April | 2008 | Canada's top source for Alberta's business news

April 2008

Odd Man Out

Question: What do you do if key team members refuse to work together – for highly personal reasons? >

Good Grief

What would you do if your company’s founder, namesake and guiding force was suddenly out of the picture? Following an accident last October, A.D. Williams Engineering found out >

Take Alberta’s wealth effect, throw in a Canadian dollar at par and the distressed United States housing market, and vacation homes south of the border are suddenly looking a whole lot more attainable. Here are some things to think about before you cross the line, or sign on it >

20 Skills Every Boss Should Know

You can go to business school or work your way up the corporate ladder for years and still be unprepared for the challenges your first managerial job throws at you. We asked experienced businesspeople, management experts and others for big or little skills they consider essential for any leader, from supervisor to CEO. Here’s what they told us >

Western Canada’s Meeting Places 2008

The conference planner’s quick reference guide >

Curb Appeal: Stop, Look and Listen

NOT MANY PEOPLE FIND THE bellowing noise of city streets calming. But when Derek Besant saw two deaf passersby signing in front of K&W Audio, he found himself stuck in a peculiar paradox: the noisy Calgary street was suddenly rendered eerily silent >

A Woman in Full

Home builder, recording artist and helping hand for disadvantaged women, Jean Greer McCarthy still has things on her ‘to do’ list >

Hitting the Bricks

Destination: Medicine Hat >

The Duel from Dubai

Blood runs thicker than syrup on a falafel waffle >

The King of Bling

You don’t get much gutsier than Gerry Gilroy. For starters, he trained alongside Canadian boxer George Chuvalo back in the ’60s in Toronto >

The Big Build Up

The province plans to spend billions on infrastructure in the coming years. If everything goes according to plan, construction will be the next hot market >

Out of Gas

Stave off burnout with Marty’s sugar-coated advice >

The Oilsand Producer's Dilemma

A gold-rush mentality in the oilsands will kill the entire sector’s profitability, warns a mathematical model used to predict industry outcomes. Fuzzy-headed, yes, but so far it’s proven eerily accurate >

The Limits of Surveillance

Question: How far should an employer go to control employee use of company computers? >

Green With Envy

Golfers in the office have one thing in common: their co-workers frown upon them. Here’s why they get those dirty looks >

Fairway to Heaven

Mike Adam bought a house in the city overlooking a full-length golf course, but he doesn’t really golf much. So what’s the point of living on the links? >

Foreplay: It's the Wheels Not Me

More than how you sink each putt, what matters most on the course is how well you drive your golf cart. The good news is that it’s the mechanics holding you back, not your steering precision. >

A Little Piece of Heaven

From family cabins to time-shares, it makes sense to share the rights and responsibilities of vacation home ownership around…in theory. How to make it work in practice >

Confessions of an Alumbian

When my husband and I first bought a funky three-bedroom house in a quaint South Okanagan village, we kept it to ourselves. It wasn’t that we were retiring, or ditching our house in Edmonton or planning to flip it. We just didn’t want to be like those blowhards at dinner parties who talk constantly about their boat, ski chalet or cottage >