Chief Information Officer - Appleby College
Oakville - Ontario
I like change. Not all change... but the kind that makes things better, for the right reasons. So that's what I do for a living. I have 3 great kids (one of each), 2 delightfully wonderful grandkids, and a lifelong partner who grounds me and keeps me from changing things too much.
133 articles
The trouble with being of a certain ‘vintage’, is that one of the questions that continually arises is “When are you going to retire?” I'm sure they mean well, and have positive thoughts about not hav...
What's the difference between an "Older" worker and a "Vintage" worker? To some, they both appear to be the same. I have a 'Vintage' guitar, built in 1975. (I know the purists would say that it isn't,...
My father passed on recently. He celebrated his 90th birthday this summer, and had recently moved down closer to his kids. In early December, he fell and broke a hip, and didn't recover. While it was...
I have a problem. It is most pronounced when I look in the mirror. I think the damn thing is haunted. Framed in the mirror, is the face of an old guy looking back at me. The problem is, I don't feel a...
My wife and I recently sat down and began to discuss our extended family. Now they are generally nice people, and we all get along swimmingly, but if you knew them the way we do, you would agree that...
I'm a nice guy. Or at least I've been told. I do have things that make me unique. I'm musical. I shoot things (with a camera). I refuse to act my age (just because there is a 'senior discount' for som...
There's a lot of confusion out there. By "there", I mean where you are... and I am... ... and the confusion is about service - what it is and what it isn't. The reason this is relevant to IT leadershi...
I've often shared the story of one of most productive meetings I've ever been part of. Early in my time in my current role, my development team met with the people responsible for curriculum and pedag...
Contrary to popular belief, effective implementation of educational technology (or EdTech for short) actually has very little to do with technology. The problem is, we keep acting like it does... and...
You could hear him coming down the hall. “Ricken, Fracken, Diggun, Ramda, etc., etc., etc. “… … except that’s not really what he was saying. I’ll spare your sensitive ears. Let’s just say he was not h...
Some days I get up, look in the mirror and say "You sir, are a closet Luddite!" It's not that I don't like progress, as some mistakenly think Luddites do... Please indulge me as I take a bit of a side...
In preparing for my recent post: Innovation starts with your users... I got distracted. Not that getting distracted is uncommon for me. Some of my best ideas have come when I was really supposed to be...
The best advice I ever received when I was looking to start a consulting business was this: “To guarantee success, find a need and fill it.” There is no value in creating products or services for whic...
John Chambers says to me: ‘Your job is to think of what I think before I think of it, and have it ready to go when I think of it.’ — Rebecca Jacoby - CIO, Cisco Systems If you are a Chief Information...
Sometimes you hear a story and you really want it to be true. Even if there is no evidence to support it. The thing is... the story is so good, you can use the principle without needing the facts. Thi...
I was searching for some old files on a backup drive, and came across this collection of things that make you go Hmmmm.... I don't know where I got them originally, but after all this time they are st...
[NOTE TO READER: Every so often I feel compelled to rant. Today is one of those times. And since I was sitting down to write today's blog post, I felt it might be a very good time to let loose. So whi...
At some point in your career as CIO, you will need explain the services that are provided by the IT department to those granting next year's budget dollar, in a way that makes sense to the them. Let m...
This graphic was found on Reddit and came to my attention through Col. Chris Hadfield - one of Canada's preeminent astronauts and generally cool guy. Given it's Canada's 150th birthday this year, I th...
I've just laid down Don 🐝 Kerr 's new book Riding Shotgun - A book for men and the partners they care for . Full disclosure: I know Don and am pleased to call him my friend and fellow Beezer. We are...
You've heard it a dozen times as a kid... usually at a low point in your life... like when the opposing team is crushing you and the coach is trying to motivate you, but his frustration shines through...
When I visit my local big box home improvement store, one of my favourite sections is where they keep the power tools. You know, the brightly coloured man-boy toys that invoke dreams of all kinds of p...
Dear reader... I've resurrected this old post from my blog, because occasionally I need to remind myself of my own advice... Enjoy. ____________________________________________________________________...
