Wanderlust and Words

I got a cheque in the mail last week from the Government of Canada. Or at least I thought I did. But closer inspection showed that it was a fake cheque from the Car Dealership of Canada. They had carefully mimicked the Government logo and style, but the content – or lack of content – was all their own. There are two schools of marketing. One relies on sleight of hand and gimmicks (“You are guaranteed to win one of the prizes”), while the other relies on honesty, trust and relationship building. I endorse the second option. Building a Tribe Every week I buy soup or baked goods from Michelle ( Wild Serendipity Foods ) at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. Her soups are consistently tasty with a bit of zing. So even when she introduces a new flavour – dill pickle, and I hate dill pickles! – I give it a try. And, surprise surprise, I’ve now added dill pickle soup to my list of favourites. I just spent $80 on tea from Camellia Sinensis . That’s a lot of money for something I could buy mu...

Here are some examples of health care innovation that I have read about in the last few days. Hello Health helps you find and stay in touch with a doctor in person or by email, instant messaging or video chat. For example, you cut your finger preparing Sunday brunch. You text your doctor and describe the problem. She asks you a few questions to better assess the damage and then tells you to make an appointment. So you take a look at the calendar in her online profile and see there’s an appointment available first thing in the morning. When you get to the office, your doctor has a look at your thumb and decides that you do need a tetanus shot, but not stitches. Cure Together helps you link up with people with similar problems to compare symptoms and treatments. Guidesmith is a website that helps you make decisions during a family health crisis. The Mayo Clinic has established a Centre for Innovation. They observe patient/provider experiences and can quickly adapt ideas as th...

“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed.” (William Gibson) The resident in Emergency is recording my blood pressure over and over again. And she is carefully recording the results – by writing on her hand. My medical history is recorded by at least seven different individuals as I move from Emergency to a holding unit to a ward. And each time I have to repeat the same information, and each time the nurse or doctor makes written notes on separate sheets of paper that are added to a big, fat binder. The doctors must have fantastic memories because they listen to me talk about my symptoms but don’t write anything down until after we’ve finished talking. And they refer to scraps of paper when they pass along information about test results to make sure they've got the right patient. The recordkeeping system belongs to the Dark Ages. And yet, the hospital has some amazing technology at its disposal – echocardiogram, 24-hour monitoring and video telemetry, por...

Profiles of board members or employees can be excruciatingly dull – they have two adorable children and they play golf. I’m already yawning. So when I agreed to write an article about IABC Saskatoon’s board members, I thought long and hard about how to make it a compelling read. We had two goals – to encourage members to volunteer and to start a conversation about future directions for the organization. I interviewed each board member and asked them two questions:      1. If I offer you unlimited time or unlimited money, which would you choose? And why?       2. If I gave IABC Saskatoon $100,000, how would you use it to grow the organization? Michelle would take her entire extended family on holiday, while Leanne and her family want to camp in as many provincial parks as possible. Darby wants unlimited time so he can have serial careers – from a men’s clothing store to a restaurant to writing and producing a television show. And t...

I attended a talk by Kevin O’Leary, financial guru, last evening. It was a work assignment so I had to pay close attention, but I wasn’t particularly interested in the topic. As a result, I was able to observe O’Leary’s presentation techniques. He used three principal tactics. Draw People In O’Leary spent the first quarter of his presentation grabbing his audience’s attention and establishing his credibility. He did this by reminding the audience of all the television productions he is involved in and all the celebrities he has met. Well, first of all, people love hearing about stars and they want to feel a connection to them. Secondly, he emphasized that his contact with celebrities gave him insider knowledge that he used to drive his investment strategy. The message came through loud and clear: “Invest in the O’Leary Funds, and you, like the celebrities, can take advantage of insider knowledge. Storytelling Once he’d established his credibility, O’Leary pulled back and showed...

The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing by Natalie Canavor and Claire Meirowitz is a useful guide for people who do a lot of writing but don’t think of themselves as writers. Its focus on audience, purpose and content mapping provides a useful framework for planning a written communication. Audience The authors contend that “Business writing today often substitutes for conversation, so it works best when it’s close to spoken language. . . . Effective business writing in the twenty-first century has come to mean writing that is simple, direct, clear, easy to read and…conversational.” Everything we write has a psychological impact. In addition, “cues from tone of voice, facial expression and body language are missing, so it’s critical to frame your message by anticipating response.” Try and see the news you are sharing from your audience’s perspective: How will it affect them? What’s in it for them? Will there be resistance? Picture the actual reader in your mind as ...