It pays to drive a hard bargain.
In my early thirties, I was invited to be the chair of Trent University’s political science department. I said, ‘Look, if I’m going to do this, I don’t want a one-year appointment or a two-year appointment, I want a five-year appointment, so I can figure out if I actually like doing this.’ To my surprise, they gave it to me, and two years in we went from a troubled department to the one everybody in the university was looking to. The experience taught me an important lesson about leadership: that one person can make a difference.

I’m a believer in the power of drudge work.
When it comes to identifying emerging leaders, I’m always looking for the people who have started at the bottom and worked their way up. I want people who have had the nitty-gritty experiences that help them find the best place to access money, create a collegiate atmosphere, build up consensus and help the organization rock and roll effectively.

There are four shifts in every day.
My wife and I made the conscious decision to have four children, and to have fulfilling careers as academics. What it meant for us was that of the 24 hours in the day, we spent 18 of them parenting and working. It was a challenging balance to finesse, but the experience bred the sort of committed discipline that a modern leader requires. And I think our model helped our children understand the importance of higher training as a competence, and also the power of finding something you love and working at it.

The worst thing a leader can be told is ‘You don’t understand.’
That’s why I have never given up teaching or research. It’s pretty hard to be a leader in a university, to talk about the value of research, if you’re not doing that yourself. My board understands that I need to show credibility in the research and professional communities because it sends a signal to the world that Mount Allison University takes these matters seriously.

The role of a university president is more complex today than it ever has been.
Today we need presidents who have broad-based skill sets to deal with a range of challenges – rising costs, accountability expectations from government, unions, recruitment, marketing, students issues, and programming. To do it well, you have to genuinely love and believe in the institution.

The biggest challenge for Atlantic Canada over the next 50 years is the people challenge.
We’re not the centre of the universe; we lack some of the natural advantages of other places. But Atlantic Canada’s success over the next number of generations will be the result of the wit of its people – our ability to attract people here, retain them, train them really, really well and give them opportunities. I see the university as the centre of that particular universe of opportunity over the next 10 or 20 years.

The most important thing a leader can be is useful.
Sometimes your work can be lonely or isolating, but you have to tell yourself not to give up, and that you’re going to work hard to be very, very useful. But other times, your usefulness may have run its course, and you need to step away and uncover another opportunity to serve.

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Nancy Tower saw from an early age what it looks like to jump in with both feet. Her father grew the family’s Bathurst, N.B.-based firm Tower Jewellers from a single store to 16 locations. Spending her summer holidays working in the business, and chewing through HR and marketing talk at the dinner table, ultimately helped drive her to a career in business. Today the 52-year-old mother of three, who exudes a confident, athletic energy, has risen to the highest echelons of Atlantic Canadian business.

MY DAD IS MY BIGGEST INFLUENCE. Every night at the dinner table my three siblings and I would listen to him and my mother talk about the business. He had a lot of success but like any entrepreneur he had to make tough decisions. Should he take on more debt to open a new store? In the early days he had to justify putting up his home to secure financing. I watched what he did and learned as much as I could. And the most important thing I learned was not to be afraid of taking risks.

THE BEST WAY TO GET THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES IS TO PUT ALL HANDS ON DECK. We at Nova Scotia Power Inc. thought we were prepared for hurricanes based on our previous experiences. Then Hurricane Juan tore straight through the backbone of our transmission system, taking out 75 per cent of our customers. We said we’d restore power to 90 per cent of those affected within five days and we did that by pulling together and working hard. It was the biggest challenge of my career but I learned that when you go through a huge challenge like that, you come out the other side stronger, wiser and a more tightly-knit team.

NEVER UNDERVALUE YOUR OWN PE RSPE CTIVE – OR YOUR INSTINCTS. When I became vice-president of customer operations for Nova Scotia Power, I was perhaps the first non-engineer ever in that role. Early on I had to present our $40-million capital budget to our regulator. I reviewed in detail all the information, grilled our engineers and asked a lot of questions. As it turned out, my “non-engineer” bottom line questions were similar to what the regulator wanted to know – business is business after all. The lesson? Don’t be afraid to jump out of your comfort zone. Sometimes when you’re mired in the details, you can’t see the big picture.

