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Despite winning two Super Bowls as a Miami Dolphin, being a Pro Bowl MVP, and a member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1970’s, Garo Yepremian is best remembered for one of the greatest bloopers of all time.

Yepremian passed away last week, but will live forever in the minds of football fans of my generation. Let me take the rest of you back in time. The scene was Super Bowl VII and featured the undefeated Miami Dolphins attempting to close out a perfect season against the ageless Washington Redskins. Most football fans know the ending, if for no other reason than the annual perfect season watch that happens in the NFL. When the last undefeated team is vanquished during the season, the surviving Dolphins strike up cigars and the media commemorate the moment.

But back to 1973. The Dolphins had cruised through the ’72 regular season despite the loss of their star QB Bob Griese. His backup (Earl Morall), an unmatched running game featuring Larry Csonka, and a no-name defence featuring….well that would ruin the point… carried the team to a prefect regular season campaign. Sweeping through the playoffs with minutes remaining in the Super Bowl, and the Dokphins leading 14-0, out trotted Yepremian to cap a potential 17-0 season with a three pointer to make the score a highly symbolic 17-0!

Yepremian was a tiny man who was raised in a Cyprus house with no running water. He came to the United States to play soccer but was ruled ineligible. Remarkably he made the Detroit Lions roster without ever having played football before. He so disliked his helmet, he refused a facemask until he was smacked around early in the season. He suffered racism, pounding abuse, and taunting…but withstood the odds to cement an outstanding NFL career.

Now here he was about to make history even more historic. That is until his kick attempt was blocked and the ball sent sailing back into his hands. Here is where the lack of gridiron experience really set in. A seasoned player would have fallen to the ground and allowed the play to end harmlessly. Instead, the eager Yepremian attempted to throw the ball and could only manage to let it squirt straight up in the air. It came right back to him and so, like any seasoned veteran would do, he batted it back into the air. Right into the arms of a Redskins defender who raced down the field for a touchdown.

What should have been 17-0, was now 14-7. Oh, oh.

Blessedly, the Dolphins hung on. Persevered perfection. Bailed Garo out. Created immortality.

The video antics of Garo’s bobbled pass have highlighted every Super Bowl preview ever since. It’s a shame that one goofy play became the hallmark of a man’s career. I’m guilty of it here. Marking his death with a blog about the play.

But it’s not my intention to ridicule Garo or his memory. Instead it’s to encourage you to learn about how Garo recovered from that near disaster. Watch the video replay and you see the 142 pound kicker chasing the Skins player down the field, valiantly trying to make a tackle. Fast forward a season later and he is winning another Super Bowl. Super fast forward years later and you see him chairing a foundation to raise money for brain tumour research after the tragic loss of his daughter-in-law.

One mistake, one as innocent as a bad football play, should not mar a mans life. Yepremian is proof of that. In some ways the play gave him more notoriety than many kickers achieve. Plus he came out a champion. I’m sure “Wide Right” Scott Norwood would have traded places with Garo at the time.

What people also overlooked was the clutch kicking that helped the Dolphins to a perfect season. Like I have said before in this space, nobody’s perfect. Not even a Perfect Champion.

Do you really think all those people who watched the Fight of the Century on Saturday night were boxing fans?

It wasn’t the fight of the century in my mind. But then again I am old enough to have watched Ali-Foreman, Spinks-Tyson, Brown-O’Sullivan. The latter was supposed to be the Canadian Fight of the Century, until O’Sullivan was destroyed by Brown… and his career went in a tailspin. A smart reader will also point out that NONE of my references are from THIS century.

But it was the Fight of the Century on many dimensions. The ten year buildup. The money being wagered. The money being earned. The celebrities in attendance. The criminal charges amassed.

I didn’t want to get caught up in it. Why should I contribute financially to the massive earnings of a domestic abuser and a homophobe?

But how could I avoid it???

This was like the last episode of The Sopranos, Cheers, Seinfeld, and Happy Days all rolled into one. To say nothing of who shot JR? Tony Soprano? JFK? It was the Beatles reunion that never happened.

Olympic 100 metre final, Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl, World Series Game 7. March Madness in May.

The hype won.

