Q1 2024 Reflections

At the end of each year, I frequently get asked, "Are you looking forward to the year coming to an end?" In which the easy answer is always "Yes". I always mark the closing of a year with some trepidation and excitement about how the worst is behind us and that we're now marking a new beginning full of new challenges and opportunities ahead.

As I reflect, the start of 2024 has been one of the hardest in my adult life. Not because of horrible events that have come up in my wife, but because professionally, what I have hoped we had overcome in 2023 was not going to repeat in 2024 and if it did, it would come at a higher price.

Many people have heard of and been part of minor and major layoffs at companies around the world. TELUS has been no exception to this and that includes people as part of my team. This has been an ongoing saga for many of us because of the accelerated / increased investments during the COVID-19 pandemic that saw record amounts of money thrown into the technology and digital space exploded at 2 to 3 times. As those investments dried up, as they were clearly unsustainable and the demand rebalanced against the supply; we are now holding the bag in rebalancing our world to what use to be a more business as usual pace.

However, as the way being a public and corporate company goes. You are at the behest of growing the company based on past results. Which at this point is quite a lot harder to achieve.

So as this macro-economic play continues onwards, managing the change while keeping up with deliverying on results have become more stressful than ever. The stress is mostly driven by the feeling that whatever you do, whatever you throw against the wall, whatever you achieve...the loftiness of goals and wins you succeed as an individual or as a team is simply not enough.

I am assured that we will make progress and better ourselves in the future. The team has incredible grit and clairvoyance in what needs to be done to achieve our desired outcomes. All we need is a bit of time, and lots of luck.

How is your start of the corporate year? Here is mine.

The balance side of life

While life is often consumed by the work you do and the people that surround the majority of your waking life. It is often good to fill personal time with fun and new adventures. I am grateful for a few small but important things the start of this year.

• My wife has started volunteering for the Rescue Society (Endless Pawsabilities) from where our dogs came to us from.

• A few good friends and I did an easy front-country camping trip out in beautiful Porteau Cove Park.

• My parents came to visit for a whirlwind 2-week food tour. Some highlights were, OEB Breakfast Co., Breakfast Table, and 825 Kitchen.