Starting January 5th, 2026, tens of thousands of Ontario government employees return to the office full-time, with Alberta following in February. Major banks and corporations are rolling out similar mandates across Canada. But are we solving the real problem?

Canada's productivity crisis is undeniable. Our GDP per capita has fallen to 75% of the US level (down from 90% in 2010), and we're second only to Italy in G7 productivity decline. Business productivity dropped 1% in Q2 2025—the sharpest decline since 2022.

The instinct is to blame remote work. But the data tells a different story: 77% of remote workers report being more productive at home, yet 85% of leaders don't trust it. The real issue? Most managers never learned to manage without proximity, and most employees never developed the self-management skills remote work requires.

For decades, managers relied on presence as a proxy for productivity. Remote work exposed this weakness. Meanwhile, 61% of remote workers say they need more training, but only 70% receive it. The result: some thrive remotely while others work 65% more hours and burn out.

The solution isn't about choosing remote versus office—it's about intentional skill-building. Managers need to learn outcome-based management. Employees need time management and boundary-setting skills. Organizations need to design work models deliberately.

This week's Golden Hour challenge: If you're a manager, define what "good" actually looks like for one person's role. If you're an employee, track where one full workday actually goes. If you're an owner, identify your biggest productivity drain.

The businesses that build these skills will dominate. The ones arguing about chairs won't.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

You're losing the hiring war. Not because there aren't good people out there—but because you're fighting the wrong battle.

48.3% of Canadian businesses say recruiting skilled employees is their top obstacle. You're competing with every other business in your market for "experienced" candidates, offering signing bonuses and competitive wages. And even when you land them, there's a coin flip chance they'll be gone within 18 months.

Here's the truth that changes everything: 90% of new hire failures happen because of attitude and personality issues—not technical incompetence. Only 11% fail due to lack of skills.

You're hiring for the wrong thing.

This episode breaks down the 80/20 Hiring Solution—a five-step system to hire for fit, train for skill, and build teams that actually stick around:

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• Identify your ONE non-negotiable character trait
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• Stop competing for "experienced" candidates
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• Build a 2-week onboarding system that creates competence fast
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• Create retention through growth paths, not just pay raises
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• Replace yourself in one role per quarter
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Southwest Airlines became an industry leader using this exact philosophy. Founder Herb Kelleher hired for humor and attitude first, skills second. You can do the same.

Your Golden Hour this week: Write down the ONE character trait your best employee has. That's your new hiring filter.

While your competitors wait for the perfect candidate to show up, you're building a system to create them.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Two hundred years ago, jobs lasted generations. Your grandfather kept the same job for 40 years. Today? You'll change jobs at least 12 times in your working life—and you're unlikely to be doing what you're doing now in just five years.

The job cycle has collapsed from multi-generational stability to something almost unpredictable, and AI is accelerating this change beyond anything we've seen before. But here's the truth most people miss: AI isn't taking your job. Your outdated skills are.

In this episode, we break down what employees need to do to stay relevant and how employers can manage workforce transitions without destroying their teams. You'll hear real examples from companies getting it right—Citibank trained 175,000 employees, Amazon invested $1.2 billion, and PwC created gamified learning that attracts 9,000 participants monthly.

Workers now need new skills every decade, not every generation. Self-education isn't optional anymore. Companies that figure out how to retrain their people will dominate their industries. Those that don't will lose their best talent.

The pace of change isn't slowing down. This episode gives you the playbook for navigating it—one Golden Hour at a time.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

In this episode, Chris explores the "professional amateur" mindset - the key to sustaining peak performance without burning out. After a conversation at his local bike shop about retirement, Chris realizes that entrepreneurs need singular professional focus on their business while maintaining amateur curiosity in other pursuits. The episode breaks down why entrepreneurs are particularly vulnerable to addiction and unhealthy coping mechanisms (they're twice as likely to experience depression and three times more likely to struggle with substance abuse), and offers a practical framework: choose ONE thing to be professional at - your business - and maintain 2-4 other pursuits where you can be a curious student without the pressure to win or monetize. Chris explains the blessings and responsibilities of both professionals and amateurs, warns against the "amateur professional" trap where hobbies interfere with work, and uses examples like dual-sport athletes and multi-company founders to show why divided focus rarely works. The episode emphasizes that peace from mind - not just peace of mind - requires positive distractions that restore our ability to focus when it counts.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

You're losing the talent war—not because you're a bad employer, but because the game is rigged against you.

Government standardizes pay across wildly different cost-of-living markets. Big corporations offer pensions and benefits you can't touch. Your salary dollar is worth less before you even start competing.

