What I'm Watching

Is it a Crisis or Just Tuesday?

Here’s the deal.
I see organizations make decisions and announcements that make me ask, “Did you really think this through?” Now, when that happens, I’m going to share those thoughts with you — and I want your take.

Today’s Questionable Call

There have been some pretty epic fails when U.S. companies enter Canada. There is this deep misunderstanding of “they look like us, they speak the same language” so it must be the same. That’s just bad research.

But yesterday, the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced a number of major rule changes that make the game look “more American.” This was a head scratcher for me. At a time when Canadian pride is epically high driven in large part by the 51st state talk, why would the league make changes to a prized Canadian institution? An institution run by a Canadian?

Canadians are immensely proud of the longer field and fewer downs. It’s frequently cited in rants about how Canada is different from the United States. And while the people involved in creating the changes seem to be in favor of it, others are vehemently opposed.

I think the conversation is just getting started. What do you think?

Full disclosure: my dad was from Saskatchewan, I’m a shareholder in the Saskatchewan Roughriders (think Packers-style community ownership), and if my dad had been buried instead of cremated, he would’ve insisted on a Riders flag in the coffin.

Going Forward

This isn’t going to be something that is at a set time or regular basis. I’ll send one when something strikes as needing conversation. But question to you, should we name it?