Entrepreneurship has always been challenging. Many start-ups fail. When a once-in-a-generation challenge like COVID-19 happens, the obstacles entrepreneurs face goes from difficult to back-breaking. Lots of people are writing about this so I’m not going to.
Despite the challenges, it’s important to remember that for entrepreneurs, change can mean opportunity. Models like the Lean Startup have trained early […]
The new work-from-home era
In the new era of COVID-19 many of you are being asked to work from home full time for the first time. In addition, other family members may be at home as well, overloading your Wi-Fi router and competing for the available internet bandwidth supplied by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The […]
Google, Amazon, and Facebook don’t deserve the backlash (well, maybe Facebook does)
The mainstream press has turned on big tech. Don Tapscott says the new lords of a “digital feudal age” grow fat off our data and give nothing in return. The NYT writes about the “frightful five” and The American Spectator refers to “Our Evil […]
This past weekend ‘The Martian’ opened in theatres to rave reviews, a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an industry leading $55 million box office. It’s THE fall blockbuster of 2015 so far. At first glance it seems like just another Ridley Scott action movie, but might it also be the future of Innovation?
If you […]
First Published on Huffington Post: 09/08/2015
If you care about the future of the Canadian economy, you may have followed an important conversation happening in Canadian editorial pages over the last few weeks. It’s about entrepreneurial innovation and the future opportunities it can generate for all.
On one side of the argument are people like Communitech CEO Iain Klugman […]
First Published in the Huffington Post 06/16/2015 5:40 pm EDT
In the third century BC there were few things in the world more valuable than books. The “books” of those days were actually handwritten papyrus scrolls and only the highly affluent had access to them. This was before the invention of parchment and subsequently paper. It was […]
First Published in The Huffington Post: 01/16/2014 12:14 pm EST. Updated: 03/18/2014 5:59 am EDT.
Pioneering computer scientist Alan Kay once noted that “a point of view is worth 80 IQ points” and it’s disconcerting that some Canadian governments, businesses and so-called experts are falling into an equivalent IQ deficit of outdated language and backward thinking when […]
First Published in The Toronto Star on Sat Nov 17 2012 By: Paul Barter and Robert Brehl
With all the political hot air surrounding the GTA’s Great Transit Debate, you’d think Rob Ford, Karen Stintz, Tim Hudak and the rest would at least mention how telecommuting could be a cost-effective part of the solution.
It’s as if our subway-building, […]
First Published in the Globe and Mail Monday, Aug. 18, 2014 5:20PM EDT / Last updated Monday, Aug. 18, 2014 7:57PM EDT
Warren Buffett is famously uninterested in modern technology, and yetGoogle Inc. is acting very much like a modern day Berkshire Hathaway, the firm he took control of 50 years ago that has outperformed the S&P 500 […]
First Published on Huffington Post: 04/26/2015 10:54 pm EDT
It’s been an interesting year so far in the centre of the Canadian universe. Back in January the Economist named Toronto the “best place to live in the world.” The one fly in the ointment? Transportation and gridlock.
In February, newly elected Mayor John Tory headed to Parliament Hill […]
