On learning that life is an open-ended journey where fear is your compass. Anyone have a problem with that?

by David Holt

"You can't always get  what you want," Mick Jagger howled when I was young, "but sometimes you get what you need." In other words, don't deny what life can give. The good stuff takes planning, of course, and a little luck. The Progress Face to Face conference during the last weekend in May was like that. It was great to be back at an event I helped create so many years ago.

Driving to Digby Pines with photographer Sandor ("Don't Try This At Home") Fizli, I caught up on his latest passion, windsurfing, and the full-blown rescue effort last fall when he didn't return to the beach. Sandor fit right in at the show, which was one long conversation. There were other highlights too. First, golf with John Holden, my old pal from Maine; Gordon Hamilton, who has a camp near my old haunts on the Medway River, N.S.; and editor Pamela Scott Crace, who carried the team.

I moderated a panel with Dean Hartman, founder of Nubody's Fitness Centres, and Jim Gimian, publisher of Shambhala Sun magazine. Hartman is a classic hard-driving entrepreneur who discovered he had to develop his other side, reaching out for guidance that included executive coaching and meditation. Gimian, influenced by Buddhism and the ancient Chinese classic The Art of War, explained that the passion and will of the leader must be balanced by a growing ability to sense change.

Professional adventurer Bruce Kirkby is a laid-back guy who is forever young. His reality-TV show, No Opportunity Wasted, teaches people to overcome their deepest fears. Fear is a compass, he said: Too much and you become incapacitated; too little and you get careless. Great leaders create meaning, and so does struggle. On the other side, we are surrounded by "bozos" who tell us we must live cautious lives and not strike out on our own.

Colin MacDonald of Clearwater outlined the struggles his company has faced on its road to becoming one of the world's most innovative seafood outfits, including a recent reprivatization bid at a time when global lending had dried up. When he and his brother-in-law John Risley started out, he said, the fishing industry hadn't changed in 200 years, and they wanted to reduce their footprint on the ocean. He also said that you grow from the tough times. Challenges make you bigger. Fellow panelists Gordie Lavoie of Sunny Corner Enterprises and Sandra Greer of Amirix told how much their companies gained when they taught their supervisors how to engage their people. Moderator Jim Meek kept probing about meaning. Greer spoke of investing in R&D and providing technology for marine research in the context of the environment. "[People] have created a patch of plastic the size of Texas; check out Northpacificgyre.com," she said. "We need to stop littering the ocean."

Glen Hougan of NSCAD spoke of teaching by posing open-ended problems and asking open-ended questions. Getting down to it, jazz musician Mike Cowie led an improv session. "Be open and creative all the time," he said. "Creativity is a whole style of life." 

This is a world where everything happens in a split second, said Peter Conlon of Nautel, and yet sometimes innovation is something simple, like the shipping department's observation that something has to fit through a door. And the classic mantra of the entrepreneur: "If you believe hard enough, you can overcome the laws of physics."

In the afternoon I went down to the fitness centre and worked up a sweat with two CEOs and senior guys in marketing and communications, then went for a swim in the heated outdoor pool before dinner. Comedian Jay Malone put both Nova Scotia and Los Angeles in their place and made fun of his relatives and the art of business. At supper I sat with impresarios Brookes and Fiona Diamond, Dale Knox of Tabufile, and Peter Conlon. We solved many of the world's problems.

Offshore-supply-vessel magnate Fred Smithers "doesn't have a trace of pessimism in his soul," said Jim Meek the next morning. "He is never about yesterday, but about today and tomorrow." Smithers was most proud of having the youngest captains in his industry and of having women in the most senior positions. "I never had a problem giving people big responsibility and trusting them," he said.

Chris Keevil and Carman Pirie of Colour led an "open-space session to harvest the conversations" that had started throughout the entire conference. I had gone through this before at other events but didn't know how well it would go down here. Well, you couldn't stop these chats on a variety of themes that had emerged from the event. The ideas and passion were flowing.

Then the performers from DRUM! showed up and taught us how to keep the beat in four different cultures: Mi'kmaq, Acadian, Celtic, and African. For the mind to learn, the body must get involved. See you next year.

David Holt is a writer and consultant on strategy and communications. He can be reached at dholt@eastlink.ca.