December 28th. 18:49. Morocco time.

I’m sitting in premium economy on the way back to Montreal from Casablanca with a few hours left, and my Mom is asleep on my shoulder. It’s quiet now, but the day started at 5:30am in Rabat after sharing a room, and when we couldn’t get a cab on a Sunday, we just picked up our bags and walked to the train station through empty streets and cold air, rolling our luggage over uneven pavement.

Last night we watched Tanzania vs Uganda at AFCON. The game wasn’t great, but the experience was. Running through the rain, the chaos, and being surrounded by a part of my East African heritage made it unforgettable. Earlier in the trip, we walked the hills of Tangier, made our way to Café Hafa, and just sat, drank tea, and talked.

Somewhere between Rabat and 35,000 feet, a few things clicked for me, and they all came back to how my Mom moved through the world.

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I wanted to buy hash in Tánger, a city I’ve been drawn to for its international law, its mystery, its energy. Bourdain put it on my radar, but being there showed me something different. It doesn’t fully capture how much I love the place, or how hard it is to walk that line between all three. I really loved this place.

I also wanted to go to a café up a mountain. Not close. Not easy. A real walk.

She came with me. The whole way. Didn’t complain once.

No rush. No resistance. Just steady presence.

Even when things weren’t convenient, she never made the moment feel heavy. She just let it unfold.

Polaris Perspective

You need patience. And more importantly, you need to practice it.

Things are moving faster than ever, and we are losing our ability to sit in moments, to let things develop, to not force outcomes.

The people who can slow down without falling behind will have an edge.

She spoke to everyone.

Strangers from Cameroon. Hospitality staff across Morocco. Ghanaians who had family in Montreal.

It didn’t matter who they were, she leaned in.

She was always learning. Always asking questions. Always engaged in what the other person was saying.

And the key difference, she wasn’t listening to respond. She was listening to understand.

There’s a humility in that.

Polaris Perspective

With the pace of life and the rise of AI, we are starting to believe we know everything. When in reality, we know very little.

I live by a simple idea: the more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know. If you can embody that, if you can stay open instead of certain, you’ll be surprised by what you start to learn from the world around you.

This trip had a lot of moving parts.

We decided last minute to try and leave a day early to avoid the snowstorm hitting Toronto on December 28. That decision led to us getting stuck in the Montreal airport for 28 hours.

And every single time something went wrong, she moved to a solution.

While I was slowly spiralling, she stayed grounded.

Pleasant. Optimistic. Empathetic.

She didn’t overreact. She didn’t freeze. She just kept moving. She saved me. She saved us.

Polaris Perspective

Being action oriented doesn’t mean being perfect. It means being responsive.

Things will go wrong. Plans will break. Timing will shift.

The people who win are the ones who move quickly, stay composed, and focus on solutions instead of problems.

~ Love you Aju

Olympic athletes in Milan went through 10,000 condoms in three days - Nice

Thousands of Amateur Gamblers Are Beating Wall Street Ph.D

1) Just emceed IgniteIt in Jersey - Clip from there:

I’ve been spending more time behind the mic lately, and it’s been intentional.

Part of it is sharpening the craft. Speaking forces clarity in a way writing alone doesn’t. You can’t hide behind edits. You either move a room or you don’t.

Part of it is building something repeatable. A playbook for how to prepare, structure, and deliver conversations that actually matter. Not just panels people sit through, but ones they remember and act on. That’s starting to evolve into something more formal.

And part of it is simple. There’s real demand for people who can guide a conversation, ask better questions, and elevate the room. That’s a skill, and it’s valuable.

This week, I’m facilitating a panel on Canadian medical legalization and what it signals for the future of legalization in France.

Different room. Same intention.