ABOUT
. . . this blog:
Having spent seven years looking after marketing and publishing at a Canadian university management development unit, I spent a lot of time talking to really smart academics and consultants and to really passionate managers and executives. I realized early on that I was speaking to two solitudes. The academics would often tut-tut about the fast and loose ideas that passed for accepted management wisdom. The managers would ask me, “What language are those folks speaking?”
It is, of course, an age old tension point: the need for academics to advance management knowledge while being relevant to practitioners; and the need for practitioners to rely more on rigorous thinking than the fad of the day.
The mission of this modest blog is to narrow the gap, ever slightly, between these two solitudes.
If you are an academic doing great research relating to organizational life, we can help you tell your story to working professionals. And if you are a practitioner looking to separate fact from fiction, we write clear reviews of the latest thinking in people management. We do this by scouring scores of journals in the areas of human resource management, organization development and psychology, and labour relations and picking out stories that interest us. If it interests us, it will probably interest you. And if your organization would like to work with a researcher in a particular area, let us know and we will try and make a match.
. . . me:
I am a Content Marketing and Thought Leadership Specialist based in Ontario, Canada. That means I help individuals, organizations, and associations get their big ideas out into the world. I work with my clients to produce electronic and print books, white papers, articles, podcasts — you name it — that capture and advance their ideas. For more information on my consulting services, go to the “Consulting” tab.
:: This is my background in marketing and editorial development:
- I led the marketing and publishing initiatives at a Queen’s University people management development unit, and spearheaded its re-branding.
- I am an accomplished and award-winning magazine writer and editor. I am former Editor of EQUINOX, Canada’s Magazine of Discovery, and Contributing Editor of Canadian Geographic. I have more than 20 years of experience in the magazine business.
- I am author of Where Is Here? Canada’s Maps and the Stories They Tell, published in 2002 by Penguin Canada. The book explores how we shape our maps and how maps, in turn, shape us.
:: And this is what keeps my brain going at night:
What it means to follow — I am now conducting research into followership as part of a book project.
People and place — This is where geography comes to life.