Cut the Anchor: Why Your Most Powerful Resolution for 2026 Might Be a STOP List - Edge of the Napkin Series #18
Paper Napkin Wisdom
This time of year, something familiar happens. We turn the page on the calendar and feel the pull to do something different. We reach for a word like resolution and instinctively pair it with action. More discipline. More consistency. More output. More effort. Most resolutions are framed as additions — new habits, new systems, new rules we promise ourselves we’ll finally follow. But what if the most powerful move forward isn’t about what you start doing? What if real...
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People Come for the Work. They Stay for the Team. – Wintress Odom, CEO The Writers for Hire
Paper Napkin Wisdom
Wintress Odom is the Founder and CEO of The Writers For Hire, a company built on clarity, discipline, and consistently high-quality work. From the outside, it’s easy to assume the success came from systems, execution, and technical excellence alone. But on her paper napkin, Wintress wrote something deceptively simple: “People come for the work. They stay for the team.” That sentence didn’t come from a leadership book. It came from lived experience — from building a business, leading...
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Presence Over Presents: The Ultimate Gift You Can Give Yourself This Holiday
Paper Napkin Wisdom
The holidays come wrapped in familiar language. Slow down. Rest. Be present. Unplug. It sounds right. It even sounds desirable. And yet, for many leaders and entrepreneurs, it doesn’t always land. If anything, the holidays can quietly amplify a tension that’s been humming all year. Because while the world appears to be pausing, something inside you may still be moving. Measuring. Reviewing. Assessing. For years, that’s where I lived. When the...
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Turn the Other Cheek, Smile — and Mean It – David Miller
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a particular kind of wisdom that doesn’t shout. It doesn’t posture. It doesn’t try to win the room. It shows up quietly, often after experience has taken its toll, and says: this way works better. That’s the kind of wisdom David Miller brought to this conversation. On his paper napkin, David wrote a deceptively simple line: “Turn the other cheek, smile :) and mean it!” At first glance, it sounds like something we’ve all heard before — maybe even dismissed. Too soft....
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Seeds Grow in the Soil: Why the Most Important Progress Is Invisible (Yet)
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There are seasons where doing the work feels strangely unrewarding. You’re showing up. You’re staying consistent. You’re doing what you said you would do. And yet — nothing obvious is happening. No external validation. No visible breakthrough. No clear sign that you’re “on track.” That’s usually when doubt starts whispering questions we don’t want to answer: Is this actually working? Am I wasting time? Shouldn’t I be further along by now? This Edge of the Napkin episode is about that exact season — the one...
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“Your Revenue Is Hiding in Plain Sight” — Sailynn Doyle on the 80/20 Shift That Changed Everything
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s journey when the hustle stops feeling heroic and starts feeling heavy. For Sailynn Doyle — business systems strategist, former home-care franchise owner, and founder of Passion • Purpose • Posture — that moment came sitting alone in her car at 9 AM on a Tuesday, exhausted and crying before another 12-hour day. From the outside, she was a success story: a million-dollar business by year three. On the inside, she was drowning in the weight of the work. Endless demands. Constant interruptions. Team members who depended on her for every...
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Nothing to Prove. Everything to Be.
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every leader’s life when they look around the “room” they’re in — not the physical room, but the emotional one, the psychological one, the internal one — and ask: “How much of who I am today was shaped by the right voices… and how much by the wrong ones?” For years, Govindh Jayaraman — founder of Paper Napkin Wisdom — sat in rooms filled with people who called themselves friends, collaborators, supporters. And many of them were exactly that. They challenged ideas. They sharpened thinking. They asked questions that helped build the...
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Dan Perry & Michael Serapiglia – “If You Get Lost, Enjoy the View Around You”
Paper Napkin Wisdom
Some stories begin with a business plan. Others begin with a feeling — a deep, lived truth that travel isn’t just about going somewhere, but about finally being somewhere without fear. That’s the story behind Toto Tours. When founder Dan Ware launched the company in 1990, LGBTQ+ travelers faced a world far less welcoming than it is today. Travel was often an act of courage. Safety wasn’t guaranteed. Connection wasn’t a given. And yet Dan believed something radical: that the world belonged to everyone, and that queer people deserved to explore it without shrinking,...
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Be the Man in Someone’s Corner
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There are times in life when wisdom doesn’t show up quietly. It doesn’t whisper. It doesn’t tap you gently on the shoulder. Sometimes it arrives like a jolt — like your heart recognizing something before your brain can process it. That’s how this episode began. If you’ve been following along, you know it’s been a hard season in our home. Stacey’s father — my father-in-law — has been moving through the final stages of his cancer journey. And while there is an entire conversation to be had about the health, the living, and the complexity of that experience… this...
