A new real estate agent faces an uphill battle. Not only are they unknown, but they now are competing against more established agents who have been in the field longer, meaning they need to be creative and look at things from a different angle in order to set themselves apart.

Building interest is where the journey toward becoming a successful real estate agent starts. Even if clients are already familiar with their name, agents have to demonstrate why they perform better than their competitors if they want to get noticed and earn client business.

Here, 12 professionals from Forbes Real Estate Council examine a few critical tips that new real estate agents can implement to help build their business and start their careers off on the right note.

Forbes Real Estate Council members share their top career tips for new real estate agents.

1. Understand Yourself And Your Specialty

Identifying your strongest attributes and comprehending what your value proposition will be are both crucial at the origin of your real estate career. Building your business on a solid foundation is paramount to a successful practice, and it is significantly easier to accomplish once you understand yourself and how you can create the most value for your future clients. - Adrian Provost, Compass + LEVEL

2. Plan, Strategize, Execute

I see many new ambitious agents jumping right in. The problem is that it's challenging to execute without a strategy, and it's impossible to have a strategy without having a plan. Just as with a house, having a solid foundation is necessaryotherwise repairs might be expensive! New agents should think about their objectives and create a great plan focusing on what makes them unique. - Julien Leclair-Dionne, HomeFluent

3. Get A Mentor

If I were to do this all over again, I would start out either on a real estate team, or I would get a good strong mentor that would push me, hold me accountable and make me work. It is so easy to not work when you are self-employed. - Aaron Marshall, Keyrenter Property Management

4. Take That Desk Duty

I tell new agents to take front office desk duty whenever possible. You meet and greet new customers as they walk in, and you never know what might transpire from that initial handshake. You get a sense of what people are looking for, and it's an easy way to trade contact information. After all, you're dealing with people actively seeking real estate advice; all you have to do is show up. - Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan, Compass

5. Work Hard, Serve Others

In my opinion, the key for young people is to work extremely hard, be disciplined and have a plan, invest in self-improvement, not be afraid to fail and try to help as many people as possible. Service leads to trusted relationships and that is the key to long-lasting, profitable client relationships. - Jonathan Keyser, Keyser

6. Get Out And Network

Find the trade associations most relevant to your niche, go to all of the networking events and/or panels they put together in your area and ask about joining the committee that helps plan the events and/or panels. If you want longevity in your career, focus on building genuine relationships with your peers, not just based around work. - Robin Bhalla, The Festival Companies

7. Avoid A One-Size-Fits-All Approach

You may want to work with "everyone," but "everyone" may not want to work with you. Whether marketing, geo farming or working your sphere of influence, know who you want to serve and what value you bring to the table. When you can identify a specific target market, you will understand their needs and create value that is meaningful to them. Create a client-centric business and the results will follow. - Michelle Risi, Royal LePage Connect Realty

8. Connect With The Community

Building a real estate business takes time, trust and an abundance of effort. Take time to explore neighborhoods and make connections with the community. When a property becomes available, you might be in the right place at the right time. Connecting with the community gives you the insight you might not otherwise gain. - Bobby Montagne, Walnut Street Finance

9. Build Your Database

Your top 150 contacts is a great place to start. The best initial approach is to ask them for referrals and not their own business. This way you keep the lines of communication open. Prepare your 30-second elevator pitch that shows your commitment and passion for business. Remember, to make money, you must meet a person face-to-face and get them in contract. It's that simple. - Amit Inamdar, Own Sweet Home Realty

10. Take Advantage Of Every Education Opportunity

Take every real estate continuing education course availableyou will quickly expand your knowledge base and be more prepared to answer a myriad of buyer and seller questions. Beyond classes, go to an event at least once a week, join the flow of conversation, let people know what you do. Everyone knows someone ready to buy, sell or lease a home. In fact, leases are an often-overlooked avenue for building a referral base. - Anna Morrison Lee, Anna Morrison Lee, Broker Associate, Moreland Properties

11. Leverage Video To Build Your Brand

By creating short videos about businesses, events and notable people in your town, you can begin to gain a reputation as the local expert. Branding the videos with your logo lets viewers know you're a broker without asking for referrals in every video. Be sure to include real estate-focused videos such as buyer and/or seller tips and property tours. With consistency and patience, your business will grow. - Ryan Moran, Option Realty Group LTD

12. Provide Social Proof

Provide social proof by posting pictures and experiences for others to see how you helped someone else buy or sell a home and the benefits the homebuyer or home seller experienced by working with you. If you have no experience and are just starting out, you can follow the same idea by borrowing that social proof from your broker or team's experience. - Dani Lynn Robison, Freedom Real Estate Group

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12 Effective Strategies New Real Estate Agents Can Use To Build Their Business - Forbes

This latter point is particularly true for younger adults starting out in careers or studying. A report on loneliness published last year from the Office for National Statistics identified three profiles of people at particular risk from loneliness, including younger renters with little trust and sense of belonging to their area. These are young professionals actively sharing and engaging their lives online but unable to access a physical community and the benefit that brings.

It is against this backdrop that co-living is being championed as a way of building communities and fostering social engagement in dwellings. Co-living is not a new concept: for most, co-living was flat-sharing forged out of financial necessity. It had multiple set-backs: difficulty in finding a place; inflexible check-in / check-out; arduous billing arrangements; a lack of amenities and facilities; and remoteness from friends or colleagues.