MY ADVICE TO FEMALE EXECUTIVES: PUT UP YOUR HAND. If you have strong leadership skills and you think you can handle a new challenge, go for it. I am so thrilled to be leading Emera Newfoundland and Labrador. To be part of an historic project to connect Newfoundland and Labrador to the North American power grid, to be a part of Atlantic energy cooperation, and to build a $2-billion company from the ground up – that’s incredibly exciting. And I’m here because I put my hand up and expressed a desire to take it on.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNOW EVERYTHING. But you sure better know that you don’t know everything – and be willing to ask the questions and do the work to get yourself up to speed. Three weeks after I took over as CFO of Emera we had to release our quarterly earnings and review them in a call with our analysts. I was determined to answer all the financial questions on that call. So I asked lots of questions of my team and spent three weeks poring over our financial statements and results. In the end, I felt comfortable with the material and handled the call well. Accepting that I didn’t know everything helped me be as prepared as I needed to be.

MY KIDS KEEP ME GROUNDED. The other day I was working on a speech and my daughter asked me what I was going to talk about. I told her and she laughed and said, “That again?” I think my kids are proud of me but they also like to keep me humble.

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CEO, business owner, Vanier Cup winner, 1983 draft pick for the Ottawa Rough Riders.

From the outset, P.E.I. native Don Clow has been what’s known in athletic circles as “coachable.” Which is perhaps why the 49-year-old chartered accountant and CEO of Crombie REIT — Atlantic Canada’s largest property owner — has been mentored by, and worked side-by-side with, some of the region’s business and athletic luminaries, including legendary football coach John Huard, property developers Simon and Jim Spatz and the Sobey family.

A willingness to be a constant learner, and an ability to show up fresh and ready to play — day after day after day — helped Clow parlay a six-month contract in 1989 with Southwest Properties into his eventual role as president & COO, and finally an equity owner, before taking up his current position with Empire Company & Crombie in 2007.

I NEVER LOOK AT MYSELF AND SAY I’VE SUCCEEDED.
I learned early on in life that even though you may have just won a national championship, the day you get home practice starts for next year. At Crombie we set a goal of $100 million of acquisitions this year and we achieved $173 million. So that’s the new normal. Hit those big goals, and then re-set.

HIRING ALL-STARS WILL NEVER GET YOU THE RESULTS YOU DREAM ABOUT. When my football coach at Acadia, John Huard, took over the team, it was a collection of individuals who had been to the national championships two of the previous three years and lost. He said he didn’t care about individual stats; it was going to be nothing but a national championship for us. He built our practice sessions, our plays, our whole way of working together completely around the concept of team. We were slower and smaller than everybody else, and usually underdogs. But by working together we won the Vanier Cup. To this day, I believe good leadership in business isn’t about hiring all-stars. It’s about taking everyday people, bringing their performance up a notch, and focusing on the entire team.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE TOUGH. There are people with whom I have great working relationships who may not like me on every deal. And sometimes in business, people don’t treat you well and you have to be very tough. Don’t shy away from that. But always remember that your personal reputation takes a career to build and a moment to lose.

GREAT LEADERSHIP ISN’T COMPLICATED. You have to have vision, you have to communicate it, and you need to have urgency. Get stuff done now — we call it the GSD, and the “S” isn’t for stuff. There’s a professor at Harvard Business School’s leadership program, and you’re sitting there with dozens of high-performing CEOs and she’s the smartest, most engaging person in the room. So we asked her once why she wasn’t running a company and she said, “I don’t have the GSD. I can only write about it.”

LEADERS HAVE TO DEVELOP A VISION AND STICK TO IT. It’s not just about your industry or your market — you have to see the bigger picture. Four months after my partner at Southwest Properties, Jim Spatz, and I committed to a $25-million redevelopment of the Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, the bottom fell out of the real estate market. We made it through, but a couple of years later, in 1995, our anchor tenant told us they were moving across the street. Our lender was pressuring us to accept an offer to replace the anchor with Eaton’s. We didn’t think it was right for the property, so we found another lender and pursued our plan — which was to bring in Pete’s Frootique, Mark’s Work Wearhouse and Nubody’s. Two years later, Eaton’s went bankrupt. Meanwhile, Sunnyside went on to become a brilliant success, winning two Canadian Shopping Mall ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) awards for best redevelopment under 500,000 square feet. If we had followed the advice of our lender — a company filled with brilliant people — we never would have seen that success. Sometimes you have to stick with your own ideas.

