The 18th-Century Answer to a 21st-Century Hunger
A salon was a regular gathering, hosted in a private home, where conversation was the whole point. Literature, philosophy, politics, science - food was served, but talk stayed at the centre. The salonnière, almost always a woman, chose the guests, set the tone, drew out quiet voices, and kept strong personalities from dominating.
I recently joined a modern Salon Dinner with 10 others. We talked about AI and technology, and by the end of the evening every person described it memorably.
In this video I share why that matters for any leader who runs meetings, and the one question to ask yourself beforehand.
🎥 Watch the video below.
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Most CEOs will tell you their people are their greatest asset. I don't think that's quite right. It's not the people—it's the mindset those people bring to work every day.
In this video, I lay out why a positive, curious, engaged workforce functions as a genuine asset on your balance sheet, while a negative, entitled, complacent one is a liability, and why so few organizations do anything intentional to build the mindset side of the equation.
With so much going wrong in the world right now, this isn't a nice-to-have anymore—it's a competitive necessity.
Why does knowing a process is risky so rarely lead to fixing it? That question sits at the center of this short video from Steve Foran, a professional speaker with a background in safety who spent years removing avocado pits the unsafe way — hand in the line of fire — despite knowing exactly what he was risking.
Emergency rooms have a name for the resulting injury: avocado hand. Steve's shift came not from new information, but from watching a five-second, zero-risk method someone else had been using all along.
The lesson for leaders: awareness of a risk and action on a risk run on separate tracks, and teams tolerate known-flawed processes until they fail. A leader's job is to build the pause between the two.
🎬 Watch now, then take 15 minutes this week to ask your team what risk they've been quietly tolerating.
This story from a golf course highlights a common leadership blind spot: we expect others to step forward without considering whether we’ve created the conditions that make it possible.
👉 Watch the full story to discover how great leaders create true belonging 🎥
Leadership is often associated with having the right answers. But in today’s complex world, the real advantage lies in asking better questions and creating space for reflection.
Through years of facilitating executive groups, I’ve seen how removing the pressure to “fix” leads to deeper, more honest, and more impactful insights.
This video explores a simple yet powerful practice you can use immediately with your leadership team.
Most leaders underestimate the impact of what they “go on about.”
During a CEO peer group retreat at North America’s first single malt whiskey distillery, an unexpected voice cut through collective silence. This story explores leadership, group dynamics, and why outsider perspective can be the most powerful force in a room.
Most leaders underestimate the impact of what they “go on about.”
This story-driven video reveals how casual negativity can become a leadership reputation—and shape what your team feels safe to suggest or try.
A simple reminder with big implications for culture and communication.
👉 Watch now ▶️
Leadership often lives in the space between words—and that’s where things quietly fall apart.
This brief, personal story illustrates why clarity is one of the most underestimated leadership skills.
👉 Watch the video 🎥 and explore how to close the gap before gravity does.
Great leadership isn’t always loud or exciting. Often, it’s the quiet consistency that makes people feel safe. In this post, I share a simple family story that reveals why stability is one of the most underestimated leadership qualities—and why protecting it matters more than ever.
▶️🦖 Watch the video
Standing on sacred ground at Vimy Ridge, I realized something essential about leadership: people don’t follow numbers—they follow meaning. This reflection bridges history and modern leadership in a powerful way. 🎥👇
👉 Watch the video and consider the story you’re telling your team.
Organizations rarely “choose” dysfunction. More often, they drift—one copied workaround at a time—until inefficiency becomes the standard operating system. Whether it’s outdated norms, clunky tools, or unnecessary steps, the pattern is the same: when no one questions the default, the default wins.
This video gives you a simple, practical prompt to reset your team: audit one habit they copy from you.
▶️ Watch the video ✅🎬
In 1987, at my first job as an engineer, my boss’s boss—Fraser Blair—felt larger than life. He had a booming voice, a big presence, and a senior title that honestly intimidated me. One day I asked him a simple question about the origin of “Mahone Bay.” That night, at 10pm, he called me at home with the answer. That quiet act of follow-through completely disarmed my fear and built a bridge of trust and camaraderie that changed how I worked.
This experience taught me a lesson I’ve never forgotten: follow-through builds trust faster than authority. In this short video, I share the story and invite you to consider one outstanding commitment you could close today—an email, an introduction, a decision, a promise.
👉 Watch the video below and reflect on how your own follow-through shapes trust at work. 🎥
“Steve, I’ve tried the gratitude list thing… it just doesn’t work for me.”
That’s what a participant told me at a recent gratitude retreat. Her experience is more common than you might think. A lot of people—and a lot of leaders—are faithfully writing gratitude lists that never really touch the heart. The problem isn’t gratitude itself; it’s that we’re only practicing one-third of it.
