The Ampersand - Unplugged

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our October 2026 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam turns to Alberta's upcoming referendum and what it's already doing to the province's reputation, with a little help from one of the strangest meetings of his career. Back in 2013, a law firm leader insisted, unprompted, that the rumours of his firm's demise were false. Within weeks, the firm was gone.

That lesson, that sometimes just raising a question is enough to shake a reputation, frames his look at the debate now unfolding at home. From recruiting executives who now ask about separation to the irony of spending millions to reaffirm something most Albertans took for granted, he makes the case that Alberta has an extraordinary story to tell, and that those who believe in its future within Canada need to say so loudly.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our May 2025 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam shares the story behind a significant chapter in the firm's history: why, after a well-intentioned but ultimately misaligned partnership, the Calgary team chose to walk away, and why joining forces with Amrop Rosin felt less like a new beginning and more like a long-overdue one.

From a rain-soaked limousine farewell at Korn/Ferry to a partnership nearly two decades in the making, he makes the case that the right fit is worth waiting for, and that culture eats strategy for breakfast but substance eats scale for supper.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our September 2026 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam returns from a summer hiatus with a new tagline—Human. Thought. Leadership.—and a question worth sitting with: in an age of artificial intelligence, what should we never delegate?

He makes the case that AI is a tool worth embracing, but that the parts of our work that express who we are—the conversations, the mentorship, the stories only we can tell—are precisely the parts worth protecting. And yes, he's aware of the irony of making that argument in an edition AI may have helped improve.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our June 2025 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam sets aside the heavy lifting of recent months for something lighter—a reflection on nearly five years of chairing the Love, Camp capital campaign for Camp Chief Hector, and what a room full of donors, a renovated kitchen, and his own daughter taught him about purpose.

From wash shacks to wilderness canoe trips, he makes the case that sometimes the most meaningful work isn't what you're paid to do—and that if you want to feel better about the world, the best antidote is to go help make it better.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our September 2025 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam writes from somewhere above Greenland, returning from a father-son-and-brother golf trip through Scotland, and reflects on two developments that bookended an already eventful year: the departure of a long-time team member, and the arrival of a new one.

From the right way to say goodbye to what a lawyer-turned-cop brings to executive search, he makes the case that how you treat people on the way out—and the way in—is where culture actually lives.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our June 2026 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam reflects on the recent passing of his father, Dan Pekarsky—a legendary Edmonton lawyer and the man who, without either of them fully realizing it, shaped the foundational principles behind everything Adam has built.

From dinner table aphorisms to tough love critiques of this very newsletter, he makes the case that reputation isn't soft stuff, rather, it's the infrastructure upon which lasting success is built. And that sometimes the most valuable things we inherit can't be measured on a balance sheet.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our May 2026 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this milestone 200th edition, Adam reflects on what you find when you stop looking at the mannequin in the window and walk the shop floor instead.

From touring client sites across Alberta to a fumbled answer under hot lights at an awards luncheon, he makes the case that the real story of any business—including his own—is never found out front. It's a little further back, with the people who show up every day and do the work.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our October 2025 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam reflects on what it means to navigate the start of a career—and what the rest of us can learn from watching the next generation figure it out.

On the surface, this edition is about early-career twenty-somethings showing up at his office looking for direction. But really, it's about all of us—how we think about careers, progress, and what it means to be "on track." He makes the case that your 20s and 30s aren't about mastery; they're about experimentation. And that what looks like drifting is often just development that doesn't photograph well on a resume. 

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our April 2026 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. In this edition, Adam reflects on what artificial intelligence means for the deeply human work of executive search. 

From the death of the Rolodex to the resurgence of vinyl records and Legion bingo nights, he makes the case that as the world speeds up and algorithms multiply, what people crave most is texture, trust, and judgment that can't be simulated.

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The Ampersand Unplugged brings you an audio version of our November 2025 edition of The Ampersand, read aloud by the author. This month’s piece reflects on mentorship, service, and the quiet wisdom of those who help carry the weight for others. 

Through stories of caddies, a day spent looping for his son at a golf tournament, and the lasting influence of a beloved mentor, Adam explores the value of perspective, humility, and walking alongside others as they navigate their own fairways. 

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