Category: Blog

Q2.

Are you looking back at your Q1 goals and wondering why you didn’t complete what you set out to do?

Did you have New Year’s resolutions that you broke before putting a cork in January? Did your new diet, attitude, habit or hobby get thrown out the window on one of those bitterly cold days we experienced in Toronto? Or perhaps you live in a land without snow and ice, but you still froze in your self-development tracks.

In your work life, did you have a series of projects that felt doable and looked achievable on a Miro board or in a Slack channel that somehow fell apart right before your eyes? Did the leaks appear early in the hull of your expeditionary vessel before you could even put the mast and sails up?

I am sure you will agree with me when I say aloud: How is it April? Those words ring loud as you plan Q2, even though it is already two weeks old, and you assess your first quarter of this year entitled Twenty-Twenty-Two.

If you are strong enough to have achieved everything you set out to in Jan-Feb-March, you have little motivation to read on outside of attempting not to hurt my feelings. But if you are like me and put too many things up on the board, let’s discuss some solutions further.

In an attempt to practice what this blog is preaching, I will recommend one and only one idea for you to tackle for Q2. You can search elsewhere on how to set “S.M.A.R.T.” Goals or Objectives or Rocks or Milestones. There are more sources than you can imagine to help you learn, adapt, and hopefully maintain new habits. If weight loss is your primary goal, I can 1000% recommend the Noom App. Maybe you want to stave off old age, then read Younger Next Year. Missing something to celebrate? Go to a game or head to your local and make a new friend.

But if you are genuinely committed to taking down everything you need to in Q2, I suggest you focus on one thing only. Your Mental Health. Your Mental Health is the biggest threat to our existence in 2022. Think about it. You are stressed, your work is not getting any easier, and there are tsunamis of discontent around you. Watching Russia slaughter the people of Ukraine is horrifying. Witnessing Republicans attack Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson confirms that racism is a weapon that white people are happy to embrace. Your concerns over inflation, elections and housing affordability are not unfounded.

Plus, all around you are hearing horrifying stories of people’s mental health challenges. In everyday life, we all hear of the successful executive committing suicide. A friend of a friend is struggling with depression—a university student who can’t cope.

But what about you? Have you looked in on yourself? Are you strong enough to handle the world we live? Are you strong enough to support your loved ones? Are you strong enough for two, or maybe three, when someone with mental health challenges needs to lean on you?

The most unselfish thing in the world you can do is practice self-care. Somebody once said that You can’t love someone else until you can love yourself.

I implore you to set aside the planner. Park the time management tools. Push pause on the productivity podcast. Take a deep breath and look even deeper inside yourself; if you need help, celebrate the discovery, and seek it with your head held high.

If you believe you are 100% mentally fit, what is the plan to keep it that way? First, Journal and take notice of what is working every day. Then, celebrate your success every day. Finally, tell yourself you can do it every day.

Improving your mental health will improve every aspect of your health. It may even save your life.

It may even save the lives of others.

I am as excited as the next Canadian about our National Men’s Soccer Team qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 

The last twelve months have been an exciting run as we have climbed from 122nd in the world to our current rank of #33. Over the next few months, we will have plenty of time to listen to the prognosticators discuss how we will take on Belgium, Croatia, and Morocco in our Group F matches. It will also be interesting to follow the brands that jump on board to join existing partners, such as Allstate, GoGo SqueeZ and Nike. 

Suppose you are fortunate enough to be heading to Qatar. In that case, you will probably be juggling your life and work schedule for the long trip, let alone your bank account, to pay for what is probably going to be the most expensive major event you could imagine. But the opportunity to see Alphonso Davies, Cyle Larin, and Johnathan David compete at the highest of highest levels will be unique.

As crucial as these three stars are to the future of Canadian soccer, we need to celebrate and honour some other names who have etched their names on the red and white pitch for the past decade. So let’s start with the best Canadian soccer player ever, the GOAT, Christine Sinclair; continue with Erin McLeod, backstopping Canada to a bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics, and add a dash of Ashley Lawrence, who scored a World Cup goal in her international debut at 17. 

