You searched for Geoff Campbell, did you mean Geoff Campbell?

From my name being constantly misspelled I figured Geoff Campbell couldn't possibly be that common of a name. Looks like I was wrong.

For most people, when they look themselves up on google to find their Doppelgänger or and hope that they aren't unfortunate enough to have the same name as a notorious criminal. Most of the time you expect to see people more famous or infamous than you or at the very least someone who has bought yourname.com. I found that in a real estate agent from the Carolinas, a visual effects expert, and an illustrator...none of which were surprising, but what was interesting is that an former character on an Australian soap opera appears before this site even from searches from the US. Only months after admitting that he recorded a sexual encounter on his cell phone and then showed it to cast and crew of the show, Lincoln Lewis 'voluntarily' left the cast of Home and Away but not before denying that the rampant culture of sex and drugs surrounding the show actually exists.

I've included a couple related posts about the "soapie" (in Aussie talk) below for context. Does anyone out there have unfortunate or surprising Doppelgängers like this imaginary Geoff Campbell?

 

Lincoln Lewis' sex tape was not as bad as having cancer, says mum

• From:

• The Daily Telegraph
 
• June 05, 2009 3:39PM

THE mother of soapie star Lincoln Lewis has come out swinging at her son's sex-tape partner, comparing her with Monica Lewinsky.Lewis, son of NRL legend Wally Lewis, admitted last night filming a sex tape with a teenage TV starlet then showing the footage to his Home and Away colleagues.
His mother, Jacqui, said on radio today the girl in question was equally to blame."Can I be honest with you? I am glad he is not with that girl any more. I don't want that as a daughter-in-law,'' she said.
Jacqui told Nova's Ryan, Monty and Wippa she was disappointed with her son but he had to face the consequences of his actions.
"He is an adult and he was an adult when he was doing this. He was 20 and she was 18. She must have said she was willing, to do it,'' she said.
"I think as a female, I wouldn't be doing any of that because do you know what? Females keep things. Have a look at Monica Lewinsky, she kept the dress. You've got to get smart.''
The footage in question was on Lewis' phone. Jacqui said it had now been deleted.
When her son called to confess, Jacqui said her main concern was for his safety.
"When he actually said it was a sex tape it was a bit of a relief as a mum,'' she said.
"I did tell him, 'How many times I have told you that things will come back and bite you if you do the wrong thing'.''
The network and his current girlfriend So You Think You Can Dance finalist Katrina Risteska will both have him under closer scrutiny so he doesn't put a foot wrong – on and off the show.
Lewis said he and Risteska "hit it off" after she did a guest role on Home and Away. "We're mates ever since," he said in an interview last month. "Then it just started to happen."
Lewis split with former Home And Away actor Indiana Evans last year. Evans has since relocated from Sydney to the Gold Coast after landing a role on Network Ten's popular kids show H2O: Just Add Water.
There is precedent for Lewis to go well on Dancing With The Stars this year. Last year's winner was Home And Away heart-throb Luke Jacobz.
Lewis will join another Brisbane identity on the dance floor – congenitally blind paralympian Gerrard Gosens.
The other celebrities signed on are: world champion surfer Layne Beachley, swimsuit model Emily Scott, Morning Show presenter Kylie Gillies, Packed to the Rafters actor Jess McNamee, comedian Fiona O'Loughlin, footy legend Peter "Spida" Everitt, singer and actor Rob Mills, Today Tonight's Matt White, and country music star Adam Brand.
Insiders are understood to be taking the sex tape matter extremely seriously.
Seven programming director Tim Worner said the network stood by the young actor. "Lincoln is a young man of tremendous character," Worner said.Earlier, Lewis' mother told a radio station she had worried her son was gravely ill when he phoned saying he needed to tell her something important."He said, 'Mum I've got something I need to tell you and you're the last person I wanted to tell,'' mum Jacqui Lewis told Brisbane radio."I was like 'mate what's wrong' - I'm thinking sick, I'm thinking all these horrible things."Lincoln finally fessed up - and mum was furious, especially because she had warned him not to mix work with pleasure when it came to the girls of Home and Away."As we see - men's brains," his not-so-amused mum said.Channel 7 has disciplined Lewis and it is understood he will undergo counselling.
"You do stupid things when you are young," a remorseful Lincoln Lewis said yesterday."But your learn from your mistakes, that's part of growing up. This mistake, and what I have learnt, will contribute a lot to making me a better person in the future."Channel 7 insiders are understood to have taken the matter extremely seriously and are expected to have Lewis - who today was announced as part of the line-up for the upcoming Dancing With The Stars' TV series - undergo counselling.Lewis, a rising star at the network, is understood to have filmed the act on a mobile phone last year.Sources said he showed the footage to cast members and crew on the family soap, who were unimpressed with his behaviour and urged him to get rid of the footage. It is believed the footage has since been deleted.Lewis won a Logie award last year as the best new male talent on TV.