The future of modern co-living is a far different and far better proposition. It recognises that its customer base (typically, 18-34 year olds) value experiences over ownership. Modern co-living allows renters to occupy their own space but share amenities as well as participate in events in a cohesive community assisted by a skilled building operator.

The sector has the potential to grow rapidly, offering choice and flexibility for tenants as well as significant potential for investors seeking sustainable returns for their capital. Certain entrants are establishing a small foothold in the sector, but the real opportunity will come with scale. In my view, large-scale co-living can be an ideal response to the needs of Londons solo-renting housing market. Purpose-built student accommodation has revolutionised the student lettings market over the past 15 years, and it is clear to me that large-scale co-living has the potential to deliver the same impact to the private-rented sector in London over the next decade.

For these reasons, we launched COLIV with global co-living pioneer The Collective. COLIV is the worlds first large-scale co-living fund, with an aim of raising up to 650million of capital. We are seeking to acquire, or forward fund, between six and ten purpose-built, large-scale co-living assets, all in the London area with an estimated gross asset value target of 1bn.

Its an important step in the development of our business to be leading the market in delivery of an innovative solution to Londons housing shortage for solo-renters. This fund will bring a strong social agenda through the properties we create, how we engage with our communities and in the way we foster wellbeing in our members.

Alongside the investment opportunity, our guiding principle is to have a positive impact beyond the four walls of our real estate. We want our buildings well-designed with sustainable principles and we want them well-managed to retain their efficiency and effectiveness. The fund aims to create a gold standard benchmark for other co-living operators to follow such as targeting BREEAM excellence standards.

Our aim is to engender a positive social impact within our assets and within their communities. A range of self-improvement and self-actualisation programmes are aimed at developing and nurturing members in our buildings. We also aim to improve neighbourhood accessibility by opening up buildings for use by local community groups. A portion of the funds rental income will also help local community initiatives which have aligned social objectives, of bringing people together and preventing loneliness.

Large-scale co-living will have a dramatic impact on big city living providing a growing alternative asset class for investors. However, for it to fulfil its purpose it is critical it is done with the principles of quality, convenience and community at its heart.

As one resident of The Collectives Old Oak Common asset put it I could be in a building with five hundred anonymous people that I dont know. Here, its about five hundred people that I want to know.

Chris Cooper, CEO DTZ Investors

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DTZ Investors CEO on why the firm is launching a 650m co-living fund with The Collective - Property Week

This past week, I travelled to United Kingdom for a short trip to be best man at my friend, Martin Drivers wedding.

It was a fabulous trip, and I was so thrilled to give a reading at this lovely occasion. It was such an honour to be asked to be best man.

Like all weddings, there was lots of joy as well as tears of happiness, and a whole load of hugs and kisses. It was also fantastic to catch up with some of my oldest friends in Brighton, where I went to university.

My friend Martin, for as long as I can remember, always said that he would never get married.

But then he met his lovely wife Patricia, and as he enters into the sixth decade of his life, he tied the knot. Im so happy for him and I suspect he is going to be a very content man for the rest of his life.

Why do people change their mind under certain circumstances, and breakaway from long held beliefs?

The prolific Dutch post-impressionist painter, Vincent van Gogh, who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art is reported to have said, if you hear a voice within you say, you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Self-belief forms the core foundation of getting any result in life.

Renowned management guru, Bob Proctor says, you dont have to know how to do it, you just have to know that you can.

Perhaps my friend Martin, when he met his future bride, realised that he could actually be married and be happy, even if he didnt know the steps to make this happen.

I find that this is the most powerful mindset you can ever have.

I have met so many entrepreneurs and successful business owners whove made it, even though they actually did not know how to manage their businesses to start off with. They only knew and believed that they would get it done.

This attitude, where you take ownership of your actions is necessary for all parts of your life, from your relationships to your career.

Your beliefs are hugely influential, and powerful. Their impact is beyond the normal conscious control of your mind. Much of what happens to you, is a result of your sub-conscious beliefs.

The power of your sub-conscious beliefs is quite phenomenal.

There are multiple scientific studies on the placebo effect that reinforce this. A placebo is a substance containing no medication, given to strengthen a patient's expectation to get well. Their belief that the treatment will work, dramatically affects the way their bodies react to the illness.

The placebo effect is not deception. Instead, it is a product of expectation. The human brain anticipates certain outcomes, and because that belief is so strong, the desired result is produced.

This underlines the fact that belief is vital to the human mind. If your belief in something strong enough, it will happen. Therefore, to be successful at anything we do, we must have belief.

On my daily radio show, The Right Perspective with Shankar Santhiram on Lite Malaysia, I regularly remind listeners that of all the beliefs we develop, self-belief is critical.

People with self-belief have qualities that we admire. They are confident and competent. These types of people also encourage confidence in others. The biggest contributor to self-belief is your confidence in your ability.

As you master skills and gain expertise in any given field, you gain in confidence. And, as you sense that you are competent at what you do, naturally your self-belief increases.

While positive thinking has a role in the development of your self-belief, setting and achieving goals helps you build your confidence and competence.

Through my work, I have learnt that the key component to developing self-belief is being confident that the end result you want is possible.

You need to be able to say with total conviction it really is possible for me to achieve this goal.

Having self-belief facilitates finding creative solutions. When you approach a goal at the workplace with disbelief you will feel anxiety and your ability to think gets clouded by t

his.

