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Follow your instincts. Trust yourself. Trust what your heart is telling you. Trust the direction your heart leads you. On March 8th, in recognition of International Women’s Day, I had the privilege of delivering some opening remarks to a group of about 60 women and men in the Construction Industry. This breakfast event was …
In business, where every decision carries weight and consequences can be far-reaching, one thing remains constant: change. As a 67-year-old CEO who has weathered many storms and witnessed countless shifts in the corporate landscape, I’ve come to understand that there are aspects of life and leadership that are beyond our control. Embracing this fact and …
Almost 30 years ago I read a book by Dr. Bob Rotella, a renowned sports psychologist. The book was called Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, and it was all about how to improve your golf game. The main lesson I took from this book was to play one shot at a time …
Last month I wrote in quite a bit of detail about my philosophy as it pertains to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Basically that it cannot be forced upon people. It is a gradual process of education and positive action. And a lot of listening and learning. This month, in a short follow up blog on …
Businesses started caring a lot more about diversity after a series of high-profile lawsuits rocked the financial industry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These lawsuits cost companies hundreds of millions in settlements. Nothing provokes action on Wall Street like money, so these companies and many others launched Diversity programs in their organizations basically on …
It is nearing the end of another year and it is that time when we look back and think about all that has occurred in 2022. Here is a list of major issues from the year’s headlines: Inflation surges around the world The highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the Globe Russia …
The words we use matter. And the word that is used a lot these days in the public discourse is “fight”. Every news report, whether it is about education workers fighting for better pay and working conditions, or politicians fighting for their constituents, or Russia fighting for more territory in Ukraine, or whatever the issue …
We have been hearing a lot about diversity and inclusion, but what does this really mean? Diversity is not just about achieving parity of gender and ethnicity in our workforces. It is all about surrounding ourselves with people who think differently than we do, listening to them, and asking good questions in order to really …
Humans are born to socialize and share community. It is in our DNA. But sometimes this urge to share can lead us down a negative path to gossip. The idea of honouring the absent is an important one to remind ourselves of often. It has never been easier to include people in a meeting or …
The month of May is Safety Month at Cooper – a time for creating heightened awareness through health and safety focused activities. Just as we did last year, we have chosen a theme for each week of May. May 1 to 7 – SEE IT. LOG IT. FIX IT. May 8 to 14 – SITUATIONAL …
I was looking for inspiration for this month’s blog and my wife showed me this picture. I laughed because it was so cute. I have no idea what sport or game these kids were playing, and it doesn’t matter. The look on the face of the kid on top of the podium as he looks …
When I was a kid my father was in the equipment rental business and I think I always knew I would join the family business. In fact, my uncle used to tell me a story about asking me at 5 years old what I wanted to be when I grew up. My answer was I …
Happy New Year! There is so much to celebrate, not least of which is the 50th Birthday of Cooper Equipment Rentals. Cooper was born in 1972 in a job shack in the back of a contractor’s yard in Toronto. Gord Cooper founded the company on the belief that being honest and real and following through …
Think about a time when you had a decision to make. How did that go? Was it easy for you or did you find it tough? Did you make a good decision? Did you even make the decision or did you let someone or something else make the decision for you? What was the outcome? …
As I write this today I am sitting on a plane on the way to Vancouver. It has been more than a year since I travelled to the west coast to visit branches and see the fine people of West Coast Cooper face to face on the ground. In September 2020, we closed a deal …
I was born in 1956 into a traditional middle class Canadian family – two older sisters and an older brother and a house in the suburbs. I was the baby by six years. My dad was a successful businessman, and my mom was a housewife, although I’m aware that’s not how we refer to women …
The longer I am in business, the more I can reflect and draw upon experiences and events of the past 45 plus years. There have been good times and not so good times in business and in personal life. Managing a business through a rough patch, and there have been a few, can be …
Kicking off with the National Day of Mourning on April 28th, a day that commemorates workers who have lost their lives or suffered serious injuries in the workplace, the entire month of May 2021 has been designated by the Construction Industry as a time for health and safety focused activities with an emphasis on Fitness for Duty.
Last summer I wrote about how the future is local – about how important it is to take the time to think about the world around us and the part we play in it – the need to support our local business operators who are suffering and who are so important to our communities. More …
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word Serendipity as “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”. This idea has always intrigued me. The notion that experiences will develop in a way that we do not control or have any ability to predict is exciting. There is an element of …
This year I thought I’d change things up a bit on the blog. I will still be publishing monthly but will alternate between Leadership subjects and Industry topics. This month I am writing about selling an equipment rental business. There are a lot of successful small and medium-sized business owners in Canada who have …
It’s a new year and I’m sure there are lots of New Year resolutions out there. Everything from losing weight or getting in shape to cutting down on drinking or resolving to eat healthy. But why do people tend to fail so badly at keeping the New Year resolutions they make? I believe one reason …
I was watching the 2018 Netflix documentary “Quincy” recently and in it, Quincy Jones credits Count Basie as teaching him to “learn to deal with the valleys and the hills will take care of themselves”. In case you don’t know who Count Basie is, he was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. He …
Two weeks ago, I called the furnace guy to come and perform annual maintenance on the furnace. “The furnace is working great” I told him. “It just needs a little TLC to make sure we have no problems over the winter. Maybe bring along a new filter.” We set a date and time for service. …