Geoff CampbellPlayed by Lincoln LewisThe loss of his parents at a tender age and the very firm hand of his fire and brimstone grandfather have shaped Geoff into a very responsible boy who is black and white about right and wrong.
Like his sister, Annie, Geoff has been shaped by spending his formative years on a farm run by his strict Baptist grandfather, with little interaction with the outside world. Unlike his sister, however, Geoff was sent to a traditional boys' boarding school from Year 7 to Year 9, where he received a good education. But even this interaction with his peers did nothing to knock Geoff out of his belief in hard work and strict morality as a way of life.
Sensible and serious, Geoff has no room for 'fun' or 'frivolity' in his grim, hard-working life and the occasional smile he cracks can only be raised by Annie. But there is an underground passion in Geoff's life... at school he played rugby and showed a lot of natural talent. His grandfather, however, would never approve of playing sport as a serious occupation.
After his Grandfather died and they lost the farm, Geoff and Annie moved in with Irene. He is enjoying school and life in the Bay, but constantly clashed with Aden Jefferies. He is now maturing and became a hero when he saved Nicole's life when they were both stranded on an island. He and Nicole became intimate on the island and then Geoff was wracked with guilt as it went against his Christian upbringing. He decided the best solution was to propose to Nicole who was less than impressed. After being apart for a while though, the two realised they had strong feelings for each other and dated again but he did not completely trust her so they broke up which left them both reeling for weeks. Now that Martha has their old farm, he frequently helps her fix it up.
Relationship status:Currently single, but has some chemistry with Ruby.
Past relationships:Dated Melody, Nicole, and thought he was father to Claudia's baby, but she finally admitted she had lied.
Family:Annie is his sister and Bruce was his grandfather.
Friends:He's close to Ruby, and has a love hate relationship with Aden.
Living arrangements:He's living with Annie and Irene.

Canadian Culture and the Group of Seven (musical group)

As I mentioned before I took a class about Canadian Culture...and it almost entirely was based on the Canadian search for/lack of a national identity. Then a friend of mine sent me this link about the Canadian band the Group of Seven (named after the best-known Canadian artist group). I listened to Passport a few times and it covered almost all of the themes of the course.


When they refer to getting identity from beer commercials they mean things like this:





...extraordinarily nationalistic considering Molson Coors is half American-owned.

Wikileaks and U.S. National Security

Despite many people, including the Secretary of Defense saying the impact of the leaks are minimal, and many of the leaks turning out to be things we already know (including one UNCLASSIFIED commentary about Canadian views of the US), and one (ex-National Security Council member) Columbia University professor even mandating International Relations students view the original documents, I don't see how anybody can honestly defend leaks like this, which made public a list of overseas facilities that are crucial to U.S. national security. The unfortunate fact is that these leaks can't be undone, but that doesn't mean they should be taken as uncritically 'good' for free speech or freedom of the press. Some things really should be kept secret. From the L.A. Times:

U.S. denounces WikiLeaks' release of list of crucial overseas facilities

Making the list public has threatened national security, officials say. Named are vaccine makers, undersea communications cables and mines that supply key metals.

By Andrew Zajac, Los Angeles Times
December 7, 2010
Reporting from Washington

U.S. officials on Monday denounced a WikiLeaks posting that catalogs hundreds of crucial overseas facilities that, if attacked by terrorists, could harm American interests — including vaccine makers, undersea communications cables and mines that supply key metals.

Officials said the Internet posting of the list — compiled by the Department of Homeland Security with the assistance of the State Department and other government departments — threatens national security.

The scope of the list, and the wide range of facilities that have potential national security implications, also highlights the U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers, and the near-impossibility of making the country fully immune from the consequences of a terrorist attack.

