Episode 21 with our Westcoast, fashion, marketing, HR, running and yoga Correspondent Jillian Walker.

You all remember Jillian (how could you forget her?!?).  She’s always good for an entertaining conversation.  Oh and I’ll warn you on this one, there is a wee bit of swearing, so don’t listen to this on the family trip up to the lake with the kiddies.

Follow Jillian on Twtter

Running time: 45:40

In this episode we talk about:

What is UrtheCast?

It’s actually this project where they’re putting a camera on the international space station and broadcasting a real-time video of the earth on www.urthecast.com, crazy hey?

Do you use Pinterest?

People getting generic engagement photos always love to share them online.

How our world is changing from generation to generation.  She introduces me to the concept of “Pretirement”.  Not traditionally waiting to retire but doing so in a way where you can live out your dreams while still working in a nontraditional sense.

Why she believes in “surrounding yourself with the people you want to become.”

She explains “you’re the sum of the people who you hang around the most.”

We talk about this blog post: Life…..Filtered.  In how our lives are really a product of our own self imposed filters.

We find out about her one weakness, she’s gullible.

Where she get her news from other than Twitter.

What she’s reading now.  We discuss 50 Shades of Grey.

Manuscripts found dating back before the Bible was written were erotic stories, that’s correct, ancient porn.

The problem with the generation following us.

People with entitlement issues.

When to get an MBA and the value of it today.

Jillian’s opinion on furthering your education.

I talk about the book The Coming Jobs War and the central thesis of the most sought after aspect of life is no longer food and shelter but having a good job.

We talk about this blog post Nightmares, My Normal .  You see, Jillian has nightmares regularly, you should hear her story.

I bring up the story of the guy who was haunted by a reoccurring nightmare for 20 years and how he used lucid dreaming to stop it from happening anymore.  A fascinating story to listen to.

What she struggles with the absolute most.

Jillian share some great advice:  “Never let the things you want make yo forget the things you have”

See the first podcast I did with Jillian here:

Episode #15 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Why HR Sucks – Featuring Jillian Walker

Related posts:

1. Episode #15 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Why HR Sucks – Featuring Jillian Walker
2. Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock
3. Episode #18 – A Canadian Storyteller, Roger Currie

The episode you’re about to listen to is called “The Psychopath Test“ I thought it was a fascinating look at the world of Psychopathy.  The questions on the test, the man who can’t get out of prison because of failing a test, and the sadistic CEO that borders on the line of psychopathy, this episode will have you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Definitely a must listen.

Running time: 1:01:18

This American Life’s – The Psychopath Test

Related posts:

1. How Many Security Guards Did Your High School Have?
2. Episode 21 – Filming The Earth From Space, 50 Shades of Grey, and Nightmares w/ Jillian Walker
3. Episode #6 – Who’s Derek Wu? – Part 1 of 2

Welcome to the fascinating mind of Thomas Le.  We met in third year university.  Thomas was getting his MBA and I was still a young party animal.  We stayed in touch when moved he to Saskatoon a couple years ago to take Law at the U of S. 

I’ve always looked up to Thomas, as you’ll hear, he lives his life for others.  An amazing role model and truly a person who will change our world for the better.  The more Thomas’s in our world the better off we all are.

Follow Thomas Le on Twitter.

I think he has one of he best Twitter bios: “There are no barriers to life than discovering your talents and believing in them enough to nurture them. People have ‘Special Abilities’ not ‘Disabilities’”

Running time: 34:44

In this episode:

• Who is Thomas Le?
• Where his family is from (Vietnam) Where he grew up (Regina, Saskatchewan)
• He has a degree in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Regina
• He has a passion for helping people with disabilities, he’s made it a major part of his life
• Thomas began volunteering over 10 years ago with the Summer fun program with the Saskatchewan Abilities Council, it’s what inspired a more fulfilling life for him.
• He worked on one of the most advanced engineering projects in Saskatchewan, the synchrotron research facility and remembered not getting the same emotional charge he got from volunteering.  His destiny was inevitable, he couldn’t fight it.
• He founded “Engineers Without Boarders” in the engineering faculty at the U of R
• He founded the “Best Buddies” program at the University of Saskatchewan.
• He’s a major part of a project developing a disability law centre for people with disabilities that helps encourage equality when it comes to people with disabilities and the law.
• He also helped found the “Community Outreach Committee” which has seven subprograms under it.
• I ask him why does he do it?  He could be working anywhere right now but instead he’s giving a large portion of his time to volunteering. His answer is awesome.
• He says at one point you “Stop the what if’s and just start doing.”
• What is the slowest evolving industry in our country?  I thought education, he says law.
• I ask about what he thinks of education.
• About how school is administered; “even if it’s our best model, that doesn’t mean it should be our only model.” Brilliant.
• We talk about a philosophical point of view on equality and inequality.  Thomas talk about John Rawls thoughts on equality.
• Michael Sandel from Harvard Law school, Justice: What’s the right thing to do? (watch this, it’s fascinating)
• Did you know that 70-80% of the enrollment in Ivy League schools are first born or only children? (watch the video)
• We need to get out from behind the “vale of ignorance”.
• What inspires him and how he learns.
•  Why he seeks out what scares him the most.
• Identifying your upper limit problem. From: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
• Sometimes you have to lean into the dip (a book by Seth Godin)
• We talk about implicit biases and the social knowledge construct.
•  Most of our biases are formed by the age of seven, children are in fact a different form of genius before the age of seven.  See the Ted talk Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies
• Dan Pink (author of Drive and a Whole New Mind) on the surprising science of motivation (Ted talk)
• What Thomas is working on now.