Alternatively, when you approach a goal or a problem at work or even in life with self-belief, you are able to think much more clearly.

People who lack self-belief have a strong inclination to filter out the positive aspects about themselves.

So, consciously work on identifying and acknowledging your results and strengths.

List out your accomplishments, and not undersell your success to yourself. Most of all, stop comparing yourselves to others. It is a total waste of time, and completely futile.

Do not sabotage your own self-belief.

Instead, work on self-improvement by concentrating on your self-efficacy. This is your belief in your own capacity to execute the behaviour necessary to produce results.

Just like my friend Martin, when you increase your self-belief, you will find that your value grows.

Shankar R. Santhiram is managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller So, You Want To Get Promoted?

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Work Matters!: The power of self belief - New Straits Times Online

The courageous story of how Kim Shattack and The Muffs collaborated to produce their final album, No Holiday,is one of the great tales of perseverance in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Yahoo! Musics Lyndsey Parker crafts the tale of how Shattuck, who suffered from ALS and couldnt move or talk near the end, still managed to direct her band mates and some hired guns toward the albums completion.

Elsewhere, possible new music from Coldplay after a long hiatus, the death of a prominent executive and resignation of another, and a story of bullying by a famed coach and broadcaster on a rock legend surfaced.

This week in music:

THE MUFFS FINAL ALBUM: Kim Shattuck, the frontwoman for The Muffs was died earlier this month at age 56, was battling ALS (sometimes called Lou Gehrigs disease) over her last two years. But she was determined to finish the bands final album, even though she couldnt move or sing. Yahoo! Music delivered a fascinating tale of how the album was completed, even as Shattuck communicated with a device using her eye movements.

Related StoryKim Shattuck Dies: Leader Of The Muffs And LA Music Stalwart Was 56

BROADCASTER BULLIED JANIS JOPLIN: Ex-Dallas Cowboys coach and now Fox Sports NFL broadcaster Jimmy Johnson bullied singer Janis Joplin while they were students at a Texas high school, according to a new book. Janis: Her Life and Music by Holly George-Warren (Simon & Schuster) is out Tuesday, detailing how Johnson and his friends mocked Joplin for her beatnik attire and attitude. He and his jock crew allegedly groped Joplin and spread rumors that shed slept with their friends because she looked and acted weird, the book claims. Johnson admitted as much in his own 1994 memoir, saying Janis looked and acted so weird that when we were around her, mostly in the hallways at school, we would give her a hard time.

BEN COOK RESIGNS FOR BAD COSTUME: Atlantic Records UK president Ben Cook, who brought Ed Sheeran to the label, resigned in the wake of renewed complaints over his decision to dress as a member of Run-DMC at a birthday party. Cook said it was a terrible mistake to adopt the look for the party, which asked guests to come as their favorite music icon. There was no word whether he adopted blackface as part of the costume.

NEW MUSIC FROM COLDPLAY? The band, dormant since 2015 (under its own name, at least) has issued a short clip of what could be a new song and short video that shows the date November 22, 1919. The photo that comes with the clip shows the band sitting next to German philosopher Nietzsche, who died in 1900. If a new album appears, it would be the first since an EP under the alias Los Unidades, which featured Chris Martin, Will Berryman, Guy Champion and Jonny Buckland.

JAY FRANK PASSES: Universal Senior VP Jay Frank, a digital music veteran, died this week at age 47 of cancer. UMG chief Lucian Grainge remembered him in a message sent to the company. Dear Colleagues, it reads. Im deeply saddened to tell you that our colleague and friendJay Frankhas passed after a recurrence of cancer. Professionally, Jay leaves an immense legacy. He was a creative and tireless leader who made significant contributions to the evolution of our global marketing efforts. Many of the ways we market our artists and their music in the streaming era stems from Jays innovative work. But more than anything else, Jay was a loving father and husband. We send our deepest condolences to all his family.

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This Week In Music: The Muffs Final Album Is A Profile In Courage By Leader Kim Shattuck - Deadline

A pasty-skinned keyboardist from Ohio is probably the last person youd expect to lead a rock revolution. But thats the beauty of Trent Reznor and his one-man band, Nine Inch Nails. Their arrival, and massive commercial success, was completely unexpected, yet it continues to resonate more than three decades after it began.

Beginning with their 1989 debut albumPretty Hate Machine, Nine Inch Nails have forged a long and storied career. The band was one of the 90s most successful rock bands and has maintained its popularity in the ensuing decades. More than 20 million albums sold and multiple Grammy Awards are among their many accomplishments.

After previous nominations in 2014 and 15, Nine Inch Nails again find themselves among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees. Here are five reasons why the band deserves to be inducted.

The seeds of industrial rock were planted in the 70s by avant-garde artists like Throbbing Gristle. However the genre, which mixes electronic elements with the raw aggression of punk, remained on the outskirts of society for two decades before Nine Inch Nails brought it to the masses. The key was Reznors ability to craft hauntingly catchy tunes within the framework of industrial rock. This wasnt just sound for the sake of sound, but rather a carefully arranged tapestry of forceful, hypnotic noise.

David Bowie, in a piece for Rolling Stone, summed up Reznors unique talent: Trent's music, built as it is on the history of industrial and mechanical sound experiments, contains a beauty that attracts and repels in equal measure: Nietzsche's 'God is dead' to a nightclubbing beat. And always lifted, at the most needy moment, by a tantalizing melody.

