Top performers have coaches in business, politics, sports, or arts. Some fifteen years ago, when I sat for an interview for a management consultant, trainer, and executive coach position, I had little experience in the field but a story to tell. My taekwondo coach was, at the time, head coach for the Canadian national team. While I was sweating, aching to merit a black belt, those sparring next to me were sharpening their physical and mental skills to earn a spot in the Olymp

If flourishing as an adult or inspiring as a leader requires us to face and make peace with some of the darkest thoughts that take over our minds, we may learn a great deal from artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, or adventurers. There is a book on my coffee table that speaks of this. Our guests inevitably reach for it. Maybe it is because its title says it all: Dare to Reach, co-authors Emmanuel Daigle and Theodore Fairhurst, two Canadian high-altitude mountaineers from Quebec

If you can Here, now Forgive and love And free yourself And heal The broken child within

People change people. On the bumpy rides that are personal journeys of growth and transformation, fellow men and women may nudge us into changing the course of our lives with their examples, actions, or words. For me, one of these influencers was my piano teacher Monsieur Laurent. Slow is fast As I was looking to find my way through the McGill University Conservatory of Music, I felt happy but anxious and was breathing deeply with a focus to keep calm. It was the day of my pi

We landed in Amman in August, but our sea shipment from Canada only made it to Jordan a few days before Christmas. Over the holidays we unpacked, and finally settled in our peaceful and charming home in the Levant. With all boxes undone, we were left with much cardboard to recycle. We posted an ad on social media: 'boxes for reuse up for grab.' Out of the many takers who popped in my inbox, Muna was first. When her husband dropped by to pick up the goods, he informed us that

I was not much of an athlete as a teenager and waited until my mid-thirties to pick up taekwondo practice. Soon I was hooked. I would train three times a week and wake up early in the mornings to muscle up and stretch. I switched diets, replaced fries with greens, wine with water. Within months I had toned up and shaved off fifty pounds. Finally, I could breathe. Bruises and muscle tears would mark the beat of my new life in Montreal, where I had immigrated from France with m

Bertrand Piccard is the founder of the Solar Impulse Foundation and the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions. En français sur UP’ Magazine. Bertrand Piccard was a guest speaker at Movin’On, a global event on sustainable mobility held last June in Montreal and produced by Michelin in partnership with C2 Montreal. The topic of his talk was: “How to achieve the impossible, how to invent, how to innovate, how to create, how to get out of one’s comfort zone, how to get rid of on

The is no future for the economy without social justice; on power, glory, money, and trust. I am a lover of Jazz music. When I am in Montreal in June, one of my favorite activities is to hop from one live concert to the next at the International Jazz Festival. But on the evening of June 24, 2016, it is not jazz music that got the most of my attention. That night, I canceled all plans to go out and stayed home glued to my computer to transcribe and translate in a frenzy a spee

One day I came up with a pun. It's in French. "Trouve ta voix, trouve ta voie." As often the case, puns get lost in translation. A possible version in English is: "the day you find your voice is the day you find your way." And then I kept punning some more: "c'est par ta voix que tu découvres et vois ta voie." Again, we lose the pun, but you'll get the gist of the idea: "let the sound and the beat of your true voice speak and sing, and then listen, and dance to it, then you s