I made plans to meet with friends to watch the bout at a new hip downtown sports bar. I got there at 8:30 and was faced with a ninety minute lineup. Are you kidding me?

Wandering West we wound up at the Cadillac Lounge.Couldn’t believe they were showing the fight. Cadillac Lounge is great for live music. Karaoke. People watching. Heated patio. But boxing?

But maybe it wasn’t the boxing.

Maybe it was the prospect of evil being defeated by good. Or perhaps less evil is a better descriptor. They used to call the pro wrestling when I was a kid.

Maybe it was the absurdity of watching someone make $ 200 million dollars for 36 minutes of work. That used to be called the dot com era.

Maybe it was the award show like celebrity watching. They still call that award shows. Hey Denzel, what is with that horrible moustache.

Boxing trumpeted this as the start of the sport’s renaissance. I suggest it’s the end of the line.

It was a crap fight. Why risk injury when you’re guaranteed to be filthier and richer tomorrow whether you win or lose. Yes both filthier and richer.

It was boring. It was over hyped. It was sporadic. It was too old men, by sport standards, posing for the cameras. Afterwards they laughed in each others arms. Like two frat boys who just pulled one over on a new pledge. This is the same pair who a manufactured a decade old rivalry out of thin air?

I felt robbed when it was over. I bought into the hype. I was the pledge. The butt of the joke. The only person who got knocked out was me.

And you.

Imagine you’re the hiring manager of a high profile company.

Your company competes in a unique industry with a limited number of competitors. Over the last several years, your organization has been consistently unsuccessful at becoming one of the top organizations. Your management and ownership is stressed over this lack of success.

It’s a talent based industry. Like many. Not dissimilar to what you face daily at your real world job. It’s a challenge to find and retain good people. There are more approaches than you could possibly digest. An acquaintance of mine uses a two dimensional map to evaluate talent: Skill & Will. Let’s borrow his for our story.

Now back to this fantasyland of industry.

Unlike others, you can’t directly recruit the recent college “graduates” you want to join your firm. Instead you have to wait your turn. The worst company in the industry gets first choice. This is an odd approach. In many industries the best companies get better because star talent wants to work for winning organizations. But alas you operate in a highly regulated industry with all sorts of regulations, protections, and choking jurisdiction. Your industry is ruled like an ancient appointed monarchy by a man with no votes, yet all the power.

The bottom line is your challenges in hiring are unlike any other.

But it gets worse. Your task is compounded. You don’t merely have to assess the incoming talent by their ability to do the job – the SKILL dimension. You have to assess them on their activities away from the job – the WILL dimension. In this case the willingness to be a good corporate citizen.

This second dimension really complicates things. In the past few years your industry has been marred by significant scandals. Spousal Abuse, Drug Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Child Abuse. Injuries. Suicide. Murder. Theft. Prostitution. Rape. Blatant disregard of the rules by your industry leading organization. Bounties to injure employees of other organizations, also by a former industry leader. Vicious bullying among employees. Accidental self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

This year’s recruitment process provides no less concerns. There have been recruits busted for marijuana use, allegations of PED’s, potential of illegal benefits. To cap it off, the consensus best new hire has a track record that concerns everyone involved, including his own lawyer.

Imagine the dilemma is yours. You have an outstanding young recruit staring you in the face. His talent and abilities shine bright. But his personal conduct and allegations cloud the horizon, like a thunderstorm. Your industry is very image conscious. Success is important, but your brand is also very important. How do you decide.

Imagine it. On the new recruit’s first day of work you introduce him to a senior female colleague. She knows the new recruit is an alleged, yet uncharged, sexual assailant. You argue that the claims were unfounded and he wasn’t charged. His innocence should be accepted. Still, she wonders… did we have to hire him? Was there no one else?

Then you introduce him to another colleague who is an alumnus of the same college as the new recruit. This colleague has heard about the new hire jumping up on a campus cafeteria table and shouting lewd comments, at female diners, while grabbing his jewels. This colleague is immediately worried about what’s going to happen at the company’s next corporate off-site.

Next you introduce him to a junior female colleague. She too is quite new and from the same hometown as the new recruit. In fact she used to work at the grocery store from which the new hire was charged with theft. The new hire now claims that staff gave him free stuff because of his celebrity. Which effectively means he accused her of being the thief. She walks away praying that she isn’t on the same project team as him.