According to a recent infographic posted to Twitter, the average age of workers at beBee is 29… putting me way above the average. Perhaps that’s a polite way to say I have a few years under my belt. I...
Today's post by Gert Scholtz ( here ) got me wondering about my stats on beBee. Since I joined last April, I am sure that Javier 🐝 beBee and Javier 🐝 beBee have spiked my coffee and created a platfo...
If you are one of those people who consistently have trouble sleeping, I have much empathy for you today. Normally (and this drives my wife nuts) as I lay down in bed, my eyes start closing and I may...
This is the time of year when every blogger puts out a "Top 5", or if they are prolific... a "Top 10" list of the top issues / challenges / opportunities / predictions / opinions that we bloggers feel...
You heard it many times. If you are going to do anything meaningful, you have to get off your butt and get out of your comfort zone. This is great advice… … until it isn’t. For the record, I firmly be...
I was born in December. For a highly introspective raging introvert, that creates a double whammy, particularly as the number of birthdays climb. I am faced with evaluating both the year that just pas...
... should never watch either one being made. This quote has been attributed to Ben Franklin, Otto Bismark, and a number of other sources. Regardless of the source, I was reminded of the quote during...
More often than not, I hear horror stories from the workplace. Once you get behind the public face of an organization, and back behind the green curtain, the stories emerge. Dysfunctional teams. Broke...
In my closet I have a pair of cowboy boots. They aren’t much to look at. In fact, they are pretty stained and beat up. But I’m very, very attached to these bits of leather. I don’t normally keep every...
My job is to bring change into organizations. Sometimes it’s big change, to do things that were never done before. Other times, it is doing something differently so that the organization is more effic...
1967 was an exciting time for Canada We were celebrating our 100th birthday, which for many countries, wasn’t that old, but for us it was monumental. Everybody got in on the party. Bobby Gimby’s song...
Javier shared some interesting numbers today in a comment on John Vaughan's recent post on the % of Producer Posts by country. I took the numbers and correlated them to the population size of the resp...
I wrote this post on my blog around 5 years ago. Sadly, it's still very germane for most of the schools I encounter. There are pockets of excellence (like the school I am part of), but... Let's see if...
Phil Friedman has recently dubbed me a “Prairie-Culture philosopher” in his most recent post. ( www.bebee.com/producer/@friedman-phil/about-writing-about-writing ) I’ll accept that badge. Both my pare...
I heard today that Leonard Cohen passed away. You may have never been a fan, but I'll bet you are a fan of someone influenced by his poetry and music. Leonard Cohen was 82 years old, and lived a hard...
This post was inspired by three disconnected, yet in my fertile mind, related things. The first was a recent post by Phil Friedman on Mysticism vs. Rationality ( On Forcing Perception to fit Preconcep...
Developing a high performance IT team is more important than the technology you choose. As IT leaders, we are usually familiar with, if not intimate with technology trends, issues, ROI, strategic tech...
If you've ever managed people, you are familiar with the little tap on your office door, followed by "Got a minute?" Even if you have an open door policy and this person is in your office regularly, y...
Do you remember the time when you first saw a _______________? Now, depending on how old you are, the answer in the blank may be anything from indoor plumbing, to colour television, to GPS, to ??? It...
If you are new to my writing you will learn that I tend to ramble off on a story, then at some point bring it back and tie everything together at the end. Welcome to my mind. I hope you enjoy this and...
For those of us who love to write, there is typically a corresponding love of reading. Every interesting person I have ever met is a reader. I thought I'd share a list of my recent reads and see if an...
The 1980’s were not known for their contribution to high fashion. For the most part, I didn’t care. My wardrobe of choice consisted of cotton shirts (preferably black), blue jeans, and if I could get...
Rodney Dangerfield made a great living by claiming "I don't get no respect!". His typical one liners included such quotes as: "When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them." "I cou...
I live in South Central Ontario. What that means is while millions of people were preparing for the onset of Hurricane Matthew, I was mowing my lawn. We were not in the path of the beast. Image: www.t...
You are the head of technology for a large organization. You are in the annual meeting for your company at an offsite location with the other members of the executive team. The guest speaker comes to...