Bowie is one of the many acclaimed music industry veterans to have sung Nine Inch Nails' praises, comparing Reznors work to that of Brian Eno and the Velvet Underground. The Thin White Duke and Nine Inch Nails toured together in 1995 and later collaborated on the remix of Bowie's 1997 single Im Afraid of Americans. Another music icon, Johnny Cash, chose to cover Nine Inch Nails Hurt for his album American IV: The Man Comes Around. The track became a surprise hit, earning a Grammy, MTV Video Award and CMA Award.

Producer Bob Ezrin -- known for his work with Kiss, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd --called Reznor a true visionary who has broken and reinvented the rules of engagement on every level, from recording to touring to interacting with his fans.

In 1997, Timemagazine named Reznor one of its 25 Most Influential Americans. Reznor wields the muscular power of Industrial rock not with frat-boy swagger but with a brooding, self-deprecating intelligence, the periodical noted, adding that the musician gave a voice to the Generation Y subculture.

Indeed, Reznors influence on fans went far beyond album sales. Nine Inch Nails music videos saw regular rotation on MTV. Their dark, even sadistic themes, stood in stark contrast to things like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears, who were also popular at the time. The NIN logo became ubiquitous in the 90s, appearing on t-shirts, poster art and patches on almost every high-schoolers backpack. The logo was so popular that 20 years later it would be incorporated into Captain Marvel, the superhero film set in the 90s. Even as Reznor and his first generation of fans have aged, there remains a strong connection. The musician has penned the scores to many successful films, including The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Bird Box (2018). Though not officially Nine Inch Nails projects, they reflect the continuing emotional resonance his music has with the public.

In the studio, Reznor is known for his wizardry, routinely pushing the boundaries of acoustic and synthetic sounds to create a style all his own. The rocker was also at the forefront of music in gaming, composing the score to the 1996 video game Quake. Reznor would take things a step further in 2007 when he created an alternate reality game to accompany Nine Inch Nails Year Zero LP.

An advocate for musics digital revolution, Reznor previously encouraged fans to download his music illegally and later gave away his 2008 album, The Slip, for free. His voyages into the world of digital music delivery eventually led Reznor to join Beats Music in 2012, taking the role of Chief Creative Officer. He became part of Apple Musics executive team in 2014 when Beats was acquired by the computer giant, remaining with the company until 2018.

One album does not make a Hall of Fame career, no matter how good it is. Nine Inch Nails have an impressive catalog of music spanning two decades and nine studio albums. Still, the importance of their sophomore LP The Downward Spiral cannot be overstated. The release was a game changer, with critics calling it a full-on noise attack, the ultimate, purist form of self-expression and noting that its release reshaped the world for millions of high school kids. The Downward Spiral continues to be praised as a seminal LP and has appeared on multiple lists of the greatest albums of all-time. Its success opened the door for many other like-minded industrial acts of the 90s, including Marlyn Mason, White Zombie, Filter and the Prodigy.

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5 Reasons Nine Inch Nails Should Be in the Rock Hall of Fame - Ultimate Classic Rock

Welcome to Couldnt Be Me, a weekly advice column where I solicit your personal dilemmas and help out as best as I can. Have something I can help you with? Find me @_Zeets.

Again, we come back to the problem of the meaning of life. I dont think there will ever be an answer to the eternal question. There is abundant scholarship on it, too much to be condensed into a single advice column. The despair that comes from the absurdity of living has probably been present since the first humans became aware of themselves.

But there are paths open to us beyond nihilism. This week, we explore some of the ways that one might find value in life even without believing in a higher power, or that theres a meaning to it all.

Pat:

This may be a bit too general for your advice column, but I figured Id ask anyway. Im struggling with finding motivation when I feel like the world has no meaning. I dont believe in a higher power at all, and I believe there is no real reason that we are here. It should be a freeing feeling in the fact that I can assign significance to what I deem important, but I have a hard time getting that concept to click. The feeling that life has no meaning makes it much harder to get the motivation to push on in doing things like running, reading for my classes, etc. I see a therapist once a week and we work on it, but I was wondering if you have any advice on coping with this on a day-to-day basis?

CBM:

Ive answered this a few times already, but theres no harm in going again.

This is one of the longest-running questions in human history. You have a pretty nihilistic view on life and its lack of meaning, and you seem to have fallen into the hole of despair. It might be time to read Nietzsche, who deals with this same problem, and go forward from there.

But I dont think that one needs to become someone who can create their own values by force of will. I especially dont believe that any human being could bear such responsibility, which I think is one of the foundations for your unhappiness. Its too much to be the one who assigns significance to the world. You dont have to believe in God, but you also dont have to replace him with yourself.

I think Sartes existence precedes essence the idea that self-making-in-a-situation, and Heideggers refinement, that a human is an entity whose essence is precisely to be and nothing but to be is a good starting point towards solving the problem of greater meaning.

I have some frustration with the problem of meaning and how we tend to think about it. When we speak about meaning, we seem to be searching for a grand destination, so we can determine what are the useful actions of life, and what about the way we live is useless. Life becomes a matter of wanting to win the game of it.

Thats such a diseased way of thinking about the meaning of life. We fall into despair when we dont reach the stage of victory for some definition of what it means to be a man, a woman, a writer, a lover, a person, and so on. I know that life must have its limits, and we have to create a framework for the type of people that we want to be. But it seems that rather than accepting the dynamism of life and ourselves as individuals, we want to make a straightforward job of it all. And thats just so boring.

