me, it was fun and not serious at all and you will enjoy reading this!- and it was absolutely inspiring to work with over 160 kids as they invented their jobs of the future.

Fun fact: a student who enrolled in college or university in September 2011 will probably work in a job that does not exist today. For this reason, I often encourage post-secondary students who I meet to imagine and/or create future work that will address future challenges/opportunities and to consider the skills that will be needed to tackle this kind of work. It’s not my idea, but one that stems from guru/personal-hero, Jim Bright, who teaches the aptly-named Chaos Theory of Careers to students, practitioners and job seekers the world-over.

Needless to say, I was extremely curious and very excited to see how the kids, who ranged in age from five to fifteen, treated this exercise. For starters, here is a selection of some of the job titles that were created:

  • Teacher
  • Space Cooker
  • Cleaner
  • Driver
  • The World Helpers (there was a “Kids with Problems” helper, an Animal Helper, and a Health Helper)
  • Sky Welder
  • Inventor
  • Physicist
  • Super Spy
  • Star Gatherer
  • Owner of a Petting Zoo for Endangered Species
  • Poop Collector
  • TV Watcher
  • Video Game Tester
  • Fart Soldier
  • Princess
  • Social Worker
  • Toy Maker
  • Solar Plane Engineer
  • Veterinarian
  • Inventor of the Massaging Toilet

Interesting. And awesome.

So, how did the kids get here? Well, before working with some exceptional volunteer tutors to complete an activity sheet (pictured), I engaged the kids in a discussion about jobs – and work – that has come and gone over the last 150 years; the idea was that the kids needed to know what work started and stopped, and when it did, in order to get a sense of what might come in the future. The discussion was actually more of a yell-fest (there should be more yelling in school, in my opinion), as I brought up volunteers who held up a picture of a job (e.g. Lamplighter or Pony Express Rider), which I explained to the group, and then moved it along a giant time line (crafted on a huge piece of white paper), which spanned from 1875 to 2025. When they got to a point on the time line that the audience didn’t agree with, we all booed. And when the kid got to the right spot (this differed from group to group, as some of the kids felt that vinyl record production stopped in 2010) everybody cheered.

And that’s how we got to the activity sheets. Here are some examples of the great work these kids did:

I’ll go so far as to say that pretty much everybody enjoyed the group-activity (even Lucy, the intractable volunteer who experienced/put-up-with all 10 of my workshops); however, watching the kids – especially the boys – tackle the worksheets was a bit different. About half of the kids immediately took to the activity. The others, well, I can safely say – and I say it with much fairness – that not everyone became immediately super-enthusiastic about their career during the holidays…when they’re eight years old. And here’s the magical thing: as soon as the activity was framed with the questions ‘what do you like to do?’ and ‘how can you turn that into something that you could do for work?’ nearly everyone got into it. Oh, and the fact that the kids got to draw pictures as themselves doing the work was pretty darn fantastic. Especially the Fart Soldier!

Describing the very good feelings that bubbled within when the kids proudly shared their pictures and stories with me and especially when they excitedly (and some, I’ll admit, begrudgingly) commented on the value of the exercise and that thinking about a future career – or simply what careers might look like in the future – was “really helpful” or “important” or “pretty cool” is difficult to say the least. So I’ll just say that working with kids in a way that helps them to think about blending interests, talent, passion, and future possibilities in the world of work was as enjoyable as it was meaningful.

So, what’s the work that you want to tackle in the future?

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All photos courtesy of Sarah Maitland

The Early Entrepreneurs Experiment

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This is all kinds of community-awesome.

Earlier today, Friend of The ‘Boot, Zac Whyte, shared the video below, which is a very awesome Taylor Conroy’s Destroy Normal campaign. Check it out here:

Simply put, there needs to be more of this. Later this week I’m going to be writing a post about my volunteer experience with Vancouver’s Kidsafe Writers’ Room, and part of my article will discuss the creative horsepower of kids. The Early Entrepreneurs Experiment wonderfully gets to the heart of this fact, as it showcases how kids as young as six can have a positive impact on their classmates, their neighbourhoods and people from communities that are thousands of kilometers away.

Further to this, entrepreneurial projects provide exceptional educational testing grounds – or case studies – where learners can apply concepts (math, writing, performing, building, repairing, etc.) in an integrated capacity. Through such experiential learning, students have the opportunity to use multiple academic (and life) skills all at once in the same place as part of a team. In addition to a basic understanding of our interconnected global village as well as learning how to positively and successfully engage in the business of life provides youngsters with a head-start on building the skills that will help them to not just be – but to lead – the change that they want to see in this world.

Finally, never underestimate the power of kids’ creativity. Sir Ken Robinson has taught us that schools aren’t properly designed to engage and expand it with our communities’ kids. Which is why we should invest more in our kids’ ideas before they’re crushed by a system that encourages certain kinds of thinking that will prepare people to solve the same old problems in the same old way. And this isn’t a great way to be or to lead change.

Well done, kids!

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Masthead photo courtesy of Sustainable Sanitation

Happy Holidays, Mark Atkinson!

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‘Tis the season to be giving, gracious and humble.

A few months ago, my former friend and current nemesis, Mark Atkinson, and I exchanged hilarious and insightful and competetive commentary during the Stanley Cup Finals of 2011. Kurt Heinrich still refers to this series as “your [my] best work” – honestly, I’m not too sure how to take this, as I had to remind Kurt that I did recently crowd/love-source a four-part, difference-making discussion of 99 ways that we can leverage our humanity to make our communities more vibrant, engaging and sustainable. But, hey, Onion-like sport-humour that ironically draws on regional differences and stereotypes for the purpose of gladiatorial-esque entertainment is meaningful too.

Anyway, Mark’s Boston Bruins defeated my Vancouver Canucks in seven games and, well, it was an epic experience that stole a piece of my soul and hasn’t allowed me to fully open my heart to hockey in the same way this season.

But enough of that. I’m moving through it…

Anyway, Mark and I made a friendly wager on the 2011 Finals. The winner earned the right to laud over the loser as said loser donned the opposing team’s jersey, snapped a picture of it, and then posted said picture on the Interweb for all to see. Why did it take so long for this loser (me, see below) to post a picture? Well, the Vancouver community ruined everything with it’s post-loss behaviour, and fun-spirited bets about hockey just didn’t seem appropriate, timely or fun. This being said, I’m a man of my word.

Because I love Mark and because I am a person of honour, here is my photo:

Happy holidays, Mark. I love-hate you so much right now.

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Masthead photo of “Downtown Bridgewater, Nova Scotia” courtesy of The Stakhanovite Twins