Related posts:

1. Episode #15 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Why HR Sucks – Featuring Jillian Walker
2. Episode #4 – Ryan Holota On Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs To Be Risky
3. Episode #9 – Who Tweets For The @ReginaPolice?

I met Dan Nichols when he was working at Squareflo a long time ago, we have a lot in common and think the same about a lot of things so we’ve been great friends ever since.  Dan has since moved to the fine offices of Oh! Media (a division of Phoenix Group Advertising), a website design and development company in Regina, Saskatchewan.  Dan does amazing things with websites, he’ll be an asset to any company that he works with. A programmers mindset with the humor of Jack Black crossed with Ashley Schaeffer around the office (yes, quite the hilarious combination).  Dan is a great friend to have.

Besides “work” Dan’s a great guy to party with.  He’s been known to blow an amp or two while singing Kareokee (because of the magical sound) and frequents music shows on the regular.  Also, Dan does have one of the best Twitter bio’s around, check it out.

Follow Dan on Twitter – @dannicholls

We have some wonderful conversations, here’s one we recorded.

Running time: 20:20

Meet Dan Nicholls.

• What do you think of all the print publications popping up all over Regina?
• The nine print publications in circulation in Regina (Leave a comment if we left one out): Metro, Verb, Prairie Dog, City Slicker, QC, The Sunday Post, Fine Life Styles, Business Regina, LeaderPost
• How do you filter out the good from the bad content?
• Judging a book by it’s cover, or an article by it’s headline.
• Will people who can write a catchy headline or convey a lot of mean in 140 characters increase in value to companies?
• Will we see a change in creative departments of adding more creatives that can think in Tweets and headlines?
• Why Twitter is replacing many uses of print publications as a news source.
• What is the future of the younger generation? How will older generations keep up with the speed of society?
• As a side note, I do not believe ALL people over the age of 50 have no specialized knowledge other than experience in their field, please don’t take my comments to heart, of course there are exceptions to the rule.
• Do we believe the misconception of the always connected, always on world is making our children dumb?
• I’m pretty sure my parents told me as a kid that TV would make me dumb, are we going through the same phase? Parents think the internet will make kids dumb because they don’t understand it?

Related posts:

1. Episode #9 – Who Tweets For The @ReginaPolice?
2. Why I’m In Love With Floprint
3. Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock

I met Roger Currie on the set of Access Communications “Talk of The Town” program.  Roger had talked to Jack Shaw (President of Crown Shred & Recycling) he just so happened to tell Roger about the new style of marketing Crown Shred has adopted by using Social Media (they were a client of mine last year).  Roger then invited me to talk Social Media on his show and a beautiful friendship was born.

I had a lot of fun on the show so I begged them to have me on again.  Since then I’ve done several more shows and even shot a pilot to a show I can’t tell you about.   HA!

Roger could keep a conversation on with a def blind mute if he had to.  Seriously though, this guy has skills, you’ll hear.  I’ve learned a lot from Mr. Currie in the short time I’ve known him.  I do believe he is one of Canada’s legendary story tellers.

Click here to visit Roger Currie’s Website.

Follow Roger on Twitter here.

Running time: 14:10

In this episode:

• Where is Roger Currie from?
• What is the Roger Currie story?
• How he just started a blog
• The original Social Media, a story about Rotary
• Who the most awe inspiring interview Roger ever did
• Who was the biggest jerk to interview

I think Roger’s awesome, he’ll go down in history as the guy who gave me my start television.  All the best in Winnipeg Roger.

Related posts:

1. Episode #4 – Ryan Holota On Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs To Be Risky
2. Episode 17 – The Living Sky Media Conglomerate
3. Episode #15 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Why HR Sucks – Featuring Jillian Walker

WNYC’s RadioLab Podcast – Choice

Every month I want to share a podcast on here that I learned a lot from, this week is probably the best produced podcast out there.  You’re going to love RadioLab.

The first podcast I ever listened to was RadioLab. It’s the podcast that actually made me enjoy listening to podcasts.

