To entertain me at dinner sometimes, Lori deploys her very best customer services skills and enquires “May I offer you a refreshing beverage to go with your meal?” The word beverage is very strange to me. It seems very formal. … Continue reading Week 21: When Is A Drink A Beverage?
I have mentioned before, the cannabis industry is moving at warp speed. My month is your year. And I ain’t trying to say I’m something special. Witness the semi-permanent look of loafish bemusement on my face. [Note to self: turn … Continue reading Week 20: Merch Mountains
We are entering quarter-end season. Those who work for publicly-listed companies will know it well – I have been through 50+… The churn of numbers and financial reporting; then the finessing of the corporate narrative on top. With transparency and … Continue reading Week 19: It’s Q-end All Over Again
More industry impact this week in the news: two of the behemoth LPs, Tilray and Aurora, announced 10% cuts. $ACB did nearly $1b of write-downs. Ouch. It has become an industry standard recently to replace execs, often the CEO; to … Continue reading Week 18: The Hits Just Keep On Coming
I sent a newsletter out this week. Something new here, nothing new in itself. Just an attempt to connect the dots differently for people around the organization. It took me a few hours to work through the logistics, but I … Continue reading Week 17: Communication challenges and opportunities
Communications is sometimes about obfuscation, but that’s not the fun part of the job. Risk mitigation requires gritted teeth and a steely demeanour. Much more rewarding is ‘opening the kimono,’ letting the wonders of the organization shine brightly and warm … Continue reading Week 16: GIGO – Garbage in, garbage out.
The cannabis convention in Vancouver last week revealed several things about the state of the industry. There were far fewer Licensed Producers at the event than the year before. Budgets have tightened. The mood in the room was a bit … Continue reading Week 15: Catsuits Are Always A Bad Sign
Anyone following the state of the Canadian cannabis market will know that the whole industry is in a real squeeze right now: lack of capital; missed Year One targets in cultivation and revenue; slow roll-out of legal stores; uncertainty around … Continue reading Week 14: Substance
Cycling home tonight on the last day of the year, I was thinking about the year (and the decade!). I am very grateful for many things, professional and personal. This decade the fam grew up and they are doing ok. … Continue reading Week 13: Gratitude.
I have only been in the cannabis game for a few months, which equates to 2-3 years in an industry of more maturity. If you follow along closely enough, and that is my role, you start to see themes emerge, … Continue reading Week 12: Normalisation