In this video, I walk through three components of meaningful gratitude:
In the video below, I share how I shifted from vague expectations to a clear, five‑minute integrity talk that spelled out what cheating looked like, what the consequences were, and why it mattered. More importantly, I share the leadership question that changed everything: “What did I not say, clarify, model, or reinforce that might have made this outcome more likely?”
In 1997, I bought a Mother’s Day gift that backfired – and it changed how I lead. I realized that good intentions don’t automatically translate into positive impact. This principle applies to teams, decisions, and relationships. In this post, I share the story and the question every leader should ask before acting.
Leadership isn’t about avoiding challenges—it’s about how you respond when they hit close to home. I learned this after catching a student cheating in an ethics exam. My instinct was personal, but the right response was principle-based. Here’s the full story and the lesson every leader needs.
After more than a decade of running the same trail, I thought I knew every regular. Then, one day, I met someone I already knew—and had never seen before.
That moment reminded me of a truth every leader needs to hear: the more experience you have, the more likely you are to miss something important.
Blindspots aren’t harmless—they’re costly. In this post, I’ll share why staying curious and humble is critical for leadership success.
👉 Watch the video and start uncovering what you’re missing! 🎥
Ever notice how kids never stop asking “Why”? Last week, my 3-year-old grandson reminded me of something powerful: as adults—and especially as leaders—we often stop asking, and even worse, we stop answering.
When you make changes in your organization, your team is just as curious as a child… but they’ll only ask once. If your answer doesn’t make sense, trust erodes. In this video, I share a simple truth about why explaining your “why” matters more than you think.
👉 Watch now and discover how to build trust by embracing curiosity.
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Sometimes the biggest relief comes from finally doing the thing you’ve been putting off.
In this short story, I share a personal experience that reminded me how often leaders delay decisions—even when the tools and resources are right in front of us.
If you're a CEO or business leader, this one's for you.
👉 What decision are you sitting on that could unlock clarity, growth, or momentum? <more>
Ever heard of pronoia?
It’s the opposite of paranoia—the belief that the universe is conspiring in your favour.
Last weekend, two friends sent me an article on gratitude from the NY Times. I hadn’t seen it yet, but they had me covered.
Fifteen years ago, my reaction would’ve been very different. <more>
One of my weekly check-ins with my boss 30 years ago is embossed in my mind. Watch the video to find out why ! <more>
The nurse asked me a routine medical question that made me freeze:
"Do you do any recreational drugs—like <more>
Last week our daughter Stef drops off 2 year old Mae at daycare. Accompanying her is our 10 year old grandson Max.
What happens next is amazing <more>
It’s July 31. We finish dinner and I say,
“Max, let’s get your sister in the stroller and go for a walk around the neighbour.”
“Sure thing Bump."
As we’re passing the school where Max will be going into grade 5, <more>
I have a few standard lines when I pass people from behind while running on our local trail.
As I’m coming up to pass, you’ll hear me, <more>
Imagine you’re heading out on summer vacation. Your 4 year old and 7 year old are all excited and jabbering away in the back seat. You double check the trailer hitch to make sure the camper is securely attached and pull out of the driveway at 9:30am. You figure you’ll be at today's destination by 3pm and you think back to when you were one of the kids in the back seat. You glance at your partner, “It’s beautiful out, I’m really looking forward to the drive.".
You’re not one kilometre from home and you hear a loud noise and then see <more>
Tomorrow we head out for our annual family vacation— kids, spouses and grandkids. It’s something we all look forward to each year. Unfortunately, we’re down one person this year as our son-in-law is on an extended voyage at sea for his work with the Navy.
As the grandkids have gotten older, we’ve <more>
After 4 years in our new house I decided to put a few finishing touches on the garage. Specifically, paint the floor and take the rough "construction look" out of a small set of steps.
I move stuff from one side of the garage to the other, paint and then reverse the process for the other side. I think I handled everything in the garage <more>
I’ve been thinking about retreats a lot lately. Probably because I just finished two this month, finalizing one in July and a few on the docket in the fall.
This "retreat thinking" caused me to recall <more>
This past weekend we were looking after our 2-year old granddaughter, Maesey, for an hour or so to cover for our daughter who wanted to get out for a long run.
We did the usual kid activities—some food, some colouring, some hide-the-duckies, some toys and some reading.
What strikes me is her <more>
Most meetings have someone running the agenda. Far fewer have someone hosting the conversation - and people feel the difference.
At a recent Salon Dinner, I sat with 10 people, some lifelong friends and some total strangers, and watched a thoughtful host turn a big topic like AI into an evening everyone wanted to repeat. The 18th-century salons did the same thing: they brought together people who normally wouldn't mix, and let ideas, not rank, carry the room.
For executives and event producers, the lesson is practical. Before your next meeting, decide who is hosting the conversation, not just who is running the agenda.
▶️ Head over to watch the video to hear the full story.