Lastly you introduce him to another new associate, who just joined after being with a competitor. At his previous firm they hired a new recruit last year to do the same job as your new protege. That recruit had a very similar track record, could not do his job, was always out partying, missed meetings, was allegedly involved in late night fights, and then had to check himself into rehab. Wow the new associate thinks, do I have to go through this again?

You have some big decisions to make. Amazing talent is hard to find. Your customers expect it. But a bad character can be fatal to your organization and your career.

It’s a very hard decision. Maybe the recruit has changed. Maybe he will mature. Maybe he will behave.

Maybe.

In twenty years will anyone remember the name Odin Lloyd? Perhaps you have forgotten already.

In twenty years Ursula Ward won’t forget Llyod’s name.
If he survives twenty or more years of prison, either should Aaron Hernandez.

Ward was Lloyds’s mother.
According to a Massachusetts’ jury, Hernandez was his killer.

Unbelievably there could be two more people that Hernandez has killed. That’s the next trial he faces, after being sentenced to life with no parole in the Lloyd case. It makes you wonder how many other victims there are.

If you are unfamiliar with this trial, get up to date on the facts. Hernandez was a $ 40 million tight end for the New England Patriots. Lloyd was effectively his quasi brother-in-law. Over some dispute potentially related to the other murders, Hernandez took Lloyd’s life.

Senseless.

Despite a lack of clear motive and only circumstantial evidence, the jurors convicted Hernandez. Pundits say he was doomed when his own lawyers inexplicably admitted Hernandez was present when Lloyd was shot. They asserted that Hernandez’s drugged out friends did the deed in an unplanned and random incident. Hmm.

The jury didn’t buy it and last week, Hernandez was declared guilty as sin. The verdict was shocking. First because most people expected it, but hearing it made it real. Secondly, because many people expected a rich NFL star to evade prosecution. Cue the OJ Simpson tapes now. It didn’t happen.

So Hernandez is following the Rae Carruth bus to jail and not the OJ Bronco to freedom. Although OJ’s freedom didn’t last forever…

But the shocking aspects of this sad affair didn’t end there. That was yet to come.

During the sentencing, Ward’s mother was given a chance to speak. This woman has endured a two year tortuous path since her son died up until this verdict. Everyday she showed up in court wearing her sons favourite colour. Everyday she was within first down yardage of her son’s killer. A multimillionaire who took the life of her blue collar son, who played semi-professional football entirely for his love of the game.

When it was her turn to rise and address the court, rise she did. This was her opportunity to share her feelings. Her despair over her loss. What it felt to lose your first born.

Ward spoke with conviction, power, love, and forgiveness. The latter shocked me. It startled the courtroom. It confounded the media covering the trial. Ward actually forgave Hernandez and begged all others to eventually forgive him as well.

She did this as she recalled being both mother and father to Lloyd, whom she raised on her own. She did this as she talked about what a great brother he was. What a doting uncle he was. What a lover of the gridiron he was.

Lloyd knew that his NFL friend meant him harm on that fateful evening. He alerted his sister by text. But maybe he was courageous and accepted his fate or perhaps he was disbelieving that a man with $ 40 million would risk it all, by hurting him. We will never know.

But now the killer no longer has $ 40 million, or thousands of adoring fans, or kids wearing his jersey. Now he has a lifetime of confinement to face. Plus the the challenge of being a famous man in a very scary place.

He also has the words of Ursula Ward. Her forgiveness. Her strength. I could not imagine being able to do what she did. Perhaps someday Hernandez will recognize the gift she gave him. Perhaps he someday he will use her forgiveness to do some sort of good.

Lest he forget.

It will be interesting to see if Brendan Shanahan can summon his inner Bill Gregson.

Gregson is the Fairfax Holdings appointed turnaround artist, who made headlines on the weekend for his potential $ 60-90 million payout, from the Cara IPO last week. Like Shanahan, Gregson has only been at the helm of his enterprise for a short while. But unlike his sports counterpart, he has quickly shown results with sales increasing, costs decreasing, and a renewed emphasis on hiring top talent.

