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MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

FEATURES:

2006 BUILDING EXCELLENCE AWARDS

eyeGO ACROSS CANADA

TAKING ON ALL CHALLENGES •

• • •

PLUS: Hollywood Meets Silicon Valley Groundhog Day at CSA On the Job Leadership Training Creative Customer Service

DAN EINWECHTER HAS BUILT AN INNOVATIVE PORT ON “THE NEW RIVERS OF TRADE”


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THE OFFICIAL WATERLOO-WELLINGTON COUNTY LEXUS DEALER


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Exchange Volume 23, Number 6

JUNE 2006

SERVING BUSINESS IN WATERLOO REGION AND GUELPH

P.O. Box 41030, Waterloo ON N2K 3K0 • Tel: (519) 886-2831 • Fax: (519) 886-6409 email: [email protected]

CONTENTS D E PA RT M E N T S

7 PUBLISHER’S NOTE 8 BUSINESS MONITOR –

A Passion for Fitness; XQuote; XQuarterly; Integrating Future Strategies; Election 2006; The Barrelyards; Leadership

New opportunities in the knowledge economy for Waterloo Region - page 40

55 WATERCOOLER MOVER & SHAKER

12 CHALLENGER TAKES ON ALL CHALLENGES AND PROSPERS / BY PAUL KNOWLES Dan Einwechter has built an innovative port on “the new rivers of trade”

F E AT U R E S

21 BUILDING EXCELLENCE AWARDS BY PAUL KNOWLES Multiple award winners named by GVCA

40 HOLLYWOOD MEETS SILICON VALLEY BY SUNSHINE CHEN New opportunities in the knowledge economy for Waterloo Region On the cover: Dan Einwechter, Chairman and CEO of Challenger Motor Freight Inc. - page 12

EYEGO TO THE

62 Cheryl Ewing, Director of Development for eyeGO to the Arts - page 62

ARTS. DO YOU?

BY BRIAN HUNSBERGER A unique program started in Waterloo-Wellington is growing audiences for the performing arts nation-wide

53 CHARITABLE STRATEGIES

/ BY SANDRA REIMER

Managing your corporate generosity

COLUMNS

43 WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Publisher/Editor: Jon Rohr Associate Editor: Paul Knowles Feature Writers: Brian Hunsberger, Paul Knowles, Sunshine Chen, Sandra Reimer Columnists: John T. Dinner, Allan Foerster, Daniel Girard, Linda Gregorio, Paul Knowles Advertising Sales: Brian Lyon TMR (519) 886-1946

/ DANIEL E. GIRARD

Creative Director: Diane Johnson

Up, Up and Away

Art Direction: Laurie Martin

45 GUEST COLUMN

/ BY ALLAN FOERSTER

47 ON ASSIGNMENT

/ BY PAUL KNOWLES

Groundhog Day at the CSA Who’s the Lucky One?

48 GOOD GOVERNANCE

/ BY JOHN T. DINNER

On the Job Leadership Training

50 WORK / LIFE BALANCE Changing Visuals

Exchange

/ BY LINDA GREGORIO

Photography: Jon R. Group Ltd., Adamski Photography, Challenger Motor Freight Inc., Reaume Marketing Network. Forde Studio Photographers & Picture Framers Circulation/Office Administration: Leanne Rohr EXCHANGE magazine is a regional business publication published by Exchange Business Communication Inc. President, Jon Rohr. Eight issues per year are distributed to each company in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and Fergus as determined by Canada Post Business Postal Walks. Subscriptions are available for $29.90. Send cheque or money order to Exchange, P.O. Box 41030, Waterloo, ON N2K 3K0. Attn: Circulation Department. Back issues are available for $8 per copy. Phone: (519) 886-9953. Fax: (519) 886-6409. ISSN 0824-457X Copyright, 2006. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

