Photos: World Cup, York, and The Ex

After Spain won the World Cup on 11-July-2010, celebrations completely engulfed a streetcar on College Street in Toronto, Ontario

TORONTO, ONTARIO - With the Canadian National Exhibition closed for another year, this seemed as good a time as any to present the Heritage Toronto walk through the Exhibition Grounds that took place on 28-July-2010 in the update to my photo site. Also in this update are scenes related to the World Cup and a Heritage Toronto walk through central York on 10-July-2010.

Holiday: Labour Day Parade

The Service Employees International Union included this float with a message about health care in the Labour Day Parade in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Rain fell during most of the duration of the Labour Day parade in Toronto, Ontario, today, but that did not stop thousands of union members from walking the parade route down Queen Street West from downtown Toronto, turning south on Dufferin Street to reach the Canadian National Exhibition grounds.


The Association of Chinese Electrical Workers was one of many union locals walking in the Labour Day Parade in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2010

Every union, large and small, walks in the parade each year. I like to look for the sign for the most obscure union that I had not previously known. With the inclement weather, signs were harder to read underneath umbrellas, so this year I have to give the nod to a relatively large group, the Chinese Electrical Workers.


A carrier full of Canadian-built automobiles from Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors participated in the Labour Day Parade in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2010

The Labour Day Parade likely has the smallest spectator to participant ratio (well under 1, contrasted with the Santa Claus Parade) of all the parades in Toronto. In part, this is because there aren't a lot of things to see and experience. Some larger unions built floats, quite a number have rousing musical acts, and a few bring their products--like the Canadian-built automobiles in this year's parade. In terms of entertainment, though, it isn't exactly full of interest.


The Amalgamated Transit Union's pipe band resumed its performance on Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2010

The parade is in part a political event. Only the endorsed mayoral candidate, Joe Pantalone, was invited to march in the parade. Two others had announced their intention to crash the parade. Whether because of the weather or other reasons, I didn't see any of them. Each year, a group tends to do a skit along the sidewalk near the "Hug Me" tree against the Federal Conservative government. This year, it wasn't especially clever, implying that Prime Minister Harper receives kickbacks from businesses, an allegation that seems to have no grounding in facts.


A side skit along the parade route implied that the Harper government was corrupt during the Labour Day Parade on 6-September-2010

A major incentive to participate in the Labour Day Parade is free entry to the Canadian National Exhibition's final day. Now, the parade and the exhibition are over until next year.

Transport: Canadian International Air Show

A variety of rescue equipment, including a Navy Zodiac, a Coast Guard vessel, and in the background a CP-140 Aurora plane, was included in the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Ontario on 6-September-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - It would have been hard to top last year's Canadian International Air Show (CIAS), the annual event held in conjunction with the Canadian National Exhibition over Labour Day weekend. Having the Blue Angels and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds in the same show was simply phenomenal, with other stunt planes, historic aircraft, and military aircraft thrown in for good measure. Sure enough, the 2010 CIAS will not displace the 2009 edition from my memories, but it was a decent show.


The Corsair "Gray Ghost One" flew with the "Golden Centennaire" CT-114 Tutor in the tribute flight of the Canadian International Air Show on 5-September-2010

Saturday's edition of the CIAS was actually canceled because of high winds--which were actually of greater concern to the water rescue teams than the fliers. So, the Sunday show that I attended today was actually the first of the weekend. A big theme of this year's show was the centennial of the Canadian Navy--a CT-114 was dressed in a special livery, and the sea side of the Navy took explicit part in the show with the HMCS Fredricton firing off its guns and a zodiac boat from the Fredricton buzzing the shore repeatedly. The Fredricton's display gave a great example of the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound, with the noise reaching the shore well after the smoke from the firing had dissipated in the high wind.


The HMCS Fredricton fired off its guns during the Canadian International Air Show on 5-September-2010

The show was relatively light on stunt pilots. Perennial participant Mike Wiskus put on his regular display in the Lucas Oil S-1-11b SS. Perhaps because of the novelty and speed of his performance, Rob Holland probably made the greatest impression in the Window World MX2.


Rob Holland flew practically on the surface of Lake Ontario during the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto, Ontario on 5-September-2010

While the weather was windy and cloudy, the crowd built until it was time for what many people came for--the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. While their traces of a heart in the sky were rapidly blown away by the wind, their graceful maneuvers made heading down to the lake shore worthwhile just to see their performance.


