Business Moments

Ask anyone who’s worked a service job and they’ll know this feeling before you finish describing it. It’s the night before. You check the schedule one more time, as if it might have changed. You notice who you’re on with. Then there’s that small drop in your stomach.

Your rehire rate isn’t decided in April. It’s decided this month.

There’s a sign making the rounds online that made me laugh out loud and then made me wince.

A friend told me a story last week that I haven’t been able to shake.

There’s a moment most of us can remember without much effort, when someone in a business, whether it was a shop, a diner, a marina office, doesn’t matter which did something small that had no business sticking with us as long as it has.

I was scrolling the other night with my thumb on autopilot, when two separate posts stopped me.

There's a moment a lot of us know. The drive home when you finally admit you're done. The resignation letter sitting in a drawer or just sitting in your head waiting for the nerve. The quiet, private decision that it's time to leave the job.

This morning, over my first coffee, I read a job posting that stopped me mid-sip.

Mid-August on the South Shore feels like standing at the edge of a golden field.

Twenty some years ago, I stood in a walk-in cooler for a minute longer than I needed to, because I could hear two of my team talking on the other side of the door and they didn't know I was there. What they said about me in that moment was truer than anything I'd told them in a pre-shift coffee talk all year.

Someone came in for a quiet Tuesday dinner and instead of writing about the food or the room, both worth their own post, they wrote about me.

A weekend at camp, and the rules we've all stopped questioning

In the summer of 1985, I stood behind the counter of a little kiosk on Main Street in Liverpool called the Cheer Wagon, fountain Pepsi from the local plant, popsicles, little tubs of ice cream with wooden spoons. Fifteen cents bought you a refreshment and a moment of your day.

Every week, this column lands in front of you with a story. This week, I want to pull back the curtain on where those stories come from, the answer is the whole point of why I do this.

Picture a 30-degree day on the South Shore, the kind of heat that makes the pavement shimmer and the whole town move a little slower. In one business, the room sits empty, the owner is wiping down machines that don’t need wiping and the brain starts drafting the plan. Change the hours, cut the mid-shift, maybe summer isn't our season.

I came across a list on LinkedIn last week that I haven't been able to shake.

Eight months ago, I sat across from a candidate for 15 minutes. It was a screening interview, part of retainer work I do for a client in the construction industry, nothing to do with hospitality at all. The role wasn't a fit, but the conversation was good. She was sharp, grounded, and clearly someone who took her career seriously.

On connection, culture, and the one person every team already has but nobody's named.

A woman was building something in her community, events, experiences, the kind of evenings that make a small town feel like a place worth staying. She knows how to gather people. She knows how to make something out of nothing and she’s decided to open a permanent shop on a street that has more empty windows than it should.

You know that feeling. You take time away and then you spend the whole time you're away half present wherever you are, running quiet calculations in the back of your mind. Is it okay? Are they okay? Should I check in? No. Don't check in. They've got it. But what if…

I was sent a Linkedin post by Scott McGaw at the end of last month that stopped me mid-scroll.

There is a phrase that has lived in business culture so long it has become wallpaper. You stop seeing it. You stop questioning it. You just nod along because questioning it feels like bad manners. 

Someone told me a story recently. I want you to sit with it for a moment, because I think you might recognize it.

There's a moment in every service shift when the room gets loud.

There's something exciting happening on the South Shore right now, a new hospitality concept getting ready to open its doors. I'm part of the team helping to bring it to life, and I can tell you: what's happening behind the scenes is just as thoughtful as what guests will eventually experience.

The aprons were still on the hook.

There is a coffee cup on the host stand.

Last night, I sat with a manager who has been with their company for over 20 years.

I was in a shop not long ago and noticed how the team moved.

It's Sunday night.

The best move a mediocre employee ever makes is getting hired alongside someone exceptional.

The difference between compliance and contribution and why one of them is costing you everything.

There is a moment that happens in homes across the country every single week. It doesn't make the news. It doesn't show up in any quarterly report. But it may be the single most important indicator of whether your organization is truly healthy or quietly unraveling.

A couple walks into a café on the South Shore.

You know that moment when you realize the exact thing you got in trouble for as a kid is now literally how you make a living? 

"I had to send her home." "We sent him home sick."