Peter Conlon was an independent consultant providing strategic expertise to electronics companies when he was approached to take the reins of Nautel Limited. He became president & CEO of the radio frequency technology company in February 2006. Drawing on the knowledge he gained in the telecommunications industry with organizations such as Newbridge Networks and Mitel Corporation, Conlon has led the company to increased sales, an expanded engineering team and several prestigious industry accolades.

Probably the biggest influence on my leadership style is Terry Matthews, the founder of Mitel and Newbridge. I remember seeing him one day walking through the offices of Mitel with a plunger over his shoulder. He had been plunging the toilets. …It was then I learned the importance of leading by example.

In 1990, I was asked to run a Mitel subsidiary in Mexico – the first time in my life I’d been given such an opportunity. I thought I was doing well, and I invited Anthony Griffiths, the president and CEO of the parent company, down so I could share ideas for things I wanted to do. He absolutely exposed how unprepared I was to run a company, such as understanding financial statements. I was so embarrassed about that incident that it eventually drove me to get my MBA.

The MBA was a two-year program, and I studied six nights a week from 6:30 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. It was difficult to manage because I had just been promoted to vice president at Newbridge and I had a family, but I was determined to do very well. When the program director complimented me on the work I had done, it was a major achievement for me.

I’ve always worked for good companies, but if I had to pick the worst job I’ve ever had, it would be my experience in the venture capital world. All due respect to venture capitalists, but it taught me how mercenary people can be.

This is the best job I’ve ever had in my career. I remember going through the recruitment process, meeting the people here and thinking, “This is a wonderful gem that just needs a little polish.” I honestly believe that fitting into this job has been like a hand in glove. To find something so right, it’s a really good feeling.

I’m in a state of transition as a leader. I used to believe that forging ahead and optimism could overcome all evils. Now, I’m learning from my Board to take a more measured view in certain areas. That balanced approach is an amazing strength I never fully appreciated before.

I’ve stepped back a bit from running the company over the past year to allow our management advisory team to take that on. I think that’s the greatest and most difficult thing for a leader to do – to bestow leadership. Yet by supporting them in the decisions and mistakes they make, I’m beginning to recognize that I can be a better leader by using this approach.

Truly great leaders are inspirational. They don’t lead by decree. It’s all about getting people to go in the same direction because they believe in it, not because they have to. You have to show them which way you want to go, why that is the right direction, and fill them with the courage to go for it.

For the most part, there is no sense of entitlement in Atlantic Canada. Which means that when you put opportunities in front of people, they will treasure them, and they will do really great things. Plus, there’s the lifestyle. People work to live here, not live to work. Given that there’s likely to be intense competition for skilled workers in the near future, that’s significant.

My advice for the next generation of leaders is this: You don’t learn from success. You learn from failure. If you have consistent success and you’re satisfied with that, maybe you’re not trying hard enough.

Interviewed by Tony Case, senior consultant, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette – Atlantic Canada’s leading recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Leader’s Insight conversations are published in each issue of Atlantic Business Magazine. Feedback: dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.com.

Before he became Credit Union Atlantic’s President & CEO in 2005, Jamie Baillie was an accountant, a corporate headhunter and the chief of staff in Premier John Hamm’s office. Now, Baillie’s career path is taking another interesting turn as he makes a bid for the leadership of Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservative party.

I’ve been a believer in the political system all my life. People may hold it in low regard, but despite its obvious flaws, it’s the only way we make decisions as a province about our future. I want to show Nova Scotians that there are people who still think of it as a calling.

The challenges we face as Nova Scotians – depopulation, healthcare costs, education, retaining our youth – we face together. We spend too much time thinking about our differences, such as who is urban, and who is rural. That’s caused divisions, and our political parties have made those divisions worse.

The squabbling that goes on between us in Atlantic Canada is embarrassing sometimes, and it holds us back. The only way our region will have economic prosperity is if we work together to encourage businesses to start, grow and hire here, regardless of which province they locate in.

We have a serious talent shortage. We need to set targets for population growth, and focus on immigration and greater inclusion. That means welcoming and recognizing the credentials of immigrants when they arrive, and ensuring every Atlantic Canadian has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Frank McKenna is an example of someone I admire, because he has succeeded in both business and politics. He not only had a vision of a more energetic, vigorous and industrial New Brunswick, he communicated it successfully. And he got New Brunswickers to believe in themselves.  It’s been 13 years since he left office and the province still possesses the same level of energy and drive.

