YOU JUST LIVED through one of the craziest summers in political memory. For fast relief use PETER’S PRINCIPLES: a 12-step recovery guide for the politically perplexed. https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Peters_Principles_INTRO_foreword.mp3 LISTEN to the podcast (it’s just over 22 minutes). READ a free preview of the companion bo…

CHARLIE FISCHER is a retired energy executive with fire in the belly. As former President & CEO of Nexen Inc., he led the company during a pivotal time in the development of the Alberta oil sands. In 2013, Nexen was sold to China’s CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation). In July of this year, Don Hill and I spoke with Charlie. He bristled …

BRENT HARDING worked on the inside of Alberta’s provincial government, including service with Minister Merv Leitch, a member of Peter Lougheed’s first cabinet in 1971. Like many civil servants I worked alongside in government, Brent is thoughtful, meticulous even, in his approach to serious questions like how and why did he feel part of Lougheed’s …

GEORGE DE RAPPARD is an Albertan who worked alongside Peter Lougheed for years (at one time as chief of staff in the Premier’s Office). George witnessed first-hand Premier Lougheed’s leadership and some pivotal moments in the province’s political history. Don Hill and I spoke with George recently. Here’s an excerpt from that conversation; George ta…

What can you say about the Ontario provincial election? We — Donna Kennedy-Glans & Don Hill — have been speaking with people in Peter Lougheed’s circle of political colleagues, friends, admirers, and even critics (albeit it’s been friendly fire). And the thing that keeps coming up is how Peter Lougheed never spoke about being in power, but rather ‘…

We’ve started in on making Peter’s Principles, talking to people who worked alongside Peter Lougheed, and gaining support for the project. And last week, Don Hill and I learned about the secret sauce that launched a political dynasty in Alberta. Listen to our Podcast here: https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Build-dont-attack.mp3…

A GENERATION AGO, Peter Lougheed was the leader of Alberta. Our oil & gas wealth was the envy of the nation. So much so, Pierre Trudeau, the Prime Minister at the time, along with his minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Marc Lalonde, created the National Energy Program. In response, Premier Lougheed and his cabinet thought long and hard about …

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Conservative-Conundrum.mp3 I have a challenge you can help me with. Right now, and please don’t second-guess yourself, think of the word conservative. What does it mean to you? Hold that thought, please. While I’m quite comfortable with change, I also take comfort in tradition. I believe in sta…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_7_DKG.mp3 A FINAL big idea. Sometimes, you need to be formidable. I’ve been on the ‘weaker’ side of many polarities over my life. Born a female in a patriarchal farming family. Working as a woman in a male-saturated oil industry. When I joined my husband’s Lutheran church, a place where wo…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_6_DKG.mp3 WE ALL HOLD POWER when it comes to decision-making. You may have top-down authority to make a decision. You may have the expertise and credibility to influence a decision, to offer up new ideas. You may have the legitimacy to constructively dissent to a decision that affects you …

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Playing-Games-with-Energy.mp3 IT’S AN OLD STORY, but a familiar one: If first you don’t succeed, try and try again. But what if you try and try and try and it still doesn’t work? And so here I am, bright and chipper on a Monday morning in the offices of a familiar spot, the National Energy Boar…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_5_DKG.mp3 Okay, okay, you are going to figure this out. I’m a pathological bridge-builder. Sure, there are times when I’ve disengaged, intentionally stood by and watched something collapse. Rarely do I destroy things or promote enclave thinking. Building bridges between people is my prefer…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_4_DKG.mp3 WE ARE ALL living with uncertainty. Wave, after wave, after wave of change. #MeToo has been overtaken by #marchforlife and youth in America demanding change in gun culture. Before that, Idle No More, the Occupy movement, climate change. And, before that, The Arab Spring and weapo…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_3_DKG.mp3 IT’S EASY TO GET STUCK in echo chambers. To listen to people who share our point of view. We like talking to people who agree with us. But it risks feeding polarity. IDEA #3: Make friends with people who are like-hearted, not just the like-minded. (This is the 4th blog in an 8-pa…

There are real chokepoints in the flow of Canada’s energy. And, in Canada’s confederation. In this 3rd podcast in our 3-part series, Alberta Bound, Alberta Unbound, Alberta Rebound, we explore the risks to Canada’s reputation as a place for investment if we can’t get our act together on pipelines. Alberta Rebound https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-cont…

In this 2nd podcast in our 3-part series, Alberta Bound, Alberta Unbound, Alberta Rebound, we explore where we are at right now in Alberta. Stories are doing battle with one another. The United States is redefining its identity, and in Alberta, we’re doing the same within Canada’s confederation. If relationships we’ve come to depend on collapse, wh…

THERE ARE REAL CHOKEPOINTS in the flow of Canada’s energy. And, in Canada’s confederation. Threatening to turn off the energy taps to fellow Canadians isn’t something Alberta, or any province, does lightly. Here’s a podcast series that provides a timely window into our world as Albertans in Canada: #1 Alberta Bound https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-co…

ALL OF US are educators. We’re role models. And mentors. We teach others, not so much by what we say, but by what we do. Your ability to model behaviours – how to recognize polarized positioning, and how to engage in these discussions without getting played or co-opted by either side– is a gift to others. https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uplo…

https://beyondpolarity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/idea_1_DKG.mp3 YOU ARE TIRED of people taking rigid, either-or positions. You are weary of people feeding polarities. You are angry at those why try to manipulate you, to get you on their side of an issue. And, you want to do something about it. That awareness, that first step, is the biggest o…

Are you tired of living in a either/or world? Weary of people taking rigid, polarized positions? Done with being manipulated? Angry at being put in a victim position, imposed upon, spoken for, assumed? Are you ready to move beyond either-or thinking? If yes, then this blog is for you (and please listen to the podcast series, click below on the link…