So how do you keep great people when you can't match the offer down the street?

Stop trying to win on salary. Your employees don't actually want more money—they want fewer problems. Money just happens to solve problems.

In this episode, discover how a Toronto Maple Leafs GM facing a 43% tax disadvantage turned his structural weakness into a competitive advantage. Then learn the five-problem framework small businesses use to retain talent without breaking the bank:

• Time Theft – Save them hours with on-site services and strategic partnerships

• Food Friction – Solve meal planning and grocery stress cheaper than raises

• Family Burden – Real examples like free staff housing and vacation property rotation

• Health & Wellness Gaps – Group-rate access to trainers, RMTs, and financial planners

• Development Stagnation – Create visible growth paths that keep people engaged

You'll also learn the five critical rules that make this work (including the tax structure mistake that turns perks into taxable income), and why foosball tables and branded swag are "perk theater" that won't retain anyone.

Golden Hour Action: Survey your team with one question—"What costs you the most time or money outside work?"—then build your competing offer from their actual problems.

The salary game is rigged. But the problem-solving game? That's one you can win.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

AI is supposed to make everything easier—but in many service businesses it’s doing the opposite: pushing people back toward humans they can trust. In this episode, I unpack why. First, audiences are shifting from links to answers—organic search and email engagement are down as more people ask LLMs directly. Second, trust is fracturing. A whole generation raised on edited, vetted nightly news now treats the open internet as suspect; when the stakes are high (money, health, legal, travel), they want eye contact, not a chatbot. Third, overload is real: infinite choices don’t mean better decisions; they mean decision fatigue. That’s why travel agents, financial advisors, and boutique service pros are seeing a quiet resurgence.

But this isn’t anti-AI—it’s pro-human with AI at your back. I share a playbook for blending high-touch delivery with backstage automation: AI for intake, prep, drafting, scheduling, and QA; humans for discovery, judgment, and relationship. You’ll hear 10 examples of service roles that can lean into person-to-person delivery while using AI to scale the unscalable. The takeaway: trust is the new moat. Pair it with smart automation and you don’t just survive the AI wave—you surf it.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

We live in an always-on world where everyone can connect with anyone instantly. This much communication should make business easier and faster, right?

Wrong. Communication has reached a tipping point where more is no longer better.

In this episode, we explore why the explosion of workplace messaging tools, constant availability, and "open door" digital policies are actually hurting your business—and what to do about it.

We break down five critical problems with overcommunication: CEOs who can't find time to think strategically, analysis paralysis from gathering too many opinions, leaders who dodge responsibility through "democracy theater," the office politics created when you ask for input you won't use, and the blurred boundaries that happen when founders overshare personal struggles to win loyalty.

Drawing on insights from Naval Ravikant's recent podcast on why his company banned Slack, we examine why the best founders—from Steve Jobs to Jeff Bezos to Elon Musk—have always fought to "unscale" their companies and protect focused work time.

Then we get practical. You'll learn specific frameworks including the Golden Hour (one growth move before opening any communication), how to set communication guardrails using asynchronous channels and office hours, and why "input does not equal a vote" when making decisions.

If you're a founder or leader who feels chained to your phone, overwhelmed by notifications, and unable to do the strategic thinking your company needs—this episode is for you.

Key takeaway: The right communication beats more communication. Every time.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Entrepreneurship Is a Hedge, Not a Risk

AI is hollowing out the entry-level ladder—and waiting for “safe” jobs might be the riskiest bet of all. In this episode, I make the case that entrepreneurship isn’t a leap off a cliff; it’s a hedge against uncertainty. We start with why doing beats studying: real skills—focus, math-in-action, communication, selling, project ownership—grow faster through small businesses and gigs than through lectures. Youth (and career-changers) should learn by shipping, reflecting, and iterating with a mentor—more like a trade than a theory class.

Then we track how once-stable white-collar roles (fitness coaching, accounting, creative services, even analysis work) now reward entrepreneurial abilities: building relationships, marketing yourself, collaborating, packaging outcomes, and selling solutions. These aren’t “nice to have”; they’re the new prerequisites.

Finally, we explore entrepreneurship as a practical hedge. Instead of graduating into debt, degree, and delay, you can earn while you learn—stacking micro-projects, building a network, and compounding skills that can’t be automated or taxed away. Whether you go full-time or keep a job, a small business gives you agency: more ways to make money, more optionality in downturns, and a faster path to confidence and competence. Don’t wait for permission. Start small, start now, and let experience be the teacher that sticks.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/