While Cara and Gregson were dominating the business pages over the weekend, Shanahan’s housekeeping was almost as topical in the sports pages as Speith’s Masters mastery. At least to Torontonians. Pretty sure the rest of Canada is more focused on their team’s playoff potential, than the never ending suffering we experience here in the 416/647.

Fairly doubtful that Shanahan has the same financial windfall. as Gregson’s, awaiting him if he is successful. But settling for the sainthood, that locals will bestow upon him if he builds a winner, may be a pretty close second.

Now the fun and games will start. Every amateur, and professional, hockey commentator in the land will be contributing their thoughts on how the franchise should be rebuilt. Who should be traded. Who should be drafted. Who should be hired. Who (if anyone!) should be retained.

I’m not going to add to the list of alleged hockey experts with my thoughts. Somehow my eight goals against average as a houseleague pee-wee goalie doesn’t qualify me! But as fan (who is off the bandwagon), a season ticket holder, and an industry practitioner I do have a wishlist for Mr. Shanahan.

1. Please share with us your vision. I assume you have one and that it’s probably pretty good. But right now I don’t know what it is. In order to rally my support, provide me something to buy into.

2. Stick to the vision. I am so confused as why, in 2014, the Leafs extended the contract of a coach that reportedly was the barrier to the team’s success, only to fire him mid-season when they were in play-off contention. That last act precipitated a downwards slide to oblivion that was as ugly as the Ottawa Senator’s rise from the ashes was beautiful.

3. Talk to me. Not at me. Not around me. Not over or beneath me. Me. I am right here. Talk to me, to all the fans, young, old, loyal, and losing their loyalty. We want to hear from you. Not a script. No need for a podium. No massaged messages. If we miss out on a free agent or a high potential trade, don’t worry about spinning it. Just share.

4. Deal from strength. That is one of my personal mottoes. The Leafs have been one of the richest teams for as long as I can remember. Let’s use our resource advantages to the fullest. Look no further to Canada’s Olympic Teams for a 3D case study as to how the right investments, in the right areas, can power a sporting entity from obscurity to the podium.

5. Turn your weaknesses into assets. I don’t understand the cliches about pressure for coaches and players in dealing with the Toronto media. Let alone the pressure from fans and sponsors. Really? Really? How about leveraging all that passion and harnessing it’s energy. The fans want a winner. The sponsors want a winner. I really think even the media wants a winner. Felt that way in the early 90’s.

So while I said I had no advice on the ice, it seems I have plenty for off it. It comes from the right place.

Besides if a guy can make sixty million dollars serving quarter-chicken dinners, with that yummy Chalet sauce, anything is possible right?

Even a Leafs turnaround!

Of course it’s true that nobody’s perfect.

The sports world knows that especially well after Kentucky laid an egg in the NCAA Men’s Final Four this past Saturday. Their coach, John Calipari, had repeatedly stated his team wasn’t perfect, that they were merely unbeaten. Well now they aren’t even that.

Perfection is a lofty goal that can present more challenges than momentum in its pursuit. It’s an objective that few sports teams ever pursue, because it creates pitfalls and landmines that lay in wait to trip you up.

The goal should be to attain greatness at the right time, which often conflicts with perfection. I don’t know if a CFL team has ever achieved a perfect season. It’s over forty years since an NFL team has and forty since an NCAA basketball team has. It’s not even conceivable in most other sports.

Unfortunately the pursuit of perfection is something that haunts many of us in the workplace.

We expect every meeting with our bosses or clients to be perfect. We expect every document we draft to be returned by internal reviewers without a red mark. We expect every performance review to sing our praises.

It’s just not realistic. But it’s what we expect.

I am a major contributor to this evilness. My drive for perfection often gets in the way of the pursuit of greatness. Pursuing perfection creates unnecessary tension and clouds perception.

Think about it when you’re hiring. How often have you doggedly pursued the perfect candidate? How often have you heralded their coming arrival with trumpets, pageantry, and a feast? How often have you been so blinded by their perfection, you forgot to see their flaws. I am guilty as charged.