I think what you need to do, first, is try to understand that life and people are valuable by nature of their existence, rather than things to be assigned value. Bestowing value on aspects of life will inevitably lead you into determining what is useful or not, and who is useful or not, which will lead to what is productive and what is not.

One of my favorite things about grand myths is that trees are sacred in most of them. The stories always seem to start with a great tree: gig r fa, Aa Ana, Modun, Yggdrasil, Iroko, Jianmu, and so on. We are not trees, but I like what trees say about life. Trees just exist, and are valuable just by being so. Yes, trees give out oxygen and are important to humans in that regard, as they are important to wildlife by providing shelter. They might even be chopped down to be used to build things. Theres so much you can do with a tree. You can even build the myth of a people around them. But all of those values are extraneous. A tree grows because a tree is planted, and exists within the ecosystem of the world, where each individual tree is essential to maintaining life while at the same time nearly inconsequential in a grand sense. A tree doesnt grow for any purpose. It just grows to be a tree. That is its value. The rest comes after.

So I would say theres no need to assign significance to things. Youre not trying to win at life. Things in life are valuable because they are part of life. Even if life has no grand meaning, that value doesnt evaporate. Rather than try to give meaning to things, it might be time to think of the things that you enjoy the most. Then of course, you can determine what kind of life you want to live, and build towards that. Hopefully you can also allow yourself room for failure and confusion, because existence is hard and were all stumbling through it.

Jess:

How does one escape the isolation, loneliness and depression that comes with being a job seeker?

CBM:

I quit a job once, and rather than find a new one right away, I chose to remain unemployed. I wanted to break the mindset that my job constituted who I am, and the anxiety of feeling useless if most of your time isnt put into some form of labor.

Im not saying that working isnt important and cant be a route to happiness, but it felt unhealthy that it was so central to my idea of self.

During that unemployment period, I did all the things that I have always loved but couldnt do when I was working so much. I started becoming the ideal version of myself that I always said I would try to be if I had more time and more energy. I wrote every day. I went to museums. I read a lot. I walked by the water. I ate too much ice cream. Traveled a bit. I just had to yank my self-worth away from my productivity in the professional world, which seems to be at the heart of so many bad feelings about not having a job.

Job searches are definitely lonely and depressing endeavors, but I would advise you to spend whatever time you have between jobs doing the things that make you happy. Create, or work towards your non-professional identity.

Short:

Hows the story writing going?

CBM:

This is aggressive. Please refrain from attacking me like this in the future. Im an artist. What matters is not how things are going or how far along I am, but the quality of the work at the end. Whenever that end may be.

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Advice column: Existence is hard and were all stumbling through it - SB Nation

PARKSVILLE Like most candidates running for office on Vancouver Island, Byron Horner spends a lot of time talking about the environment. His campaign promises to put a tighter squeeze on heavy polluters, invest in offshore spill response, and implement a national recycling program.

Just one hitch: hes a Conservative.

For some, the notion of an eco-friendly Tory might present an absurd paradox especially here on the island, where environmentalism can seem more a religious devotion than simple political preference. But Horners riding of CourtenayAlberni, which divides the island between north and south, overlaps with what has long been a Conservative stronghold.

Conservative MP James Lunney had represented the region for many years since 2004, part of a long list of right-leaning politicians that stretch back to the 80s. North of CourtenayAlberni, Conservative candidate Shelley Downey is in the running to win the sprawling riding in the northern half of the island, which has long been a tight race between Conservatives and the NDP (the Liberals have not won a seat north of Victoria for decades).

People here tend to be a little greener than the average Conservative member, says Horner, who lives in the small city of Parksville along the eastern coast of the island.

Horner himself was executive producer of the Great Bear Rainforest documentary, narrated by Canadian movie star Ryan Reynolds, which sought to raise awareness about extinction threats in the highly sensitive habitat.

The region around Parksville, unlike the urbanized south, has a long history of industrial activity, particularly forestry. Labourers wearing Carhartt jackets drive heavy work trucks. Equipment rental yards and fish bait shops dot the towns outer limits. A pub near the towns main road goes by the name Rod & Gun.

Locals know this, but there is a perception among others that the island is all Green, its la-la land, its the Left Coast all of that kind of stuff, Horner says from his campaign office, across the street from the Georgia Strait.

The campaign by Horner, who claims to be among the next generation of Conservatives who make the environment a priority, points to a growing divide within small-c conservative circles over whether the party needs to adopt more stringent policies as a way to win over younger, more eco-minded voters. The partys opposition to carbon taxes widely viewed as an inherently conservative policy has already turned off many voters in the region.

Several Conservative candidates who spoke to the National Post acknowledge that running as a Conservative on Vancouver Island is tough business, particularly amid rising anxieties over climate change.

Sometimes I get snickers at the door, says Richard Caron, Conservative candidate in Victoria. He adds, however, that some residents take a more pragmatic view that involves making sure the economy stays strong in conjunction with the environment.

Gord Johns, the NDP incumbent in CourtenayAlberni, scoffs at the notion of Conservative candidates running on environmentally conscious platforms. A majority government under Stephen Harper has left deep distrust of the party in the riding, he says.

They were invisible when it came to the environment, says Johns.