JUNE 2006

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

On Secrecy and Disclosure Building trust, competence and good decision making BY JON ROHR

ver the last year there has been a ideological shift in the underworld of government policy making. If executed in the interest of public and economic development, it promises to fundamentally change how the public relate to public servants. In this information age, those with knowledge are in a power position. Stewards of public information have wrongly accepted a "culture of secrecy" as the norm. A "culture of secrecy" builds barriers, and unnecessarily fuels the need for further bureaucracy. It emphasizes the dynamic between the one who wants and the one who has. Often it masks poor policy and bad decision making. It safe-harbours shoddy public servants. It allows incompetence to propagate. It allows for repetition of error disguised as "a best practice". A "culture of disclosure" builds trust, competence and good decision making. Information disclosure breeds cooperation, rewards staff proactivity and allows for efficiencies. It allows transparency. Historically, movements for greater disclosure have ironically created new layers governing disclosure, a counter-productive result that propagates the notion of secrecy as a means of control. The challenge of this century is not whether a culture of disclosure should be sought, but how do we ensure a "culture of disclosure" is attained for the democratic benefit of the community. A culture of disclosure ensures "fair and equal" treatment, no matter who; it provides procedures, conditions and explanations based on decisions made by those most experienced to make decisions; it provides integrity to a system damaged by Machiavellian tendencies.

O

As we near the 2006 election, we need to reflect on who's really making major decisions. A strange force continues to pull us closer to a centre. Focusing on a centre is a mistake that can be described as "all the eggs in one basket". In a country as well organized, wealthy, scantly populated and rich in resources as Ontario you may be surprised to learn how focused on centre, the leaders of this community are. It is more surprising that the centre is not local, but 100 kilometers to the east. Communities off centre, like ours, will become less and less important – if JON ROHR IS we let it happen. PUBLISHER OF As southern Ontario focuses on the EXCHANGE MAGAZINE FOR BUSINESS centre – Toronto and entities that repree-mail: jrohr@ sent Toronto – local concerns will find it exchangemagazine.com harder to have a voice. Communities we know today will only become suburbs of the centre – again, if we let it happen. Strong centres are important - notice the plural. Locally our many strong centres are economic steam engines. Together, they still provide more to the province than they do to us. We provide more to Toronto, than they do to us. That passion for community and apptitude for growth that rest in the hearts and minds of local entrepreneurs, is quietly being bartered away by stewards not focused on a "regional city" known as Waterloo but on a Regional City known only as Toronto. What will result will be a travesty for this community, marginalizing our contribution and lowering our standards and quality of life by making us more like Toronto and less like us.

1st for CULINARY

FOCUSING ON THE DETAILS. DELIVERING THE WHOLE PACKAGE.

425 Bingemans Centre Drive, Kitchener (519) 744-1555 www.bingemans.com JUNE 2006

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BUSINESS MONITOR

2006 iCON RETAILER AWARDS

PHOTO:S JAM IE REAUME, REAUME MA RKETING NET WORK

; Luci n w ga Mall onestoPaint-Your-O C , e n to ndra S i’s Mudhouse old Retailer ir. a S ) -r (l f the G n, Luc Co-cha Harmo ics, winner o ley, Awards Ceram; Shirley Fow award

(l-r) Jody Palub winner of the iski, Charcoal Steak Ho Shirley FowleyGold Restaurant award, us, and , Co-chair.

(l-r) San Lakes, dra Stone, Co Bronze Trails and Trav -chair; Diane Co-cha Retailer awardel, winner of thTutton, ir. , and S e hirley F owley,

hair, Con(l-r) Sandra Stone, Awards Co-cShores Tradestoga Mall; Amy Zister, Seven Silver ing Company Inc., winner of the ey. Retailer award, and Shirley Fowl

gton Rd. (l-r) Dr. Kelly-Leigh Thomas, Lexin r Service Animal Hospital, winner of the Silve hair. award, and Shirley Fowley, Co-c Producnd rstorm Thunde rvice award, a y, le o o Hosh old Se (l-r) Eric inner of the G air. tions, wFowley, Co-ch Shirley

The iCon Sales and Marketing Club held the iCon Retailer Awards 2006 Focus on Excellence April 18 at Bingemans in Kitchener. The awards night was attended by nominees and club

Kitchen, Lucy’s Seafood (l-r) Erica Rozek, ver Restaurant award, Sil the of er nn Ww y, Co-chair. and Shirley Fowle

members and saw nine (l-r) Lau from Sa ren Dolson an Bronze nctuary Day Sd Anastasia D Service u p award. a, winners of ench the

awards presented in three categories – Retail, Restaurant and Service.