It’s the same when crafting a new initiative or product. Perfection is positioned as the only acceptable benchmark. That expectation puts you in the deceptive position of concealing flaws that another set of eyes would quickly identify as fatal. All because we want to make it perfect.

I’m attempting to revamp my own pursuit of greatness to not include the pursuit of perfection. It’s important as I want to create a culture in all my endeavours of endless creation. Which naturally requires that all contributors share their ongoing work-in-progress, without concern. In turn that requires me to not isolate every word and subject it to a needless attack.

Think of the intense scrutiny that the young men on the near-perfect, but unable to achieve greatness, Kentucky basketball team had to endure. Under a less bright spotlight, I am sure that at least once last week, you felt the same way.

I have found that one way for me to learn how to pursue greatness is through networking. I don’t network for the sole purpose of schmoozing or making new contacts. My preferred, and hopefully my best, networking is with people who can add to my body of knowledge. It’s where I formulate my best ideas. From others.

Who I haven’t met in all this networking is the perfect person. But I do regularly meet great people. Motivated people. People on their way up. People who are up. People who have been up, down, and now heading up again.

They have made me realize two things. 1. John Calipari was right, his team wasn’t perfect. 2. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

I really wanted Kentucky to have the perfect season because a perfect record is something to behold. I am a Kentucky basketball fan, but not a nut about them. Still I felt badly for their players Saturday night who hadn’t tasted defeat. I was emotional, wrongly, because of my own fundamental attraction to perfection. Plus I have a real affection for dynasties, outside of those involving Tom Brady.

In sport and in life, there are lessons in losing, in having flaws, and admitting some weakness. Calipari said he just hoped his team would play well. They didn’t. They lost. They deserved to be out.

Tomorrow I am going to saddle up at work and strive for greatness. But I am not going to let perfection get in my way.

I was ecstatic to see the Canadian Football League name Jeffrey Orridge as its new Commissioner.

It would be impossible for me to hide my pride about a black man finally being named commissioner of a major North American sports league. I loved the story quoted in the media about Orridge’s first exposure to the CFL; coming from watching a game featuring former Eskimos legend Warren Moon. To Orridge and his father, living in New York, seeing a league that embraced black quarterbacks represented what Canada was all about. A land of opportunity.

Ironically years later Orridge arrived here to work with Right to Play, then the CBC, and now the CFL. Land of opportunity indeed.

When I was a young football fan, the quarterbacking colour barrier was both unfortunate and obvious. As I watched the likes of Holloway, Ealey, Watts, Dewalt, and Moon dazzle in the CFL; there was only one starting black QB in the NFL – Doug Williams. When I saw up and coming black NCAA pivots, I knew they would soon be toiling north of the border if they wished to maintain their position. If they elected the NFL over Canada, they were soon to be assigned to a new position away from the responsibility of guiding a team’s offence. A task they were judged unable to manage.

Canada’s not perfect. But it’s pretty darn great. Nobody in business has ever judged me by my colour here. (Though I have been asked to park a few cars and fetch a few coats at some fancy restaurants.) But at some of my first meetings in the United States I had moments that made me question what life might have been like living there. Once at a meeting in Chicago, I was greeted by an account coordinator, at a major ad agency, who mistook me for a room attendant and advised they had enough coffee. She had to sit in horror for the next ninety minutes as I presented to her senior clients. Another day, when being led to the office of a new client in Kentucky, I was told by his secretary that she had never seen a black man in a suit before in their corporate headquarters. Later the client took me to lunch at a restaurant flying the Confederate flag. This was a guy who liked me! Neither incident shocked me and they both got great mileage as I spun them back to countless friends. But…

Orridge’s announcement is historic. The inequity in sports such as football and basketball at both the (U.S.) collegiate and pro level is still substantial. Blacks comprise the bulk of the athletes, but are in a dramatic minority in the coaching, managing, and ownership ranks. A black commissioner is a major breakthrough. But it’s also historic because it extends beyond sport.

Somewhere in North America a young black man will talk about Orridge’s appointment with his Dad and realize Canada isn’t just the land of opportunity for black quarterback’s. It’s a land of opportunity for black leaders.

“I pay my mortgage with the French Fries.”

Probably not what I would have predicted to be the most memorable quote from my quick trip to SXSW Intercative this weekend. But it was.

