Linda Burtch posted a blog postThe Market Is Hot, But How Many Quants Are Changing Jobs?As I stated a few weeks ago in my 2015 Predictions blog post: there has never been a better time to be a Quant looking for a job. With all the media attention, companies are scrambling to board the data analytics bandwagon. It is increasingly apparent that analytics is becoming the standard, and any firm slow to get on board will be left in the dust. Outstanding and inventive uses for data are what will set an organization apart from the pack.Being a quantitative recruiter, I have had a unique perspective on the current climate and how it has changed over the years. From the talent shortage and relocation challenges of 2007 to the incredible employee turnover in 2011 to the building of the data science hype in 2014, the Big Data hiring market is starting to move even faster and is quickly picking up steam.How Often Are Quants Changing Jobs?I took a sample of our LinkedIn network of over 10,000 analytics professionals and data scientists to see how many actually changed jobs last year, and found that 18.6% changed jobs in 2014. The rest of the market, by comparison, had an average 10.4% voluntary turnover in 2013, according to data provided by CompData Surveys, and while figures for 2014 haven’t been released yet, it’s unlikely that number shifted significantly.We also looked at whether or not those that changed jobs relocated for their new position, and found that 26% of those who made a change relocated for their new role, which was a higher number than we had anticipated. Mobility can be a great benefit to your job search, as it opens up a lot of opportunities, and this percentage would suggest that quantitative professionals are taking advantage of the hot market. Quants are also receiving substantial increases when they change jobs. In our Burtch Works Study: Salaries of Predictive Analytics Professionals (released in September 2014), we reported that analytics professionals who received a base salary increase when changing jobs received a median 13% increase, compared to the widely-reported average merit increase of 2-4%.What Does This Mean If You're a Quant?It’s a candidate’s market! Despite all the new academic programs, bootcamps, and MOOCs that are popping up to serve the increasing demand, there is still a quantitative talent shortage. This means there are abundant opportunities in every industry, but in order to take advantage of them you must strategically evaluate how each position will affect your career going forward. Not sure where to start? Here is a list of the biggest strategic mistakes I see Quants making when planning their careers, from limiting themselves only to name-brand companies, to choosing an offer based solely on salary.What Does This Mean If You're Trying to Hire a Quant?It means, unfortunately, that not only may your firm be suffering from increased attrition in your quantitative positions, but also that hiring for your vacant positions may be a challenge. The good news (if you can call it that) is that you are not alone - companies across the board are struggling to hold onto their top analytics talent. However, there are several ways you can help stem the tide a bit, such as ensuring that analytics has top-level buy-in, and making sure tools are up-to-date. No data scientist wants to be hired just to take care of reporting and Excel spreadsheets, just like no analytics professional wants their hard work to have little or no affect on company strategy.On the recruiting side of things, I’ve already written about how companies will need to shape up their hiring processes if they hope to compete. This includes everything from fixing salary bands (which is one of my predictions this year), to considering other forms of compensation and keeping the hiring process itself seamless.There has been a lot of movement in the market already this year, so it will be interesting to see how things will shape up. I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!Linda Burtch is an expert in quantitative recruiting and Managing Director of Burtch Works Executive Recruiting. See More

Following the lead of Bilboa in transforming a European city considered to be a remote outpost of civilization, the New York Times recently showcased two other cities following the same formula. The city of Santiago de Compostela in the northern Galicia region is home of a new City of Culture, which includes a library, archives, museum (which sounds like it is primarily going to exhibit temporary exhibitions), and performance spaces, in an uber-modern building located in a centuries-old historic district. Details at http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/travel/santiago-de-compostela-spain-aims-to-attract-new-cultural-pilgrims.html Reporter Finn-Olaf Jones reports that the city of Perm, on the western edge of Siberia (and, apparently, considered the last stop in civilization as one enters Siberia on the TransSiberian Railway), is transforming itself from a closed city of the Soviet era into an avante-garde visual and performing arts centre, and is attracting notice worldwide. The city is doing this by dedicating some of its economic development resources for the arts. The transformation involves strengthening and expanding cultural institutions like remodeling the museums. But more importantly, the transformation involves developing and promoting local talent. In the process, Perm is also attracting emerging international talent to its burgeoning arts scene. Check out the whole story—as well as travel suggestions—at http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/travel/perm-russias-emerging-cultural-hotspot.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all.