The previous Harper government slashed $100 million in funding to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 2013, including to the Coast Guard, which helps protect against ecological mishaps. Some voters claim the Conservatives did little to clean up the many abandoned sea vessels moored around the island, which have created safety hazards and blocked fishing routes, straining the patience of locals.

Most of all, Conservative opponents say voters express concern over the partys climate plan, which has been dismissed by some as not going far enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

There is a perception among others that the island is all Green, its la-la land, its the Left Coast

Johns notes the cuts to the Coast Guard, a failure to address GHG emissions, and the snubbing of First Nations as reasons for the distrust (Horner himself mentions cuts to the Coast Guard unprompted).

People dont have amnesia here, theyre being constantly reminded of the failure of the Conservatives to stand up for coastal British Columbians, Johns says.

The Conservatives under leader Andrew Scheer have been staunchly opposed to the Liberal carbon tax, and have promised to repeal the policy on their first day in office, should they win the election (such a move would have no impact in B.C., where a provincial carbon tax has already been in place for years).

The party has long pushed back against policies that would rapidly reduce GHG emissions in Canada, arguing that other major polluters including the U.S., China, and India would continue to belch out the majority of the worlds emissions regardless. Even under Liberal leader Justin Trudeaus economy-wide carbon tax, Canada is still set to miss its 2030 Paris targets by a sizeable margin.

Still, economists and environmentalists roundly lambasted the Conservatives climate plan when it was released this summer. Mark Jaccard, a professor at Simon Fraser University, estimated that emissions under the Conservative plan would actually rise.

I think weve evolved as a party

The plan involves a slight lowering of the threshold for heavy emitters who pay taxes on carbon emissions, a tax credit for energy friendly home retrofits, and a tax cut on incomes generated from clean energy technologies.

It also includes a $250-million fund that would invest $1 in clean technologies for every $4 invested by the private sector. Conservatives say the fund would differ from the Liberals $600-million clean tech fund because it would be managed by the private sector, though few details of the fund are laid out in the plan.

Some conservationist-minded Conservatives claim that opposition parties have wrongly pigeon-holed the party as being anti-environment.

In politics perception is everything, and the perception of Conservatives as people who dont care about conservation is something that I dont understand, and has frustrated me, said Robert Sopuck, a long-time Conservative MP from Manitoba, who helped author the Conservative environment plan.

Sopuck sat on both the fisheries and environment committees during his time in office, and has won awards from a provincial wildlife federation for his conservation efforts. He is retiring from office this year.

He says that recent concerns over GHG emissions has overshadowed other, more tangible, ecological issues that are of more concern to voters: waning fish stocks, invasive species, rising extinction rates, wetlands losses and declining water quality.

Climate change killed conservation, he says. Almost the entire suite of conservation issues in this country have been forgotten because all we talk about is CO2 emissions.

Years of decline in the islands forestry industry could help bolster Conservative candidates, who have taken a more explicitly industry-friendly position than their opponents. Downey, who is running in North IslandPowell River, said GHG emissions are important to her voters, but many are more interested in policies that dont threaten industry of any kind.

Ive heard some people say they will vote Green because that would be the best way to look after the environment, but theyre looking at the issue one way, not at the whole picture, she says.

Downey is running against NDP incumbent Rachel Blaney, who in 2015 became just the second NDP candidate to win in the riding since 1997.

For Horner and others, convincing outsiders of their environmental credibility is likely to prove an uphill battle. Horner goes as far as to distance the Tories from the former Harper government a position that is unlikely to receive widespread support within the party.

We have a leader who never served in the previous governments Cabinet, he says of Scheer.

Horner serves as president of Vancouver-based CopperLion Capital, a firm that oversees investments on behalf of Kyle Washington, son of American billionaire Dennis Washington, who owns stakes in Canadian assets including two diamond mines in the North and a barge logistics firm. He is a staunch supporter of the Conservative climate plan, but likens the need to promote a more environment-friendly message to a pragmatic business decision.

Political parties are selling a product, he says. Im a businesspersonif you dont adapt to what the marketplace is wanting, your product is not going to sell and youre going to close your doors, Horner says.

I think weve learned, and I think weve evolved as a party.

Email: jsnyder@postmedia.com | Twitter:

Original post:
Evolution of the green Tories: Conservatives in B.C. fight to convince voters they are eco-friendly - National Post

Financial services remain a favoured target of skilled cybercriminals, which has left the industry scrambling to keep pace. Yet, if we consider the recent advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence and the pressing reality that fraud is likely to become more targeted, could fraud actually be calculated and predicted?

Theres no doubt that fraud places a heavy cost on financial institutions as they struggle to combat attacks and outright theft, as outlined in McAfees report[1] which estimates cybercrime currently costs the global economy $600billion, or 0.8% of global gross domestic product.Not only are financial institutions under pressure to leverage digital capabilities to provide added-value services, usually via online offerings to customers, but they must also protect the increased volume of consumer data that has been created as a result. This data pot has become just as lucrative to cybercriminals as physical theft and hard currency.

As a result of some high profile cybersecurity breaches and threats, the UK general public has become much more security conscious when it comes to their own data protection, but also the approach service providers take to security and the protection of their data. In fact, recent research revealed 41% of British consumers said they will stop all spending with a business or brand following a data security breach[2]. This means financial institutions must ensure attention is paid to addressing consumer concerns and security must be a priority in all customer engagement initiatives and across all channels - placing even more importance upon the ability to leverage innovative technology to calculate threats.

