On Youth Employment, Chow is Half-Way There

Her Tuesday plan said she will "approach our city's business community" to ask them to "match the city's efforts."  Chow said her proposed interactions with business would be different than Tory's because they are attached to a "very specific proposal" while his are not.  Tory's campaign suggested Chow is proposing the same thing he did.

Let's skip past the candidate fun and games, because there's a real challenge here with tangible solutions that are pretty awesome.

Here are the facts:

- Particularly in the work culture we have now, employers want low-risk, low-commitment and cheap hires.  Only a few firms are getting ahead of the curve and recognizing that "spend money to earn money" applies equally to investing in your workforce

- What are the training opportunities that exist for youth out there?  We can talk about a specific trade - construction, for instance, or programming - but we're moving back towards a top-heavy, laissez-faire market where would-be employees are expected to do all the sales and convince the employers of their value (on the golf course, as an example).

- Customers, for their part, are looking for more than products - they want experiences.  They want to engage with firms, products and services where they get to be a bit of the process and can tell that the teams love what they do and feel empowered to take ownership of their work.

- Canada's corporate culture is largely stuck in a 20th Century, Industrial Economy mentality; they don't get the dynamism, interactivity and post-transactional relationships that are defining modern HR practices and economic opportunity.

- One-off employment opportunities for youth, especially marginalized youth, isn't translating into full-time offers; too often it's companies taking the matched, cheaper labour costs for a short-term project then moving on, which doesn't help youth at all

That's all the bad news.  The good news is that the tide is turning.  

- There's a move towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) not just as a branding exercise, but a means to add value to a companies work, empower employees and develop in-kind partnerships

- User Generated Content (UGC) is a growing thing - corporations, political parties and a growing host of organizations are making users part of their solution and part of their team, with engaged staff serving as the interface - this is what the whole Open Data and Open Government building a city that thinks like the web thing is about

- Many organizations, such as Make Web Not War, are looking at doing CSR through in-kind donations of time and expertise rather than just donating cash.  It's a bit of the teach an individual to fish mentality 

- instead of a lump-sum grant, dedicate staff hours to do organizational, communications and other activity while teaching the tricks of those trades to members of the team being supported

- youth with great ambition but less access to specialized skills training or traditional job opportunities are trying to strike out on their own through entrepreneurial efforts - what they lack, more than anything else, is the refined skills to excel at and sell what they do

So, with all that in mind, here's something for Team Chow to consider:

Don't just hire youth for government infrastructure projects; match those contracts with entrepreneurship/life skills training opportunities.  Find partners (maybe Swerhun, Exhibit Change, Canadian Training Institute - build up some vendors of record) you can put on retainers that get funded by successful applicants to go in and provide life-skills, communications, etc. training for hired youth.

A company landing a city contract will have access to a cheaper pool of youth labour, but those youth are going to walk away with more than just a line on their CV; they'll be spending some of their time in class, at events or in the field learning and applying the value-add skills that will really help them succeed in the future.

Start wiring these engaged, empowered youth into social movements like SoJo, Girl Geeks TO and Open Data TO, you're actively shaping the next generation of community leaders, and they will remember you for it.

There's a market for this; there's precedent for this; there's a need for this.

Chow's half-way there, it seems; just imagine how much further she could go if she committed to bringing Toronto's youth along with her.

Ownership: Kathleen Wynne is a Leader with Balls

Here's Kathleen Wynne, using her own voice in an ad to take on the NDP.  While Leaders do this all the time when they know most people aren't paying attention - in Question Period, for instance, or during fundraiser speeches - how often is it we have a critical ad voiced by a Party's leader?

Not often.  Too often, our leaders want to steer clear of attaching their name to anything that takes a direct, repeatable poke at opposition.  

It's a known fact that people find attack ads distasteful, but that they are effective in negatively branding an opponent.  So, we get over-the-top ads like a mockery of Jean Chretien's facial paralysis, puffins pooping on Stephane Dion and Justin Trudeau "in over his head."

