For your summer reading, we've examined the temptations and ...

Michael Ganley is the editor of Alberta Venture. BizBeat takes a big-picture view of the provincial, national and international news affecting Alberta's business community. He can be reached at mganley@albertaventure.com and @MikeatVenture

Aug 1, 2012

by Michael Ganley

Welcome to the sin and self-improvement issue, in which we look at the good and bad in all of us. Tempted by cheap debt? We have a story for you. Enjoy the occasional rave? (Or wonder what a rave is?) Got you covered. We even have a story on the sin of self-improvement (for those addicted to self-help books) and, by way of contrast, a 15-part guide on what you can do to improve yourself.

When we conceived this idea last August at our annual planning meeting, we thought it would be fun and interesting to take a look at the vices and virtues we all share. It?s not quite the usual fare you find in the pages of this magazine, but we at Alberta Venture like to take the broadest possible approach to the notion of what might interest our audience. Businesses are not simply widget-making factories. They do not operate automatically or have the luxury of pinpoint certainty. They are made up of flesh-and-blood human beings, warts and all. We hear over and over again from corporate leaders that a company?s most important asset is its people. If that?s so, then any business person worth his or her paycheque will be interested in the state of our education and health systems (for who does not want healthy, well-educated employees?), in the political and legal frameworks in which they operate, in the immigration system (watch for more on that in the
September issue) and much more.

A corporate leader would also, we extrapolated, be interested in the state of people?s psyches and of their souls. Besides, what?s more fascinating than sex, drugs and rock and roll or, in this case, fraud, drugs and electronica? So we decided that a wide-ranging look at the temptations and motivations that wash around Albertans would make for some solid summer reading.

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My personal take on self-improvement is this: There are no great secrets and no shortcuts. Much of it is remarkably straightforward. For guidance on what to eat (and how much), have a look at Health Canada?s Food Guide. Exercise regularly. Don?t smoke. Consume alcohol ? and pretty much anything else ? in moderation, and get your rest. Read frequently and broadly and spend lots of time with family, friends and by yourself. I?m not saying these things are necessarily easy to do, but the prescriptions are pretty simple.

From there, it?s about discipline and, to an extent, about accepting imperfection. Max Fawcett, this magazine?s managing editor and the publishing house?s resident iconoclast, penned the essay about the self-help industry in North America ?and its collection of neo-spiritual gurus, five-minute workout programs and fad diet plans.? In the end, Fawcett concludes, it is our imperfections that make us human. ?Perhaps we?d all be best served by learning to embrace them rather than trying to bench-press them out of existence.?

Amen to that.

Source: http://albertaventure.com/2012/08/for-your-summer-reading-weve-examined-the-temptations-and-motivations-that-surround-us/

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