The EQ Journal Blog

April 2010

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Mar				May »
			1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Archives

Moon Shot Redux—A Thought Experiment

The Value of Lunar Real Estate, Revealed
Q. What is the one planetoid or planet in the solar system that shares the Earth’s nice, comfortable, warm niche in the Solar System?
A. The Moon.
Introduction
“The moon is officially ranked as the Earth’s satellite, but since it is relatively large and massive with a diameter of 3476 km and [...]

Teamwork in the 10th Millennium B.C.

(and the 20th Century)
Synergy is a fancy word for teamwork. According to Jane Jacobs all human economic development stems from the development of villages, towns and cities. It is by proximate co-habitation that we learn about each others strengths and weaknesses and learn to share and divide tasks according to individual skill sets.
This is what [...]

Why Cheering for the Leafs Is … Unnatural

In Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Montreal
Back in 2004, I wrote this essay on how a sports team can positively impact a City’s development. I approached the subject by looking at an unusual phenomenon: the presence of significant numbers of Toronto Maple Leaf fans who are resident in other Canadian NHL cities.
Now as the [...]

Show Some Adaptability

The unofficial motto of the US Marine Corps is “show some adaptability”. You see the enemy has an uncanny knack of changing strategy when the battle actually begins—they don’t just sit at their last reported position waiting for Marines to come kill them.
Same thing in entrepreneurship—when you come into contact with the markets, everything [...]

My Experience at the Nicol Entrepreneurial Award

by Student Entrepreneur Siavosh Noruziaan [Guest Blog]
Recently, one of my students, Siavosh Noruziaan, became only the second ever student entrepreneur from the University of Ottawa to be selected and to compete in the Nicol Entrepreneurial Award national finals. I asked Siavosh to write about his experiences which he did. See below.
Before he could even compete [...]

Moon, Mars, Earth, Asteroid Plan

President Obama’s recent speech about US intentions in space was uncharacteristically weak and unfocused, indeed, poorly expressed. His over-arching goal about humans in Mars orbit by the ‘mid 2030s’ was hardly an inspiring call to the barricades. He ineptly attempted to recall President Kennedy’s words “and to return them safely to Earth”. His timeline was [...]

New Economic Policy for Ottawa

City-states like Ottawa-Gatineau compete with others for attention, power, people, money and resources. Recently, the Conference Board of Canada predicted that Ottawa will lose 10,000 civil services jobs (over the next three years) as the GOC (Government of Canada) cuts back in the face of a significant national deficit. While this is not a cause [...]

Selling is the Teeth End of Business—

A Few Pointers so You can Become a Top Salesperson
“Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can’t, you’re
absolutely right,” Henry Ford.
I often get asked what is the surest way to increase sales; people are looking for a magic bullet.
I actually believe there is a ‘magic marketing button’: a button that an [...]

NIMBY Venn Diagram

After 28 years of trying to: a) understand the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) mindset and b) trying to cope with the effects of this on urban design and development, I have summarized a lifetime of research and experience in this Venn Diagram:

Prof Bruce

People Who Think They can be Entrepreneurs

Recently, I sat next to a couple of guys who had in front of them, in my view, a great opportunity to buy a small tech company, all they needed to do was sign one piece of paper. But when they found out that it wasn’t a ’sure thing’, they balked.
For an investment of [...]