My name is Rob Woodbridge. I write about something I call the common sense revolution.

The first half century

I just turned 50. Age was never something that shook me. Maybe when I was younger I would think about being 50 and wonder how anyone can be that old and still mean something. I think I was pretty dumb. As far as milestone ages go this is one. The…

Transparent leadership

When the 2009 financial crisis hit my company I was confident we could ride it out. We had endured a pretty rough ride but our revenue was well up year over year. Sure, it was revenue that was harder to find but we did it. Then early 2010 happened and…

The right grey hairs

When I was in my 20’s and knew everything I would wonder why anyone would listen to ANYONE with grey hair. They wrote books instead of blogs. They still listened to CDs instead of downloading music from Napster. They wore suits not hoodies. They were OLD. What real value could…

Survivors Remorse

Nearly 6 million Canadians have either lost their job or been impacted because of the pandemic so far. That’s nearly 1 of every 6 people in the country. Words that are floating around like “unprecedented” don’t even accurately describe what is going on. I think we have to invent a…

Delivery IS the product

If there is one thing that this COVID19 pandemic has shown us is the power in delivery. Most of us have had a good delivery experience and, of course, we’ve all had a nightmare experience. That’s because for most of the history of deliveries it has been an afterthought, a…

Data is the New Electricity…not Oil

Data has been called the new oil but given that oil is used by all but controlled by few, we need to rethink this analogy. Data should be like electricity.

The brotherhood and sisterhood of The Boss

I remember the first time I heard a Bruce Springsteen song. It was in 1984 and the song was Dancing in the Dark. I was a 14 year old kid ready to be influenced by music but it would take a trip to Thailand 2 years later and a bootleg…

Get to the root

This world is way too complex. Every day we have to work hard to do the seemingly simplest things and we’ve come to accept it as normal. It’s normal to have to fill things in triplicate. It’s normal that it takes a week to do your tax return (or pay…

Are all habits bad?

So many books have been written about building habits. Tiny moves in a different direction towards changing a behaviour. Some advocate large transformation steps, others smaller incremental ones. I’ve read them all, tried them all but I’m pretty sure I’m a routine guy, not a habit guy. Is there a…

Why it’s hard to work from home

There used to be a stigma about working from home. The story always starts with sleeping in, working in pyjamas and binge watching Netflix. There was an air of unprofessionalism to it all. Companies had policies against it because it was so egregious. There was a specific type of job…

Seeking deeper fulfillment

My mother was someone that I admired greatly. All mothers should be admired because they are mothers. They are the clock that keeps the beat of the household while holding down their job, knowing where everything is and where you’ve been. It is uncanny how disproportional the genders’ capabilities are…

There HAS to be a plan

I’ve spent most of my life trying to avoid plans. They always seem to be the opposite of being agile. They have rules. They are strict. They don’t allow for any kind of deviations. They are, well, plans. And I mostly hate them. But not right now. The world is…

The power of the very next

In 2016 my son Jack had a headache. It was severe enough to prompt a kid that never called home because he was sick to do just that. I was nearby at work and made my way to the school to grab him and bring him home for some Advil…

The Great Leveling

I have been unemployed and it sucks.I have been broke and it sucks.I have had zero prospects and it sucks.I have had no money in my bank and it sucks.I have not known where my next meal will come from and it sucks. It lasted what felt like an eternity…