Chris Wake's blog post was featuredWhy It's More Important Than Ever to Make 'Off the Grid' a Thing of the PastWe live in a world where there are nearly as many cell phone subscriptions as people on earth, where we can instantly see a real time view of streets or buildings halfway across the planet, and where our TVs, homes, and cars get smarter by the day. The level of connectivity that we enjoy today could barely have been imagined even a decade ago, and yet the reality is that even today we are connected to less than one-quarter of the entire planet.The satellites that we rely on today for data impact everything from weather prediction to supply chain logistics to manufacturing, and generally only collect information from major landmasses. This leaves three-fourths of the planet, covered primarily by oceans and remote areas as uncharted territory. What sort of unknown unknowns exist off the grid, just out of reach?Off-the-Grid"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean." - Arthur C. ClarkeMost people would be shocked to know that when you travel further than 50-miles from any coastline, you lose your connection to the modern world. Outside of this 50-mile range, no land-based signals can reach your devices due to the physical curvature of the Earth. Our current satellite systems cannot deliver reliable data on what’s happening to the thousands of ships, planes, and other objects traveling on or above the Earth’s oceans. The implications for this lack of data are immense.Sadly it took the tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and Air Asia 8501 to awaken the world to the reality of just how disconnected our planet is. These tragedies prove that even current airline tracking technology, including radar and land-based receivers, are unreliable and outdated. In this case, financial ramifications were immediate and visible as travelers, unwilling to risk their lives for a cheaper plane ticket, canceled or switched travel plans to avoid these particular airlines.Large and erratic gaps in data caused by our current satellite systems not only make it difficult to track airplanes filled with valuable lives and cargo, but actually make it easy for nefarious traffickers to move illegal shipments such as drugs or weapons past borders without any regulation. The maritime industry deals with this reality every day. The first thing that a modern pirate does upon boarding a ship is turn off all navigational systems and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmitter. Traditional satellite systems will then take hours or days to register a problem, if they register any problem at all. By the time authorities receive news about an attack, the pirates could have already fled with captives and stolen cargo.In the last decade, piracy alone has cost the global economy almost $18 billion per year. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), pirate attacks along the waters off Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore have nearly doubled this year compared to two years ago. Armed gangs hijack small tankers; steal cargo; kidnap victims; and sometimes murder ships’ crews. Without near real time data, enforcing maritime security is incredibly difficult, and attacks will continue unabated.More than 80% of global trade transits via shipping containers on oceangoing vessels. The uncertainty caused by being "off the grid," and the associated risks send ripples all the way through the supply chain and directly to you (the consumer). In December 2014, congestion at the Port of Los Angeles caused ships to be re-routed to the Port of Oakland, which then resulted in unexpected congestion in the San Francisco Bay that eventually impacted the entire West Coast. The pain of waiting for those goods and supplies was passed on directly to the businesses that were reliant on shipping and eventually transferred to consumers who felt a similar pinch at the register. That is the cost of not having the right data.Cubesats: A Better SolutionAIS has become ubiquitous and is mandated by the maritime industry. While companies like ExactEarth, ORBCOMM, and Spacequest are implementing AIS receivers on satellites to attempt to close data gaps in ship tracking and extend the range of AIS across the oceans, their satellite-based AIS solutions rely on small networks of large satellites to cover the whole Earth, which results in data gaps that cause severe problems for everyone from farmers to Wall Street bankers. Their offering is similar to slowly updated snapshots over the ocean as opposed to the immediate data flow we are accustomed to from services like Google Maps and Waze. There is better data behind your $5 drive across town than there is behind the trip that a $100 million crude oil tanker makes from factory to store front across an entire ocean.The good news is that a change has begun. A number of advancements in hardware development and Big Data have inspired a small cadre of companies like Planet Labs and Skybox to re-imagine the satellite and its uses. Arguably the largest and most important shift in reimagining the satellite is the move toward standard form-factor, shoebox-sized satellites called Cubesats. Unlike conventional satellites, Cubesats are created at a fraction of the manufacturing cost and can be sent into orbit in constellations of 20-50 (or more) satellites at a time. Taking a cue from consumer hardware, Cubesats can also receive software updates at the rate of our iPhones, dramatically speeding up the innovation cycle. With more satellites working in tandem, data is gathered from every point on Earth more frequently with gaps measured in minutes