Conversations That Matter

Ep 120

Kirsten Sutton

Workplace Inclusion

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Kirsten Sutton of SAP Canada a company that has mandated that 1% of its workforce is made up of people with autism, a rate that reflects the percentage of people in the world with autism.

 

Sutton says this is not some feel good program, rather it’s a program that is reshaping the company and is paying dividends, “This is not a philanthropic endeavor. We have open roles that we can't fill. Folks on that spectrum are absolutely suited for these roles, and they're not getting employed. So we're filling roles with people that have amazing talents. We've had folks start 1st day in a, say a software testing role, find a bug in the software that's been there 15 years, nobody else has identified it.”

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Michael Geller

Housing Crisis Solutions

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Michael Geller who acknowledges Vancouver really does have a housing crisis. While he agrees with the provincial government’s 15% foreign ownership tax he’s not onboard with it’s implementation, “The way they went about it was very unwise and was quite shocking, but it just shows how emotion and political considerations can often dominate common sense.”

Common sense is what Geller is proposing. As far as he’s concerned it’s quite simple, increase the supply. “So the question is how do we do that? People immediately assume that if you're going to increase supply that means high-rises are coming, and I think that's wrong. There's a lot of housing that I call in between housing, something in between the single family house and the high-rise apartment. And it includes duplexes and townhouses along all the arterials. The other thing is looking at opportunities to do more intensive development. Why don't we take these corner lots and divide them into two?”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Michael Geller

Housing Crisis Solutions

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Michael Geller who acknowledges Vancouver really does have a housing crisis. While he agrees with the provincial government’s 15% foreign ownership tax he’s not onboard with it’s implementation, “The way they went about it was very unwise and was quite shocking, but it just shows how emotion and political considerations can often dominate common sense.”

Common sense is what Geller is proposing. As far as he’s concerned it’s quite simple, increase the supply. “So the question is how do we do that? People immediately assume that if you're going to increase supply that means high-rises are coming, and I think that's wrong. There's a lot of housing that I call in between housing, something in between the single family house and the high-rise apartment. And it includes duplexes and townhouses along all the arterials. The other thing is looking at opportunities to do more intensive development. Why don't we take these corner lots and divide them into two?”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Dr Michael Lyon

Healthy Weight Management

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Dr. Michael Lyon one of Canada’s top obesity experts who says we’ve been conned by the weight loss industry into believing there is a magic formula to losing weight and keeping it off. He says, “eat less and move more” is only half true.

He has dedicated himself to understanding how the human body works, why it puts on weight and never wants to lose it. He maintains the key to managing a healthy weight is complex but it can be done. “you get into a long term mindset where you know, this is gonna be something I work at ‘for the rest of my life.’ It's something you work at every day. That doesn't mean necessarily that weight maintenance is harder, it certainly requires daily vigilance, and as time goes on the key is you have to develop a new rhythm of life.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Dr Michael Lyon

Healthy Weight Management

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Dr. Michael Lyon one of Canada’s top obesity experts who says we’ve been conned by the weight loss industry into believing there is a magic formula to losing weight and keeping it off. He says, “eat less and move more” is only half true.

He has dedicated himself to understanding how the human body works, why it puts on weight and never wants to lose it. He maintains the key to managing a healthy weight is complex but it can be done. “you get into a long term mindset where you know, this is gonna be something I work at ‘for the rest of my life.’ It's something you work at every day. That doesn't mean necessarily that weight maintenance is harder, it certainly requires daily vigilance, and as time goes on the key is you have to develop a new rhythm of life.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Dr Michael Lyon

Healthy Weight Management

This week’s Conversation That Matters features Dr. Michael Lyon one of Canada’s top obesity experts who says we’ve been conned by the weight loss industry into believing there is a magic formula to losing weight and keeping it off. He says, “eat less and move more” is only half true.

He has dedicated himself to understanding how the human body works, why it puts on weight and never wants to lose it. He maintains the key to managing a healthy weight is complex but it can be done. “you get into a long term mindset where you know, this is gonna be something I work at ‘for the rest of my life.’ It's something you work at every day. That doesn't mean necessarily that weight maintenance is harder, it certainly requires daily vigilance, and as time goes on the key is you have to develop a new rhythm of life.”

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Joseph Culp - Men’s Group

Conversations That Matter features Joseph Culp on being a man. Culp wrote, produced, directed and stars in, “Welcome to the Men’s Group” a social commentary on the state of masculinity in western culture. Culp says, “We were the soldiers, we were breadwinners, we had to be stoic and be strong, and we didn't want to be weak, which means showing your feelings and being vulnerable. Well guess what? Evolution is here. And we're changing, and life is changing, and women changed too. And I think the significance of feminism in the last 40 odd years has put a kind-of demand on men to investigate their own way of relating to each other.”

Welcome to the Men’s group takes viewers deep inside the confusing lives of eight men who lay it all out there. It is a sobering look at “male vulnerability” and also is quite funny, using humor and irreverence to celebrate the zaniness and extremes of men. Through the characters, however, viewers will find pieces of themselves and the men who are a part of their lives.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Tracy Theemes - Marriage after 50? Really!

Conversations That Matter features Tracy Theemes a certified financial planner with a keen eye on the complex issues related to marriage later in life. Theemes says there are multiple reasons why after a half century of living it gets harder to get together, “we become more exaggerated versions of ourselves, our problems, our suitcases of net worth, cash flow issues, personal development issues, sexuality issues, family issues like parents and even grandparents, it adds up.”

Despite the challenges, Theemes is optimistic about successful marriages post 50. As she puts it, “there are five reasons to get married, they are, social, spiritual, legal, financial and love”  Theemes goes on to say marriage is a good institution no matter how old you are especially when you go into it with eyes wide open.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Joseph Culp - Men’s Group

Conversations That Matter features Joseph Culp on being a man. Culp wrote, produced, directed and stars in, “Welcome to the Men’s Group” a social commentary on the state of masculinity in western culture. Culp says, “We were the soldiers, we were breadwinners, we had to be stoic and be strong, and we didn't want to be weak, which means showing your feelings and being vulnerable. Well guess what? Evolution is here. And we're changing, and life is changing, and women changed too. And I think the significance of feminism in the last 40 odd years has put a kind-of demand on men to investigate their own way of relating to each other.”

Welcome to the Men’s group takes viewers deep inside the confusing lives of eight men who lay it all out there. It is a sobering look at “male vulnerability” and also is quite funny, using humor and irreverence to celebrate the zaniness and extremes of men. Through the characters, however, viewers will find pieces of themselves and the men who are a part of their lives.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv

Christine Sommers

Epact - Emergency Communications Plan

 

Conversations That Matter features Christine Sommers of ePACT has developed an emergency communications network that ensures you and your loved ones can always let each other know your whereabouts and your condition. Sommers says, “landlines, mobile and text are iffy at best, email is actually the number one way to communicate because the internet was built to withstand World War III.”

 

Sommers says if everything in life were a straight line that would be good enough, but of course they don’t. The kids are at school or ballet or soccer or or or. How does that organization connect with parents and next contacts? Enter epact, Sommers says we developed a system that allows the school or the day care or the sports team to connect directly with families so that they can share their data, they can actually connect each person’s support network.”

 

Conversations That Matter is a partner program with the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. Join veteran Broadcaster Stuart McNish each week for these important and engaging Conversations shaping our future.

 

Please become a subscriber and support the production of the program at www.conversationsthatmatter.tv