A guest checks out of a boutique hotel. The room was clean, the bed was comfortable, the Wi-Fi worked. It was a perfectly fine transaction. They leave a four-star review and forget the name of the hotel by the time they get to the airport.

A few years back, I worked with a manager who kept a mental tally of everyone's struggles. She knew whose kid was sick, who was caring for an aging parent, who was going through a breakup. She'd check in constantly, adjust workloads on the fly, and stay late to pick up slack when someone was having a rough week.

For years, employee experience has been filed under culture. Nice to have. Sure, it’s Important, but it’s not urgent and maybe even a buzz word.

You've maybe noticed it in your workplace: your strongest employee still shows up, still performs, still maintains standards yet something's different. The extra effort has disappeared. They don't volunteer anymore. They don't stay late. They don't attend staff events, no longer attaching their identity to the job the way they used to, the way you did.

Last week I wrote about the problem with most exit interviews being that you get the polite version “better opportunity,” “schedule didn’t work,” “time for a change” when a team member leaves and because of that nothing changes.

A leader recently told me, “We do exit interviews.”

I heard them again last Tuesday.

Most days, nothing is technically wrong. The doors open on time. The work gets done. Customers come and go. When asked how things are, the answer is almost always, fine. On the surface, that sounds like success. Yet "fine" is rarely a compliment.

This is the season when we look for good news, yet some of the most powerful good news isn't wrapped in ribbon or nestled under a tree. It's found in the businesses where people feel respected, supported, and seen. The businesses where Monday mornings feel hopeful because employees enjoyed a peaceful sleep on Sunday night.

Many small businesses don't start with a handbook. They start with one person, an idea and a whole lot of grit. Maybe a couple of family members help out. Maybe a friend jumps in when things get busy. In the early days, you don't think about a handbook. Everyone knows you, everyone understands how you work, and expectations are just understood.

There are moments in leadership that should stop us cold, moments that show us with absolute clarity what happens when communication and emotional intelligence are missing from the people we've put in charge.

Many of today’s leaders are asking the same questions:

There’s a moment in every leader’s life when the noise quiets.

Have you ever walked into a meeting and felt a shift in the air? Not because of what was said, but because of what wasn’t?

Last week, I found myself standing on the edge of the ocean in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, surrounded by 30 community leaders from across the Maritimes. We were there for the ACTivate program, a community development initiative run by GMIST and the Coady Institute, but what we learned had nothing to do with spreadsheets or strategic plans.

Last week, while grabbing a coffee on my way to a meeting, I watched a moment unfold that’s become all too familiar.

True leadership has nothing to do with titles and everything to do with how you treat people when no one’s watching.

People rarely tell you the real reasons they leave.

I was conducting a guest glimpse, my version of mystery shopping, at a vineyard bistro when I witnessed something that crystallized years of observation into a single moment.

When was the last time one of your employees came to you with a thought, an idea, or even a frustration? In busy workplaces, it's easy to see those conversations as interruptions, another item on an already overwhelming to-do list. Yet here's the truth: every time an employee speaks up, they're handing you an opportunity wrapped in workplace conversation.

As we move from the long light of summer into the crisp rhythm of fall, everything feels a little different.
The days are shorter, the air is cooler, and routines have begun to shift. That change doesn't just happen outside our windows, it shows up in our workplaces, too. Energy dips, morale shifts, and the pace that carried teams through the summer season needs new attention.

The service industry has a scheduling problem. But it's not what you think.

Leaders love to ask questions of their employees.

This morning, a longtime colleague and dear friend reminded me of something I can’t stress enough: no two people on your team think, learn, or communicate in the same way.

Leaders love to talk about morale, how important it is, how fragile it can be, how quickly it rises and falls. But here’s the truth: you can’t buy morale, and you can’t fake it. You build it, moment by moment, with every interaction you have with your team.

If you’ve ever played Candy Crush (and let’s be honest, most of us have, even if it’s been “just for a minute”), you know the thrill of clearing a level that’s been frustrating you for days. You also know the sinking feeling when you’re stuck, watching your moves run out, and you just can’t quite get to the goal.

​

What your tone is actually doing to your team (spoiler: it’s not what you think)

With 30+ years of leadership in service-based industry, I help businesses turn everyday interactions into unforgettable experiences, starting with how they lead their people.