At the same time, its vital to ensure that the usability of digital services dont suffer as a result of multiple layers of security. For example, when a consumer logs into a banking app they need to feel confident that adequate security is in place -but it needs to be integrated into the experience seamlessly and not feel like an onerous task for the customer. Maintaining a balance between usability and security is imperative to putting customers first and also to providing differentiation of offerings in the market, and ultimately stand out from competitors.

To move on, we must consider the reality that the digital revolution has presented financial institutions with equal opportunities and risks, and likewise for cybercriminals and fraudsters. However as security threats evolve, so do counteracting solutions. For example, while AI technology is in a juvenile state when it comes to its learning and development, this and other automated fraud detection tools are getting smarter by the day. These types of technology can play a key role in detecting threats early, which is key. Financial institutions can leverage AI to bolster their security posture and identify anomalous behaviour to manage targeted fraudulent attacks before they arise and dent the customers wallet.

Thanks to advancements in technology, being able to monitor and audit activity across the organisation means fraud can be caught in real-time and even in certain scenarios calculated in advance. Combining science, technology, structure and a good measure of expertise is certainly allowing some organisations to manage fraud with much greater certainty. Whilst well never be able to predict all attacks, the right approach is certainly helping to stop crime in its tracks.

[1] https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-us/assets/reports/restricted/rp-economic-impact-cybercrime.pdf

[2] https://www.pcipal.com/en/knowledge-centre/press/uk-consumers-more-likely-than-us-to-change-spending-habits-following-data-breaches/

Excerpt from:
The evolution of fraud and security - Is it a numbers game or can it be calculated? - Finextra

Jeff Tweedy has operated as a one-man band in recent years, releasing three solo albums, touring as a solo act and publishing a witty warts-and-all memoir, Lets Go (So We Can Get Back).

Yet there was never any doubt hed return to Wilco, the shape-shifting rock group hes led since 1994. Earlier this month, the Chicago band released Ode to Joy its 11th album and its best work in ages and hit the road for a tour that comes to Toyota Music Factory on Wednesday.

We talked to Tweedy about the new album, his previous trips to Dallas and why he thinks the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a whole lot of hooey.

The interview has been edited for clarity.

Most fans dont think of Wilco as a political band, per se. But in new songs like Before Us and Citizens, its obvious youre upset about everyday violence in our society and lies being told by various people in high places.

Weve always tried to be engaged without being didactic or strident in our rhetoric. But in this era, there are a lot of oppressive things everyone is swimming around in. On the one hand, I dont really want to give that much acknowledgement [to oppressors]. On the other hand, it would be inaccurate if what Im working on did not reflect a certain state of mind and the exhaustion that comes with this constant, daily assault on reality. Were all seeing what were seeing, and it needs to be apparent in the music were making.

One of your new lyrics that jumped out at me is the line Im worried about the way were all living.

I mean, like, were transforming our bodies our necks are going to be different in 100 years if we keep looking at our phones the way we do today. I think its pretty pervasive, and the technology is pretty far ahead of our emotional evolution and maybe even our physical evolution.

Speaking of phones, Wilco was one of the first bands to put signs outside concert halls asking fans to put away their phones and not take photos and videos during the show. Do you still do that?

No. Im not going to die on that hill anymore. Ive lost that battle.

Its one of my least favorite things in the world, to have someone in the front row sticking a camera in my face, you know? Ive tried to find some tolerance, and Ive tried to examine what bothers me about it, and one of the things is I dont like the way I look. I used to fear there was, you know, a YouTube channel devoted entirely to me forgetting lyrics, or looking like an ass or something. And Ive come to the conclusion that nobody ever looks at these things again.

I think its rude to the people around you. I think its rude to the performers. But at the end of the day, its a pretty minor infraction in the grand scheme of things.

Wilcos music tends to evolve from one album to the next. How did you challenge yourself on Ode to Joy?

I definitely feel like we concentrated on taking apart the traditional rock rhythm section. I mean, a lot of hip-hop records in the last three or four years have been way more exciting to me than a lot of rock records, and part of it is because theyre not mired in legacy.

The whole point is to always be pushing forward to find the new thing, and I think rock music has lost sight of that future. I dont think rock music will ever gain that relevance back, certainly not by being self-conscious and more concerned with preserving its status than with liberation and freeing yourself.

I just think that in rock music, a drum kit is a drum kit, and thats it. But on a hip-hop record, the drum could be, you know, a piece of paper being ripped, or a trumpet thats been sequenced like a drum pattern. The whole point of art is to get you to see things that are there that youve ignored, and to see things that you didnt know were there.

You played a solo acoustic show in March at the Majestic Theatre where two drunk fans kept yelling and singing loudly off-key. You ridiculed them and had fun with it, and they were eventually asked to leave the theater. As someone whos quit drinking, whats it like having to deal with that kind of thing?

There are times onstage where I feel like Im [struggling] to figure out what the right move is to control the environment and not have the show devolve into something unpleasant. But Ive never had a difficult time dispatching drunks. Theyre like low-hanging fruit to me because you just present them to the audience. The reality that theyre missing [in their drunken state] is that youre not playing for them. Youre playing with them. Its not a movie. Its not pre-programmed. Its interactive. Theyre a part of it.

Its been almost 25 years since Wilco released its debut album, which means youre eligible for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Is that something you ever think about?