Seven of the nine Snowbirds passed overhead during the finale of the Canadian International Air Show on 5-September-2010

Of course, the best part of the CIAS is that the free viewing area is only marginally worse than the paid viewing areas--approaching the shoreline just west of the Western Gap from the Jameson footbridge or from the Sunnyside area puts one right on the flight line. There will be one final performance at 12:30 on Labour Day, viewable from Marilyn Bell Park along Lake Ontario in Toronto.

Radio Pick: The Late Show

TORONTO, ONTARIO - As the summer radio season comes to the end, one more CBC Radio One summer show has made my weekly radio pick. New examples of quality story-telling on the radio are always welcome, and the second season of "The Late Show" provided several. This final 27-minute episode for the summer on the life of artist Sue Klabunde may have been the most inspirational of series.

Listen to MP3 of The Late Show "Sue Klabunde"

Culture: Islamophobia, Act 1?

TORONTO, ONTARIO - On 16 September 2001, I made my way to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts to catch one of the first trans-Atlantic flights after the "9/11 Attacks" in order to make a business meeting in Europe. The trip was memorable on a number of levels, from being driven to a nearly-deserted Terminal A (since demolished) in a Corvette and being dropped off right at the door to flying right above Ground Zero as it was still burning in order to catch a connecting flight from Newark, New Jersey.

As Islamophobia has clearly taken over the United States, another memory from that day has come back. In that nearly-deserted terminal at Logan, as I awaited my commuter flight to New Jersey, there was a young man hanging out in a corner of the waiting area, alone. Looking extremely nervous, he was bearded and appeared to be of middle eastern origin, despite wearing stylish western clothes. He was younger than me, probably college age. Even if he wasn't from the middle east, he was likely facing suspicion wherever he turned around the airport. Nobody went near him that I noticed. He really looked like he was suffering.

In retrospect, I wonder if he was one of the elites from Saudi Arabia or other middle eastern regimes with strong ties with the United States that was being evacuated to his home country. Some royal family members allegedly moved on military aircraft, but others moved on commercial aircraft as soon as they started operating, and it seems entirely possible that he was in this category.

I didn't approach him to find out, not because I feared him or didn't want to be associated with someone that "looked like a terrorist," but because I was exhausted at the time. When I went to work that day, I didn't have a plane ticket and wasn't expecting to get one, so it was a mad scramble to head home, pack, and make it to the airport in time to catch my flight. I simply didn't have any social energy at the time.

The man was on my flight to Newark, and I remember him in the boarding area for the trans-Atlantic flight to Zurich. By that time, I was so engrossed by the radio coverage of the recovery efforts on WNYC that I paid attention to little else. I don't remember seeing him when we left the plane in Zurich.

I wish I had spoken with him. Perhaps he wouldn't have wanted to talk. Perhaps my suspicions now are completely incorrect, and he was actually a young banker heading back to a home base in Zurich, or some other equally mundane story. Regardless, I bet he would have had a interesting perspective to offer on traveling when everyone was wary of you.

Now, it's not just young Islamic-looking men traveling on airplanes that are viewed with suspicion. Now, it seems to be that any Islamic person in any role in the United States is viewed with suspicion. Looking at how miserable the man at the airport seemed to be, I can hardly imagine what it must be like to deal with that all the time. If the man was heading to his home country, it was unfortunately a very wise move. Islamophobia may not have instantly gripped the United States as some had feared, but it would rise, and this year, we have learned just how widespread it has become.

Media: Nice Summer Season, CBC

TORONTO, ONTARIO - While the summer, as defined by the CBC as the ten weeks leading up to Labour Day, is not quite over yet, the majority of the special CBC Radio One programming for the summer has already aired. At this point, I am willing to assess the summer as a good one.

By the standard I often cite as a measure of my opinion, the number of programs that make my weekly radio pick, the summer of 2010 looks about average. The summer programs have made my list only three times (though this week may prove to be a fourth), compared with four in 2007 and 2008, and three in 2009, which I have cited as a poor year for summer programming. The difference this year is that a variety of programs of decent quality have been on the schedule, just not rising to the level of weekly pick--and that hasn't happened since 2007.

My favorite program of the bunch, making an appearance on the weekly picks, has been a new season of a show heard the past two summers--ReVision Quest, a show that manages to inject humour with insight about the native experience in Canada. I won't mind if this program comes back next summer, or even on the regular schedule.

The new show that has made the biggest impression on me has been Promised Land, which has been telling stories of immigration to Canada. As I stated when I chose an episode as a weekly pick, this series ought to be part of history education in this country, telling the stories of the very different ways that people have arrived here.

