Blog Post #5 - Have millennials forgotten how to speak?

I really like that the BBC news reporter interviewed two successful businessmen with two totally different ways of working. Anthony Shop is the co-founder of a digital consultancy firm, while Adam Shapiro is the president of a public relations firm. Mr. Shop is an advocate of technology, and just happens to be ten years younger that Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro believes in the personal touch and was just entering the workforce at a time when computers were replacing typewriters. Do their ages have anything to do with the way they choose to work?

I think that age plays a very important factor in the way people work. With today’s rapid advances in technology, the younger generation does have a tendency to rely too heavily on technology. The BBC reporter stated that some companies have reported losing deals because of this.

I agree with Mr. Shapiro and his way of doing business. There is a lot to be said for the personal touch. I think this video would be more aptly entitled “Have millennials lost the personal touch?”

References

BBC News. Have millennials forgotten how to speak? www.youtube.com/watch?v=PISrPjQCB2o.

Blog Post #4 – The Strategic Voting Movement

A lot of Canadians are fed up with the Harper Conservatives and want them out. With the federal election only weeks away, I’ve been doing some research into the party platforms and I’ve discovered the strategic voting movement that focusses on voting out the Conservatives.

The basis of this movement “focusses on swing ridings or ridings where there is a possibility that the Conservatives could win due to the splitting of votes between the NDP, Liberals, and Greens” according to the Vote Together website. For information on your own riding, go to the Anyone but Harper website to enter your postal code to view the strategic voting recommendation. It will be very interesting to see how well strategic voting works.

Jacob Boon feels strategic voting won’t work. The polls indicate that although the Liberals are in the lead, they will be unable to garner enough votes for a majority government. Boon further states that “tactical voting sounds badass, and imbues Canadian voters with the confidence that they’re gaming the system like a sabermetric superhero” adding the cool factor to the strategic voting campaign. However, he believes that Canadians who vote are those who already have a strong political stance and that the strategic voting campaign will “play a very small role in the election compared to traditional sincere votes.”

Whether or not you believe in the strategic voting movement, I hope you vote Harper out!

References

Boon, Jacob. (2015, October 15). Strategic voting won't work and is bad for Canada: Voting with heart beats voting with smarts. The Coast. Retrieved from http://www.thecoast.ca/Campaignandsuffering/archives/2015/10/15/strategic-voting-wont-work-and-is-bad-for-canada.

Strategic Voting. Retrieved from http://strategicvoting.ca.

The Vote Together campaign. Retrieved from http://www.votetogether.ca/.

Blog Post #2 - The Reknowned Steve Jobs Stanford Address

Steve Jobs gave an amazing commencement speech and I totally agree with his three main points connect the dots, turn rejection into opportunity, and stay hungry.

He captured everyone’s attention right from the start of his speech when he related his story about his university experience and following his intuition with his development of the first Mac computer and beautiful typography. Who knew! His story illustrated his point about connecting the dots of your life's experiences.

The second part of Steve's speech was about rejection and how he turned it into opportunity. This really resonates with me because of my recent experience at work. After fifteen years with the same federal government department, my job was cut, and I was moved to a job with Human Resources. I was totally devastated, but I turned this setback into an opportunity by convincing my former boss to agree to support my university education. I totally agree with Steve Jobs that life’s setbacks can and should be turned into opportunities. It’s not always easy to see an opportunity when you've been rejected, but it’s there if you just open your eyes to the possibilities.  

Steve's final piece of advice to the graduating students was to live life to the fullest, to stay hungry for life’s opportunities and don’t settle. What inspiring words from Steve Jobs.

Steve's speech is available at http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.