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In the last issue a male reader wrote, “So much for progress at Progress!” Irked that the Entrepreneur of the Year edition was dominated by men, he suggested that someone should aim the spotlight on Atlantic Canadian businesswomen.
That brings me to Prince Edward Island, where I discovered women entrepreneurs doing it for themselves at the seventh annual PEIBWA 2007 Women in Business Symposium. Although the one-day conference—which attracted entrepreneurs, professionals, and up-and-comers of all ages—was aimed at women, the success stories and inspiration are universal themes.
The opening keynote speech was delivered by Karen Salmansohn, the Manhattan–based career therapist and author of such quirky empowerment books as How to be Happy, Dammit for, as she puts it, people who would never be caught dead reading self-help books.
The 150 or so elegantly attired guests enjoyed Salmansohn’s feisty riffs on the payoffs of honing one’s intuition, or gut instinct. As she points out, good gut skills are fast, disciplined skills. In the flat world, speed rules. But here’s the challenge: You really have to slow down in order to think at the highest level.
A few more word of wisdom: Don’t over-think. Get out of your own way. Do nothing, and everything will be accomplished. Sounds easy, right? Try living that way every day. Try unflagging optimism at all times. Salmansohn does, and that’s why she is able to successfully motivate her clients with these deceptively simple prescriptives that are largely about self-awareness. Productivity, effectiveness, and balance are the end game. Oh, and happiness.
So, about this issue. In our cover story, Jim Meek examines a perfect storm of
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scientific, environmental, industrial, and policy agendas that are obscuring the need for progress on protecting the ocean’s fragile ecosystems. Have we not learned anything from all the time that has been wasted while the world debates climate change?
We also have the annual AIMS High School Report Card. In Canada we face well-documented challenges in literacy and a related prosperity gap. But it can be addressed by improved outcomes in education and a proactive business community that sees education reform as its own issue. As one of our features observes, private education is booming and will probably continue to do so, but that doesn’t mean we can shirk our responsibilities of ensuring a top-notch public system that fosters entrepreneurial imagination.
Starting on page 65, you can read what’s on the minds of some of those 17- and 18-year-old students as they survey the landscape of opportunity around this region. Their suggestions to business leaders: Teach kids how to create jobs, not just apply for them; and don’t just talk to your customers, talk to your community.
Which brings me to a new feature we’re calling “Young & Fearless,” beginning on page 49. It offers a glimpse of the zeitgeist that characterizes the next generation of entrepreneurs. It’s amazing how much their philosophies jive with the panel discussion I moderated in Charlottetown about rising to the top of one’s game. The three talented women—Susan Margles, Mary-Lynn Kane, and the Hon. Marion Reid—simply held up a mirror to an audience that wanted to know what success looks like. Because they already know, and so do you: Work to live, delegate what you suck at, and your biggest return accrues from family and friends. Go get ’em. |
