A tribute to my dad on his birthday

It's odd that some things which should be obvious remain obscure until you've experienced them for yourself.

When I was in my mid thirties, my wife, Jill, gave birth to our daughter, Alexa. I loved being a parent and discovering the simple but incomparable joy of holding my baby girl. 

Four years later, we had our second child, Ben. As I held him for the first time and felt him snuggle into me, I remember thinking that I should enjoy this feeling while it lasts. Boys don't hug their dads once they hit their teens... at least that must be what I believed as I hadn't hugged my dad since I was twelve.

Sluggishly, the cerebral gears began to turn. Well, why didn't I hug my dad? Who stopped it? Me or him? Was there some unwritten rule about two men hugging?  It was something I hadn't even thought about as the father of a girl. It was perfectly acceptable for a dad to hug his daughter no matter what age they were... but somehow I had been secretly harbouring the belief that sons and dads didn't hug.

However, after only knowing my son for a few minutes, I was certain beyond any doubt that I would want to hug him whenever I felt like it for the rest of my life.

That was when the epiphany happened. A creeping realization slowly dawned on me that I might not be the first dad in the world to feel this way.

In fact, it might even be possible that my dad felt the same way about me.

I was only months away from turning forty, which meant that I probably had gone more than twenty-five years without giving my old man a hug. It wasn't something that had happened intentionally, but it had happened none the less and I resolved to put my new theory to the test. 

A few weeks later, we had a family event at my house. When it began to wind down and my father was about to leave, I followed him to the front door. After he put on his shoes and coat, I stepped forward and gave him a hug. A simple hug.

For one brief moment, he reacted as if I'd jumped out from around a corner and startled him. His body flinched, then he hugged me back. Fiercely. I thought he was going to crack one of my ribs and I couldn't help but wonder if he had been waiting all those years for my permission to hug again. 

Today, my son is closing in on eighteen. He's a man in his own right, and he good-naturedly endures my random hug ambushes. Cherished friends and co-workers are also included in my spontaneous displays of affection. 

And naturally... whenever I see my dad, I give him a hug goodbye.

It seems like a small thing, and I'm sure most people take it for granted but if I hadn't had a son of my own, I wonder how long it would have taken me to realize that my dad was patiently waiting for a hug from his son.

Happy Birthday, Dad. 

Shiny Chrome

Are you the type of person who looks at a blank piece of paper and sees a million possibilities? Stories to be written? Artwork to be created? Emotions to be expressed?

Google Chrome is betting that heavy users of the internet have a creative spark waiting to break loose and ignite the world. Their ‘Savage Love’ video campaign plays to that innate desire to be a creator.

The first time you see the video, you might wonder what the association is between Google Chrome and Dan Savage’s “It gets better” campaign. As far as I can tell, there is no actual association. Google Chrome piggybacks on the warm and fuzzy feelings generated by an on-line campaign encouraging gay teens not to commit suicide. The message is: you’re not alone, there are thousands of us who know what you’re going through and… it gets better!

Google Chrome is ultimately inviting other people who have a message and a mission to use the tools in Chrome to share it with the world.

In this commercial, as you watch the page views grow, you can’t help but get swept up in the experiential excitement… How long will it be until my campaign gets viral support from Anne Hathaway and Woody from Toy Story?

Google Chrome got it right. They started with a simple idea, demonstrated the end results and made a solid emotional connection. In a way, Google walks away with more emotion than they’ve really earned. It’s somewhat like a company that makes hammers sharing credit for the accolades heaped on the your new home.

They make this advertising stuff look so easy, you have to wonder why everybody doesn’t do it just as well.

Searching for gold

Hello, my name is ‘Daryl the Magnanimous’. I was considering ‘Daryl the Magnificent’ but my mind-reading skills still need work so… I’m kind of a work in progress, and um… whatever.

Where was I?  Oh yeah. We’ve never met, right? If we have met, just play along. Even though I don’t know you at all, I am seeing that recently… or many years ago… or somewhere in between… you attended a seminar!

Please… hold your applause.

You were really looking forward to this seminar but when it was over, tragically, you walked away with nothing. You were deluged with information, scribbled a bunch of notes but ended up remembering nothing.

Although it may be possible, it’s very unlikely that a seminar would contain absolutely nothing that you could use and benefit from in the future.

My personal goal in seminars, meetings or even chance encounters with people I respect, is to walk away with one nugget. That’s it. If I can leave with one idea that I can incorporate into my life, the engagement was worthwhile.

Twenty years ago I took a time management course. It was part hocus-pocus and part ‘heard it before’. I was almost fully checked out when the instructor dropped the nugget. “After you finish a task, ask yourself – what is the most important job I need to do next?”

The premise was - if you finish a task at 11:30 and you know you’re leaving for lunch in 20 minutes, you might do a few “C” jobs on your to-do list because you can get them done in a matter of minutes. That means you leave the important “A” job untouched. The instructor said – start the “A” job. In 20 minutes, you might only have time to lay it out and start thinking about it, but you are thinking about it. Over lunch, you might have an epiphany, or someone might say something that triggers an idea, and when you come back from lunch you’ve already organized your plan of attack. Your “A” job is well on its way to being completed because you decided to do it first.

Twenty years later, I still ask myself several times a day, “what is the most important job I need to do next?”

You never know when you’re going to find a nugget. My good friend C.R. Nichols was interviewing a man who was celebrating his 100^th birthday. At one point in the interview, C.R. asked him how his life had changed as he got older and he shared this simple thought.

“The days are long, but the years are short.”

Keep your mind open to finding the nugget.  You might miss that brief flash of gold in the pan if you’re not looking for it. 

Live The Dream

I was originally going to write about creative triggers that will help you generate "creativity on demand", even when you're suffering through the soul-sucking 'blahs'... but I was in one of these 'moods', and I just didn't feel like it, so maybe next week. 


The first lesson you learn in advertising school is "don't say it when you can show it". This series of ads is a perfect example of that philosophy. The fun items virtually explode out of the dreary ones. Of course you'd rather be surfing than ironing, wearing flip-flops than patent leather and sitting in a lounger by the pool rather than an office chair.  These ads are simple, bold and memorable. The creators of these ads, from DDB Vancouver, understood how to maximize a visual medium. Congrats team - it wasn't luck that won this lottery.  

Common Sense – Another stumbling block to Creativity

Sometimes common sense just gets in the way of a good decision.

After all, common sense will point you towards the safe route which is in the opposite direction of a creative adventure… or even the odd misadventure.

And, while common sense should play a major role in your life, occasionally you should leap before you look.

And when it comes to taking a chance, don’t leave it too long. You might decide that you’re too old to do it.

But do it anyway.