rather than hours and removing the erratic gaps we see from traditional satellites.Making decisions today that are reliant on shipping data requires the ability to cope with more questions than answers, even when there are billions of dollars on the line. Where is my shipment? Do I have enough excess stock on hand to avoid losing sales or shutting down production? Will customers cancel their order if production is halted and timelines slip? Will these factors make or break revenue?The new approach to satellite development and data collection offer a means to answer many of these questions, and create measurable impact, providing both a financial and social safety net for the shipping and airline industries. Consider that port authorities and companies will not only know where their cargo is located, but increased access to data will lead to less congestion in ports and higher probability that cargo arrives on time. Whether responding to suspicious activity or saving cargo and human lives during rescue operations, this level of data access also decreases illegal shipping activity and provides coast guard personnel with valuable time and intelligence. In the same vein, airline transport and travel will become safer and more reliable.The Ripple EffectAs constellations of Cubesat take shape, they will open up our previously narrow understanding of what is occurring across the entire planet. While the direct positive benefit for industries like shipping, logistics, and supply chain are easy to see, there are a number of industries that are impacted indirectly through their reliance on these primary players.Insurance companies and the financial markets are among the most vulnerable. Maritime insurance providers have very limited insight into accidents at sea — collisions, oil spills, lost cargo due to weather, spoilage, and more are all outside of the realm of current data collection. With increased access to real-time data, the likelihood of overpaying on claims dwindles tremendously. Similarly, financial markets will no longer be forced to make decisions with limited access to hard data, a critical point of failure when you consider that there are literally billions of dollars of investment and trades made in companies that rely very heavily on maritime and aircraft shipping of goods and supplies.Everyone from small Silicon Valley startups to McDonalds, and to all of the bankers, Wall Street professionals, and impact makers in between need better information about what is happening in global systems like shipping and air transit if they hope to be certain in the decisions that impact their balance sheets. For the first time in history, breakthroughs in satellite technology will provide us with global coverage of the Earth, and will do so in a surprisingly cost-effective manner. Ultimately, 2015 will be the year that we look back on and remember what it meant to be truly "off the grid." And we remember just how uncertain that feels.How has your industry been impacted by uncertainty "off the grid," and what else have you seen that could bring about change here? Give your comments in section below.Chris Wake is Head of Business Operations at Spire.See More

Over the course of your life, how much career advice have you given? Received? Acted on?  How much of it was right on the mark?  How much of it well, full of it? Too frequently well-meaning individuals, in an effort to share their experience and inspire others, offer platitudes rather than meaningful counsel. These phrases sound reasonable on the surface but the deeply-flawed nature of this ‘sound-bite’ advice actually undermines career success and satisfaction. Do any of these sound familiar? "Follow your passion." How can one argue with this? Work is where we spend the bulk of our waking hours. If we aren’t deeply and emotionally involved with it, life will certainly be less full and less satisfying. But this piece of advice generally sends people off on a myopic journey in search of their bliss.  Rather than ‘following’ one’s passion, what about leading it, mining the marketplace for useful applications, and helping to find it a home within the context of work that provides value to others (and remuneration to the individual)? "Make yourself indispensable."  What better way to ensure job security as well as the respect and admiration of others. Right? Wrong! Becoming indispensable requires the hoarding of information, talents, contacts and more. Others quickly recognize this pattern… and resent it. They work around the ‘indispensable’ ones, quickly making them irrelevant. In today’s environment, the way to distinguish one’s self is to share, mentor, and bring others along. Offer information and insights freely. Teach others to do what you do well. Extend your network to those around you. Being generous with your talents and transferring capacity grows those around you. This sort of ‘dispensability’ makes you genuinely indispensable. "Give it a year." How many of us have acted on this erroneous advice? I have; and it was the most miserable year of my professional life. Worried that it would look like I’d made a mistake on my resume, I lived a mistake, wasting twelve months that could have been put to much better use. Everyone makes mistakes. The hallmark of intelligent and successful people is that they recognize and take swift action to correct them. People can generally tell within a couple of months (maybe less) if they’ve made an appropriate move, if they’re in the right role. And additional time rarely improves the situation. In today’s job market, short stints are becoming the norm. Trusting one’s experience, recognizing a poor fit, and taking prompt action all demonstrate the kinds of skills and abilities that most organizations want to see in their employees anyway. "Good work speaks for itself."  