XQuote

(l-r) Angela Fr winner of the aser, Blackshop Restaura and Shirley FoBronze Restaurant awar nt, d, wley, Co-cha ir.

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"Although tariffs on goods are declining, the list of non-tariff barriers is daunting. The primary impact of these barriers is to raise costs, which reduces the competitiveness of Canadian firms. This is not a federal versus provincial issue – all governments are responsible for maintaining barriers." – PAUL DARBY, Deputy Chief Economist, Conference Board of Canada


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BUSINESS MONITOR

A passion for fitness Chris Spotswood has whipped her business into shape CHRIS SPOTSWOOD says she got involved in

physical fitness because “when I was 22, I decided I just did not want to gain weight.” So she started working out. Today, 18 years later, she lifts weights, does cardio work-outs, runs, leads Pilates sessions, teaches fitness classes... and is the sole owner and manager of Absolute Fitness, a New Hamburg fitness and personal training centre serving almost 600 clients. Spotswood moved from Hamilton to New Hamburg eight years ago. Her first concern, before buying a house, was to be sure there was a gym in the town. There was, and she joined, and soon after – in July, 1999 – she had purchased the business. At that point, Absolute Fitness had 175 clients, and was located in a two-storey facility that Spotswood candidly describes as “a dump.” Even so, under her hands-on management, membership doubled in the first

year. A lot of the newcomers were female. “As soon as I took over, a fair influx of women came in,” says Spotswood. But she adds, the potential for growth was limited by the inadequate facility. By 2003, “I started to lose members.” That changed within a year, as Spotswood took the bull by the horns and moved to a much larger, state of the art leased facility in the Magnussen Business Centre at 66 Hincks Street in New Hamburg. There, she has 7600 square feet, compared to 4400 poorly designed square feet at the previous location. The moved paid off instantly in new memberships. In the new location, “we have more credibility,” she says, laughing that although a lot of the fitness equipment was simply moved from the older centre, it looks a lot better in its modern, spacious, new home. Spotswood bought new equipment for

INTEGRATING FUTURE STRATEGIES Six developing trends will shake up old school corporate thinking THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING STRATEGIES that meet immediate needs without sacrificing the needs of future generations will be driven by the growing influence of six developing trends according to a new Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ report, “Corporate Responsibility: Strategy, Management and Value”. “Sustainable businesses balance their economic interests with the need to be socially and environmentally responsible. The companies that succeed over the long term are those that integrate ethical considerations into company decision-making, and manage on the basis of personal integrity and widely-held organizational values,” said Sunny Misser, PWC global leader of sustainable business solutions. The report identifies the following major trends: • Growing influence of global market forces, rather than government policy. The influence of the markets in decision-making will grow as they reflect rising demand, shrinking supply, and changing patterns of demand for natural resources. • Revisions in the financial model used to set corporate and government strategy. The new model will include new scenarios, new risk factors, and a growing number of intangible and non-financial factors. • Innovation, particularly in core industries. Changing economic conditions will expand the rate of innovation exponentially to include changes in behaviour, product design, supply chains and geopolitical structure, in addition to technology. • Globalization. International institutions will be responsible for formulating global policies; the role of national or local institutions will be limited to implementation. • Evolution, not revolution. Progress toward sustainable development will be largely incremental. Barriers to rapid change will die hard, but specific catalysts may cause spurts of great change. • Communication. The global media may influence which issues governments and industries focus on and accelerate the speed of changes in policy and behaviour. “Sustainability has moved from the fringes of the business world to the top of the agenda for shareholders, employees, regulators, and customers. Any miscalculation of issues related to sustainability can have serious repercussions on how the world judges a company and values its shares,” Misser said. Steps recommended: • First, companies must formulate a clear strategy for behaving responsibly and integrate that strategy within their core business operations – like a gene that is encoded in their DNA and copied to each cell in the corporate body. • Second, they must adhere to the values and standards they have articulated for themselves. Long-term sustainable performance does not come from proclaiming a code of conduct but from putting it into daily action. • And last, they must tell the world clearly what they are doing – both their successes and their challenges. Only then can they close the gap in perceptions, maintain their reputations and act as an example to other organizations. “There is mounting evidence that companies that act in a responsible manner consistently do better in the long run. Research by PWC shows that more than half of institutional investors and analysts believe that good governance and disclosure about sustainability issues are critical indicators of a company’s value.”