If you’re a new CEO, make sure you have the right people on your management team before you create your strategic plan. That’s the approach I took when I joined Credit Union Atlantic; I looked for the right combination of skills, and then we tackled the strategy. That paid off, the company has almost doubled in growth since then.

I’m more comfortable with a clean desk and a blank pad of paper in front of me than I used to be. If that happened 10 years ago, I would have panicked that I wasn’t adding value to my company. But having a team you trust, a team you can delegate duties to, gives you the opportunity to think about the future of your company. That’s when you really add value as a leader.

Encourage your employees to think for themselves, and to speak up when they disagree with what’s happening, or with you. And reward them for that on occasion. If you’re the type of leader who can do that, you’ll have a successful business, because you’ll have many minds applied to the issues, not just your own.

If there is anything the current generation can teach the next, it’s that there is still significant value in to face-to-face communications. A tweet or an e-mail isn’t always the most effective way to get your point across. I believe we will work together to find the right balance.

My dad is a real people person. Whether it’s the Premier or the paperboy, he treats everyone the same. He has that ability to talk to anybody about anything. The example he set has been a big help to me in my career

Much of our family time revolves around basketball, as both of our girls, age 12 and 10, are committed players on the West End Steelers basketball team. For those who don’t know, mini girls basketball is far more exciting than the NBA.

Interviewed by Kevin Stoddart, vice president, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette – Atlantic Canada’s leading recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Leader’s Insight conversations are published in each issue of Atlantic Business Magazine. Feedback: dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.com

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STEPHEN LUND, President & CEO

Nova Scotia Business Inc. (Halifax)

One of seven children, Stephen Lund left the Maritimes after graduating from university to seek his fortune. He made his name in the financial sector, first in commercial banking, and later as vice president of Canada’s largest national venture capital firm. Now, as president and CEO of Nova Scotia Business Inc., he leads a team dedicated to building a prosperous future for the province, building strong local companies and attracting international companies like Research in Motion.

Growing up in a family of seven kids born in nine years, you learn very quickly how to get along with one another. Of course, you also learn how to compete. That comes naturally when you’re vying with six siblings for the last drumstick or the highest grade in math.

My dad could be tough, but he was always supportive, and very engaged.  His advice to me, which I still follow, was to always do what’s right, to give back to the community and, most importantly, to do what you enjoy.

If I hadn’t left Nova Scotia to work in Bermuda and Toronto, I don’t think I’d be as well prepared to do this job. I think everyone should experience what’s happening in the world. We live in a global market that is becoming smaller and we need to be aware of it.

Too often, young people leave Atlantic Canada because they think the grass is always greener. And once they go, they never come back.  My advice to them is to go see the world, but go knowing that this is a great place with lots of opportunity.  And when they come back, we will have the right job waiting for them.

When I hire, I look for people whose skills are different from mine. I look to hire the best; they have to be.  We represent Nova Scotia around the world. Not only do they have to be the best, they have to be passionate about what they do. Most importantly, they must be a good fit. The hardest people to deal with are high performers who don’t fit in. They’re the disruptors. 

It’s important to maintain a fun workplace. That’s how you retain talent. After all, you spend a lot of time there.

When you do a job you truly enjoy, it makes other parts of your life really rewarding. I know that, in this role, I don’t dwell on the negatives. I tend to focus more on the positives, and I think that carries over into everything I do.

My BlackBerry is always on and I’m always thinking about the work I do. So striking a balance between work and family is difficult. I’m better at it than I used to be, partly because my wife and kids constantly remind me what’s important.

If you’re in a position where you aren’t regularly facing obstacles, you’re probably not pushing yourself enough. Whether at work, or playing sports, I’ve always pushed the limits. Sometimes, you make decisions and beg for forgiveness later. That’s just part of leadership.

There are three things leaders should always keep in mind. First, the business world changes constantly, and you have to keep up. Second, there is always a younger generation available to help you do so, and it is just as smart, eager and capable as you, if not more so. Third, it’s important to always hire the right talent.

I’ve been able to draw on pretty much everything I’ve ever learned or done in this role. I deal with people, companies and governments. I wear several hats – HR, business development, marketing, finance, and operations. I haven’t given much thought to what’s next, but I hope it will be something where I’m able to make a difference, to give something back.

