Checking Off Boxes

Jan 12, 2021

By Eric Tordjman

I recently had a conversation with a friend who thought they had reached some clarity as to who they are today — filling out a government document, they had to select only one box as to their status. It was a singular question that gave you perfunctory choices but really did not define who you truly are.

It got me thinking about who I am. Who I am at work is different from who I am at home or when I volunteer or to my mom or my brothers or my friends… You get the idea. Who we are is really a multi-faceted trick question. It is really defined by who we think we are in particular instances and within a certain setting… at a point in time to someone else.

We are complex, we have cellular relationships with the people around us and with the world at large.

We support some people and at other times people support us.

We care for some people and at other times people care for us.

We are brothers/sisters/aunts/uncles/moms and dads, and other times other people are exactly that to us.

So the pandemic arrives and throws all of our relationships into turmoil. It adds a dimension to the relationships that we never thought we needed in our “tool-belt.” We have become Supporters and Encouragers of positive thought in public while quietly dreading some days. This pandemic had thrown our regular lives into a spiral that we could have never had anticipated or prepared for. My mom never gave me the skill set to handle this, and yet we all persevere. We as humans have proven to be the greatest adaptors to challenges and adversity. The spirit that I see regularly is at times despondent and yet we go on with life as best we can. We go food shopping with masks. We wipe down all kinds of things we never considered wiping before these times. We drive up to stores and nice people put things in our trunks simply because we ask them to. We email our orders to certain stores and they send us things by mail. It feels like we got an unexpected gift when it arrives — a feeling quickly deflated when we remind ourselves of the impending credit card bill.

The idea that we are singular beings that can be categorized as one thing is ridiculous. You notice that the choices we are given to indicate status are never things like Happy or Sad, Excited or Indifferent… The boxes are exactly that, boxes that are meaningless and hollow. We are creations that are designed to be emotional and complex (some more than others), and I would suggest that at this time of year, during this pandemic, we should think of ourselves as greater than who we regularly are. We will look back on this period, as will the history books, as a time that we survived and made us a little different, perhaps more appreciative. It has reminded us of who we wanted to hug/kiss but dare not. It reminded us of where we wanted to travel to but could not. It has reminded us of events and celebrations that we wanted to attend but resentfully could not. These emotions make us human. These are the things that make us who we are. These wishes and desires are what make our lives so resplendent.

Forget the box that asks what your status is.

Remember who you have become as a result of the people around you and check that box.

Eric Tordjman is Leader of Tireless Workers at Mercury Lighting Solutions in Vaughan, Ontario; www.mercurylighting.com.

Industry Must Transform. Here’s a Practical Recommendation

By Jean-Pascal Tricoire

The challenges facing industry at the moment are tough: supply chain disruptions, recurring lockdowns and lingering travel restrictions, to name just a few. We’re all trying to find the balance between overcoming these challenges while working to a future where we are more resilient, sustainable and efficient.

But today’s efforts are not enough. We’re being too conservative. More of our collective energy needs to be spent on the practical “how” — the “how can we get there with immediate actions.”

Rittal Celebrates 60 Years Globally: From Steel Manufacturer to an International Global Company

Rittal It is April 1, 1961, when an international success story begins in a small weaving mill in central Hesse — the standardization of enclosures. Rudolf Loh founds the Rittal company and changes the industry with one idea. The standard enclosure is used in millions of product solutions in over 90% of all industries worldwide. Rittal is the innovation and world market leader for enclosure technology and IT infrastructure.

10,000 employees worldwide work on new innovations, industry solutions and business models. A small steel manufacturing company has become a global digital enterprise.

The 4 Profit Levers Distributors Need to Master

By David Gordon

Electrical distributors are at a unique moment in time where they have an opportunity to leverage technology to utilize the data it can unleash to accelerate profitability and sales cost-effectively.

Being in an information age is only beneficial if the information is utilized. Enhanced sales models, sales opportunities and servicing systems are combining to help differentiate distributors. Aside from a distribution divide being created by digital and supplier selection, analytics can either widen or tighten the divide.

GDP Rose in January for 9th Month

GDP - January 2021 Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.7% in January, following 0.1% growth in December. This ninth consecutive monthly increase continued to offset the steepest drops on record in Canadian economic activity observed in March and April 2020. However, total economic activity was about 3% below the February level before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both goods-producing (+1.5%) and services-producing (+0.4%) industries were up in January as the 20 industrial sectors were nearly evenly split between expansions and contractions.

By Swati Vora-Patel

April has been a flagship month for new milestones: it has been one full year since many of us began working from home; Zoom and other such virtual platforms have been in play for a year to keep us connected – and the reliance on digital systems has heightened over the past year to populate the influx of online catalogues and eCommerce sites.

April also marks one year since I took over the reins of EFC’s Supply Chain Network to support the electrical industry’s digital transformation journey.

Pow-R-Line CS Switchboards by Eaton

Introducing Eaton’s Pow-R-Line CS switchboard, the most compact, expandable, service entrance ...

Changing Scene

Peers & Profiles

Copper $US Dollar price per pound