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Chris Spotswood

the new facility, as well. Fitness equipment is no small investment – she has hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in the equipment alone... and all of it is paid for. She points to the cardio-vascular work-out machines, which have to be replaced on a regular basis; she has 12 of them, which cost from $7,000 to $10,000 each. Equipment is not the only expense, of course. In addition to the overhead costs involved in leasing a 7,600 square foot facility, Spotswood also employs 11 staff members, ranging from full time to casual. Spotswood says that the fitness business is a growth industry – if a fitness centre keeps up with the latest developments in the field. Aging baby boomers are a field ready for harvest: “as we age, we start to realize” the need for healthy living, she says. But there are plenty among us who have not yet bought the argument: “there are still only about 10% of the population who are actually physically fit.” Spotswood is clearly in that top ten – she has competed in half-marathons, 30-km runs, strength and endurance competitions, and other fitness contests. Now, she has begun training for another half-marathon. She conveys a dual passion – as a business owner, she wants to prosper; and as a fitness fan, she is very concerned about the health and fitness challenges facing Canadians. She describes our general state of fitness as “horrifying.” Her clients range in age from 14 to 77; she is quick to point out that people of any age can receive almost immediate benefits from a fitness program, citing studies of improvements in the health of seniors who started an appropriate program. Spotswood has very recently partnered with Truestar Health to add a new feature for Absolute members. Truestar specializes in what Spotswood describes as “a holistic approach to health and fitness, with nutrition, vitamins, sleep and exercise.” Fitness programs always work better when the participant has a goal in mind. The same is certainly true of a business plan; Spotswood articulates her goal as, “I want to keep growing and getting better at what we’re doing.” – PK JUNE 2006

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BUSINESS MONITOR ELECTION 2006

Shifting focus from tree to forest Part One of a two-part series on the changing political environment he Public Realm” – A phrase that seems to have passed out of existence, and yet which should be a fundamental underpinning of our economic prosperity. What is it? To define by making a list: it’s schools, museums, libraries, health care, roads, sidewalks, sewers, transit, police, fire and emergency services, waste management, environmental stewardship, parks, recreation, public spaces, recreation facilities, galleries, and the infrastructure that supports quasi facilities like malls, pubs, hotels, restaurants, and theatres. It’s all things regulated according to the public interest, those things that become connecting tissues for people living in communities, connecting connect our private worlds, one to the other, and connecting our generations, one to the other. They’re the glue that holds us together, that David Crombie determines in large measure, for each of us, what our opportunities and life chances will be. They are the bases for our economic prosperity, and the bases for our social peace.

T

CFIB Founder Honoured

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business honoured two of its founding members at the Home Hardware Spring Market in St. Jacobs. As part of CFIB’s 35th anniversary celebrations, Ontario vice-president, Judith Andrew (centre), made a presentation to Home Hardware president Walter Hachborn (left) and Paul Straus, Home Hardware vicepresident and CEO. “In 1971, when CFIB was founded, the economic landscape was dominated by big government, big business and big labour, with little or no thought given to the needs of the small business job creators,” said Andrew. “Because business owners like Walter Hachborn and Paul Straus saw the value of having an organization solely dedicated to representing the interests of small- and medium-sized businesses, that is no longer the case. These founding members have been joined over the years by over 100,000 other independent firms and made CFIB the big voice for small business.”

