BC Business
Nourishment for the corporate mind and soul
LEARN
OUTLAW ECONOMICS: A ROGUE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM Check out the wild side of economics: this one-day course looks at what pirates, street gangs, the mafia and rogue traders on Wall Street have in common. Find out what such rogues reveal about the world we live in and how they may be the most accurate reflection of how capitalism actually functions as a system. One Day @ UBC, UBC Point Grey, March 7; 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. $75; cstudies .ubc.ca/one-day-ubc
READ DATA-ISM: THE REVOLUTION TRANSFORMING DECISION MAKING, CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, AND ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE by Steve Lohr Tangible, grown-up substances like oil and coal fuelled the Industrial Revolution, but data, the raw material needed to run our vast information-based economy, seems to lack necessary gravitas. We need to take it more seriously. According to author Steve Lohr, a New York Times technology writer, data-ism, the use of vast Internet-scale data sets, has the potential to change no less than the way decisions are made. HarperCollins Canada $36.99
GO UNTAPPED 2015 BC WORKPLACE INCLUSION CONFERENCE With its ageing population and meagre birthrate, Canada needs to be creative when it comes to filling future labour requirements. Tapping into underutilized talent pools—retirees and the disabled, for example—means access to a ready and willing group of people. Sounds eminently logical, but misinformation, fear and prejudice delayed action until recently. Get the facts directly from experts in the field. Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle Downtown Hotel, March 9 and 10 untappedconference2015.ca
DO
STRATEGIES, SKILLS AND TACTICS OF NEGOTIATIONS No, we can’t all be Vince Ready, but it’s sure fun to try. Effective negotiating skills can mitigate disaster and minor tempests equally well, so why not learn the techniques? Based on four major phases of the negotiation process, this three-day course applies your newly acquired knowledge to actual negotiation exercises. Executive Education, Sauder School of Business, UBC Robson Square, March 11 to 13, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. $1,995; exec.ed@sauder.ubc.ca
BUY
BLACKBERRY CLASSIC Forget, for a moment, that this device comes to you from BlackBerry Ltd. (formerly RIM), a company supposedly dead and buried, and let’s talk about the QWERTY keyboard, the “belt” row of function keys, 2GB of RAM, and the 8MP camera. For the shrinking cadre of BB’s corporate loyalists, this “back to the future” product is a sight for sore eyes. $500; various carriers; ca.blackberry.com
ESCAPE Locked Canada If work isn’t crazy enough, enter a world of thrills, suspense and adventure in a real-life escape game. Individuals or teams are placed in deranged situations where the goal is to solve, interpret and decode riddles to break free. Themes include Carnival, The Ruins, Z Apocalypse, Mary and Runaway–or Locked Canada can custom design a nightmare, er, challenge for corporate team-building. Locked Canada, #200 – 1050 Kingsway, Vancouver Depending on the theme, $250-300 for up to 12 players plus $15-20 for each extra participant; lockedcanada.com
EMPATHIZE Leading with Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace While it may sound intimidating, tuning into emotions in the workplace can be enlightening. From a business perspective, understanding attitudes and behaviours can only be a good thing, since it’s people, not things, that create an organization’s competitive advantage. Capilano University Continuing Studies, Tuesdays, March 10 to April 7; 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. $530; csee.capilanou.ca