About Me
I live in Tokyo and I love frontiers.
I help people and organizations get better at Storytelling, Critical Thinking, Design Thinking, and Business Presentation. Sometimes I write and real websites publish it.
My personal mission is to Connect People to People, Connect People to Ideas, Create Value for Everyone.
Ex-Torontonian who spent 22 years working for the federal government in Canada, my heart bleeds maple syrup.
Portfolio
Highlights of what I've done outside my regular jobs
April 2, 2018
It’s not about sleek graphics or the presentation software you use. It’s about whether the story you tell resonates with your audience’s needs.January 18, 2018
You might get stage fright when you have to present, but chances are you’re already a natural storyteller.
June 2015
My TEDx talk, "How Your Passion Will Drive Your Career Pivot". How an encounter with Barack Obama led to a career pivot from working in military R&D partnerships (really!) in Canada to a career in HR and academia in Japan.
February 6, 2017
My article on how AI can help complement human creativity and marketing, through interviews with thought leaders. Picked as FC Article of the Day on February 6, 2017.
October 26, 2016
Can a machine design a better slide deck than you can? Several tech startups are betting on it.
October 17, 2017
An interview I gave for Japan Today, the biggest English-language news site in the country. How storytelling makes your business presentations more powerful and more persuasive. It's all about mixing emotion, logic, and empathy!
Uncharted.org Business Model Validation Lab
Fall 2016
Mentor at Unreasonable Institute 2016 Tokyo accelerator, helping social entrepreneurs become better storytellers.
Fall 2016
Judge for final pitches at Startup Weekend Tokyo events, including SW Tokyo - Africa, and SW Tokyo - Global.
April 30, 2014
My first talk using PKN's 20 slide X 20 second format, on my adventures walking around the 30km of the Yamanote train line which loops around central Tokyo. "Presentation of the Day" on September 19, 2014.
CURRENT POSITIONS
Adjunct Professor, Critical and Analytical Skills
Aug 2014 – Present
Teaches Business Presentation and Critical Thinking courses to professionals enrolled in the part-time MBA program at the GLOBIS School of Management, Japan's largest business school.
In addition to teaching, with awesome student feedback, I also run open campus events to recruit new students, and contribute thought leadership articles in English and Japanese to GLOBIS Insights.
Alumni Coach Fellow
Jul 2017 – Present
Selected as a "design thinking rockstar" for six month Fellowship with IDEO U as part of Learning Team to provide support and guidance to groups of global changemakers joining the online Storytelling for Influence and Leading for Creativity courses.
The chance to work with such a diverse group of people is already rewarding, but the chance to work in the background with IDEO is even more amazing.
Lead, Global Employee Engagement
July 2013 – Present
Boosts global employee engagement and drives corporate organizational development by creating and implementing global HR strategies and initiatives at Ricoh's world headquarters.
I help global and cross-cultural project teams get better at working together, and am driving the development of a Culture of Recognition at Ricoh.
Education
GLOBIS School of Management
MBA (2013)
Tokyo, Japan
University of Toronto
BSc (Hon.) (1990), Astronomy and Physics
Toronto, Canada
LET'S CHAT