Think about this. It has been ten years since our Canadian women won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, a journey that included a gut-wrenching semi-final loss to the Americans fuelled by one of the most disputed penalty calls in soccer history. A decade later, we have another Olympic bronze medal and a bright gold medal shining brightly in the trophy case built by our women’s team. Yet, we celebrate our men qualifying for their gender’s World Cup as our first ever soccer breakthrough.

Yes, I am excited. I am over the moon. I am excited for 2022 and delighted about 2026 when we see our men’s team play on home soil. The home soil where I witnessed Christine Sinclair score a winning mark in Edmonton to open the 2015 Women’s World Cup. The home soil where our women’s players, coaches, and supporters have toiled for years. Our home soil, where everybody in the Canadian soccer ecosystem strove to help our women get to the top of the international podium. 

One of my favourite SponsorshipX presenters has been Canada Soccer leader Peter Montopoli. At our past forums, he talked about how that 2012 Olympic breakthrough was an overnight success some ten years in the making for our women’s side. If I invited him to talk about the 2022 men’s team, I am sure he might entitle the presentation similarly. Not to put words in his mouth, but he might even describe the blueprint they built for our women’s team breakthrough as what they utilized for the men. 

(I have no inside knowledge, but John Herdman is the first coach to lead a men’s team to the World Cup after doing the same with a nation’s women’s team is a bit of a clue to me about that blueprint!)

My message today is clear and straightforward. We know that colossal inequity still exists in men’s and women’s sports. I am sure some readers of this piece will jump all over me about what this organization did or did not do for women’s soccer in Canada. Trust me, and I am not blind. That is why I am having this conversation. I want us to celebrate the men, but let’s give our women their due. Let’s ensure they are central to future discussions. Let’s use this newfound interest in Canadian soccer to spill over to all players in the sport. Let’s be great Canadians and celebrate all our diversity.

I have enjoyed working with our women’s stars in past programs, such as Christine Sinclair, Diana Matheson, and other greats. They deserve to be celebrated, feted, and rewarded. No person has scored more international goals in the world than Sinclair has. NO ONE.

So let’s take the Eurythmics’ lead and throw out that old expression – Behind Every Man is a Great Woman. Our soccer women are not here to be in the shadows of our men. On the contrary, our Canadian soccer women blazed a trail for our men, fought the battles for our country, and proved that we could be among the best in the world to the entire Canadian soccer ecosystem. 

It is up to our men to live up to our women’s legacy. 

Don Mayo and I named our weekly show On Bourbon Street in honour of a late-night (actually early morning) walk we had down the legendary New Orleans street a few years back. 

Bourbon Street is a microcosm of the entire city. Parts of it are excellent, and parts of it are unfathomable. The disparity between rich and poor, utterly profound. Crises, such as Hurricane Ida, make the divide even more profound. The permanent loss of lives and livelihoods and the temporary displacement of people and pets will be overwhelmingly from the poorer communities. 

The City of New Orleans can never catch a break, and my heart goes out to them. 

Even their beloved Saints will have to kick off their 2021 season in a neutral site in Jacksonville. This unexpected relocation will not be the first time that Saints have become nomads for a season. Hurricane Katrina forced the city to use the Superdome as a massive shelter for displaced residents and that on its own will be a story for many more documentaries to come. But when the team does return home, their stadium will have a new name – the Caesars Superdome. 

As Sports Betting explodes across North America, the influx of sponsorship and marketing dollars is funding partnership deals at an unprecedented level. The NFL just announced four new sportsbook partners in time for this season. One of them is Caesars Entertainment, so the double down to name the stadium makes a lot of sense. 

This activity has heightened an already highly anticipated season that will include the mass return of fans to stadiums, the ongoing controversy over unvaccinated players, and the unprecedented return of all twenty-two starters to the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

I am inquisitive to see how brand partners and league sponsors join in the fray. Will the pent-up demand for activation with consumers in real life be overmatched by the fears of variants and creating spreader events. This week will give us a preview into how the most powerful sports marketing machine on the continent will tackle the second season to be played under the clouds of this pandemic. 

As most team partners get prepared for the excitement, the challenge the Saints partners face must be twofold. One, how do you support the community in which you do business and help the victims? Two, what is the right tone and approach to take with your activations during this crisis? Let alone the third component of executing activities when your team is not even in its home state. 

The message is that while the NFL Kickoff brings joy to me as a fan and piques my interest as a marketer, it will also focus on the challenges of a team playing away from the hometown fans that have never needed them more. 

