The notebook · Updated regularly
Business transformation observations, global commentary, retail and loyalty strategy, and AI narrative positioning. Four decades of operating, written down.
Family
August 2026
My daughter Julia gave me a certificate. Her explanation: when everyone zigs, Joeco zags.
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Transformation
August 2026
Most turnarounds fail before they start, because the owner treats a positioning problem like a cost problem. Here is what actually moves the number.
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Commentary
August 2026
Across every market I watch, the same gap keeps widening: the value a company creates and the story the market actually hears. Global forces are making it worse.
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AI
July 2026
AI can write a thousand words about your company before lunch. What it cannot do is decide which words are true. That is still the leader's job.
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Loyalty
June 2026
Thirty years on, the playbook behind one of Canada's best known loyalty programs still holds. Reward the behaviour, respect the data, keep it simple.
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Co-op
May 2026
Co-operatives hold a card no competitor can copy: they belong to their customers. Playing that card well is the strategic question of the decade.
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Leadership
April 2026
From the forecourt to the boardroom, the rules that kept showing up. Short list, long memory.
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