Interviewed by Kevin Stoddart, vice president, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette – Atlantic Canada’ leading recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Leader’s Insight conversations are published in each issue of Atlantic Business Magazine. Feedback: dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.com

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My father and grandfather were fishing captains and vessel owners. They were leaders every day of their lives – working with their crews, selling fish to National Sea Products. They weren’t home much, but when they were, I followed them around the wharves, and got to see what they did, so I was immersed in leadership from an early age.

Great leaders level out the emotions in an organization. In down times, be positive and inspirational – celebrating small successes and building up confidence. When things are going well, dampen the enthusiasm a bit and encourage people to look for risks.

I think my age helped me to weather the challenges we faced as a company as quotas were cut. When you’re younger, you’re not as aware of the risks. You have a certain self-confidence, a belief that ‘I can do this’. And that was a good attitude to have. Now that I’m 55, if someone approached me with a similar opportunity, I’d say, ‘Are you crazy?’

I’ve talked to business leaders in Boston, Calgary and Toronto and they all say that some of their best employees come from here (Atlantic Canada). We have people who care and are committed, and I think that’s our greatest strength.

I do fairly well maintaining a work-life balance, partially due to technology, but it also helps to live in a small town. You don’t have to commute or line up for anything. If you add up the hours in a day that you spend in some kind of queue, whether it’s in a car or an elevator, in a city like New York or Toronto, it’s a fair amount of time.

The low point for me was the northern cod moratorium. I remember saying to myself, ‘I don’t care if we ever catch fish again in Atlantic Canada; we’re going to be successful’. Instead of obsessing over the latest quota cuts, I decided to focus on customers and opportunities in the market. A change in leadership mindset like that will flow through the whole organization, so it was a pivotal moment.

Recently, I was nominated to be secretary of the National Fisheries Institute in the U.S., which puts you on track to be the chairman. But there was a bylaw that said you had to be an American citizen, which I’m not. There was some grumbling about having to change the bylaw until the NFI president revealed that the nominee was me. The resolution passed unanimously. That kind of industry recognition makes you feel proud.

A Lebanese family that runs a pizzeria in Lunenburg said it’s nice to live in a place where you can work, raise a family, save money and not worry about a civil war, or saying the wrong thing. There’s a freedom here you won’t find in many other countries, and that makes this a great place to live. We sometimes take that for granted.

There’s this notion that we shouldn’t celebrate the success of our cities in Atlantic Canada. But we should. It’s very important for the region. I know if you’re a politician, that’s a challenge, particularly in Newfoundland, where St. John’s is booming and the rural areas are struggling. But it’s not going to help the rural areas if St. John’s isn’t doing well.

My wife, Rena, and I climbed Kilimanjaro with two other couples to raise money for Laing House. We had three objectives: come back healthy, raise $60,000, and make it to the top of the mountain. Not only did we raise nearly twice that amount, all six of us made it to the summit, and I would say in great health. That shows you what happens when you have a good team with clear objectives and lots of preparation.

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As a child, Ron Lovett earned money any way he could – shovelling snow, managing three paper routes and giving five dollar haircuts to friends. At the age of 22, he started Source Security & Investigations to offer security services to nightclubs, and for events. Eight years later, the company now employs 450 licensed guards across Canada and its credentials include Canadian Idol and The Rolling Stones.

When I was a kid, I frequently went looking for discarded scratch-and-win tickets. Once a week, I’d find one that someone didn’t check properly and I’d make $20. That was the big money maker of the day.

I have always been an entrepreneur; some might say a serial entrepreneur. I was involved in a variety of businesses and had no financing to do it. I learned a valuable lesson: it’s great to have 10 businesses, but if you can’t devote the time and attention to run them all, you’re sure to fail.

A major milestone for this business was the 2005 Rolling Stones concert in Moncton. We had 365 employees responsible for the security of approximately 85,000 people. For it to all come together and be so successful was huge for us. It opened many doors on the entertainment side of the business.

If you’re young and you know what you want to do, go to university. If you’re unsure, you may want to try something else before you commit to that and rack up debt.

It’s okay to fail. I’ve had many failures, which is great because, as stressful as they were, that’s been my university. I mean, look at me. I’m 30 and I look 55!

In 2007, four of my security guards were stabbed working a back-to-school dance at the Halifax Forum. Something like that will either break you completely or make you stronger as a person, and as an entrepreneur. I certainly learned how to deal with the media very quickly.

