city | SMART


Driving Malcolm Gladwell I


n January 2013, I had the unique pleasure of hosting Malcom Gladwell and being his chauffeur during his visit to the northern City of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Getting him to do an event in the far north is a story in itself. But that will have to wait for another day. Gladwell is Canadian, but


Building Trades Sudhir Sandhu


leading up to his visit, we spent a good bit of time talking about what he would need to wear on his northern adventure, in January. But he was an awfully good sport. Once the event was confirmed, I spoke to Gladwell a number of times to set the stage and to prepare him for the place he’d visit, and his audience he would speak to. Malcom Gladwell is natu-


rally curious and had many, many questions. He wanted to


know about the economy, the people, the unique chal- lenges, the history, the characters and what made the City and the region tick. He wanted to know what the place looked like and wanted to know what parts of the information he gleaned online was true and what parts were off the mark. Tat curiosity and inquiry led to an engaging two hour


long set at McDonald Island, a large recreation complex in Fort McMurray. On a cold January evening, more than 1500 people turned out to listen to Gladwell. If you have ever heard him speak, Gladwell is engaging, funny and has a unique ability to relay important messages through simple stories and examples. Tat is his talent. As Gladwell took the stage in front of his audience, the


stories he narrated wove in familiar issues and things his audience would be familiar with. And as he told his stories about spaghetti sauce and American tastes in coffee, his underlying message became clearer. And to many civic leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs in the room, he redefined marketing and helped his audience gain an understanding consumers; whether of products and services or as citizens using govern- ment services. He suggested that people often “mislead” when they


express their tastes and preferences. What they may ac- tually want is replaced by what they think is the correct or more desirable preference. When asked, Americans


allocating public expenditures to projects that will most certainly fail. For private firms, products and services will find no favour in the market. And this oversight is how the public sector ends up with proverbial white elephants. In Winnipeg’s context, Portage Place Mall has proven


a colossal white elephant. It offers no gathering spaces where people can share common experiences. Mean- while, places like Corydon Avenue, the Forks Market and Osborne Village organically developed into highly desirable gathering places at a fraction of public invest- ment consumed by Portage Place. Why does this happen? Most often, policy makers and


private enterprises fail to ask the right questions. Or, they are simply tone deaf to information that conflicts with their certain belief in their own ideas. A myopic 1980s Winnipeg decided a monster mall on Portage Avenue would lead to downtown revitalization. It did anything but. Two decades later, Winnipeg is struggling to repurpose a mall with mostly empty stores. Many people take marketing and advertising to be


synonymous. Tey are not. Marketing is an exercise in designing a product or a service to satisfy a legitimate unsatisfied market need. Understand the niche cor- rectly and design the right value adding product or service and viola, marketing magic follows. Famously, New Coke and the ill-timed launch of


Malcom Gladwell. Photo by Brooke Williams.


will say they like their coffee bold and flavourful. Turns out they actually like their coffee, weak, milky and sweet. When asked about the design and layout of their cities, planners will commonly be told about a yearning for blue skies and wide-open spaces. Tat sounds idyllic but turns our citizens seldom gather at these places ex- cept for major public events. To the contrary, they gather in crowded, close quartered places in large numbers. Gladwell told the story of Manhattan’s Bryant Park;


America’s largest open-air drug market in the 1980s. Turning the Park into one of Manhattan’s jewels took the boldness of bringing the street’s bustle into the park rather than the unwelcoming seclusion it offered. Te ideas deployed were contrary to conventional thinking but they worked marvellously. Te essential point is that those who rely on initial


feedback from a target audience about preferences without digging deeper, do so at their own peril. Tey are at high risk of designing products and services or


the Ford Edsel failed to understand what the market was telling them. In Coke’s case, consumers were per- fectly happy with the Coca Cola they were drinking and Ford failed to see the shift in consumer preferences to smaller, more economical vehicles. So, what are the lessons for the business executive


or public-sector officials? First, ask the right questions. Ten listen and listen some more. And ask again to vali- date what you heard. And even when you think you have heard correctly, be ready for the fact that people often give misleading answers. Tey may say open spaces but they might mean patios and side walk café’s full of diversity of tastes, smells and experiences. Have the courage, patience and savvy to filter through the noise. A further note for business leaders; just because it’s


your idea, does not make a good idea. Park your ego and remember the product/service launch field is littered with failures. Many products and services started with someone thinking they had a good idea. It turns out avoiding the product failure graveyard


boils down to a little less ego, a lot more listening and a healthy dose of scepticism. Happy listening!


