Writer

I always wrote …

We all start writing, stories, poems, essays begin in school days but as time moves on, writing soon becomes a problem or a passion.

I kind of liked it.

Early jobs required some form of writing to get the job done and I did a pretty good job of it.

One day in Prince Albert, I was in a typical  “coffee row” situation with a lineman, a shoemaker and some other b.s. artist.  I was complaining that whenever, in this town, a goal was scored, the local newspaper had lots of ink.  However when someone had an art opening, a concert or some other artistic event, there was a noticeable ink shortage.

The challenge was dropped … well big mouth, why don’t you go over there and tell them you want to write for the paper?  Challenge accepted, I walked across the street, met the editor and began writing a weekly column that lasted three years.

Freelancing became a passion and for many years I wrote modest little pieces for magazines, newspapers and CBC.

In the mid nineties my day job shifted and I wondered if I should move from freelance writing about the outside world to a more substantive writing about my own work, which I was crazy about.  I ended up writing three small books for my employer, the federal government.

• Tools for Leadership and Learning
• Storytelling in the Workplace
• Facile … the art of facilitation

They were all very popular and in some demand but they have been out of print for some time.

I wrote a piece about public service after the 911 disaster for MacLean’s Magazine and the positive response led me to write a book on my own.  It was addressed to young public servants.  I focused on the importance of building a great public service as a cornerstone of democracy.  Bureaucratically Incorrect … letters to a young publicservant became a Canadian best seller and stupidly, I have yet to do a new edition.

In 2015, I wrote Handcrafted Leadership … the art and craft of building engagedworkplaces and communities as a way to try and capture the philosophy and practicality of my ideas around practice based leadership and effective tools for engagement.

These days I have resisted the social media writing of tweets and blogs and tend to still write the more long form essays,  storytelling pieces and the joy of songwriting.

I just write because it helps me cut down on the talking …