Posted on Tuesday, 23rd April 2013 by chris wignall

Watch this video. I’ll wait… Love it. It seems more and more charities and individuals are engaging in awareness campaigns with a focus on social media. Every once in a while one of them strikes a chord and goes viral (like the ambitious but ultimately undermined Kony 2012 project from Invisible Children). The majority of [...]

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Posted on Wednesday, 17th April 2013 by chris wignall

I hate to complain but… Complainers and critics sap the energy of even the best of us. Even valid frustrations are things we’d mostly rather avoid. For those who are generally adverse to conflict it’s even harder. In one of my volunteer roles this past year I had to handle a number of complaints from [...]

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Posted on Wednesday, 10th April 2013 by chris wignall

Every parent should hear others praise their child. Every child should hear others praise their parent. For years working with youth I tried to apply that principle frequently, and my belief in it only gets stronger. Last night, thanks to the Dundas Sunrise Rotary Club, I had the privilege of hearing my mom praised as [...]

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Posted on Friday, 22nd March 2013 by chris wignall

Canada’s newest budget marks a major transition in our structures for international development and relief. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has been a largely autonomous entity in the past but is now being enfolded with our foreign relations and trade agencies. The government is explicit that this is an effort to better link our [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 12th March 2013 by chris wignall

(How’s that for an attention grabbing title?) I’m focusing a lot of my reading so far this year on aspects of brain science and how they apply to everyday leadership. I find it fascinating. There is so much we truly don’t understand about our minds both physiologically and behaviourally. Daniel Kahneman‘s book Thinking, Fast and [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 20th November 2012 by chris wignall

Many of us are relative neophytes in the world of social media, cell phone cameras, and amateur journalism. We still operate under the practices from a generation ago when it was commonly understood that some information and conversations were “in the family”. It allowed us to communicate more freely, use shorthand, and trust that we’d [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 6th November 2012 by chris wignall

As more leaders migrate from corporate to nonprofit organizations they discover they need new ways to motivate people…

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Posted on Tuesday, 25th September 2012 by chris wignall

As we approach the end of our fifth year of philanthropy as Catalyst one of the things we are becoming more confident about is how we are best able to help. We’ve had experience with charities large and small, some brand new and others with long established history. We’ve also done some things that have [...]

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Posted on Monday, 27th August 2012 by chris wignall

The academic world never really suited me. I made pretty good grades (except for those five consecutive math exams I failed in high school) and completed undergraduate and Maser’s degrees; but I always found the kind of learning required to be outside my natural process. I do love learning. Working my mind around and through [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 21st August 2012 by chris wignall

Canadian icon Craig Kielburger has done far more in his life to make a lasting difference than almost anyone, certainly much more than I have. He is a deserving Member of the Order of Canada, a mentee of the Dalai Lama, friend of world leaders and inspiration to more than I can count. His organizations, [...]

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