Catalyst Strategic Consultants

The Zocalo is a magnet in Mexican cities. That’s the main square, cathedral on one side and a generous space in front, making one full block around. The zocalo in Mexico City is immense – how did they ever figure to leave that much space back in 1530 or whenever it was that city was […]

Made it overnight from Calgary to Mexico City and on to Puebla today. This is a delightful fine city – about 21C each day and an elegant colonial street scape. We are staying in a hotel that is a converted nunnery- the hotel Quinta Real. Just back from a generous supper at a high end […]

I’ve always savored the ease, the backing off. Everybody gets a pass, there’s a bit of give and graciousness in the air. Folks are warmly disposed to each other – for free! There’s real generosity of spirit in the air. It seems okay to be happy and cheerful – there is less of the “game […]

Lately introduced to the Biz Model Canvas by a bunch of people – Karen Sytnick and Les Chang at BDC and Neville Chamberlain. What a helpful vehicle for thinking about the outlay of an enterprise. Here it is – https://strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas. Breaking up the organization of business into easy to understand blocks, you can populate the […]

This icon of Canadian performance came through Calgary last weekend to warm his fans and rekindle his unique brand of communal fire. If you’ve been in this country during the last 40 years, chances are you’ve been exposed. Because this kind-hearted effusive soul has traversed this nation from sea to sea to sea. His songs […]

My son, Evan Freeman, gave a concert a few nights ago in the Drop In Center on the eastern edge of downtown beside the burbling Bow. Now the drop in center is not only on the edge of downtown, it’s on the edge of the cliff for most of the people who resort to it. […]

It was startling. I now subscribe to the Owl – the economist’s update from ATB. Todd and company send out very Alberta specific overviews. http://www.atb.com/learn/economics/Pages/subscribe-to-the-owl.aspx. Now economics are like atmospherics – climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. So economics are the big picture, your actual transactions are your experience. But this […]

Most of us spend our lives manipulating information and concepts that don’t take physical form – unless it’s way down the value chain somewhere else far away.  Like the “field”. So to arrive at the workshop Saturday and find that we were going to make 20 display art easels jarred my expectations. Here’s something different. […]

The promises we keep – and the ones we don’t.  Regrets flow from the latter, gratification from the former. This is a turning season, as the last glorious days of summer unfold.  Never has there been a summer like this one in western Canada.  Not from a temperature standpoint:  not from the profusion of wildfires. […]

We “won” it at the charity gala. Grant Scott had put an offering of a “sunset cruise” and a pic of the Sun Corona, his sturdy Wall fishboat.  We saw the auction sheet, dutifully bid and, finessing at the last moment, outbid. The evening that worked was right after the eclipse.  Here, on Hornby, the […]