America's reliance on foreign vaccine makers appears to be a particular vulnerability, according to Randall Larsen, an advisor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Center for Biosecurity.

"Would we rely on the Chinese or the Brazilians to make our next-generation fighter jet?" Larsen asked. "In the 21st century, that capability to produce vaccines is just as important as the ability to produce our own fighter jets."

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Monday condemned the disclosure, saying it contained information that could "jeopardize our national security."

U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said America's espionage act is just one of the laws the U.S. could use to prosecute those involved in the WikiLeaks releases. He declined to say which others might come into play. Possibilities include charges such as the theft of government property or receipt of stolen government property.

Also Monday, a lawyer for Julian Assange told reporters in London that he was arranging for the WikiLeaks founder to speak to British police seeking to question him in a sex crimes probe.

The Department of Homeland Security list on overseas sites, known as the Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative, includes oil and gas pipelines, telecom cables, rare-metal and other mines, military contractors, ocean navigation chokepoints, and such obscure facilities as an Australian laboratory described as the sole supplier of Crotalid Polyvalent Antivenin — an antidote to rattlesnake venom.

The list, "whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States," according to the leaked cable that contained it, is maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, which was seeking to update it in February 2009 by getting recommendations from State Department diplomats.

The February 2009 cable instructed diplomats to focus on key energy and telecom links, sites that produced hard-to-get goods or raw materials important to U.S. industry, as well as maritime bottlenecks.

The list includes graphite, tungsten and rare-earth metal mines in China, military components makers in Britain, Germany and Israel, and a Siemens plant in Germany described as responsible for "essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals."

It also includes many of the world's key ocean passageways, including the straits of Gibraltar, Hormuz and Malacca, the Panama Canal and the landing points of numerous undersea telecom cables crisscrossing the globe, plus oil and gas pipelines, including one in Russia described as "the most critical gas facility in the world."

The list underscores heavy U.S. dependence on foreign pharmaceutical firms, including European producers of vaccines for rabies, whooping cough, flu, typhoid and smallpox.

azajac@latimes.com

Brian Bennett in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.

Atlantic International Studies Organization January Conference: Keynote Speaker: Ian Smillie

 Noted Blood Diamond Expert Ian Smillie will be the Keynote Speaker at the Annual Atlantic International Studies Organization (ATLIS) January Conference. He will be discussing the research from his book published in August on the diamond trade in Africa.

Blood on the Diamond     

ATLIS Initiatives for 10/11
’10/11 Theme!
ATLIS’s theme for this year is ‘Alternative Solutions: Looking to a sustainable future’. We are looking for presentations that would explore a particular idea or innovation, evaluate its potential, and critique its effectiveness in the context of an ongoing issue. This includes a range of diverse, global issue, from health, justice, bio- conservation, security, to technology. We are hoping by emphasizing on a multi-disciplinary approach, we can gain new perspective and insight to persistent issues

Dear Mount Allison Students,

The Atlantic International Studies Organization (ATLIS) is requesting submissions for its annual conference on January 21-23, 2010. This year's theme is "Alternative Solutions: Looking to a Sustainable Future". This is a wonderful chance to experience presenting an academic paper and to receive feedback on your work and research.

The deadline for submissions is at November 21, 2010 at noon (e-mail to atlis@mta.ca). We encourage students from all years and all disciplines to submit their work for consideration.

Class papers, honours theses and individual research are all eligible for submission. An abstract of your work is sufficient for the submission deadline.
Work does not have to be complete by the time of presentation but should be sufficiently well developed as to allow for discussion.

Presentations will be 20-30 minutes in length, followed by questions and a round table discussion with conference attendees and faculty. Please note that all presenters are guaranteed to be published in our spring academic journal if they so wish.

All students (whether presenting or not) are invited to attend the conference, which will include social events, roundtable discussions about sustainability, and a keynote speaker Ian Smillie.

Smillie is an Ottawa-based consultant and writer and has worked for more than 30 years in international development. He will speak on the subject of implementing sustainable practices around conflict-free diamonds in Africa.

Please kindly confirm your attendance by November 21 and conference fees must be paid by December 5, in order to qualify for our early bird special.

Go to our website to see examples of previous years' presentations and for information on our year-long events: www.atlismta.org

Also join our Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=81172322054&ref=ts

Thanks, and please feel free to contact us with any questions.