Each week I share stories, strategies, and straight up truth from over 30 years on the front lines of leadership. Whether you're running a café, managing a shop, or leading a team behind the scenes, you’ll find practical insights to help your business grow stronger, your people feel seen, and your culture rise to meet the moment.

​

I want to talk about why this matters.

Tuesday night, in the middle of our HirePower leadership session, someone had a moment.

We’ve all got that one place.

What if we stop pretending that salary means sacrifice.

Let me tell you a quick story.

“Failure we can do alone. Success always takes help.” – Simon Sinek

Every workplace has one, or at least, they will at some point.

Can we talk about something that’s quietly sabotaging your hiring efforts?

It’s hiring season.

Right now, everywhere you look, businesses are advertising "We're Hiring!" window signs, social posts, website banners, opportunity is everywhere.

“Structured reality therapy” is an approach that Dr. Wm. Glasser developed and used for marriage counselling. Like some other aspects of Choice Theory, the process sounds almost simplistic; essentially it begins by having both people answer five straightforward questions.

Imagine If You Had an Employee Appreciation Department.

A quick note before we go further:
While this conversation is rooted in hospitality, the message applies beyond. If you’re a manager, owner, or leader in any sector, simply swap out the word “hospitality” for your own.

You’ve heard the phrase.

You’ve hired the right people. You’ve invested in training. You’ve got systems in place.

Ever feel like your organization is stuck in a loop, continuously hiring leaders who just don't seem to fit? You're not alone. Too many businesses repeat this costly mistake, not because they don't want to hire great leaders, but because the hiring process itself is fundamentally flawed.

Service-based businesses often hit a wall when it comes to growth.

In hospitality and customer service, the little things aren't little at all, they are the foundation upon which every successful business is built.

Businesses across Nova Scotia’s South Shore and beyond are feeling the pinch, fewer job applicants, higher turnover, and teams that just aren’t sticking around. But here’s the truth: employees don’t leave jobs; they leave bad leadership.

If you’ve ever been short-staffed on a busy shift, you know the value of having reliable, knowledgeable employees on your team. Here’s the thing, there’s an incredible talent pool out there that too many businesses overlook: senior workers.

For many frontline workers, the struggle for fair scheduling isn’t just about getting enough hours, it’s about stability, respect, and the ability to maintain a work life harmony.

No matter how great your company culture is, some of the people you hire will eventually move on. Career changes, new opportunities, or even personal circumstances will lead employees to resign.

I’ve come to understand a fundamental truth: tourism is not just about travelers; it’s about the entire community. Whether you work in a hotel, run a café, operate a gas station, or balance the books as an accountant, the success of tourism impacts us all.

When faced with a decision about spending money, it’s so easy to focus on the cost. Whether it’s a $100 fee to join your local chamber of commerce, $1,000 to bring in an outside expert, or $10,000 to overhaul your business culture, the question often boils down to, “Can I afford this?”

Imagine you’re starting a new job. The first day comes with a mix of excitement and anxiety. Will you feel welcomed? Will you know what’s expected? Will this be a place where you can thrive? For employees, these early days are pivotal, and for businesses, they’re make or break moments.

I’ve come to understand a fundamental truth: tourism is not just about travellers; it’s about the entire community. Whether you work in a hotel, run a café, operate a gas station, or balance the books as an accountant, the success of tourism impacts us all.

​

Take a walk down the bread aisle in any grocery store. What do you see? Dozens of brands offering the same basic product, white bread. Yet each brand tells its own story. Some promise nostalgia with "just like grandma made" packaging. Others cater to health-conscious buyers with organic, non-GMO labels. Some boast unbeatable value. They’re all selling the same type of bread, but their success lies in one key difference: they know how to stand out.

What if we focus on employee retention and training as the foundation for business success?

In the world of business, there’s a universal truth: people make the difference. Whether you're running a boutique hotel, a cozy café, or a corporate office, the quality of your employees can make or break your success.

Performance reviews have their place, but let’s be honest - they aren’t the magic wand for building an engaged, high-performing team. Sure, they provide structure, benchmarks, and a chance to evaluate progress, but if you’re only talking to your team about their performance once or twice a year, you’re missing the mark.

Keeping your team motivated during the quiet winter months

Why Business Excellence Awards matter to our community