Posts by John Wright

In two thousand and twelve,  I was introduced to TED, or what many refer to as TED Talks.  These are short talks, presented typically, by experts, LIVE on stage and videoed as content for the TED site for others to watch, learn, and benefit from.  Oddly enough I learned about this non profit U.S. organization, through a innovating fellow, Luke Swanek, in Muskoka, who had the gumption to originate a ‘talk’ from Nipissing U in Bracebridge, Ontario.  While at the Haliburton Broadcasting Group (Moose FM) at the time, the infamous Mike Fry and I made the decision to sponsor the event.  This was leading edge technology. This morning, I was reading the Star Touch on line, and came upon an article about the remarkable Amy Cuddy who had overcome all odds to recover from a terrible car accident and educated her way to greatness.  Having read the article, I went on to the TED site and decided to watch and listen to the talk by Amy.  Fascinating, educational and in particular motivating, which is why i decided to offer the talk to you today. The topic is about the incredibly powerful attributes of body language, but more importantly how practicing various body language poses, can impact our organic state, furthering...

A Disappearance It is indeed most unfortunate that Post Media pulled the plug on what was an institution in Muskoka:  Muskoka Magazine, gone, along with a free, lesser known weekly: What’s Up Muskoka.  Twenty jobs in these parts is significant, not to mention the deafening sounds of editorial silence.  Jack Hutton’s column will be sadly missed. There were several very talented managers, writers, and graphics people operating this business.  Muskoka Magazine adorned many decks, docks and coffee tables, and enjoyed a decent readership in particular, by Cottagers.  Three Metroland papers (owned by TorStar) still exist: The Examiner, The Banner and The Forester, plus yet another magazine: Muskoka Life. Stay with me here, some research is involved.  What is at play here is more obvious to some and less to others who may not pay much attention to the media of this fast paced era. The reality is yes, Paul Godfrey at Post Media is trimming costs and continues to do so with gusto, eliminating jobs.  The print business is under siege and has been for some time.  Just this week, it was announced that yet another (ninety)  90 Post Media Jobs  were trimmed out west. Let’s get to the meat of the matter.  Back in March of last year, Torstar...

I’m a bit of a customer service freak.  Often to the detriment of my bottom line, the extra distance is travelled for clients and often for friends.  It’s Jw DNA, ultimately wanting to help others succeed and improve. Who doesn’t appreciate a resourceful referral? Since early days as an Account Executive in Toronto at Standard’s CKFM, (“The Sound of our Toronto”), my mantra was to be known for creativity, resourcefulness, and, customer service. Recently whilst travelling (out of Muskoka), I called a popular little restaurant that does a nice job of serving pizza, wings, burgers and the like, to order take out.  We did not have time to sit down, order, sit and eat.  We wanted to order on the phone, pick up a couple of burgers on the fly, and SAVE TIME doing so. The person on the other end of the phone was short with me saying: “It’s pizza and wing night here tonight, we can’t do burgers for take out.”  Somewhat understandably, I was flabbergasted.  In fact, for a moment I was literally speechless, which is a rarity for moi. I finally said: “I’ll have to call you back”, because I did not know what else to say, that was pleasant.  He replied: “You do that!”...