The ATLIS Staff

About

The Atlantic International Studies Organization (ATLIS) was created in the winter of 2003 at Mount Allison University with the purpose of fostering informed undergraduate participation in international issues through scholarship and social and political involvement.

The ATLIS Organization is committed to finding new and innovative ways to engage students with the world around them. Our peer-reviewed journal is one of the first of its kind in the region, and provides a much-needed venue for high- quality undergraduate essays.

In attempts to promote scholarship and develop invaluable professional skills, ATLIS hosts an annual conference relating to a major issue facing the international community as an opportunity for students to present their own papers to their peers and professors. The conference also draws NGOs and government agencies from across Canada to speak, participate in discussions and present their activities.

The ATLIS Organization is a dedicated group of students from many disciplines. We are united in the common goal of promoting undergraduate involvement and scholarship in international issues. ATLIS actively seeks partnerships with other organizations and clubs, other universities, and faculty and experts in the diverse fields of international studies

John Reardon: Mount Allison University All-Star Football Player (1993-1997). Oh yeah...and he's in Tron: Legacy

For all those all-star athletes studying Marine Biology...you might want to find a fall back career...like acting.

Halifax native making a mark with Tron: LegacyHalifax native John Reardon, now living in Los Angeles, is part of the big-budget Tron reboot.
The 35-year-old is starring in Tron: Legacy as Young Kevin Flynn and Clu Performance Double. Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges, who starred as Kevin Flynn in the original Tron, is reprising his roles as Kevin Flynn and Clu from the 1982 movie.
Reardon has a B.Sc. from Mount Allison University where he was a receiving star for the football Mounties for five years.
The six-foot-one actor’s credits include the movies White Chicks (2004) with the Wayans brothers, Scary Movie 4 (2006) and Merlin’s Apprentice with Sam Neill. .
Next up is the TV movie Bringing Ashley Home with A. J. Cook, formerly of Criminal Minds.

John Reardon
Biography

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, John Reardon is one of three children, and is part of a large extended family. In fact, he estimates he has over 300 cousins living in Canada’s Maritimes. He returns to his hometown as often as his busy schedule allows, but spends much of his time working in Hollywood and Vancouver.

During his school years, John performed in many plays, but he had never considered going into acting professionally until he saw a riveting cinematic performance. “I was just finishing high school when I saw Paul Newman in the movie ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and decided he had the best profession in the world, “says John. “Paul Newman has definitely been a very big idol for me--not only in acting, but also in the way he lives his life. He is an incredibly talented performer with great range and can do comedy and drama. He also has been married to the same woman for the last 40 years, runs a charity that makes over $200 million a year and is also a professional race car driver at the age of 75. He is pretty cool.”

Although motivated to follow in the footsteps of his idol, John choose to complete his education first. He studied marine biology at Mount Allison University where he was an all-star football player, an academic All-Canadian and Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Upon graduation, John pursued his ambition of becoming an actor. He performed with a few improv comedy groups, and then studied acting at Second City in Toronto. His first break in showbiz came in 2001 when he was cast in an episode of “The Chris Isaak Show,” in which he was credited as John Henry Reardon. He followed that by appearing in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” and in the TV series “Andromeda” as well as in the TV movie “1st to Die.”

After shortening his name to John Reardon, he found continued success, playing the recurring character Josh Wyatt in the CBC series “Edgemont” and playing Randall Thompson in three episodes of the series “Tru Calling.” In 2004, he also landed his first movie role, playing Heath in the Wayans Brothers’ outlandish comedy, “White Chicks.” After a turn the lead character, Greg, in the horror movie “Severed,” John went on to spoof the genre, appearing in “Scary Movie 4,” along with a star-studded cast that included Leslie Nielson, Bill Pullman, Molly Shannon, and Michael Madsen.

Meanwhile, John began to land major roles on TV, playing the title character in “Merlin’s Apprentice,” a Hallmark mini-series that also starred Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson. In the series, “Painkiller Jane,” John had a continuing role as Brian, the boyfriend of the tile character, played by Kritanna Lokens (“Terminator 3”).
A leading man in the TV movies “Valentine’s Carol” and “7 Things to do Before I’m 30,” John also played the lead in another mini-series, “Son of the Dragon,” filmed on location in China and set to air on the Hallmark Channel in April of 2008. Here he demonstrates his athletic skills in his convincing portrayal of D.B, a young man who trains under a martial arts master played by David Carradine.