Contributing well is the price of admission in today’s competitive job market. But given the pace of business, the complexity of work processes, and the volume of outputs, good work can be silenced and overlooked. The solution for this is not brash self-promotion. That can be even more damaging to one’s career. But finding constructive ways to highlight your successes is helpful to the organization and to your busy boss. It can be as easy as: Passing along positive customer comments. Sharing client success stories. Offering to show others how you do something you do well. Career advice can help point you in the right direction, enabling shortcuts to your career success. But, it can also take you down completely unintended and unproductive paths. Consider carefully the advice you receive from (and give to) others. Successful, happy work lives really do depend upon it! What about you? What off-base career advice have you heard/taken? What’s the best career advice you’ve received or given? Image: www.dreamstime.com The post Common Career Advice That’s Well-Intended, Well-Worn, and Well - Full of It! appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

About a year into the current economic slump, I read an article saying that dollar stores like Dollarama and Yankee Dollar were carrying more food items as cash-strapped consumers sought to stretch their grocery budgets. In one of the funniest news pieces I’ve read in years, Toronto Star, business columnist Tony Wong discovers that "Dining at the dollar store might be cheap, but you can feel the effects on more than just your pocketbook."Hillarious, but with a touch of melancholy underneath it all. Read it for yourself at http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1043319--dining-at-the-dollar-store-might-be-cheap-but-you-can-feel-the-effects-on-more-than-just-your-pocketbook.

Amy Shah's blog post was featuredWill Bankruptcy Be the Catalyst Needed to Listen to Customers?The news that RadioShack is filing for bankruptcy saddened me. It is a case study in how a company missed trends that they should have seen coming, and could have led. Trends that they seeded with the likes of Wozniak and Jobs.Growing up, RadioShack represented all things cool to me. I loved their kits, and vividly remember creating an electronic bell that would countdown and ring like a buzzer at the end of a basketball game precisely at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The store met the needs of music lovers and audiophiles; early mobile phone, PC and gaming adopters and countless other applications requiring electronics. A trip with my Dad to Radio Shack would make AC/DC sound even crazier and life more interesting with their latest gadgets.RadioShack had just about everything going for it. They created and sold products at the center of one of the fastest growing markets in the world - technology and consumer electronics. They tapped a passion, and created a loyal customer base with avid and early adopters. Their vast retail network gave them many advantages including a recognized brand, customer intimacy and relevance to manufacturers.The sad irony is that the company lost their advantage not once, but a few times, when they were in the best position to see the changes, and lead the market.So what have they missed? Simply, they haven’t changed with their customers fast enough. Like many technology companies, it’s not only about the technology. Knowing your customer is just as important, a competitive advantage and arguably a mandatory survival tool.RadioShack tried several times to turn around their results through new ads, marketing blitzes and leadership. But ads without a strong business and marketing strategy that focuses on the customer and competitive landscape aren’t enough. Companies have to stay relevant with their customers, be willing to adapt their business models and change quickly, or ads just won’t work.Imagine instead if RadioShack cultivated their customer relationships, knew their behaviors and connected with their passion. The company might have seen the importance of the Internet in the 1990’s, cultivated the maker movement, become the destination for innovation, and been an authority in STEM. So many models come out of the early RadioShack - DigiKey, Amazon, Apple’s Genius Bar, Quirky, online science kits and even girls in STEM. These were all ideas that RadioShack spawned. Their own customers went on to create better technologies, business models and businesses that eventually competed head on with the company.I wonder how things would have turned out had RadioShack thought about things differently - a destination (virtual or physical) that brought together and enabled the inventor and creator in all of us versus a store selling electronics.I hope RadioShack’s leaders, consultants and agencies listen closely to customers and challenge the status quo. If they do, then maybe this crisis will be the catalyst to change and bring back the company that ignited the creator and inventor in all of us.Amy Shah is SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at TE Connectivity.See More