This episode is about choice.  The hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich talk to many different guests on the theme, “choice”.  Every week they pick a different topic and discuss it was the top minds in the chosen field. 

In this episode they talk to Malcolm Gladwell(author of Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers), Jonah Lehrer(author of How We Decide), Dr. Oliver Sacks(professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center), Barry Schwartz(author of The Paradox of Choice), and Baba Shiv(Marketing Professor at Standford University).  Not your regular talk radio program lineup.  You learn the most amazing things listening to podcasts like these.

I hope you enjoy RadioLab as much as I do.

Running time: 58:51

It’s a bit long but you’ll love their style of story telling.

Related posts:

1. Do You Want To Be Smarter?
2. My Top 10 Podcasts
3. Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock

I’ve known Riley for a while now and have been working with him for at least three years.  Riley has always struck me as a different kind of character.  Wait, how do I put it…..  Riley’s weird.  He’s an extraordinary individual, I’ve always said he’s a brilliant artist.  You won’t know exactly what I mean until you do a video with him and begin to understand why he so passionate about telling a story with film.

Riley’s been running his company, Living Sky Media since he finished University several years ago.  He’s filmed at the Olympics in 2010, did a tour of Saskatchewan with Scott Schultz last summer and last fall put together a very moving documentary on the housing problem in Regina.

I look up to Riley as an entrepreneur and an artist.  A very unique combination in the business community, and a reason that I believe Riley stands out.  He’s not like other companies and he’s an all around fun guy.  You can learn a lot from this young James Cameron.

The Living Sky Media Website

@LivingSkyMedia on Twitter

@AdamBurwell on Twitter

Running Time: 24:35

In this episode:

• How did Living Sky Media start?
• He has a film degree from the University of Regina
• Why he wanted to do his own thing
• Living Sky Media began in 2009
• Where the idea of Living Sky Media came from
• He was slow to get into HD
• What is Living Sky Media doing these days?
• Riley partnered with Adam Burwell
• They just acquired a “Red cam”
• What Living Sky Media actually does
• What they’re working on currently
• “Bridging The Gap” documentary
• A couple of the fun projects he’s worked on.  Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and touring Saskatchewan with Scott Schultz
• I ask him about the Saskatchewan Government taking away the film tax credit
• What advice he’d give to someone starting out in the industry
• What will come after HD

Related posts:

1. Profitable or Passionate?
2. Saskatchewan Pavilion
3. Where is Marketing Going?

I met Jordan McFarlen in High School, we won a city championship on the same volleyball team.  We still play volleyball together on, arguably the best beach volleyball team in the city, the Volley Lama’s.

Jordan has always been very smart and just a really a fun guy to be around.  Now all grown up, he’s one of the most progressive teachers in the Regina Public School system.  He’s a great guy and an inspiring teacher,  I think he’s going to do something amazing in this world.

You’ll enjoy what he has to say.

Jordan McFarlen (@mcfarljo) on Twitter

Mr. McFarlen (@mrmcfarlen) on Twitter

Jordan McFarlen’s “Blogfolio”

Running time: 20:03

In this episode:

• What does Jordan McFarlen do
• Where he went to school
• Where he teaches now (Campbell)
• What he’s “done” to his classroom, he tries to create a “creative and innovative” work space.
• We talk about a couple businesses that his students have started.
•  Jordan has a different teaching style, he talks about how he looks at teaching and trying provide the best education he can.
• What are some of the bright spots so far?  In year two they increased the enrollment in their class by 100 students (Business classes are electives, students don’t have  to take Jordan’s class).
• Why his goal is to be the best Business class in Canada….eventually.  First things first he’s striving to be the best business school in Saskatchewan.  (They already won school of the year this past year).
• What does the future of education hold in regards to the the adoption of technology and the internet?
• How should teachers adapt to the use of online tools to help students learn better?
• What “push-back” do you get from parents and others on what your students are publishing online?
• Focusing on helping students create a positive “online footprint”.
• What do you as Social Media’s role in education in the next five years?
• A couple professors that made a difference in Jordan’s mind, Alec Couros (@courosa) and Dean Shareski (@shareski)
• What’s the most valuable social tool you use?
• What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in your business classes?

Related posts:

1. How Many Security Guards Did Your High School Have?
2. What You Learn at Conferences in Business School
3. A Freakonomics Radio Podcast

One day last year I began following this HR professional from (Calgary at the time) now Vancouver.  She sounded smart, shared a lot of great content, and actually talked to other people!  She had me at retweet, I was sold.