In the upcoming dance movie, “Make It Happen,” starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John plays her brother, Joel. The conflict centres on his disapproval of her desire to be a dancer.

As a working professional, John has continued to hone his acting skills, studying with Michael David Simms and Jeff Seymour in Vancouver and Chris Fields in Los Angeles. A great humanitarian, John supports a number of charities including Save the Oceans, Sharkwater, Amnesty International, the Canadian Wildlife Fund, and he also sponsors a child in Africa. For many years he was a volunteer in an aviary to help save and rehabilitate injured birds.

An all around athlete, John has competed in several adventure racing events in Vancouver, including the Nike Five Peaks and Sea to Summit races. John has traveled to more than 30 countries and has a passion for SCUBA diving. He would like to explore all five oceans of the world. Meanwhile, John is riding the wave of success in his acting career and spends much of his spare time writing. He is currently trying to develop a TV series he’s written to be shot in Halifax and is also looking to produce his screenplay about the civil war in Cambodia.

News

Actor John Reardon stars in the mini series ‘Son of the Dragon’, premiering on the all-new Hallmark Movie Channel HD April 2nd

Watch for John this summer in the feature film ‘Make It Happen’.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 2008 - An accomplished actor, John Reardon, continues his surging success in 2008 as the lead character in the exciting mini-series ‘Son of the Dragon’ scheduled to premiere on the all-new Hallmark Movie Channel HD April 2nd. Filmed on location in Hengdian, China, this Asian martial arts epic borrows its storyline from ‘The Tales of the Arabian Nights.’ The U.S. television premiere of ‘Son of the Dragon’ HD will be featured on two nights: night one, Wednesday, April 2 (8/7 c) and night two, Thursday, April 3 (8/7 c).

In this lavish production, John portrays the youthful hero, D.B., who studies the skills of deadly combat under the guidance of the master, played by David Carradine. The
international cast includes Rupert Graves, Desiree Siahan, Eddy Ko, and Bollywood star, Nitin Gantatra.

Later this summer, John can be seen on the big screen as one of the leads in the upcoming feature film ‘Make It Happen.’ The movie depicts the trials and tribulations of an aspiring young dancer, Lauryn, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Lucy McClane in the Bruce Willis thriller ‘Live Free or Die’). Produced by The Mayhem Project and the Weinstein Company, ‘Make It Happen’ is a fine vehicle for John Reardon, who is cast as Lauryn’s older brother Joel who stands in her way as she pursues a dancing career. John’s other feature film appearances include ‘White Chicks,’ ‘Severed’ and ‘Scary Movie 4.’

Now in the prime of his career, John has already delivered stellar performances with leading roles in romantic comedies and TV movies such as ‘7 Things to do Before I’m 30,’ and ‘Valentine’s Carol.’ He has also appeared in the title role of the 2006 mini-series ‘Merlin’s Apprentice.’ Other television appearances and recurring roles include ‘Painkiller Jane,’ the role of Josh Wyatt in the CBC series ‘Edgemont,’ ‘Tru Calling,’ ‘The Chris Isaak Show,’ ‘The Twilight Zone’ and the TV series ‘Andromeda.’

When not on set, John loves to travel, has a passion for scuba diving and supports a number of charities, including sponsoring a child in Africa. John also spends much of his spare time writing and is currently trying to develop a TV series he’s written to be shot in Halifax. He is also looking to produce his screenplay about the civil war in Cambodia.

Update: Mount Allison University Branding Campaign

An update on the branding campaign I wrote about earlier. A brand concept should be coming out in late January. Story from Sackville Tribute Post.

Staff at Mount Allison is currently working to identify the university’s greatest strengths and assets in order increase their competitive edge when it comes to attracting top students.

Mount Allison looking to distinguish itself from competitors

Staff at Mount Allison is currently working to identify the university’s greatest strengths and assets in order increase their competitive edge when it comes to attracting top students.

Published on December 23rd, 2010
Katie Tower


What makes Mount Allison unique? What differentiates it from its competitors? And how exactly does a small-town undergrad university vie for the best students and faculty in an increasingly-aggressive market?

These are just a few of the questions being explored as part of a branding project that aims to provide a snapshot of the university’s greatest strengths and assets.