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The Public Realm reflects what is important to us, to most people of place and community. And place and community is the one area in which people get a sense of roots and a sense of identity. Wherever they’re from and wherever they go, it’s where you find the development of the human personality – who you are, who I am, where do I belong, how do I behave. The above statements formed the opening remarks by David Crombie in an address at Wilfrid Laurier University. Crombie currently is President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing solutions to important issues that have an impact on the quality of life in urban areas, and communicating those solutions to a wide audience through a variety of media. He’s also a former federal cabinet minister, and served as Mayor of Toronto. His talk was called “An Urban Agenda for the 21st Century”, a title he first apologized for, thinking it too grand for the audience of academics and a few journalists. Crombie believes the public has lost touch with the Public Realm. He considers it a “phrase out of existence”, and that the concept now, more than ever, requires “reinvention” and “enormous investment.” “We took it for granted for the last 20 year – you can’t take it for granted or you short-change the next generation.” He explains that federal budgets of the mid 1990s, eroded the Realm; “they did it by downloading the financial resources we would use.” The problem was not only the downloading that the federal government transferred to the provinces, but also the cut-back on the services the federal government directly provided to people. The domino effect followed, as provinces did exactly thesame thing to municipalities which were forced to cut services to community citizens. In the late 90’s local mayors often were heard complaining about the stresses it put on local services. Crombie refers to the process as a “hostile philosophy on the public realm. What it did, was diminish both the quantity and the quality of comprehensiveness of the public realm we normally depend on. We have to do two things: remind ourselves why the public realm is important; secondly, remind ourselves that no one else will do it, we have to figure out how to do it ourselves.” But it’s not going to be easy: “The world has always changed, and will continue to do so.” One development that has allowed the world to change dramatically are what Crombie refers to as city regions. They “have become the centre of economic growth around the world. And they’ve generated energy, both economically, and materially.” He stresses what he means by regions is something not clear to many people. “Regional cities, or city regions are different than municipalities. They are not the same thing. Regional cities are places that include many cities, towns and villages within their region; they have transportation systems, communications continued on page 52


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BUSINESS MONITOR

What makes a good leader? www.xquarterly.ca • Canadian economy grew by 0.2% in February 2006, bolstered by a rebound in utilities and strength in wholesale sales, finance and construction, but with a drop in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector and in manufacturing. • The 2005 growth rate in Canada's labour productivity is 2.2%, the strongest since 2000. • Non-tariff trade barriers, both interprovincial and international, are making Canada less competitive, according to a Conference Board report. • Statistics Canada states that Alberta and British Columbia increasingly dominated economic growth early in 2006. Two-thirds of the 101,000 jobs added in the first three months of the year were in these provinces, all in full-time jobs. BC's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 4.4%. • The booming economy in Alberta and BC exercised an increasing pull on population, with gains in the last 12 months of 2.9% in Alberta and 1.8% in BC. Ontario and Quebec both posted increases of 1.7%, while in the six smaller provinces, the overall gain was only 0.1%. • A National Recreational Property Report, which highlights activity in 40 major Canadian centres, found that older boomers are fueling unprecedented demand for recreational properties in 67% of markets surveyed during the first quarter of 2006. Teardown activity is rampant in most areas of the country, as baby boomers construct year-round lakeside dwellings. • The Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association rejected a proposal by the provincial government to allow the City of Toronto to implement a municipal liquor tax, and called on the government to revoke the proposal from Bill 53: Stronger City of Toronto for a Stronger Ontario Act. ORHMA President & CEO, Terry Mundell stated that "Bill 53 threatens the sustainability of the hospitality industry". • Manufacturers continued to struggle with sluggish demand and rising input costs. New orders trended down in March, and shipments followed suit after five months of modest gains. Losses in key export industries such as wood outweighed continued strong gains for investment goods, notably machinery and non-metallic minerals destined for the booming western provinces. • A record 547,000 Canadians travelled overseas in February, a 1.5% gain from January. • Same-day car travel from the US to Canada dropped to its lowest level on record in February, falling below 1.2 million for the first time ever. • Total estimated sales of the restaurants, caterers and taverns industry reached $2.9 billion in February, up 6.0% from a year ago. • Statistics Canada reports Canada's economy is undergoing rapid and profound changes, and not just between booming resources and construction and declines in some manufacturing industries. The energy sector is developing new sources, while manufacturing is being buoyed by the strength in resources and investment demand. All sectors have to deal with a shift in trade flows to Asia. The rising dollar raised widespread concerns about the erosion of our industrial base. Soaring energy prices recalled the economic slowdown triggered by the OPEC price hikes in the 1970s. The spread of avian flu to many parts of the world resonated strongly with Canadians.