Guest Post by Karen Voloshin, DesignArounds Whether you call it "developing a talent pipeline", "employee growth", or "career development", the aim is the same: helping everyone develop and bring their best strengths and talents to the organizational table in a way that inspires extra effort and commitment.  Outpacing the competition, breakthrough innovations, more loyal customers - the potential results of development efforts are intoxicating and yet, let’s face it, a little overwhelming. What to do? Learn about 6 career development truths and how to best respond to each. Let’s face it… We bring the work person home and the home person to work.  So…Look at the whole person. Development is part of our lives for a lifetime - at work and outside of it. Development that focuses just on the "work" part of a human being misses the mark. Instead leaders today must take a step back and explore what success means for and the passions and interests of the whole person. When you do this, meaningful clues emerge about tapping into the full potential a person has to offer. Let’s face it…One size doesn’t fit all.  So…Personalize, personalize. This is and will continue to be the most diverse workforce ever experienced. It follows that development that delivers what people want and need is tailored to the preferences of the unique individuals we all are. What’s the right type of challenge and at what level? What are the conditions - the when, where, how and with whom - that make the challenge the most enjoyable? Let’s face it…The conversation is what counts, not the checkboxes.  So…Ignore the form for now. Pressure to comply with a process can quickly reduce development to an administrative task on a leader’s to-do list. Completing the form by the due date overshadows the needs and interests of the person. Development that goes somewhere is driven through open conversation. The form, or the written plan, is simply the physical reminder of rich dialogue. Let’s face it…It’s time for the truth on both sides.  So…Cultivate candor. Unparalleled access to information creates the conditions for mismatched expectations between what employees may want for their careers and what leaders can realistically deliver. When that happens, leaders need to be willing to sort misperceptions out in a direct and respectful way. Asking for and receiving feedback affords the chance for course corrections, saving both time and emotional energy. Let’s face it…There are 24 hours in a day. Period.  So…Make it a habit. If leaders think of development as an add-on to an already overflowing plate, it will continue to get less attention than it deserves. Those who make it a part of their day-to-day agenda will be the ones who win. Let’s face it…The work still needs to get done.  So…Embed it. Development must find a home in the context of meeting ongoing goals and objectives.   Every day brings coaching moments and development opportunities galore, right there on the job. It’s just a matter of tuning in and taking advantage of them. What’s Next? Think about it. 30, 60, 90 days from now when you pick up your own mirror, what do you want to see? A leader who just talks about developing others or one who really does it? Pick two to three of the "let’s face it" strategies and put them into deliberate practice for the next month. You’ll like what you see. What about you? What additional realities do you face? How are you making development happen? Image: www.dreamstime.com The post Holding the Mirror Up: 6 Practical Truths about Career Development Today appeared first on Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Having had been on both sides of this equation, I know how hard it is when friends drift. In his advice column in the New York Times, Philip Galanes suggests that, just because a friend drifts, doesn’t mean that friend stops caring. It’s just that their lives and yours are moving in different directions. Check out the complete story at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/fashion/when-friends-drift-social-qs.html?ref=fashion.

Luis Salazar's blog post was featuredReinventing Mobile Recruitment Beyond the Small ScreenHow many times in a given day do you access the web on your phone? You do it so often that you don’t even think about it. Americans spend an average of three hours a day on the phone, 55 percent of that time accessing the Internet from a mobile device: paying bills, house hunting, getting a ride, shopping and streaming music. And at some point, you and 70 percent of the U.S. population will conduct a mobile job search to pay all those bills! Our phones are with us 24/7, becoming an extension that connects us to the world. Yet, mobile recruitment is still in the dark ages.How dark? Research done by Jibe found that 60 percent of respondents believe that, even if mobile friendly, job applications are more difficult to fill out than mortgage, student loan or health insurance applications. The complexity is not necessarily related to the difficult questions that are asked, but the actual functionality of the job application. In their 2014 summary job report of large enterprises, which processed close to one million mobile job applications, Jobaline data shows that 80 percent of applicants abandon job applications that are non-mobile. This is because they find themselves trying to type in tiny spaces designed for PC interface, having to take unnecessary steps in the application or going through too many changes of context, including advertisements in the middle of a job application.The result: Job seekers waste too much time and employers have a large negative financial impact on their operations. This is especially true in the hourly jobs sector, where attrition rates are up to 200 percent per year, and part time jobs or seasonal jobs result in a continuous hiring cycle. Mobile job applications done wrong cost large employers over 80 percent of their job advertising budget.Simply Shrinking the Job Application Interface for Mobile Delivers the Same 80 Percent