The purpose of the initiative is to provide Mount Allison with its own distinct identity, says Tony Frost, director of marketing and communications for the university, “so students really know what they’re getting when they come to Mount A.”

This will help pave the way for the university to distinguish itself more clearly from its peers, he says.
Today, universities need to be more competitive than ever in their efforts to attract top-notch students, faculty and donors, says Frost, and Mount A has to keep up with the best if they want to attract the best.

But with the number of high school students declining in the Maritimes, that poses a significant challenge for universities in the region that rely on 50 per cent of their students coming from the Maritime provinces.

“There’s a demographic challenge here in the Maritimes,” he says, “so we need to start looking outside the region.”

Through the brand positioning project, Mount Allison will be taking a “more integrated approach to who we are and what we are saying,” in order to market the university to a wider audience outside the Maritimes.
Fortunately, he says, the good news is that students, both national and international, are now more transient than they were 20 or 30 years ago and many of those students are looking for an experience outside their home university.

“So this is an opportunity for us to say, ‘hey, why not an Atlantic experience, why not a Mount Allison experience?”

The research phase of the project has just finished up, with a number of participants involved, including current, past, and prospective students, as well as business and government leaders.

“We spent time revisiting who we were and what it is that makes us different . . . and how we can market that to an external audience,” says Frost.

Of course, the size and the reputation of the school were the two key distinguishing features that were brought up time and time again during the discussions, says Frost.

But also gaining attention is the “experience” that comes with attending an institution in which students are treated to a “personal , intimate environment” where they can become their own individuals.
“That’s something not found anywhere else.”

The strategy development phase is now under way with the university expecting to come up with a proposed concept in late January, followed up by the creative development stage of the project.

"Sleep is Awesome!":An infographic on the Importance of Sleep

Speaking of sleep, check out this infographic that summarizes some of the most important conclusions from recent sleep research from inoveryourhead.net:

Drew Dudley and his "Lollipop Moment" at Mount Allison University

When I was glancing over Google Alerts for Mount Allison on Google Reader (which is a pretty great tool, both personal and academic and which I can't really contribute any new substantive comments on but think you should really check out) I came across a guest post by Mount Allison graduate Drew Dudley about his conception of leadership. It's an interesting note and I thought I'd share it with you.

But first here's a video teaser from his talk at TEDxToronto.

Dudley performs as a motivational speaker (not quite in the style of Matt Foley but I've heard almost as entertaining) at Mount Allison during frosh week so if you want to hear him...don't forget to come to Mount Allison in the fall. Here's the post archived from ourkids.net:

Are you a leader?

For 10 years I have travelled across Canada asking people that question. I have found that more often than not, people simply aren’t comfortable saying they deserve the title.
I’ve come to realize that we’ve turned leadership into something beyond us, something bigger than us.  We’ve made it about extraordinary skills, amazing achievements and life-changing moments.  In short, we’ve made leadership about changing the world.

However, leadership is anything but beyond us.  In fact, it’s within our grasp every day should we choose to seize it.  A number of remarkable people and incredible stories led me to that realization, but perhaps none more than a moment that occurred on my final night at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.  (I had just completed my BA in sociology, and despite falling in love with the campus, its people, and the east coast in general, I was returning to Ontario to take a job with the University of Toronto.) A young woman had walked up to me and announced, “I remember the first time I met you.” With that, she launched into a story from four years earlier.

“I was going to quit my first day here,” she told me.  “I was standing in line to register and just knew I wasn’t ready for this place.  But just as I turned to my mom and dad to tell them we had to go home, you walked out of the building right next to us.  You were holding a sign promoting a fundraising event, and handing out lollipops to people in line.”

“When you got to me,” she continued, “you stared for a moment, and then smiled, reached into your bucket, and handed a lollipop to the guy standing next to me.”

“’Buddy,’ you said, ‘you need to give a lollipop to the beautiful woman standing next to you.’”

“I have never seen anyone get so red, so fast,” she laughed.  “He wouldn’t even look at me when he held out the lollipop.  I felt so sorry for him, I just had to take it.”

“As soon as I did,” she continued, “you got this incredibly severe look on your face, turned to my parents, and loud enough for everyone to hear said, ‘Look at that!  Just look at that!  First day away from home … and already she’s taking candy from a STRANGER!’”