Adapted commentary by Mark Gerzon, Author of “A House Divided” “OUR LEADERS ARE SO OUT OF TOUCH with ordinary people. Don’t they see that

they are just making matters worse? In the current conflict, each side is just turning the other side into demons. Why can’t anyone build bridges instead of building walls? Where is our Nelson Mandela? Where are the real leaders?” I hear these complaints about leadership in every country. The above comments are a synthesis of remarks I have heard in Brazil, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, and the US. I have heard similar laments second-hand in reports from the UK, Israel, Iraq, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya and many other countries. Humanity is experiencing a crisis of leadership. This is a reflection of an obsolete model of leadership that still dominates many cultural landscapes. It is an “us” versus “them” paradigm of leadership that reinforces the position of an enemy, or “Other.” The enemy may be domestic – an opposing party or ethnic group; foreign – another nation or “terrorists;” or both. The so-called leaders then divide the world in two: “Either you are with us — or you are against us.” The global crisis of leadership results from the obvious fact that this old paradigm works in a world separated by walls, but not in a world interconnected by networks and webs. Leaders get so absorbed in the conflict for power that they often just make matters worse. They not only do not build bridges, but often criticize those who do. Fortunately, new leaders are emerging throughout the world who know how to be bridge-builders. We can recognize them by the leadership tools they use: 1. Integral vision: Instead of running away from complexity, leaders commit themselves to holding all sides of the conflict; 2. Systemic thinking: Instead of demonizing one group, leaders recognize that everyone has created the problem, and everyone has to take responsibility for dealing with it; 3.Inquiry: Rather than speaking with the arrogance of “know-it-alls,” they ask questions and are willing to learn; 4. Dialogue: They do not speak to inflame, but to illumine — and truly know how to listen; 5. Bridging: When differences turn into disputes, these leaders build partnerships and alliances that cross divisive borders; 6. Innovation: These leaders catalyze the creativity of everyone, including their adversaries, so that constructive new ideas and options emerge. To assess leaders, ask yourself if they use these six tools. The worst leaders, whom I call Demagogues, despise these tools— and often punish anyone who tries to use them. Ordinary leaders, whom I call Managers, ignore these tools and try to profit from whatever the current situation (no matter how unjust) may be. But real leaders around the world are increasingly using precisely this toolbox.

VACANT PROPERTY TRANSFORMED

A 12.7 ACRE SITE at Erb Street and Father David Bauer Drive in Uptown Waterloo will be transformed into “a vibrant, urban community” including townhomes, apartments, a hotel, offices, retail/service amenities and a park. The site is the former location of Canada Barrels and Kegs (Canbar). The redevelopment is a project of Auburn Developments, of London, Ontario. The new development will be known as The BarrelYards. Auburn President Jamie Crich (left, with Chris Pidgeon of GSP Group Inc.) said, “In envisioning The BarrelYards, we wanted to create a neighbourhood that would work to further enhance Uptown Waterloo as a place to live, work and be entertained.” The site has been vacant since the late 1990s. The new “neighbourhood” will include ten “live/work” townhomes, which will provide opportunity for a small office, retail or service business on the ground floor with housing above, “similar to main streets of the past.” JUNE 2006

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