Blue, Green, Orange & Red

I am sitting here, in my recliner, drinking an orange crush. All the while I am thinking about putting on some red running shoes, and going outside to take a walk on the green grass. But with the clouds in the sky, I find myself a little blue.

Did you pick up on it? The four colours mentioned above. These colours are very important right now. The Federal election is only days away, and the way the polls are looking, Monday, May 2^nd will be a very interesting day in Canadian politics. Here is what the seat predictions look like as of April 28 using the regional breakdowns of national polls.

The Bloc – a separatist party that has sat in the House of Commons for the last 20 years appears like it will be decimated (6 – 15 seats).

The Liberals look like they may have there worst showing in the history of their party (44 – 61 seats). The Conservatives will win the most seats (133 – 145 seats) – there is even a chance they may get a majority (over 155 seats) if the Ontario vote is split between the Liberals and NDP – the conservatives will walk up the middle.

The NDP, by all appearances will be the official opposition. (104 – 108 seats)

If advance polls are any indication of voter turn out – it will be a very busy day. Maybe as many as 70% of Canadian will vote. (last election was 58%). A higher turn out usually means people are not happy with the current government.

What ever happens – We Canadians will get who we deserve. “We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.” Proverbs 16:13

If you haven't voted yet – May 2 is election day !

What power words have ! part 2

A couple days ago, I talked about the power words have....today I am going to share with you a secret. Some people may know this already, but I dare to say, most do not.
Do you know that Presidents, Prime Ministers and most business executives do NOT write their own speeches. I tried to tell this to some friends of mine and they laughed at me. Yes, most politician are great speakers, but they have teams of people - Communication Experts, Lawyers, and Statistical professionals to write what they say in public addresses. These teams are constantly looking at polls, monitoring the news, and it is their job to protect the politician or company's image. Many strategies are used: some can use simple, clear straight forward language while others use confusing, long winded, complicated language to avoid answering tough questions or create a message that sounds great, but is of little substance. They know the power of what they say and what they don't say moves, motivates and monetizes the economy. 
I have friends that work in these fields. Most are wonderful, energetic, smart and very intelligent. It all boils down to - as much of life does - how you use your talent. 
I'm going to pass on the political aspect today and concentrate on a couple business phrases. Phrases that I personally have heard before - phrases that I heard first hand...and continue to hear today on the news - this is what they actually mean: Just a word of caution - if you hear these your warning light should go off.



Phrase: "We need to be more competitive"
Translation: "We're making money, but we want more money, so we're going to cut jobs and make the remaining employees do more work for the same pay. If you complain - you too will be fired."



Phrase: "We have enlisted the expertise of a world class consulting company to study our processes in order to maximize growth."
Translation: "We want to close some plants, transfer the lines to another plant, hire new people at a lower wage and blame it on the "study" so we can wash our hands of responsibility.



Whenever you hear a news release from a company, or a political party - examine the wording...see what it says and doesn't say. There is always more to the story...