“Everyone for 20 feet in every direction started to laugh,” she said.  “And I know this sounds ridiculous, but in that moment I just knew I shouldn’t quit.  I knew I was where I was supposed to be … and I knew I was home.”

“I haven’t spoken to you in the four years since that day,” she told me.  “But I heard that you were leaving, and I just needed to take a moment to tell you that you’ve been an incredibly important person in my life, and I’m going to miss you.  Good luck.”

And with that she turned and began walking away.  She had gone just a few steps when she turned around.

“One more thing you should probably know,” she said smiling.  “I’m still dating that guy.”

A year and a half later, I received an invitation to their wedding.

The most interesting part of that story?  I do NOT remember that moment.  I have searched my memory for it, but it’s simply not there.

It was a revelatory moment for me when I realized that perhaps the greatest impact I’d ever had on another human being came in a moment I didn’t even remember.  But I’ve come to realize that while we often evaluate ourselves as people and as leaders based on the impact our plans have, it’s often the unplanned consequences of how we act every day that have the greatest impact.

“Lollipop moments” are moments when someone says something or does something that makes another person feel better about their life.  Almost all of us can think of someone who created a “lollipop moment” for us, but more often than not, we’ve never told that person. The world is full of people who have made a tremendous impact on someone else’s life and have never been told about it.  Many never had the chance to feel that extraordinary moment when someone says, “you changed my life for the better.”   You may be one of them.  Yes, we should all work hard to bring more good things into the world, but imagine how much better the world could be if we simply took the time to better recognize the good that’s already being done?

But it can be frightening to think of ourselves as that powerful.  It can be scary to realize how much of an impact we can have on other peoples’ lives.  And as long as we treat leadership as something beyond us—as something bigger than us—as long as we keep it about changing the world, we give ourselves an excuse not to expect it from ourselves and from each other every day.

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

These opening lines of a brilliant poem by Marianne Williamson capture perfectly the feelings that I believe keep us from embracing the idea of ourselves as leaders.  However, if we are to see real change in this world we need to begin to embrace leadership as something we practice every day, not something that “one day” we might be worthy of.  We need to move beyond our fears and let our children see us value the impact we have on each other, more than titles, money, power and influence.

The fact is, leadership is not about changing the world, because there is no world.  There are only six billion understandings of it.  And when you change one person’s understanding of the world—of what they’re capable of, of how many people care about them, of how powerful an agent for change they can be—you change the whole definition of leadership.

If we come to understand and redefine leadership in that way, including those “lollipop moments,” I think we can change everything.

New Career Services Coordinator at Mount Allison (Good news, but also what's missing)

“Career is a big word, it encompasses a lot. My job is to meet with students and help them discover not just what they’re good at but what they would enjoy doing. Sometimes this means further studies, sometimes it means heading into the work force right away but we’re working to help Mount Allison students better understand what’s out there so they can make informed decisions of where they would like their career path to go and what the next step is for them.”


Also as part of his job, new Career Services Coordinator Scott Yorke  "will also be collaborating with other departments on campus to offer workshops in areas such as resumé writing, cover letters, and interview techniques"

It is great that the school finally hired a career services coordinator. And while all of the above job description is well and good. The fact is that there are students who have not made a resumé, cover letter, or ever had a job much less an interview so it is good to have the bare bones available. However those are skills most people learned in high school if not earlier and if not on their own volition. In a world where more and more companies do their recruiting online job seekers, especially recent college graduates need to make use of social networking (not only to avoid posting inappropriate material as mentioned earlier) but more importantly to use it in an active way to search for a job. As the New York Times article below describes, it is vital to use social media to find a job. As one recruitment expert said, "It’s nonnegotiable — you have to have a profile on a social networking site.” For some information on what exactly is needed see the related slide show below, and for why social networking is important in any job search see the NYT article. I'll soon be posting more specifically on Linkedin and VisualCV.

Creating a Personal Brand: Increasing Your Online Presence

Social Networking Your Way to a New Job
By FARHAD MANJOO
Published: August 25, 2010

UNTIL just a few years ago, looking for a job was a relatively straightforward process. Write a résumé. Scour job sites or the classifieds. Submit an application for listings that seem appropriate. Reach out to recruiters. Then, wait.

James C. Best Jr

“It doesn’t work that way at all anymore,” said Nancy Halverson, senior vice president for learning and talent development at the recruiting firm MRINetwork.

