Outsourcing most desirable location - Canada fairing very well

I was at Branding Canada conference late May - one panelist mentioned Canada was known for four things, the four Ms he said 1)Mountains, 2) Mounties, 3)Moose and 4)Maple Syrup - I thought that was pretty funny - but it's no longer true, we should add a fifth one 5) Moutsourcing. Ok bad joke but read on. I was sent an article from the WSJ about outsourcing most desirable locations, and to my big suprise Canada is fairing very well. I was under the impression that no one knew of Canada to start with, so it wouldn't have taken much to surprise me to start with, but to be ranked neck in neck with India this is huge. Next stop for us is to have Macadamian's name added to the list of the 50best managed outsourcing vendors equivalent list for Product Development Outsourcing!

Lord of the Rings

My son Ludo is going through a Lord of the rings phase. He just can't get enough of watching the movies, and especially the return of the king. Out of the three after only having seen it once - i thought and I still think this is probably the worst of the three. Now after watching it many times though I start seeing some real good stuff in it. I think this movie is its own ways teaching many great things to Ludo. The sense of friendship and duty between Sam and Frodo is just one example - if Ludo only remembers that when you give your word like Sam did to Frodo - it means you pull through whatever happens - I will be very happy!

Time is accelerating!

The value of time is unbelievable - you can can't buy time. I try to be efficient so I save time. This a zero sum game at best. Anyway finding time to sit down and blog is difficult these days.

Branding Canada

I was at a conference organized by Cata a couple of weeks back. Lots of people from all around, regions, provinces, regional organizations, and the representatives from the federal level as well. Lots of people from disparate background who wants to see the Canadian brand get more recognition in the US and I hope the world. We have a big challenge in our business, the Product Development Business I mean. It's plain and simple the biggest market out there doesn't have a clue about Macadamian. We're still a small player, so we depend heavily on Canada has our brand to do some leg work for us. The problem is Canada is not known as PDO destination - market for which I believe strongly the country is very well positioned to be very successful. The challenges to get canada known in the PDO space are enormous, the conference drove the point home for me - coordinating all this effort is like herding cats.

I will sounds like a broken record to some, I've been trying to drive the following point home in conferences like cata for a couple of years - I believe, as a country we need to take a page from the India and New Zealand playbook - India because they network like crazy and they understand the value of networking within India and through their ex-pats network. New Zealand because they have a program to encourage their youngsters to go and travel the world. When you think about it - when 20-25yrs old travel internationally to get exposure to the world, work abroad in a professional job this is a win all the way for canada if we're smart about it. Should they decide to come back, we have people in Canada with international exposure, making our businesses better, more competitive. Should they decide to stay abroad, then it's one connection that canadian businesses can tap to get into this international destination. Canada needs to be smart about its ex-pats, and we need to encourage people going abroad. So what do we need to do to get this rolling?

The Sens!

Well the Senators will have to really pull it together, the challenge is huge. The Ducks are showing great character, and outplaying us. As of tonight we're down 3-1, stats have nothing to do with it, but only three teams have ever turned the machine around when down 2-0 in a stanley cup final, the last one was in 1971 and it was the Montreal Canadians. I imagine the odds at 3-1 are even worse. My heart is with the Sens - let's root for them to make history.

On a lighter note, on Saturday I went to the game with two guys from Macadamian, we had decided to draw the tickets we have to the team. So off I go with Vincent and Jeannot - we get there, and we buy 50/50 tickets, something I rarely do. During the game they draw the number, I have all the numbers except for the last 2, I have 63 and the winner is 75, I think that was close, the guy who wone bought shortly after me - guess who is the guy who bought after me? One hint - he is three seats down from me, screaming and his lighten with a bright smile, it's Jeannot - he made a cool chunk of change that night winning the 50/50. It's just like winning the lottery, he didn't go to bed for a really long time, just could not sleep. Awesome, Congrats Jeannot.

On another note I just learned tonight that the reason players are growing beards during the final is not just superstition, apparently the rumor has it - it would have something to do with Lord Stanley himself who had a beard of his own - I don't know if this is true.