Tap, tap, tap go my fingers on the keys. It is evening, when all the key tapping should be complete. “What are you up to?” asks my brilliant bride. “I’m writing a blog post.” I reply. “It’s important!...
Years ago, and I mean years ago, I sat through a professional development session at my work. Now these things were not nearly as exciting as they are today, but at least we didn't have to suffer thro...
I’ve had some conversations lately about coolness. Not as in temperature, but rather in terms of ‘hip’-ness. The conversation has stimulated my ‘opinionator’ and I felt I would share my thoughts… Now,...
Do you remember a time that when you made a phone call, you called a house instead of a person? If you were a teenage boy you dreaded the thought of getting that young lady’s father on the phone. I ha...
I give credit to jesse kaellis as a muse for this post. jesse (he doesn’t capitalize his name, so I won’t) is a frequent contributor to beBee and his raw, edgy stories draw you in. His comment on my p...
Let me start this post by saying that I am very happy in my current position and am not actively seeking a new career move. But then, that is exactly the position I was in when I was recruited for my...
Seven years ago today, we dropped our youngest off for his first day of high school. In the seven years since, his life has been a whirlwind of change - surviving his formative years, learning to driv...
Thanks to Kathy Finnerty Thomas for her post today Failure is success in Progress which inspired me to dig up this old post of mine. Read her post here . Seeking opportunities where failure may occur...
Years ago, when I had hair, I started a new phase of my career. At the time, there was a computer aided drafting software that was making serious inroads into the market, and I resigned my ‘safe’ job...
Do bus drivers really hate IT people? It might seem so. How often have we heard the warning "What if your key people get hit by a bus?" to talk about business continuance? I've heard it so often that...
Once upon a time, my wife and I had teenagers in the house. It was okay, they were ours and we didn’t have to call pest control. We liked having our kids bring their friends home. Their energy was inf...
It would appear that dragging a post out of the archives is not a bad thing, especially when it involves our previous puppy Isabel. This will be the second time I've reposted it... mainly to remind my...
From time to time, as the mood strikes, I'll drag out a posting I previously wrote for my other online presence or LinkedIn. My readership on beBee has not likely visited that site and I do take the t...
Deep down, I am a simple person. I work with complex things, in a complex environment. My days are full. I am busy. I am also a raging introvert. I need to take time to process things. To simplify the...
I’ll keep this short. If it is too long, you may not read it. You may immediately decide it’s TLDR material (Too Long, Didn’t Read). If it doesn’t have the phrase “… and I Couldn’t Believe What Happen...
Occasionally my brain starts a thought that just keeps going. Like it did when I started jotting down some ideas around project management for software projects. Each of these thoughts are key conside...
This started out as a reply to Jim Murray's post I Think About God . The comment ended up being way too long... so I'll post it in this format. It’s been said that to have a great conversation one mus...
When my youngest was in Grade 3 (or 3rd Grade for my U.S. friends), I received a call from his school’s principal. You don’t have to be too bright to know that when your son’s principal calls, it’s no...
In just over a week, my wife and I are marrying off our youngest to a lovely young lady who we are delighted to add into our family. We have been given a time slot during the reception to speak, and w...
My grandson, who is 6, recently attended a summer camp at a horse ranch. If you have ever attended one of these camps, you will find campers, and horses. If you expect that having both of these togeth...
What if you had an opportunity to speak directly to one of the most influential people in technology in the last 25 years? If you had one minute to ask a question, or make a comment, what would you sa...
The best advice I ever received when I was looking to start a consulting business was this... "To guarantee success... find a need, and fill it." There is no value in creating products or services for...
NOTE: I'm reposting this to explain why my profile picture has a necktie... Lest you think I'm an overstuffed, pretentious, suit. _____________________________________________________________________...
I have an opinion (or two) (or three) about things. I am not in short supply of these opinions. Before the Internet and Social Media, there was a relatively small audience for my opinions; the coffee...
When I was small, most of my friends had career aspirations much different than mine. Many of them wanted to be doctors, lawyers, mechanics, police officers, firemen and a whole litany of other things...
While I have been known to do some high risk activities (like introducing significant change into an organization) there are some activities for which I choose to do vicariously through other people....