Dropout Rate of the larger screen.Just like the e-commerce or entertainment industries, which went through significant changes to embrace the mobile web, mobile recruitment must go beyond just making the job application fit into a smaller screen. An inefficient process in a big screen is just as inefficient in the smaller screen. Online recruitment requires reinventing the experience, while taking advantage of the many other dimensions that mobile brings to enrich the job recruitment process. Otherwise, employers are wasting time and money creating online application experiences that, even if mobile, still results in a wasteful 80 percent of their advertising dollars and recruiters’ time.If you just apply a responsive design to the old "taxi" web pages, we get "taxi" mobile - it’s the same old and dated process, with the same business results, just in the small screen. By reinventing the experience, you get Uber or Lyft, instant match of people that need a ride with people that want to make a living out of offering rides to others. In this context, advanced mobile matching technologies will be the dominant factor in the Human Capital Management sector over the next decade.Thanks to the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices that are attached to us almost 24/7, we can capture voice, images, location, time, activities and assess skills in real time. We can combine the power of observed information, which is often more meaningful for matching purposes than the declared information captured through standard online or paper-based applications. Observed or inferred information can often paint a more complete picture of a job applicant, resulting in better matches that hopefully result in long lasting employment relations.In a side-by-side comparison of people completing interviews from mobile devices, the completion rate is five times higher and the quality of candidates is up to eight times better when the proper mobile experience is enabled. Taking things one step ahead, the use of advanced technologies for algorithmic analysis of the voice of job applicants can take the quality of the match to a whole new dimension. On the other hand, just doing a mobile redesign or a mobile app of an existing Applicant Tracking System process results in only marginal improvement in applicant volume, quality or satisfaction.If the web is mobile, why aren’t employers embracing it faster? CareerBuilder found a variety of reasons employers don’t use mobile application processes: 38 percent of employers haven’t invested in the required technology; and more than 35 percent don’t have the resources or can't find a mobile solution that does more than take their Applicant Tracking System and make it mobile. Interestingly, more than one-fifth of employers aren’t sure why they don’t offer a mobile application process.The web is mobile and recruitment is mobile, especially in the hourly-jobs segment. Beyond the obvious difference in the screen size, if technology is leveraged properly, mobile recruitment allows for a richer experience that can remove friction from the job application process. With close to half-a-billion job applications processed every year to hire over 55 million people, this is a multibillion-dollar cost savings opportunity for the U.S. economy.Luis Salazar is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jobaline.See More

I recently saw a headline in the Montreal Gazette asking, "What can YOU do about the road mess?"For those not familiar with the road situation in Montreal, it’s pretty frightening.  We live on an island, so our bridges and tunnels are essential to travel here.  But we can’t always trust them.  A bridge in one of the suburbs fell 5 years ago, killing people who were driving under and over it.  At the beginning of the summer, another bridge was abruptly closed after the public had been assured it was safe, and a report was leaked that the most traveled bridge is like a "patient" with "terminal cancer" and wouldn’t withstand an earthquake.  Those are rare here, but more frequent than those in Washington, DC.  And if that weren’t enough, the overhang on a tunnel fell.  Fortunately, it did so on a lazy Sunday morning and no one was hurt.  Although concerned about the politics of the situation, the provincial government responsible for the roadways has been short of forthcoming on information.  While these emergency repairs go on, most of the major roadways are in various stages of reconstruction, with little or no seeming regard for the disruption the combined construction efforts are taking on Montreal. So when Annabel Soutar asked,  "What can YOU do about the road mess," my instinctive response was, Nothing.  Soutar got interested in the situation when the bridge fell 5 years ago.  She noticed that a culture existed in which no one had to take responsibility for the problem.  Each actor could absolve him or herself of blame—and no  one realized that the collective innocence led to real deaths of real people that really could have been avoided.So she wrote a play to call attention and raise anger.And she advises people to, at the least, be informed and, at the most, actively hold elected officials and civil servants for our safety.  This is truly one of those situations in which only collective efforts will bring openness and accountability to this system.  Although that has hardly been accomplished, recent actions by transportation officials suggest that the concerns are on their radar, even if they’re far from solved.  Read Soutar’s eloquent call to action at http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/What+about+road+mess/5208440/story.html.