Like everything else in business, the job-search process has undergone a revolution since the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Job hunters today must learn to navigate the sometimes slippery social mores of online discourse — for instance, learning to promote themselves without coming off as self-involved.

At the same time, they must be constantly vigilant about managing their online reputation; the slightest slip may discourage potential employers.

“It’s almost like social media has replaced the white pages,” Ms. Halverson said. “Recruiters don’t even know how to find you if you don’t have a presence online. It’s nonnegotiable — you have to have a profile on a social networking site.”

For many people looking for work, however, the technological requirements of the modern job hunt present a profound hurdle. Increasingly, these people are turning up for help at the career offices and continuing education departments of their local universities and community colleges.

“Teaching people how to use these new tools is really becoming one of the main things that we do in career counseling offices,” said Nancy Richmond, assistant director of career counseling and exploration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We’re showing them that using social media is a great way to show employers that they’re on the forefront of cutting-edge trends. It can be extremely helpful for their careers.”

Twice a semester, Ms. Richmond’s office holds workshops teaching students and alumni how to use LinkedIn and other social networks. She also offers one-on-one tutoring to help people brush up their online profiles and counseling on how to approach potential employers or networking contacts online.

Such sessions have become a mainstay at colleges around the country — often, colleges say, because students are demanding them. This fall, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire will offer a series of continuing education courses called “The Language of Social Media,” which aim to give people a quick on-ramp to the world of online networking.

The course came out of a series of classes that Laurie Boettcher, a local social media enthusiast, had been teaching at her chapter of the Chamber of Commerce; the courses were so well attended, a university spokeswoman said, that the school decided to take up the series for itself.

“We think it’s important not just to teach people why they should have a presence online, but also to teach them about how to be consistent — what’s appropriate in how you represent yourself online, and how you should go about promoting yourself,” Ms. Boettcher said.

It’s sometimes a tricky process, as many people looking for work have never had reason to set up a presence online and have no idea how to go about it. These people worked in industries like manufacturing, where Facebook and Twitter weren’t a part of daily life. Or they had plugged away at the same company for decades and never felt the need to make a résumé, let alone a LinkedIn page describing their job history.

In an economy that ejected people from jobs suddenly, and with such finality, career counselors say, these people feel bereft — they have all the skills necessary for new jobs, but few of the skills required for the job-search process.

It’s not the technical skills that are the toughest to master; what’s often more difficult for people who haven’t used networking sites, say job coaches, is mastering the subtle social skills involved in asking people online for help.

It’s an art that can befuddle even technically adept people. In 2008, Oliver Schmid, an I.T. consultant based in Los Angeles, lost his job with a German technology company. Jumping into the job market for the first time in 20 years, Mr. Schmid did what job seekers have always done — he sent out his résumé and waited for companies to call him back. He didn’t get any takers.

“People who looked at my résumé just didn’t seem to fall in love,” Mr. Schmid said. The real problem, Mr. Schmid said he believed, was that the résumé didn’t tell his whole story — it didn’t explain his range of experiences, nor the full measure of his passion and creativity on the job.

Scouring the Web for tips on job hunting, Mr. Schmid found several sites and forums with advice on how to set up his “personal brand” online. He began to blog about his work and then to use Twitter to reach out to others in his profession.

“I was very uncoordinated at first, really stumbling a lot. I didn’t know what I was doing or what to talk about,” he said. But over a period of a few months, Mr. Schmid got the hang of it — he got better at writing short posts about his work, at pointing out his posts to the right people on Twitter and being consistent, but not overbearing, in advertising himself.

All of this took a lot of work. Miriam Salpeter, a job coach based in Atlanta, says that one of the main conversations she has with unemployed people concerns expectations — even if you do everything online correctly, there’s no guarantee you’ll find a job immediately.

“What you’re really trying to do on social networks is expand your sphere of influence,” Ms. Salpeter said. “You want to grow the number of people that know about you. As more people get to know about you and see who you are, that can pay off.”

That’s how things played out for Mr. Schmid. A former colleague noticed his posts on Twitter and recommended Mr. Schmid for a freelance position with a Norwegian technology company.

Mr. Schmid landed an interim freelancing position with the firm, which later turned into a longer-term contract. Without Twitter, he said, he probably would not have found the job. “They weren’t looking for me — they just spotted me online, and it worked out,” Mr. Schmid said.