WILY MANAGER - Key Persons
Bob worked his way through high school and University while working at a multi-national grocery chain. From this experience he learned that he really wasn't cut out to work in any corporate hierarchy. He also learned the difference between sweet potatoes and yams - a distinction that has helped him immensely in the past 15 years as a management consultant and free-agent manager.
Bob has done a significant portion of his consulting work in various segments of the energy sector. Always looking to find the shortest distance between two points, he had to alter his favorite quote when he went to work in the nuclear power industry: "OK everyone, we're not splitting the atom hereā¦ well, we are, but it's still not as difficult as you're making it."
Bob is probably the only person in the history of the planet that also studied Neo-Classist English literature while at Business School. This training has allowed him to constantly annoy both friends and business colleagues by pointing out such things as dangling modifiers in everyday communication. Amazingly he does this for fun, and is thus someone to be avoided at cocktail parties.
Generally, Bob avoids listing his credentials, because outside of academia, no one really seems to care. In case his former Business School Dean reads this, his letters are: BA (Applied Science), MBA, Certificate in Liberal Arts. Clearly such an eclectic set of credentials means he's either very well rounded, or still trying to figure out what he wants to be when (if) he grows up.
Bob spent a good part of the 1990s, and most of this decade on airplanes and in hotels in the United States and Canada. After making a habit of writing what city he was in on his bedside table before retiring at night, he decided it might be time to have his wings clipped. He now spends almost all his time with his family in Vancouver, where he still looks for dangling modifiers to correct.
Jed always aspired to be a country-western star, which naturally led him to a career in middle-management with a Fortune 100 firm. He found that his guitar rifts and sing-alongs went over very well when he was in Sales, less so when he worked in Operations, and were an unmitigated disaster when he worked in Human Resources.
Jed was well known within his organization for quickly being able to put just about any business crisis into its proper perspective, often by quickly turning a phrase ("This HR stuff would be a lot more fun, if it weren't for all the people"). After 15 years of learning how a world class organization does business, Jed decided he "had to go see a guy about a thing", and hung out his own shingle as a Management Consultant.
Since then, Jed has continued to play guitar, although not so much at the office. He has helped clients manage their way through massive reorganizations and change. He's recognized as a superior business coach with a solid background in business fundamentals that doesn't take himself too seriously. He has a keen interest in Organizational Development and Talent Management. His favorite cartoon character is Snagglepuss because of the pink cat's stylish exits.
For people that only take others seriously if they have a bunch of letters behind their names, Jed would add this to his bio: CLA, BA, CHRP. He is also a certified Corporate Coach, and is licensed to deliver a number of common corporate assessment instruments.
After living in many cities across Canada for work purposes, Jed and his family settled in Calgary in 2009 with the intent of staying there until such time as he can retire to Mexico, and get a job as the 2nd guitar in a mariachi band, and work for tips.