After the stabbing, I was really angry that it happened. I had a lot of negative energy and knew I had to do something with it pretty fast. I realized that I was not giving back enough to the community, so I decided to become a foster parent. That was a big undertaking for me. It changed my life. I strongly believe in the motto, “what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

My leadership style is communal appreciative leadership. I try to lead by appreciation and develop leaders below me. I try to bring out those strengths in my employees and build a team of people who have their own brand, and are leaders in their own right. That’s important for any organization. The president can’t be the only leader.

Recently, one of our guards in Victoria, BC, Matt Sanderson, saw a woman who appeared to be in distress. She had an erratic pulse, shallow breathing and was very pale, so he called an ambulance, which saved her life. This business is filled with both positive and negative stories and every one is a new opportunity for the company to learn and grow.

My vision is to grow the Source Security & Investigations brand so that anyone could approach our guards for assistance, just like they would the police. You walk into an event or building where we’re providing security and we’re there to help.

Entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada tend to be old school. The thinking goes that, if it hasn’t been done, you can’t do it. But that gives you an opportunity to do it, and to make a difference. So, as tough as it can be to do business here, you can break new ground and set trends, people will follow you.

I wouldn’t be who I am today if I didn’t travel. I like to rough it. I’ll sleep in hammocks and youth hostels because it keeps me grounded. Travel makes you wiser, not smarter. It opens your eyes so you look at things differently

My goals were to get involved in real estate, start a business and have investments – all by the age of 18. I actually opened my first RRSP account when I was 16 after reading Garth Turner’s RRSP Guide. I remember the financial advisor saying, “You’re 16, what are you doing?” But I always had a plan.

I had a lot of exposure to the family business as a child. I started when I was 12, working summers on the farm. I jokingly say that the rest of the family went off to the beach and stuck me at work. Of course, they wouldn’t remember it that way!

The leader of a family business should have a sense of responsibility to the business and the employees that supersedes his or her personal goals and objectives. If your success keeps pace with the success of the business, that’s fine, but the business comes first.

When you acquire a business, you need to consider three things. Does it have strong management? Does it have growth potential? And is there a sustainable strategic advantage? In other words, what is the edge the business offers you, and what can you bring to it? If someone else has better finances, or can provide better management, they should own it.

We were raised with a sense of humility, an understanding that we were no better than anyone else. My dad would say, ‘If it’s a tough year and I have to tell a blueberry farmer that prices are going to be down, that message is meaningless if I show up driving a Cadillac.’ I try to live by this advice and instil it in my children.

I like to delegate a lot of authority. I’ll communicate the business plan, ask for input, ensure people know how they fit in, and encourage them to do their best to support the business objective. I’ll let them know when we get off track, but I won’t call every play. We have some very smart people here with great instincts and valuable experience. I rely on these people every day.

My basketball coach at Mount A used to say he’d rather have five athletes than basketball players, because he could teach athletes to play basketball. When you have the right people with the right cultural and philosophical fit, you can accomplish anything. That’s the key to building a competitive, successful organization.

Everybody should walk away happy when a deal is done. Sure, you can push for another five per cent discount from someone just because you think you can get it. But you may want to do business with that person again, and people talk about how you treated them. I can point to many examples where being fair in one deal helped us secure the next one.

My leadership style has traditionally been management by walking around. If you visit your operations and talk to enough people, you get a strong feel for what’s going on. It’s a little bit harder to do so now that we have interests in places like Sudbury, Ontario and Cold Lake, Alberta. But the same principles still apply: show you care, ask a lot of questions, and be seen in the field.

The jobs I had initially were far removed from my father. He told people, ‘Treat Lee like anyone else: if he’s not working, kick his $#@; if he’s doing a good job, tell him.’ There wasn’t a constant feeling that I had to do more than everyone else, but I sure as hell couldn’t do less!

The recruitment process is never one-sided. The candidate is interviewing you to see if you are the right fit. After all, the wrong hiring decision is bad for both sides because it’s a waste of time and money for your organization and for that individual. The best candidates have choices; we need to present ourselves as the right choice.

Being privately owned allows us to take a long-term approach to business plans and decision-making. We’re not slaves to the analysts; we don’t have to make bad long-term decisions in order to meet quarterly or monthly objectives.