My name is Richard Eaton and I lead a management consulting firm called Berlineaton We are based in Victoria and have been in business for almost 20 years We deliver organizational effectiveness services to a wide variety of clients across Canada in the public, non-profit and private – including technology - sectors Stephen Covey once said’ begin with the end in mind’ so, in case I’m struck by lightening or something during this presentation, I wanted to share what I think is the reason for our success from the beginning: Be Bold 1
I came by my convictions honestly, starting off as a kid growing up in North Vancouver way back when Bryan Adams played at our school dances with Nick Lowe in Sweeney Todd, and you could not get a latte in Deep Cove. I have always had a taste for adventure and, teaming up with a few committed like minded individuals i.e, fanatics, we cliff jumped in the Capilano and Seymour rives, fished from log booms and barges that we accessed through makeshift rafts, and traversed much of the north shore watershed on foot and by bike. I call this type of activity adventure fanaticism. Of course, we always made it home for dinner by the time the street lights came on. 2
I came by my convictions honestly, starting off as a kid growing up in North Vancouver way back when Bryan Adams played at our school dances with Nick Lowe in Sweeney Todd, and you could not get a latte in Deep Cove. I have always had a taste for adventure and, teaming up with a few committed like minded individuals i.e, fanatics, we cliff jumped in the Capilano and Seymour rives, fished from log booms and barges that we accessed through makeshift rafts, and traversed much of the north shore watershed on foot and by bike. I call this type of activity adventure fanaticism. Of course, we always made it home for dinner by the time the street lights came on. 3
I eventually developed an interest in the military and eventually joined the Canadian forces with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, right here in Vancouver. I completed infantry officer training at the combat training centre in New Brunswick, parachute training in Edmonton and arctic warfare training in Yellowknife. But I soon grew bored with the Canadian Forces, gawd bless ‘em all, and when I was 20 years old bought a one way place ticket to London and joined the toughest infantry regiment in the world, the Parachute Regiment. 4
The Paras, as they are known, introduced me to a whole new level of adventure fanaticism. There I became part of a compelling story of bravery, endurance and self-sacrifice almost unequalled in any military organization anywhere. However, I soon discovered that the price of admission was high. Over 70% of those who try, fail to achieve their extremely high standards of fitness, personal excellence and leadership. After leaving a nice warm aircraft by Parachute, we regularly covered distances of from 20 to 50 miles on foot, usually over a mountain range of some kind, carrying loads of weapons and equipment that topped 100lbs. We were expected to be fit to fight and win at the end of that ordeal along with whoever had made it. This suited me perfectly, and I discovered that I had finally found my adventure fanatic tribe. 5
But then, after a few years, I got a little bored with that and took an opportunity to serve on attachment with the Royal Marines Commando. I attended and passed their Commando Course, which could be described as a ‘full immersion’ experience in a variety of ways. In addition to the 30 mile Yomps, or battle marches, I was introduced to a whole new level of water induced miseries that I found novel. Like the Paras, the Royal Marines follow a prescription for victory in battle - written in blood – maintained since WW2. They employ the same tests now that they used to select the brigades that contributed so much to victory in WW2 and since then. 6
But for me it was always about the soldiers and marines. They had been selected according to very high standards and, no surprise, the more you listened to them and included their ideas in your plans, the more likely you were to be successful. When ‘doing better’ means that no one gets killed or wounded, you get pretty good at listening to the ideas of others. I served several tours in Northern Ireland during the terrorist war there. As an operations officer for a company of up to 200 soldiers it became apparent to me that we always did better when we listened to soldiers like these, most of whom were under the age of 25 by the way. 7
After 8 or 9 years I got bored again - anyone see a pattern appearing here - and, at the ripe old age of 28 years, I decided to make the leap back to Canada to finish my degree and get a civvie job. I had enjoyed the army enormously, but I had done a lot of the things I’ve always wanted to do, and the money was not great, so it was a relatively easy decision. Through Simon Fraser’s coop program I got a job with the Provincial government in Victoria where I stayed for three years. Then I got bored (again) and leaped at a chance to join a start up management consulting company working in the forest industry in northern BC. 8
There I learned my consulting craft on the job. For about a year I worked in sawmills and pulpmills, facilitating teams of staff to create huge improvements in production, quality, safety and service processes. I loved this job. I was amazed at how even small changes in process and human behaviours could realize significant improvements in overall business performance Everything was interesting, the people we worked with were talented and committed and we had a huge amount of support from leaders at all levels. And there was enough dangerous stuff around to keep me interested, you know, like giant saws and poisonous gasses. 9
But once again I found out that it was all about the people. It was wonderful to discover that some of the best business minds existed right there on the shop floor and, with the right approach, could do amazing things to lead improvements of all kinds. This time the adventure wasn’t so much about outdoor pursuits or defeating a highly effective terrorist organization, it was about working together with your own tribe of ‘adventure fanatics’ to save the world through continuously improving your business effectiveness. 10
My partner Shelly and I liked doing this so much we moved to Victoria and started our own company in 1996, and have been hard at it ever since. We have worked with thousands of people in hundreds of organizations to help them take an honest look at how they are doing and work to improve it along with their own teams of ‘adventure fanatics’. The keys to success here are not a mystery: 1) a shared problem that everyone agrees must be fixed, 2) inspiring and empowering leaders who know that engaging everyone in the process is critical for success and 3) the time and resources required to do a good job and make sure that the project isn’t just another flash in the pan. 11
A good example - Last year we were privileged to be asked to help Alberta recover form the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history: the summer of angry rivers in southern Alberta. This flood event caused more than $5 billion in damage, resulted in the deaths of four people and made thousands of others homeless. As a result of the damage, Alberta Environment realized that thousands of people would need rapid approval from government to do the work required on the land base to recover from the floods. The processes they had at the time were not – forgive the pun – streamlined enough to meet that demand. They were smart enough to realize that, but needed help to quickly rally their teams around finding a solution. Fortunately, the regional director in Southern Alberta had worked with us before and sought us out to give him a hand. So off we went on our big adventure to Calgary in 12
July of 2013… 12
Over the course of 6 weeks we worked with teams of Alberta Environment staff to map out their current processes and speed them up, while still staying legal. Winston Churchill once said that a fanatic is ‘one that will not change his mind and can not change the subject’. And these folks fit that definition perfectly. All of them were 100% personally and professionally invested in resolving this problem. This was an intense, exhausting effort that resulted in the reduction in application turnaround times by – in some cases – months. The results were fantastic. They more than tripled their production levels and cut turnaround times by months in some cases. As a result of their work, last June the team earned a national award for Innovation, about which we are justly proud. 13
More recently I’ve been working with my own little group of adventure fanatics. Here’s a shot of my daughter Katie, 8, belaying my son Tommy, 6, as they send those routes at the Boulders Climbing gym at Stelly’s school in Central Saanich. Needless to say, these little folks have helped me reconnect with my inner ‘adventure fanatic’, and have taken me back to the good old days of bushwhacking in Deep Cove. And their gift to me has been to give me a great excuse to get back into climbing myself. This experience with my kids has brought home to me some of the simpler reasons behind why people get engaged in things. If you are excited and interested in something, they will be too. 14
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