I end up in Vancouver just before the Grey Cup last year and thought I’d throw a Tweet out there to see if this mystically smart, yelling in her avatar, Vancouvian influencer, would go for supper with me. She did have to verify I wasn’t just a Tweetin’ creep through a mutual friend, Kendal Harazny, his referenced checked out though. (thanks Kendal)

I’m fascinated with Ms. Walker, she has already done so much, and she’s very smart to talk to.  A strong work ethic and a wonderful personality make for a very accomplished Human Resource (HR) professional who’ll end up changing our world for the better.

Visit Jillian Walker’s website here

Running time: 46:29

In this episode:

• Where Jillian came from and where she resides now.
• How we first met (she wore “pleather” pants).
• Where she first worked in a corporation and how it taught her a very important lesson.
• How she became the “Gen Y HR girl”.
• How she won a much more valuable prize than money in a video contest (the prize was 5 one hour meetings with 5 CEO’s of National and International companies).
• A shout out to KPMG for the kind words from the CEO.
• Why doing informational interviews is a good idea and why more people should take the initiative.  Especially if you want to understand a company more thorough.
• The story about why sometimes you just need to haul ass.
• Why she doesn’t want to grow her business, seriously, she doesn’t.
• What business owners, CEO’s and executives need to know about HR.
• What the future of HR and it’s practices will look like.
• Why the future of HR should not be left in the hands of HR minded people but instead, business minded people.
• It’s time for a major change in the Human Resource industry.
• If you are a candidate for a job you can assume some one Google’d you and looked up your Facebook profile.
• Google and Social Media platforms are more of an opportunity than a liability if you’re a candidate for a job.
• Why guys should be aware of the length of their pants when dressing up.  A warning from Jillian.
•  What Jillian does in her spare time (if she actually does have spare time)
• Where she writes online
• Her Social Media Policy where you can learn where to connect to her.  Follow her on Twitter here.
• A lesson from the show The Real Housewives of Vancouver.
• She gives some very smart advice at the end; “Just be yourself”.  “You are the sum of the five people you hang around with the most”.
• “If one person learns, you’ve done your job.”

Listen to the previous episodes…

Episode 14 – A Website Overnight With NorthWorks.ca

A Freakonomics Radio Podcast

Episode 12 – The Coda Clothing Story Starring Colter Wood

Episode #11 – Regina’s Great Bambino-Kip Simon From 22Fresh

Episode #10 – Why Earls Is The Best, an Interview With Jim Demeray

Episode #9 – Who Tweets For The @ReginaPolice?

Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock

Episode #7 – Poking on Facebook & How Squareflo Looks at Your Website Feat. Derek Wu – Part 2 of 2

Episode #6 – Who’s Derek Wu? – Part 1 of 2

Episode #5 – What Does The Vintage Tea Room & The Imax Have In Common?

Episode #4 – Ryan Holota On Why Your Marketing Strategy Needs To Be Risky

Episode #3 – Nothing’s Impossible, For The Regina Symphony Orchestra

Episode #2 – Why would a car dealership use social media?

Episode #1 – Your Corporate Twitter Account is Boring

Related posts:

1. Episode 21 – Filming The Earth From Space, 50 Shades of Grey, and Nightmares w/ Jillian Walker
2. Episode 20 – Being The Change You Want To See In The World – Featuring Thomas Le
3. Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock

Live from Smitty’s in the Golden Mile, I talk to Brandon Wu about his company and how he got his start.

I’ve known Brandon for at least Seven years now, though we didn’t start our friendship off on a positive note.  I remember in fourth year university I was talking to people about going to the next Business Students Society event and Brandon didn’t like it.  We had somewhat of a heated debate, I called his brother up immediately and proclaim to Derek that his brother was a “bitch”.  It wasn’t long after a few conversations with Brandon and Derek, and several BSS events later, I think he changed his mind and Derek and I both agreed that brandon wasn’t actually a bitch.

Brandon has always been a thinker.  Always learning a new skill set or developing his next entrepreneurial idea, I think he’s really found a niche in building amazingly affordable websites.

Running time: 21:32

In this episode:

• How he got started in website development (The beginning of NorthWorks)
• The first website he was a part of; ThePoutine.com
• How he builds websites
• Why he uses WordPress
• Why the websites Brandon creates are cost effective and a smart choice for small business owners
• What does the future of website development hold?
• What will websites look like in the future?
• What Google likes in a website
• Why NorthWork’s website’s are incredibly user friendly to update
• How his remarkably fast turn-around on completing your website will be a competitive advantage over time
• Why he doesn’t want to do large, high maintenance websites

Brandon’s company NorthWorks Web Design and Development

Follow Brandon on Twitter @Brandon_Wu

Related posts:

1. Episode #7 – Poking on Facebook & How Squareflo Looks at Your Website Feat. Derek Wu – Part 2 of 2
2. Episode #15 – Everything You Wanted to Know About Why HR Sucks – Featuring Jillian Walker
3. Episode #8 – An Interview With a Professional Wordsmith, Linden Wilcock