Act Your Dream

Reader discretion advised! I am a new resident of Canada. A month after completing my two years here, a friend shared an  article  online that immediately grasped my attention. It was titled “Don’t make the mistake of migrating to Canada, it’s a fool’s paradise.” I would not attempt to speak to the validity of the resounding assertion in the latter phrase of the title, because I believe only the author should have the right to speak for herself. I would however say only this in response: I’m not sure if Canada is a fool’s paradise but it surely is a graveyard for the conceited narcissists who think they deserve the same kingly bounties they were bestowed upon in their past country of residence for no good reason. Still, I can only agree with the author that Canada is indeed  not  the place for you. But I intend to do more than that; I will attempt to enumerate the various reasons why Canada is not the place for you. Before I start, let me make it clear that I do not mean to m

I have been in Canada for two years now. During this time, I have not considered myself a newcomer but an equal part of the larger Canadian community and always keen to contribute to the country's vibrant economy and society in whatever way possible. This week has been extremely exciting for me.  I, along with my wonderful employer, CIBC got  recognized for the efforts we make to help new immigrants to Canada find work in their professional fields. I was also recognized by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) as a mentee-turned-mentor within TRIEC's program, The Mentoring Partnership (TMP).  TMP celebrated its 10th Anniversary and hosted its Annual Recognition Reception on Dec 2, in Toronto. As part of TRIEC's 10th Anniversary Celebration, I was interviewed by CBC's Marivel Taruc in Toronto. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) television program  Our Toronto  included a special feature on newcomers recognizing me as a mentor

I have been quite intrigued by how some people are able to achieve success in life while others pursuing the same goal under similar circumstances are not. It becomes more interesting when both groups of people have similar potential to achieve success. A couple of months back, I decided to look at the whole cause and effect pandemonium in light of the control system theory. I figured we are like electronic devices with our own built-in closed circuits taking input and producing output. Think of us as amplifiers or oscillators if you will. The output we produce is directly or inversely proportionate to the input. For instance, if you reprimand a child for doing something undesirable, he would either stop or stay on doing it with greater zeal and vigour. One way or the other, our influence will impact his action. This is the simple cause and effect relationship where the output depends on the input. We see it all around us, all the time. Now let’s get a bit more creative and thi

When I read the news this morning about the 17-year-old activist from Pakistan,  Malala Yousafzai  winning the ultra-prestigious  Nobel Peace Prize , I couldn't but recall the hundreds of nauseatingly clichéd discussions I read and heard as a student on whether leadership is inborn or acquired. What constitutes true nature of leadership? I wondered why it is that people coming right out of a leadership training would hardly ever have a coherent definition of leadership? None of them seem to agree on one definition. Despite decades of research, we have never quite laid to rest the question of whether it is inborn or acquired. As a student, I couldn't care less about that question; all I knew was that leadership is an attitude. Whether you are a good leader or not has hardly anything to do with your genetics and everything to do with the attitudes you develop along the way. Bear with me on that thought! Inborn or Acquired When you see so many examples of individuals

I had the distinct honour of presenting the "2014 Employer of Distinction Award" to CIBC on behalf of the management and board of directors of ACCES Employment in ACCES’ 28 th Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, Sep 30, 2014. The event was attended by Hon. Michael Chan, Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and International Trade for the province of Ontario as the guest of honour, senior executives and board members of ACCES, as well as by members of the sponsoring organizations, prominent government institutions and the community at large. ACCES is a non-profit agency supported by the United Way. ACCES is a leader in connecting employers with qualified job seekers from diverse backgrounds who are primarily newcomers to Canada.  CIBC received this award for over 50 ACCES-sourced hirings through events such as ACCES Speed Networking and occupation specific programs like the Financial Services Connections Program. ACCES is an excellent example of an organizat

I spoke as part of the "Sales, Marketing and Communications" sector hub in the 11th Internationally Educated Professionals (IEP) Conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto on Friday, April 11, 2014, attended by over 800 delegates. Please refer to the conference report for details. The focus of the IEP Conference is to bring IEPs from the five diverse sectors together with stakeholders to get career advice, discuss labour market information, and provide an orientation to Canadian job search practices and workplace culture. Conference stakeholders include: government, business professionals, educators, professional associations, regulatory, accreditation and credentialing bodies, and community-based organizations. The theme of this year’s IEP Conference was innovation, collaboration and cultural intelligence, building on the new IEP Conference format introduced last year. As always, networking is one of the pillars of the conference and the need f

Many years ago during my short stint at a PR firm, we flew to a client to make a presentation. Minutes after we arrived, a senior executive walked up to us and told us that our key contact at the company passed away last night. To that, my boss impulsively snapped, “Well, didn’t you do your succession planning? We flew up here and expect to present to someone.” Trying not to look at the utterly stupefied face of the poor guy, I could only hear ear-numbing silence following that short retort from my boss. I vaguely remember a bird or two chirping at a distance too. Well, I do admire all facets of verbal communication skills and am highly respectful of everyone who takes eloquence and articulation to the next level. But more often than not, it is the failure to appreciate  when to keep quiet  that lands most people in trouble. For discerning employers, a finely honed sense of when not to talk is a highly sought-after communication skill that is hard to come by. As someone so aptly p

Photo credit:  Robert S. Donovan  (original image has been modified) Let’s get one thing out of the way first. There are millions of great articles on and off the Internet on how to promote your personal brand. This is not intended to add another one to the stockpile. The first intention is simply to help you answer the fundamental question that comes up long before you even start thinking of how to promote your personal brand – what  is  your brand? Once you have that figured out, promoting your brand becomes a piece of cake. The second intention is to keep it simple and action-oriented. Lastly, it is not intended for personal branding gurus but for the inquisitive young minds that want to take charge of their brands for future career success. The Genuine Brand While personal branding is now evolving into a structured approach to creating a personal identity and promise of value, the core concept has been there long before Tom Peters coined the phrase “the bran