The speaker of those words was an audience member during a session on Food Festivals, part of the new SouthBites track at SXSW. Last year’s new SX add-on was sports. This year Food received the nod.

It made for a dizzying conference for me personally. I attended some Sports sessions, some Social sessions, some Start-up sessions, some Maker sessions, and some Agency sessions. Plus the aforementioned tasty food festival panel.

The speaker was referring to her business of being a food vendor at festivals and events. Her comments were part of a discussion regarding the surge in healthier and sustainable food choices at events. Despite all the noise about eating better and more responsibly….the bottom line is French Fries still lead at the till.

Her words define what SXSW is really all about. It started as a music festival. It as exploded into a cultural Olympics of film, marketing, technology, and entrepreneursim. But the common thread is simple.

It’s all about money.

People come to Southby looking for funders, clients, and customers. The parties are great. The presenters are passionate. The city one of my new favourites. But this conference is bottom line focused.

Southby built its brand being the launching pad for darling tech startups. That brand attracts governmental delegations from around the world, celebrities from all walks of life, and business powerhouses.

Every square inch of downtown Austin is transformed into a commercial stage. On any given corner you can be courted by a global brand, pitched by a startup, or even by French Fries.

I’m not sure what the hot tech trend the experts saw coming out of SXSW in 2015. But for me, it’s definitely the fries.

Conference season is upon us.

I don’t have official stats, but it feels to me that the calendar is jammed with events from mid-winter through spring.

This week I depart for a back to back. First leg is Austin for SXSW. Unfortunately I’m only going for the first half of Southby as it conflicts with IEG. The annual sponsorship event, held in Chicago, is the second leg of my trip.

It’s a busy time. I was also to be in NYC for Leaders in Sport last week, but a launch for a new client property scuttled that plan. The next three months feature several more conference events, including Experential Marketer, CSTA, SMCC, and World Congress of Sport. It culminates in June at our event, CSFX, being held in Edmonton this year during the opening weekend of the Women’s World Cup.

Why so many conferences? I know my itinerary is a bit extreme. But I love conferences. It’s not just for the fun, because there are a lot less expensive ways to have fun.

I love conferences because of the impact on my business. For me, ROI is always measured based on the benefits an investment will bring to my clients, my staff, or my industry. If a conference can’t benefit me on one of those three parameters, than its just a frivolous road trip.

To extract real benefit from a conference, I believe you actually need to invest some time and energy in developing a strategy. Think about it as your own personal gameplan for attending. Because conferences are much like any pursuit. You get out of it, what you put into it.

I unabashedly recommend you develop a gameplan for conference attendance. It’s personally proven to be a successful tool for me. How else to ensure that when you arrive home, you’re not left with that feeling of having wasted a few thousand dollars. More so than the money, the time dedicated to conference attending is no small resource investment either.

Having a gameplan isn’t just essential for attending the conference. It can be extremely useful when pitching your organization on the real costs related to attendance. Those include the true financial outlay beyond registration fees, the investment of your time, and any potential work disruption while you’re away. Building this case will help ensure you get the green light for the investment.

A conference really is an investment. You shouldn’t get on the plane if you can’t see yourself coming back with a new idea, learning, supplied contact, or sales lead that you would not otherwise have gotten. Many times it can be a combination of these opportunities. Add to that the soft benefits related to motivation, recharging your love for the industry, contacts made, and personal exposure.

To secure that quantifiable result, get into your conference planning early. Identify how you want to approach the conference. Research from past attendees the secret mechanics of the event. What sessions are useful? Which ones are a shameless sales pitch? Which receptions are conducive to networking? Are their unpublished social events where the A-listers hide? How many sessions in a day should you attend? What sort of delegates will attend which workshops. Sometimes smaller sessions provide more opportunity to meet people.

Is there a speaker you want to meet? Pick their brain? Leverage their network? Start connecting with them today. Follow them on social. Learn more about who they are. Find someone in your network who could facilitate an introduction.