I have a tough time picturing that happening. There are tens of thousands of artists that [should] be ahead of us that arent even in the discussion. In general, I think its jive, and I think its a money-making boondoggle for some people, and sort of a tax scam for the people of Cleveland. Thats how I feel about it.

Wilco played Trees in 1996 when there was a ton of buzz surrounding your second album, Being There. That night, you played a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek version of the Shirelles Will You Love Me Tomorrow. All these years later, do you still worry fans will lose interest in the band?

I do remember covering that song, but I wasnt thinking Will you still love us if were no longer a buzz band? It was more like, Will you still love me after you see how goofy I am and how Im not-too-completely-together as a person. [Laughs]

Im fine with the idea that fans jump off and find other things, and I think there is a distinct likelihood that as a band gets older, you have some gentle decline [in audience size]. But I dont have any intentions of surrendering to that. Every time I make a record, Im invigorated by the notion that we can reach out and connect with someone new. We always have something to prove. We always feel energized by people betting against us.

Wilco and opening act Molly Sarl perform Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Music Factory, 300 W. Las Colinas Blvd, Irving. http://www.livenation.com

The rest is here:
Jeff Tweedy talks Wilco's new album, past Dallas shows and why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is bogus - The Dallas Morning News

From Ida B. Wells, Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis, Malala Yousafzai, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Elle Hearns, to Raquel Willis, the evolution of the fight for women's rights is way more nuanced than what you see on the surface. There are other intersections to consider and apply to the understanding of womanhood and being fem-presenting in contemporary society. In the evolution of feminism, multiple waves have come that demanded so many more intersections be applied to the overarching fight for women and fem-presenting people.

The first wave of the Women's Liberation Movement in the U.S. was feminism centered on the political concerns of middle- and upper-class white women. This wave involved womens suffrage and voting equality but did not involve racial equality. The Abolitionist Movement, instead, is where black women were most likely to be given the platforms to advocate for their issues. It is still historically unclear whether the first wave of feminists reluctantly included black women after some years to increase numbers and gain more visibility and momentum or if the early leaders of the movement truly saw black women as equals in suffering under a world where white men ruled.

Ebony Ava Harper is a Human Rights Activist and Director of The National Alliance for Trans Liberation and Advancement.

Through the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Liberation Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, activists claimed new political rights and cultural liberties for people of color and bolstered a political climate of protest and rebellion. For example, Rosa Parks paved the way for Gloria Steinems success and impact. Do you see a pattern here? The second wave of the women's liberation movement brought us a womans right to choose, a womans right to vote, and a closer mainstream reflection of the power of womanhood. Even in all that growth, the liberation of women meant different things to women of different racial and cultural backgrounds. Five decades ago, women fighting for rights to be queer and the ability to choose was a great notion of radicalism. And, in some parts of this country, it's still a radical notion for women to be free of strong patriarchal pressures and influences in all aspects of their lives.

From the 60s to the 90s and the early 2000s, feminism took on punk rock culture, and a black woman named Anita Hill testified to an all-white male Senate Judiciary Committee. Many call this the third-wave of feminism. Feminism involving the lens of racial oppression, workplace harassment, and erasure in the HIV/AIDS conversation blossomed into an overarching conversation about the human condition through the perspective of women and fem-presenting people. During this time, it became clear that feminisms overarching goals needed to be inclusive and embrace a broader fight for equity. While there were always intersections in Women's Liberation, all of those intersections needed space to be acknowledged and incorporated into the fabric of feminism.

Fast forward to 2012 through the present, and we have the #MeToo movement and a higher demand to include transgender rights and needs in the conversation around gender equity. Trans activists like Raquel Willis have used their platforms to celebrate and uplift transgender women. Many call this the fourth-wave of the fight for gender equality. This wave has caused us to be more introspective, more conscious of what it means to be a woman, and how the spectrum of womanhood is so vast and wide that one can't just simply name it one thing.

Now, there is an epidemic of trans women of color being murdered. The pay gap between women and menand discrepancies in the pay gap between people of different racial backgroundsis immense. Black women shoulder the brunt of the political and emotional toll of most liberation movements. It cannot be said that feminism perfectly addresses the inequities of human injustices caused by colonial, capitalist, and social oppression.

However, the ties that have boundand continue to bindthe movements throughout time are the power of women and femmes uniting. The power of women and femmes leading the fight for human rights is undefeatable. From the Underground Railroad to Stonewall, black women have been at the forefront of shaking the foundations of gender equity and pushing the expectations within broader conversations of what quantities as human rights toward true progress. The truth is whether you are black, white, AAPI, trans, disabled, an immigranthowever your fem presentation shows upwe are humans first. And that is the tie that binds us. That is the understanding we must all come to the table with.

Weve endured some rough, trying times, but the women united will never be divided. Women and femmes are so often the spines and hearts of their households and communities. They spend the most time with children, the literal future of our species. We must come together to define what compassion and care are for everyone to impart that unity upon our children. The United State of Women is a nation of compassionate, loving people. The United State of Women is a nation free of colonialism and patriarchy. The United State of Women is the only way forward.

Ebony Harper is a featured speaker at Galvanize California, hosted by the United State of Women at Sacramento State University Union on October 26, 2019 from 10AM-6PM. For tickets and more information, click the following link: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/galvanize-california-tickets-72086393343.

See original here:
The Ties That Bind Gender Equity And Human Freedom - Forbes