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Professors’ Lives: Writing History or Doing Social Science?
My mother-in-law, Dr. Roslyn Herst, lent me the recent autobiography of Michael Bliss, her fellow member of the Toronto Medical History Club. Bliss has had a stellar career as a Canadian and medical historian and political commentator. The autobiography makes clear the secrets of his success: a powerful work ethic, a strong entrepreneurial streak that…
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A Look Ahead for Premier McGuinty
I was asked by iPolitics.ca to put myself in Premier McGuinty’s shoes to think about priorities and problems at the start of his new mandate. While the iPolitics article, with contributions from a variety of pundits, will be coming out early in January, here are my un-media-ted views now. The leadership of the federal Liberals…
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A Tale of Three Steves and a Bill
This week I watched an almost-forgotten 1999 made-for-television docudrama, Pirates of Silicon Valley, about the origins of Apple and Microsoft. The movie focuses its attention on Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, with Steve Wozniak and Steve Ballmer both acting as narrators. Neither Gates nor Jobs was portrayed very attractively. While Jobs was a visionary who…
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Depicting Dot-com Disasters
In attempting to identify entrepreneurship fables, one place to look is the dot-com boom that began in the Nineties. If the dominant fable is the entrepreneurial success story, as most recently depicted in The Social Network, then the counter-fable would be the disaster story. The disaster story looks at a dot-com startup that began with…
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Cinematic Defenders of the Free Market Faith
At the end of “Wall Street and Vine,” his essay published in 2005 attempting to explain why he feels Hollywood is critical of business, University of Illinois law professor Larry Ribstein concludes that “the best way to counteract [Hollywood] films’ misleading message about business is to let business speak for itself.” The Acton Institute, a…
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Stephen Denning and Management Narrative
In writing the literature review for Enterprising Fables, one name that demands serious attention is Stephen Denning, who has written several practitioner-oriented books about how managers can enhance their persuasiveness through the strategic use of simple stories. Denning’s own story is a compelling one. Initial success as a lawyer – winning a case for an…
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Film in Management Education
I’m now starting to work on a sequel to Governing Fables that will deal with narratives about management in a private sector context. To emphasize its symmetry with Governing Fables, I’m planning to title it Enterprising Fables: Learning from Private Sector Narratives. I will be writing chapters that discuss private sector management in a number…
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Why the Canadian Air and Space Museum Should be Saved
Building another hockey rink or preserving a unique aviation heritage site – which matters more to the Harper Government? In the federal government’s Downsview Park, the answer appears to be the additional hockey rink. Last September 20, Downsview Park gave a notice of eviction in six months to the Canadian Air and Space Museum. The…
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The Ides of March: Cynical Politics Again
In Governing Fables, I outlined three American political fables: the cynical (Primary Colors), the pragmatic (The Candidate, City Hall), and the idealistic (Seven Days in May, The West Wing). The cynical fable – and I take the liberty to quote myself – includes candidates and their handlers who are “cynical power seekers, loyal to no…
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Could the Liberals have Won Bigger?
The October 6 election gave the Liberals a surprising near-minority. We can find lots of reasons for it. First, Premier McGuinty projects himself as an experienced hand in troubled economic times. In addition, after eight years of governing, he still appears fresh and enthusiastic. That’s no small feat; long-time incumbent governments often defeat themselves because…
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Did Stories Prevail in the Ontario Leaders’ Debate?
Watching the leaders’ debate in the Ontario election, I noticed that New Democrat Andrea Horwath and Progressive Conservative were making considerable use of story-telling. The stories Horwath told were of named individuals, including her son, whom she claimed had been badly served by the Ontario health care system, in particular hospital emergency wards. The stories…
- I am Professor of Public Management Emeritus at the University of Toronto, having retired in July 2020 after a 45-year academic career.
- My latest book, Public Representations: Screen Stories, Narrative, and the Public Sphere, co-authored with Beth Herst, was published in April 2026 by University of Toronto Press (open access).
- On this website I post blogs about politics, narrative, and my life experiences.
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