Don’t be afraid to ask in advance for the event delegate list. If the organizer won’t provide, ask a sponsor or supplier of the event. They have probably already pitched you on meeting them at the event. So it’s time for a value exchange. But if the price of that becomes too costly, there are several pre-conference discussion groups to join. An active participant in those groups often winds up with a large number of pre-event connections, just waiting to be consummated at the actual event.

Bring back a slew of best practices from your conference sessions. Present them to your colleagues, to your clients, to your bosses, to your board, to your industry associates.

Ask speakers directly for decks and reference materials. Don’t distract yourself by taking notes during the session. Do you take notes when you watch a movie? Sit back and absorb the session. Thoroughly absorb the session summary, speaker bio, and online discussion ahead of time. Read the deck and watch video of the presentation after the conference. But during the actual presentation, stay in the moment.

Lastly, schedule your work around the conference. Plan a daily ninety minute window to skip sessions and reply to email. Plan it based on the relationship of your office time zone to that of the conference event. Don’t miss conference time for non-urgent issues. Your desk will be there when you get home.

Start building your own agenda today for your next conference. I maintain it’s critical that you not delegate the value you get from a conference to the conference. Delegate to the delegate if you’ll pardon the double entendre.

I will see you on the road soon!

I just heard the news that Nicola Kettlitz, head of Coca-Cola Canada, has lost his courageous battle with lymphoma.

The Olympic Movement, the Coca-Cola family, and the Canadian, Italian, and American business communities have lost a dear friend tonight.

His will be a death that will be felt around the Globe. Not due simply to his thirty-four year, multi-country, career at Coca-Cola. Not due simply to his leading role in managing Coke’s involvement in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. Not due simply to his genuine involvement in so many charities, causes, and industry associations. Not due simply to his very public passion for his wife and daughter.

The impact of his death will be an emotional cocktail of all those things and more.

The more is simple for me to define. In a business world that often is filled with massive egos and blinding self-righteousness, Nicola stood out for his lack of either. He was as selfless an executive I have ever met.

I first met him while building a partnership for Coca-Cola Canada and a leading charity, that would be leveraged during the Olympics. He later ensured I had an opportunity to bid on some 2010 Olympic work, that despite our losing he personally reached out to ensure we would stay in touch. That’s incredily uncommon in our world. He meant it.

Not only did we stay in touch, but Nicola committed to supporting me in various endeavours. Chief among his actions was to speak at our 2010 Sponsorship Forum, despite the fact it was during the final weekend of the 2010 Paralympic Games. He not only showed up to fill his time slot, he presented an amazing keynote, that today mystifies me as to how he would have time to prepare during a crazy Games period.

When Nicola was named Head of Coca-Cola’s Canadian Business Unit, I was delighted. Selfishly my thoughts were solely on how I could grow my relationship with him, and not just from casual business acquaintance to client. I sought Nicola out as a mentor and he willingly agreed.

He regularly made time for me on his calendar and we frequently met at his favourite local Italian restaurant. I would often pick his brain on a myriad of business issues, and always marvelled at how this busy man seemed to have no end of patience for my self-serving queries.

But do not misinterpret my words that Nicola was soft. His drive for perfection was remarkable. But because he led from the front, his charges never wavered in their joining his pursuit.

Case in point was one of my advice-seeking chats with him. At the time I was looking at ways to fix some issues with my agency and candidly my career. Not issues regarding our revenue or our size, but in terms of achievement. At an earlier lunch I had outlined my challenges to Nicola and at this one I was sharing my plan with him.

As he flipped through the pages, my delight as his agreement with my vision was hard to contain. Nicola’s approval brought childish happiness to me. But suddenly he stopped in his tracks and eyed me judgementally. The halting page outlined my goals for the agency. One of them suggested how I perceived our agency being “rated” in a particular services sector.

He froze me with a steely eye and chided me for not being ambitious enough. He almost suggested that my leveraging of mentors like himself and others, wasn’t worthy of such a modest goal. He then skewered me more precisely that Coca-Cola only works with top-rated agencies and that if I wasn’t one now, my plan better call for me to be one.

This wasn’t a meeting. It wasn’t an agency review. It wasn’t a negotiation. It was Nicola being a friend. A business friend yes. But more.

He was being a mentor. He was being a leader. He was being himself. Which was a person committed to bettering others.

Goodnight Nicola.