It's pretty inflamatory stuff.  Could you imagine any of these ads being made if they had to be voiced by the actual leader?  Nope.  Attack ads work in undermining opponents, but we find them distasteful coming from our statesmen and women.  

Which is why leaders steer clear.  Which is also why attack ads so frequently scrape the bottom of the barrel.

In her ad, Wynne sticks to the facts.  Of course, there's cherry-picking here - Horwath arguably didn't vote against the budget, she voted against the continuance of the Party - but that's as much a problem of voters demanding sound-bite simplicity as it is partisans spinning their message.

What Wynne doesn't do is imply Horwath is weak, dumb, ignorant, etc.  It's not about Horwath, it's about Horwath's positions.

I think that's fair.  The point of a campaign is to kick the tires on policies and capacities for implementation, plus hints at consequences.  Wynne is simply articulating her perspective on where a Horwath government would take Ontario.

It's absolutely true that Ontarians are looking for a change.  Asked by Ipsos Reid if it was 'time for another party to take over' 72% of Ontarians asked yes.  Not asked by Ipsos Reid, so far as I know, was any question about dissatisfaction with the way our system represents individual voices and concerns, period.  

Personally, I think Ontarians are ready for more than just a different coat of paint on an old system.  I think the change we long for is more structural in nature.

By taking some ownership over her message (and as a result, moving away from the angry sound-bite rhetoric people get so worked up about) Wynne is demonstrating a different kind of leadership than we're used to.

She's being open, directly, transparently about what she thinks.

In a cynical, go-for-the-throat political war zone run by back-room operators who love to attack people from a distance, that takes balls.

Will this approach be enough to make a dent over the short span of an election?  Maybe yes, maybe no.

Either way, though, this is the kind of leadership Ontarians want from all levels of government.

It won't happen all on its own, though.  If we want to empower our leaders to own their voices, as Wynne is doing, then it's time we start speaking up as well.

Get organized, get informed, get engaged - because when you do, you can make a difference.

Ford on Kimmel: Toronto's Intervention

"I think Torontonians are feeling a bit mocked," said Councillor Jaye Robinson, who was removed from the mayor's executive committee in June after she questioned his behaviour.  "We feel like they're mocking the mayor, and then the reflection in turn is they're mocking the City of Toronto.  I don't think people feel great about it."

Really?  A majority of Torontonians elected Rob Ford as Mayor, fully aware he "wasn't perfect."  They didn't care.  They were mad at the system and in a real sense, electing Ford was a way of giving the finger to City Council.  

Since then, people have continued to be supportive of Rob Ford - there's still a chance, depending on how the campaign goes, that he could win.  I guarantee that a most of Ford Nation either didn't watch Kimmel or if they did, will agree that Ford was ambushed.

After all - we fundamentally don't care about what he does other than lower taxes and sticks it to The System, right?  He's not an elitist, he's a human being.  He validates our own selfishness and that's what matters.

"What I do in my personal life with my personal friends... it has nothing to do with you guys."

Despite everything that's happened - the crack, the lies, the broken promises, the mistreatment of his wife, his abuse of taxpayer-funded resources, the drunk-driving, video-ranting, Councillor-shoving, etc. - Rob Ford could still win a second term.

Despite the fact that his supposed triumphs have all been inflated or completely fabricated, people still tout his economic record as reason he should win a second term.  They love his subway plan, even though it makes populist sense only.

Here's what Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had to say about it:

"I, for the life of me, cannot understand the decision on the Scarborough subway and maybe I'm missing something.  I don't understand why you'd not spend less to serve more people."

The Fordian trolls under the bridgecan attack Nenshi.  They can attack Kimmel.  They've certainly attacked other Councillors, Premier Kathleen Wynne and everyone else who makes light of their man, but there has to come a point when all Ford's most ardent supporters connect the dots between all the arguments against the Mayor and his conduct inside and outside of City Hall and realize that a picture is starting to emerge.

True, some people are gleefully mocking him, the way that he gleefully mocks his opponents.  Gleeful mocking has become a political staple in Canada.  It's also true that disaffected, disillusioned Torontonians are past the point of having any confidence in political leadership, at all.  

