Sonar Moment - Reflections on leadership from CEOs in the Pacific Northwest

Welcome to the Sonar Moment Holiday Special.In this show, we look back over season 1 and comment on the wit and wisdom of the past year's CEO guests. This is an extended version of our show featuring two experts in the field of management. Peter Ciceri is the former president of Compaq Computers and of Custom House. He is also the former Chair of Sierra Wireless Systems. Today, Peter is a registered clinical psychologist who regularly counsels CEOs. Richard Wolfe is the Francis Winspear Chair in Strategy from the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. Richard has a deep base of research in leadership and strategy, particularly as it applies to the business of sport. We are now planning our second season of Sonar Moment. During the past year we loved hearing your ideas about the show and deeply appreciated your comments and your regular viewership. Let us know what, and who, you want to see for season 2. Go to www.whalecommunications.ca and comment.

I had heard so many good things about Kathy Stinson and the Victoria Cool Aid Society that I had to go and check them out. When I did the pre-interview with Kathy prior to the show, I found myself in a typical non-profit office - bare, small and a bit cluttered, right in one of the buildings that house Cool-Aids formerly homeless tenants. It is ironic that a Sonar Moment focused on planning and the execution of strategy should come from a social services organization and not a comparable for-profit company, given the gentle, somewhat hapless image about non-profits living in the public mind. But, in a way that makes sense. When you are running $20million annually through your organization and you are gearing up to run $40million; when you are working with a wide array of stakeholders, each with potentially differing agendas, you better get organized.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain how the young man before you, not even 30, came to sound so erudite. At least that’s what you think when you hear Kyle Vucko, this thoughtful, intelligent man, speak about founding a business, being a professional manager, finding financing and becoming an investor himself. While still in the dorm room at the University of Victoria, Kyle and his partner, Heikal Gani, had a very big idea they now call “Indochino”. They felt there was a better way to help men get dressed and they were smart enough to seek out a series of mentors, some big names in the world of business. Today, Indochino is has nearly 150,000 customers all around the world. In this episode, I talk with Kyle about his learning curve and his mentors and what he feels he now brings to the table.

Whenever I talk to Alex Glassey, I think of a pinball machine. He bounces, random but not randomly, between many different paddles until the bells and whistles are set off to say he’s won. Alex is the master of leverage — taking this project and lining it up with that program — then ripping off another thought from his fertile mind to create an entirely new idea. When I first heard him speak at an association breakfast I loved his ideas so much I tracked him down and practically begged him to have coffee with me. His app, StratPad was named one of the top 10 business apps by Forbes Magazine both last year and this. He has 60,000 customers worldwide who pay for the privilege of using it and the app is still only at the toddler stage. Meet Alex Glassey, the last guest in our summer start-up series.

On meeting Sage Baker for the first time, I looked up – way up – and, at 5’9” myself, that doesn’t often happen. Now that I know her better, I look up to Sage for many things; among them her innovative approach to commercializing new products and her strong sense of community. I borrow one of her expressions all the time – my true north – about finding your direction and sticking to it. At a mere 37 years old, Sage is, well, sage. Hope you enjoy my chat with her.

There was simply too much to talk about. Scott Phillips, president of StarFish Medical, is a thoughtful man and someone who reflects well on what it means to be an entrepreneur. If anyone out there is thinking about jumping into the fray and starting a company, this interview is for you. If you already have a company then you will laugh and recognize some of the situations Scott talks about. And that is just a small part of the wide ranging talk we had leading up to taping. I am going to have to find a way to bring Scott back to Sonar Moment because, well, there was just too much to talk about.

As every entrepreneur will tell you the phrase “in sickness and in health” applies equally to your marriage and your company. But when your organization is doing poorly, it affects more than your bottom line. It affects employee morale and your ability to bring about change. Jane Butler McGregor took over the Victoria Conservatory of Music at just such a time for this venerable old organization and within 4 years brought it back to financial health. She shares her secrets with me, as well as what she learned from one of Canada’s best known entrepreneurs that she carries with her to this day.

Clarity is something Robert Haydock feels strongly about. Clarity of intention and clarity of action. In 2008, he bought AML Oceanographic. Then he traveled the world for a year with his family – something that was long planned and that he didn’t want to give up. As we talked, he was very open about the ups and downs for the company in having its CEO away for a year. For me, it was a lesson in leadership and doing just what he talks about – achieving clarity.

Gary Eisenstein is proof that an advanced education does not necessarily drive success. He is quite open about being “grade 6 graduate”, and he means that literally. He got his first job at 12 washing dishes in a restaurant and never stopped working. A serial entrepreneur, Gary fell in love with his third company, Falcon Software, and built it into a successful operation servicing some of the largest customers on the planet. I talked with Gary on several occasions and felt he would make a great addition to Sonar Moment, so was very pleased when he said yes.

Mark Grambart was scooped up by Mercedes Benz right out of university. He climbed the corporate ladder and travelled the world but couldn’t seem to soothe the itch that made him want to be an entrepreneur. I first met Mark in the comfortable Contech offices, with the comfortable Contech dogs – yes, real dogs – roaming around and knew that he was creating a very special corporate environment. Just how special forms part of our wide-ranging conversation this month. I hope you will join us.