The signing of Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday in the United States is as of much importance to Black Americans as it is to Black Canadians.

In simple terms, without the end of Slavery, many of us would literally not be here.

Half of my DNA is from the Anderson family of Arkansas. Without freedom from Slavery, my biological grandfather doesn’t play college football at Kentucky State, doesn’t get signed by the Calgary Stampeders, and certainly doesn’t appear in a movie with Marilyn Monroe.

I want you to reflect on your “23andme” for a moment. Where are your bloodlines connected to Slavery? Now imagine if Slavery still existed. You either would not exist, or you would be a slave. I am literally touching my arms, face, and heart as I write and consider this fact. Without the Civil War, there is no me.

People may wonder why it makes sense to enact a holiday for something that occurred three-hundred and fifty-plus years ago. In fact, some people may wonder what Juneteenth is? I had no idea about it until last year. But as part of my personal awakening after George Floyd’s murder, it was one of my first learnings.

Many of you who read this are marketers. You know the power of Awareness. Many of you who read this are educators. You see the power of the Curriculum. Many of you who read this are volunteers. You know the power of Purpose.

Enacting Juneteenth as a holiday will raise Awareness, ensure Slavery is discussed, and renew the Purpose of social justice advocates. In addition, Slavery and its evil cousins of caste systems, forced labour, debt bondage are still very active worldwide. Therefore, if the United States declares the end of Slavery a national holiday, the amplification impact could be enormous.

You need to understand that descendants of slaves think about Slavery every day. The colour of our skin will not allow us to forget. But, if Slavery had not ended in the United States, how long do you think emancipation would have really lasted in Canada? Imagine never going to the USA for vacation or business if American Slavery was still the law. Let alone the fact that many of us would never have worked for American companies in their Canadian offices or had them hire our firms as suppliers.

Juneteenth becoming a national holiday in America turns a much-needed spotlight on anti-racism. You do not need to apologize if you are just learning about its significance. I certainly do not feel the need. I would instead focus your energies on celebrating Juneteenth. Celebrate it not for marking the end of Slavery but for the beginning of life.

How do we turn something heinous into some form of good? Is it possible?

One year ago, the George Floyd murder had me asking myself the same question. The rage that tragedy ignited has continued to burn fiercely inside me.

Will the discovery of the remains of two hundred and fifteen children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School be the George Floyd moment for Indigenous people in Canada? I ask this question not to sensationalize this tragedy. I ask it from a place of hope.

The discovery of these dead children, long suspected by the Indigenous community, is a black mark on our country. This is proof that we have committed genocide. We all need to be outraged.

The Catholic Church, the governments of British Columbia, the educators involved, and our federal government all need to be held accountable. The specific individuals involved, living or otherwise, need to be held responsible by a court of law.

These two tragedies amidst this pandemic are hard to swallow. In fact, swallowing them is the last thing to do. We need to clear our throats and scream about them.

After the Geroge Floyd murder, many people in the Black community and thousands of allies galvanized in a new resolve to end racism in all aspects of their lives. But we cannot do it alone, and without the support of our allies, our governments, our employers, and our media, we will not succeed.

I am personally grateful for the support I have received in founding the Black Talent Initiative.

It is time we do the same for our original citizens. The manner we have treated our Indigenous is so appalling. Police violence. Hospital maltreatment. Ongoing land disputes. Boardroom exclusion. Daily bigotry.

This is not a subject where I have even marginal knowledge. My brain has not studied this topic. My personal advocacy has been only recently through my work with the Black, Biracial, and Indigenous Task Force for Ontario University Athletics.

BUT. BUT. BUT.

My mind, my heart, and my soul know there needs to be something done. That something must be done by us. By you.

You are the people who came to my side when I ranted about the George Floyd murder. You are the people that are supporting the Black Opportunity Fund, Onyx, and the Reading Partnership. You are the people making the change in your boardrooms, reviewing your hiring practices, and investing in community partnerships. You are the people volunteering, mentoring, sponsoring. You are the people asking our governments for more.

There is more to do for the Black community, but potentially none higher than expressing your solidarity for our sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers of our Indigenous people.

It is possible if you want it to be, to right hundreds of years of wrongs.