| In honour of spring, and because we’ve all been cooped up for way too long, here’s a little something different – a pensive, playful, spirited and memorable newsletter that we hope you enjoy, save and share with your friends. We’ve found people love a good quote that makes you think, laugh or feel inspired, so here are some of our favourites from thoughtful Canadians and people around the world, along with the reasons we think they work. Rarely are opportunities presented to you in a perfect way. In a nice little box with a yellow bow on top. Opportunities – the good ones – are messy, confusing and hard to recognize. They’re risky. They challenge you. – Susan Wojcicki, CEO, Youtube We’ve seen the employee benefits area evolve over the past decade and that evolution was often driven by something difficult or messy that, in the end, turned out to be a welcome opportunity. One thing I’ve learned is that sometimes we don’t realize how strong we actually are. – Malin Ackerman, Canadian actress Pay attention to yourself. Build on who you are. Become a whole person. Enjoy life. – Andrea Bain, Canadian television host and author In times of hardship, we surprise ourselves with our own reservoir of strength. It’s a strength born of necessity and urgency. In times of calm, take advantage of the opportunity to actively explore your other reservoirs. I think everyone is born creative but it can be suppressed by fear. – Evan Spiegel, CEO, Snapchat Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else. – Sara Blakely, Founder, Spanx As children, we face new challenges every day, from learning how to walk, discovering how to ride a bike or leaving the security of our parent’s home to go to school. Children are adventurous and creative because they need those skills to take on the day. As adults, routine becomes a comfort zone. Why not mess it up, occasionally? Our next quote provides a good reason why you should take a chance. Avoiding mistakes costs more than making them. – Omer Shai, CMO, Wix.com Agreed. There can even be a benefit to failure, if you look at it with the right perspective. For every dollar you spent in failure, learn a dollar’s worth of lesson. – Jesse Robbins, Tech Entrepreneurs Or simply… If you’re going to get out there and not be prepared to fail, you’re missing out in life. Failure is half the fun. – Jann Arden, singer-songwriter And one of our favourites… Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat. – Steve Jobs, CEO and Founder of Apple We don’t often talk about poetry in our newsletter but we couldn’t resist this metaphor for doing something original using familiar tools. The best poetry jolts and shocks; it mines language for what we have not seen, have not heard. – Dionne Brand, Canadian poet You not only have to know your own instrument, you must know the others and how to back them up at all times. That’s jazz. – Oscar Peterson That’s leadership. That’s teamwork. The leadership role is really to build the banks and let the water flow freely. – Bonnie Brooks, Vice-chairman of Hudson’s Bay Company In a similar vein It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. – Steve Jobs, CEO and Founder of Apple No collection of thought-provoking quotes would be complete without this guy. “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. – John Lennon Happiness may mean something different for everyone in your organization. We’ve found that building flexible employee benefits packages make them more sustainable for you and more personalized and appreciated by your team. We led with our conviction rather than rational, because rational said it was impossible. – Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify We limit what we set out to do by what we convince ourselves is realistic. But I believe in possibilities, and sometimes we have to redefine what is realistic. – Heather Moyse, Canadian athlete Before you finalize a plan, challenge your ideas again. That’s one sign of a great leader. Here are a few more. Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers. – Robin S. Sharma The person who knows HOW will always have a job. The person who knows WHY will always be his boss. – Alanis Morissette Moral courage is a concept that isn’t talked about but is always noticed by its absence. – Sally Armstrong, Canadian journalist If we didn’t have one, fun Mike Myers quote in this list, we’d be Shreking our duty. My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare. – Mike Myers Spring has us feeling a little frivolous, but it’s a good day’s work that gives us true satisfaction. Don’t give up, no matter how hard it is. Things are going to be tough down the road, but the more work you put in, the more achievement you’re going to get out of it. – Alphonso Davies, Canadian soccer player In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. – Margaret Atwood And because we feel attitude is so important in all things, we’ll wrap up with these. Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. – Hans Selye I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. – Stephen Leacock Take the attitude of a student; never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new. – Maya Angelou Thank you for taking this Spring diversion with us. Next month is Caregivers Awareness Month and you may be surprised by the number of caregivers you don’t know that you know. We’ll be looking at the challenges faced by caregivers and the things employers need to know. Until then, we hope you can spend time in the sun and enjoy your spring. Cheers! Earl Photo courtesy: Binti Malu on Pexels |
And now for something completely different…
11th April 2023
