close
Search:
I've yet to lose a close, blood-related family member. I don't know what it feels like to suddenly be deprived of a child, a sibling, a parent. A life partner.  When news broke in late May of Gord Downie's terminal brain cancer diagnosis, hearts broke everywhere. A friend was unexpectedly being taken away too early. Our friend. Like for many, it deeply hurt. It's precisely when the hornet stung me.  But then my mind began to wander. Maybe the stinger was a wakeup call. I began to think of my friend Bryan, who lost his father to a similar form of cancer just a few years ago. Bryan has been raising money for cancer research in various ways ever since. He does so to honour his dad. My wife works with someone who lost her husband to the exact form of cancer that has overcome Downie. She no longer has a husband. Her two very young children no longer have a father. It was heartbreaking to watch what that family had to endure. I am still a husband and a dad and a brother and a son. My parents are otherwise healthy, as are my siblings and children. Denise is healthy and as lovely as ever. I have not suffered any direct loss. For Bryan, Denise's colleague ... for Downie, I decided to do something I have never done before. I decided to devote thirty days of writing and social media entries to raising awareness of Glioblastoma. It's the form of brain cancer Downie and others have been afflicted with.  I'm healthy, and everyone around me is too. But that is unusual. A little super dangerous, perhaps. And so, on August 9, 2016, I sit here in the back country of Thornbury, Ontario on holiday grateful for my plight but compassionately mindful of those mired with loss, pending or otherwise. I am but one man holding his own 400 pound feather, but it really is the least I could do. At least until August 20. Please consider donating to the:
Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research
 
WORK-LIFE BLOOM

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

Find out if you’re currently blooming, budding, stunted or in need of renewal through the Work-Life Bloom Personal Assessment.

START ASSESSMENT  

Testimonials

  • Dan Pontefract’s keynote on the importance of workplace culture in employee engagement was excellent.  Dan used his vast leadership experience to provide our conference attendees with practical strategies to build teams that are engaged and committed. His relatable, real-life examples were thought provoking, memorable and very personal, creating a connection to the audience. I would highly recommend Dan as an entertaining keynote speaker who delivers content that is relevant and actionable.

    Michelle Hillyard, Director SCU
  • We are so proud to have had you at our event. Your talk was a big hit. It moved us. We can’t thank you enough.

    Malin Björnell, Salesforce
  • Dan challenged us to have clarity of purpose, both as individuals and as an organization. He related inspiring stories drawing on his experience in business, technology and academia. As he said, ‘There is no ownership without belonging.’

    Christian Pantel, D2L
  • Fantastic engaging talk for our global partner summit. Thank you so much, Dan!

     

    Barb Kinnard, CEO Response Biomedical Corp
  • Dan not only brought his presentation to life with his charisma, but also content, style and presentation finesse. Our members were especially interested in his thought provoking and top of mind topic on the future of work and how we’re going to be leading the next generation of leaders.

    Cheryl Goodwin, CPA
  • Dan is a conference organizer’s ideal speaker. Not only did he inspire and energize our group, but he also masterfully adapted his content so it resonated with the audience and our conference theme. As a bonus, Dan is able to nimbly navigate to adjust to a reduced time slot when other speakers went over time without sacrificing the impact of his session.

    Director and General Counsel
  • Dan accomplished what we set out to do, which was not only to be inspirational, but also to leave everyone with tools and food for thought / self-reflection to improve their personal and professional lives.

    Hermann Handa, FCT

Media Appearances

sidebar hashtag menu home office pencil images camera headphones music video-camera bullhorn connection mic book books file-empty files-empty folder folder-open price-tag barcode qrcode cart coin-dollar coin-euro mobile user users user-plus user-minus key lock unlocked glass mug spoon-knife fire bin switch cloud-download cloud-upload bookmark star-empty star-half star-full play pause stop backward forward first last previous next eject volume-high volume-medium volume-low volume-mute amazon google whatsapp twitter dribbble behance behance-black github appleinc finder windows8 skype pinterest pinterest-o chrome firefox edge safari opera file-pdf file-word file-excel html-five asterisk search search-plus search-minus cog arrow-circle-o-down arrow-circle-o-up edit share-square-o check-square-o arrows question-circle arrow-left arrow-right arrow-up arrow-down mail-forward expand compress eye eye-slash comment twitter-square facebook-square camera-retro cogs comments thumbs-o-up thumbs-o-down sign-out linkedin-square external-link sign-in unlock feed bell-o arrow-circle-left arrow-circle-right arrow-circle-up arrow-circle-down globe filter arrows-alt link paperclip bars envelope linkedin rotate-left bell angle-left angle-right angle-up angle-down desktop mail-reply mail-reply-all chain-broken chevron-circle-left chevron-circle-right chevron-circle-up chevron-circle-down html5 unlock-alt youtube-square youtube-play dropbox stack-overflow apple windows trello female male arrow-circle-o-right arrow-circle-o-left wordpress file-image-o paper-plane paper-plane-o share-alt cc-visa cc-paypal cc-stripe bell-slash bell-slash-o facebook-official trademark registered wikipedia-w question-circle-o