I continue to find it fascinating how mature leaders get sucked into his game - Wynne caving in on the ill-conceived subway plan and Blair expressing sentiment publicly which, as a leading public servant, wasn't the wisest choice.

Even now, the mayoralty campaign teams are pulling out the usual tricks, doing a weak-tea version of what Ford himself did to win; simplifying the narrative, demonizing and dehumanizing their opponents and attacking anyone who criticizes their candidate.  Whatever it takes to win, right?

How on earth is it that Torontonians have become so cynical and disaffected?  The city's not in bad shape compared to many.  There's much here to be proud of and even some international cred with events like Pride and TIFF to acclaim.  Our politicians aren't great, but far better than what Montreal's been through of late.

Ford won because he focused squarely on "the taxpayer" with populist, individualist tripe that people bought into gladly.  He says he loves Toronto (and in his mind, he probably does) but has shown no interest in really promoting the city or in acting the part of leader and setting a positive example for Torontonians and world audiences.

Torontonians didn't care - because they don't seem to care that much about Toronto, either.  Maybe it's because I'm from Eastern Ontario and not the megapoplis, but I rarely feel any sense of community in this city; it's a lot of people living in tight quarters, at best tolerating each other.  They crowd subway doors instead of letting people off.  They race lights and block intersections.  

On Twitter, they are quick to mock the Mayor or his opponents, but it's like pulling teeth to try and get people to focus on the positive (evidence: three #TorontoIs campaigns that never took off, but then I never paid for help or spent time marketing the idea - I mistakenly thought something positive might catch on organically).

How on earth has it come to pass that Torontonians are so disaffected, disengaged, negative and bitter?

We can get mad at Mayors, Councilors, the media, each other as part of what makes us upset - but if we're not willing to do anything but complain, what's the point?

Einstein famously said that "we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."  It's absolutely true.

For whatever reason, Toronto has a negative, dispirited mindset that focuses on the negative and stands opposed to the very essence of community.  Rob Ford is the anti-Mayor, because he doesn't believe in community, diversity or individual responsibility.  And he remains a contender because of this.

The most poignant moment of Kimmel's interview with Ford was when he attempted an intervention: "If you're drinking enough that you can try crack in your 40s and you don't remember it, maybe that's something that you might want to think about."

It was a brutally frank line, but one that Ford needs to hear.  It doesn't seem he did.

It reminds me of what John Stewart had to say about Toronto:

"I heard that your mayor's approval ratings went up after it came out that he smoked crack.  You know what that makes you as a city, Toronto?  Enablers, eh?"

There are a lot of good, community-minded people in this city doing amazing things, often on a volunteer basis, to make our city better.  I would imagine they aren't the majority.

We who live in Toronto can continue to attack Ford, attacks his opponents and complain about the mockery being made of this city, we are the city.  If we choose to place all the responsibility for leadership on one man who we know isn't up to the job, that's not on him - it's on us.

Yes, Councilor Robinson, the world is mocking Toronto.  But we've given them no reason not to.

This is Toronto's intervention moment as much as it is Rob Ford's.  We can pay attention and clean up our own act, or we can keep on complaining and finding others to blame.

But if that's the path we choose to take, we have no place mocking Rob Ford.  He's not Toronto's problem, just a symptom of our own social malaise.

The best leaders are conduits.  If we end up with leaders who embarrass our city and fuel divisions among the people, that's not on them - it's on us.

Let's stop standing against others and putting ourselves first, Toronto.  Let's be a community for once.

Then, instead of being mocked for what we say we aren't, we can be celebrated for what we are.

Cognitive Labour: Si, Podemos

As a society, can we fix this so that people can instead thrive at work, maximize their own potential, and help drive greater performance for their organizations?  

Why yes; yes, we can.

We've always had people who've talked this line; what's really encouraging now is that we have leaders actually understanding the process and walking The Way, too.

False leaders make us feel fear and suggest only they can keep us safe from harm; true leaders seek out new horizons and inspire us to boldly follow.

It's a good thing to be conscious of.