I'm going to let you in on a secret. In all my years of helping organizations implement significant change, there was always one of two factors present when the entire organization would rise to the c...
Kids today have it easy. Aside from not having to walk 2 miles (uphill) each way to school through waist deep snow, they have the Internet to provide a rich source of knowledge and information, and do...
Welcome to the brain dump from my musings... Consider this quote. "Unbiased to all but excellence and achieving my goals". I read a lot. And when I say a 'lot', I mean a 'LOT'. So I likely read this q...
Choices. We've all face them... Choosing the type of car you can afford vs. the type of car you want. Choosing a life partner. Choosing a thick juicy steak over tofu (Wait! there's no choice there!) A...
Imagine if your child came home from school with a permission slip to go on a field trip... ... to the garbage dump. "Um..." you say since you don't really understand "modern" education. So you read f...
In many organizations, IT is viewed as the roadblock, the naysayers, the control freaks, the wet blanket, or the obstacle to any progress in the organization. Don't believe me? Get out and talk to a n...
It's been said that Grandchildren are so fun, it would be good to skip the kids and have grand kids first. A grandpa or Nana (which is what my wife is called in our house) is a trusted adult who is no...
Gilda Radner was a favourite on Saturday Night Live some years back before her life was tragically ended by cancer. Before she passed on, she wrote a book called It's Always Something . While I haven'...
If you golf, you may want to invite me along. While I am good enough to keep up with most golfers, you certainly don't have to worry about me beating you. The thing is, I know what one of my major pro...
My good beBee friend Dean Owen suggested the upside down picture of me dressed as a cowboy might perhaps detract from the wealth of gold (my words, not his... ) in the tremendous interview Michael Hil...
I'm a huge proponent of strengths based leadership. Let me explain. Strengths are not necessarily what you are good at, but doing activities that engage your strengths bring fire to your belly, a spar...
Quick! Stop whatever you are doing and find your nearest elevator. If you are reading this at work, this shouldn't be difficult. If you work out of your home, you may have a bit more of a challenge. D...
One of my favourite things to do in the summer is to find a great patio near the lake (or river) and join some good friends for some food, beverages, and stimulating conversation. Being a raging Intro...
In 1993, a now famous cartoon by Peter Steiner appeared in the New Yorker magazine. "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." This cartoon went viral and was widely circulated at the time (ironica...
It's Canada Day tomorrow. All of us Canadians take the day off work (unless you are a bar or poutine vendor) and go to the beach, the park, or to a concert to celebrate ourselves - politely of course....
A response to Paul O'Neill's post on his daughter's first sleepover. This is to help him for the next phase when young men are in the equation. I tried to use a similar form when my daughter was a tee...
" No man is an island unto himself, every man is a part of the whole." - John Donne _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Wh...
I thought I'd try an experiment to see if I could short cut all the work of learning a new language and just rely on machine translation (in this case Google Translate) to expand my posts to the broad...
Twenty years ago, my family and I lived in paradise. Imagine a place where you could go skiing, sailing and golfing... all in the same day. Imagine a place of friendly people, stellar mountains, blue...
In his book Drive , Daniel Pink discusses the things that motivate us. There is lots of good pondering material in this book on things such as why giving more money to your team won't necessarily moti...
If they ever did a movie about my life (not that my life is that exciting, but bear with me here), I would look at formative moments that had a profound influence on how I've turned out. Just in case...
This isn’t a typical post for me… There are way more words than normal. It does show you the inside mind of an introvert – how I process things and come to the conclusions I do. This isn’t intended as...
In my recent post I discussed how I fell victim to Impostor Syndrome, and how I eventually dealt with it. The response to the topic (mostly on Twitter) was great. I learned a lot. I learned about the...
This is my version of a leadership fable that I've used in presentations over the years to describe what is unfortunately the reality in many organizations. For me, it summarizes the approach many new...
I am still amazed at the number of CIOs and Technology leaders I run into today that think their job has something to do with technology. It doesn't. At least not in this century. As a technology lead...
There is much information available today on work / life balance. I've tried for years to achieve it, and came to the conclusion that sitting in the middle of this continuum is a grand exercise in fut...