Another new show that has made it to my weekly pick has been Asunder, a show about divorce. While I have found its content to vary in educational value each week, in general it has been a worthwhile listen.

It's the shows that haven't quite made it to the pick that are remarkable this year. The Main Ingredient may not have actually affected my cooking or eating habits yet, but it has been fascinating to learn about what different cultures consider disgusting, or how cuisines come to be associated with certain countries.

When it was on during its first season in 2008, I wasn't that impressed with The Late Show. For whatever reason, this second season has seemed more compelling to me, and I found myself looking forward to the "extraordinary life stories of deceptively ordinary Canadians." Nobody can deny that Gordon Pinsent is a great radio story-teller.

Even the comedy show impressed me. It took about ten minutes of the first show to be convinced that This Is That was not serious, and in the past I have not bothered to listen to such shows in the summer. Yet, this show was a brilliant satire of radio, news, Canada, and just about anything else it could touch. There were many memorable skits on this show, from underground housing to where the alleged Lake Okanagan monster Ogopogo might be located to Kevin Nealon buying a town in Saskatchewan. The running gags from the grammatical nonsense of the name ("It's like Jeopardy--the show's name is really 'That'") to the voice mails from "Sue" were all well-done.

In fact, about the only summer shows that didn't do much for me were (surprisingly) The Bottom Line with David Suzuki, which I thought had potential but mostly bored me, and Being Jann with Jann Arden, which was intended as Saturday morning light fare and fit the bill.

So, the CBC Radio One summer 2010 schedule may not have had that many incredible must-hear moments, it had a depth of listenable shows. I would call it a successful season, and after the disastrous 2009 summer season, that was good to hear.

Economics: Leadership Not Rewarded

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Being on an interminable job search, I spend a fair amount of time at job web sites, and they offer an exhaustive amount of advice to job seekers. I ignore most of it, since it is either selling a service of dubious value or it's material I've seen dozens of times before. Every once in a rare while, I actually click on something that proves interesting. Such was this link from the Stanford LinkedIn group by Valerie Hausladen on the five unspoken rules all great leaders follow.

My first impression upon reading the essay was that I stacked up pretty well on the basis of these criteria. I might not be the one most likely to come up with a vision, but I think I've done a good job in the past of communicating "the right course" other people had originated and implementing the details to move it toward reality. I doubt anyone would question my propensity to dig in and lead by example, listen to feedback on things that weren't working, express understanding of people reporting to me, and take responsibility for issues rather than assigning blame. I can think of a fair number of former bosses and people I've worked with in my professional and non-professional life that exhibit the same qualities and would also quality as great leaders according to Hausladen's essay.

Yet, where are we now? Not one is actually running a significant organization, except arguably for a couple who started their own small businesses, one because he was fed up with the corporate world. A number of us are unemployed at present. The balance are actually in diminished positions compared with where they had been in the past, leading smaller operations than they used to or placed in a dead-end position by those above them.

There are a limited number of reasonable explanations for that. For example, Hausladen could be wrong about what constitutes great leadership, or my interpretation of the embodiment of those traits could be lacking. I doubt those kinds of possibilities, as what was accomplished when the people I identified were running things seems to compare favorably to what preceded or followed in terms of productivity and milestone accomplishments.

That leaves explanations along the lines of "the corporate world punishes great leadership." How is that possible, if we accept the premise that corporations act in their own best financial interest, which I do? Does great leadership not result in higher profits?

Hausladen cites charisma as one reason for a disconnect. Charismatic people, she argues, are often given leadership positions over competent people. I usually use less charitable language to describe people that over-market their own abilities, and this is clearly one reason for the phenomenon. However, if that were the only problem, the "invisible hand" of the market would eventually reveal their relatively lower leadership capabilities and successful businesses would jettison them.

There has to be another explanation, and I think it comes down to a culprit cited many times on this blog and elsewhere: the short-term thinking of the corporate world. Great leadership working toward a long-term vision doesn't necessarily produce more profits in a quarterly reporting period. In fact, in the shortest term, it might even spend more money on quality people and infrastructure to work toward the vision. That's not acceptable in the current corporate environment. The rewards come to people that squeeze the maximum possible return both in the current quarter and over the course of years.

Until that changes and great leadership is allowed the time to pay off in the form growing businesses producing more profits and better-functioning organizations creating lower employee turnover, the great leaders will continue to find themselves more often than not looking at a pink slip or a demotion, and the bean counters will get the promotions.