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Noah Ellis — Do The Thing
Paper Napkin Wisdom
There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s life when the universe stops whispering and starts shouting. A moment where the next level isn’t waiting behind brilliance or luck or timing — it’s sitting directly behind the one thing we don’t want to do. For Noah Ellis, founder of Ofland and a hospitality leader who’s spent his life building concepts, teams, and experiences, that moment became a clarity-inducing mantra so important that he didn’t just write it down… he tattooed on his body: Do the thing. Noah’s wisdom is the kind that doesn’t land with...
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In this very personal and powerful episode of Paper Napkin Wisdom, I sit down with one of my oldest friends, Chris Thomson, Head Coach of the Student Works Management Program. Chris has spent decades shaping young leaders, building more entrepreneurs in Canada than perhaps anyone else. His story has always been one of creating opportunity and pushing boundaries—but today, his napkin is not about business.
His wife, Helen Thomson, is his business partner and CEO of the Student Works Management Program and together they are among the most dynamic pairs of entrepreneurs in the country. Their program has likely help forge more Canadian entrepreneurs than any other program.
He is also the host of the very popular Leaders of Tomorrow podcast where he features young and dedicated entrepreneurs on their journey to forge their own path in the world.
Chris brings forward a message that is raw, human, and deeply resonant: “Cancer is a journey.” After being diagnosed three years ago, Chris has learned to see this experience not just as a challenge but as a pathway filled with lessons, clarity, and growth.
This is part one of a two-part conversation where Chris shares not just his fight with cancer, but the wisdom he’s drawing from it—wisdom that will change how you see your own challenges.
The Napkin: Cancer is a Journey
When Chris chose those words for his napkin, he wasn’t sugarcoating the reality. He acknowledged the fear, the uncertainty, and the deep personal impact of living with cancer. But he framed it in a way that shifts perspective: instead of a battle to be fought or a curse to be endured, it’s a journey—one with lessons along the way.
He explains how friends and mentors encouraged him to share his experience, and how openness helped him overcome the fear of other people’s opinions. That fear, he says, doesn’t disappear just because you’ve achieved success. It lingers until you confront it directly.
Lessons from the Journey
Through this conversation, Chris highlights a few themes that entrepreneurs and leaders can apply far beyond the context of illness:
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Openness Creates Connection
By sharing his cancer journey publicly, Chris found a new depth of support, love, and community. Leaders often think they must project strength at all times, but true strength is often in vulnerability.
Take Action: Start small. Share one struggle you’ve been carrying alone with someone you trust. Notice the connection it creates.
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Fear of Opinions Is Universal
Chris notes that even people at the top—CEOs, entrepreneurs, public figures—still wrestle with the fear of how others perceive them. That fear doesn’t vanish with success; it must be challenged intentionally.
Take Action: Write down one opinion you’ve been afraid to face. Ask yourself: “What if it didn’t matter?” Then act as though it doesn’t.
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Challenges Are Teachers
Cancer, as devastating as it is, has been a teacher for Chris. It forced him to slow down, reframe priorities, and find meaning in places he might have overlooked before.
Take Action: Reframe your current obstacle as a teacher. What lesson is it offering you right now?
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Gratitude in the Face of Hardship
Chris repeatedly emphasizes gratitude—gratitude for support, for medical care, and even for the perspective the journey brings. Gratitude doesn’t deny difficulty; it reshapes how we meet it.
Take Action: Each night, write down three things you’re grateful for—even on your hardest days.
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Legacy Is Built in Real Time
For Chris, the Student Works program has always been about creating leaders who impact the world. His cancer journey has deepened that sense of legacy. What you do today—how you treat people, how you face challenges—is the legacy you’re already leaving.
Take Action: Ask yourself, “What will people remember about me from this season of my life?” Adjust accordingly.
About Chris Thomson
Chris Thomson is the Head Coach and Leader of the Student Works Management Program, an organization dedicated to building the next generation of entrepreneurs through hands-on business experience. Over decades, Chris has coached thousands of university students to run their own businesses, building a legacy of leaders across Canada. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-thomson-swp/) and follow the Student Works Management Program (https://management.studentworks.com/) for more insights. Follow the Leaders of Tomorrow Podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/leaders-of-tomorrow-podcast/id1448651718) as well.
Final Thoughts
This is not an easy conversation. Talking about cancer never is. But Chris reminds us that even the hardest realities can carry wisdom if we’re willing to see them differently. His napkin—“Cancer is a journey”—is a challenge to every leader and entrepreneur: don’t just endure your obstacles, learn from them.
Now, it’s your turn. Grab a napkin and write down your takeaway from Chris’s story. What lesson can you draw from your own challenges? Post it on social media with the hashtag #PaperNapkinWisdom and join the conversation.
Because small ideas—like words on a napkin—can lead to big shifts.