Indelible Adventures

Only some of my very close friends (yes, you know who you are and I can count them on one hand) know that in a life before my consulting career I had somewhat of an artistic career going.  The journey of finding my “inner artist” began innocently enough when I started dating a serious artist back in the early 80’s.   When I mean serious, she was an accomplished and exhibited artist with a major portfolio of work that had strong recognition within the art community with some of it being purchased by quite large galleries and collectors. One of my first designs - silkscreen print circa 1984 She invested an enormous amount of time perfecting her artistic talents over the years including a Fine Arts degree from the University of Sydney, the longer we dated the more I began dabbling around the edges.  Just a little at first, but then the more I worked in the various mediums the more I began enjoying my time using a side of me I hadn’t know had existed ...

Strange as it sounds I was back to my roots this past week.   You see my background and undergrad is in Education …and yes I did teach for a number of years until I realized I was a crappy teacher!   I guess teaching young children and adolescents is not my thing, fortunately for both them and me I realized it relatively early in my career – if you call seven and a bit years early. TW graduating from Ballarat University - 1980 The company I work for has a Corporate University with three main campus – St Charles (45 minutes outside Chicago), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and London (UK).   Over the past couple of years I’ve had the good fortune to teach at all three.  In fact earlier this year I was the School lead at our school in Kuala Lumpur that primarily serves the management consultant practice in the Asia-Pacific region. I’m not sure what it is about teaching in this environment but it is one of my favorite things to do!  I’ve tried to analyze what i...

My best mate Craig and I had decided to treat ourselves to the golfing trip of a lifetime for our last milestone birthday… 40 you say…sure, sounds good!   In fact we had been talking about going to Scotland for a couple of years off and on, but when he got serious and started emailing golf companies in Scotland I knew it was a fait-au-complet.   He did an amazing job of tracking down a number of reputable companies and lining up some of the best and most difficult (we were yet to realize how hard) courses to play. We had decided to meet at Heathrow airport in London before connecting and heading up to Edinburgh, Craig flying in from Australia which was the best part of 24 hours away by plane, while I took the decidedly sedentary jaunt from Canada, a mere 7 hours flying time. In typical TW fashion I had not given myself enough time to travel between terminals, I figured that as an experienced traveler I’d somehow work it out and make it no worries… ...

When you have a lot of enthusiasm and drive and you want to get ahead in life you tend to take a few more risks especially when you’re young and single.   I didn’t care too much for ego when it came to making my way in life hence have worked in some pretty interesting jobs and situations over the years. A classic from my early years was a summer farming job I took on to help pay for university.  The farm was close to 5000 acres , which translates into 20 square kilometer’s in size…so, yes a rather large property and although I had worked on his farm (Max was the manager).  I had worked for Max in the past but mostly just for harvest.   However, this particular year was different cos’ although my job started as a hired hand for the harvest it became quite apparent that I was his most reliable worker.   You see living in a small farming community the men who generally worked on farms were itinerate and to a fair degree unreliable in that as so...

To be clear I love New York !    Who doesn’t is the question…. it’s big, it’s bold, it’s a city of dreams and mystery.  The town I grew up in was the antithesis of New York City; but here I was walking the streets of this famous city, it was early spring of 2005 and I was here for work in my pre-Accenture days….  I can hear you all now, is that possible…..was there a life before Accenture for TW???  Surprisingly yes, I had been to New York during my travels on many occasions, both pre and post 9/11 and in fact had worked on and off at the North tower of the WTC (32 nd floor) while working on a project in the late 90's.   TW and Sami in front of the Flatiron Building - 23rd & 5th Avenue, NYC - circa 2010   I still remember being at a meeting in the financial district in downtown Toronto on that fateful day.  Seeing the terror and drama of what was unfolding in New York City on a nearby television, but this is...