Onboarding tips for increasing the effectiveness of new hires H


aving an effective onboarding strategy helps to smooth a hire's transition into their


new work environment, helping your new hire to excel in their role. Here are 5 onboarding tips for increasing the effectiveness of new hires. 1) Onboarding begins


before the f irst day. As early as in the interview stage, a new hire needs to be aware of their employer's expectations in the role. It should be made clear to the new hire that the employer has a defined plan for suc- cess in the role, by describ- ing what that success looks like in the first 3 months, 6 months and even in the first year. Tis will not only


give the employee a target and goal in the position, but will also help the employee to understand the scope role. 2) Always be prepared for


Human Resources Graeme Burke


a new hire's first day. The hire should have every op- portunity to hit the ground running. Setting up any nec- essary IT, ordering business cards, and planning out time spent with the hiring manager and team members during the transition are some examples of the detailed planning that should go into being prepared for their first day. Most impor- tantly, have a plan for bringing your new hire up to speed, it is important not to overload an employee on their first day,


but there should also be a structure for acclimating the hire into their new work


environment on their first day. Introduc- ing the employee to the team, as well as to key stakeholders in the company is an im- portant part of making the employee feel welcome. I recommend that every new hire is announced to the organization, as well as directly introduced to their team and key members of the organization in all departments. 3) Onboarding a new hire is a team


effort. Having one person be solely re- sponsible for bringing a new hire up to speed not only slows down the employee's ability to catch up, but it also restricts the employees learning by secluding them to only one employee's mentorship. Tis way the new hire will inherit the best aspects of each of the employees in their team. 4) Give your employee the opportunity


to connect with their team. It is often recommended to have a set time a place for lunch that employees can eat together


and talk about life outside of work. Creat- ing a social scenario where team members can interact and really get to know each other outside of the workplace welcomes the new hire and helps everyone on the team get comfortable with the new addi- tion to the team. 5) Mutual feedback is essential at all


stages of employment, but is crucial throughout the first six months to a year of a new hires transition. It is important to ask your employees regularly if there is anything else that they need to be suc- cessful. Let your employee know when they are doing a good job, and provide helpful tips so that they can continuously improve. Next month: Creating a strategy for


employee engagement! Graeme Burke is Recruitment Consult-


ant at Te Headhunters. You can contact him at gburke@theheadhunters.ca


Qualifying for a mortgage in 2018 just got harder W


ith 2018 upon us let’s start those new year resolutions. With a great outlook for 2018,


the government has now made it harder for you to qualify for a mort- gage. How you say? Well…. Let’s just say that if you are going to refinance your home or if you’re awesome at saving your money they’ve decided to make it harder on you. First, I want to say that as of last year,


Finance Michael Cabral March 2018


everyone that will be going through a mortgage lender will need to qualify at either the Bank of Canada rate or 2% higher of your contract interest rate. One of the groups of people that this will affect is those with who will be put-


ting down less than 20%. For example, a family with 60,000 in household in- come with 5% down, and no debt want to buy a home. Tey talk with Michael Cabral the mortgage professional. He’ll say that you will get the rate of 2.99%. With the old rules, you would qualify for a home worth $350,000. With the new rules, you need to qualify at 4.99 now which means that you can only qualify for a mortgage of $285,000. Te Second group of people that will


be affected are those who are good at saving money and were able to come up with 20% down. Tey are great with money and are making $60,000 a year in household income, without any


www.smartbizwpg.com


debt. Once again, with the old rules, if they got a rate 2.99% they would qualify for a home worth $400,000. With the new rules, they would only qualify for a mortgage of $340,000 because they would need to qualify at 4.99%. Te third group of people that the


new rules affect are those who would like to take out some equity in their home. Tis may be because they have some credit card debt and want to get that dream kitchen. Well, guess what? Now they have to qualify at a rate that is 2% higher than their actual contract rate. If you’re refinancing, purchasing, or transferring your mortgage this


will affect you by either purchasing less valuable home, preventing you from qualifying for equity to pay off your debts, and even worse, be- ing stuck with the same mortgage lender that dictates your rate. Tese rules might work in other cities, to slow things down, but I think that it will hurt Manitobans. Should you need any help with


a mortgage or have any questions please message me or call because my advice is FREE! Follow me on Instagram at #mikecabralthebro- ker or on Facebook at Mike Cabral Mortgages for more tips. Talk to you next month.


Smart Biz 5


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