Erin Blaskie Pre-Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase
To say that my heart didn’t stop at least five times last week would be a lie. It was one of those weeks that left me pinching myself to see if it really was real.
It all started last Wednesday when I was sitting at home watching “Dragon’s Den” on CBC… taking plenty of notes as I always do.
(Side note: If you aren’t familiar with “Dragon’s Den“, it is a Canadian based show where five venture capitalists / investors listen to short pitches from entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur can pitch a product, service, etc. and the five investors have the opportunity to make a deal with them or say, “I’m out” and have the entrepreneur go their own way.)
Being my normal social media self, I sat watching them thinking, “Hmm… I wonder if any of the Dragons are on Twitter.” Sure enough, four of the five of them were. As I added them to my “follow” list, I peeked at their Tweets to see how often they were Tweeting.
It turned out that W. Brett Wilson had just Tweeted about wrapping up his presentation for the Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase – an event here in Ottawa. The organizers of the event even managed to wrangle Donald Trump to come and share the stage with the others.
In any case, after Tweeting Brett to find out if the event was suitable for online entrepreneurs, he graciously offered two VIP tickets for the event and I gladly accepted. Let’s just be honest… when one of your business idols offers you tickets to see him speak (amongst other inspiring individuals) you don’t say no. Regardless of whatever else you’ve got going on.
Thursday, Trina and I headed to the event and after picking up our tickets, found our way to our fifth row seats.
The first speaker was Terry Matthews (extremely successful businessman who came over from UK many, many years ago and is now the chairman of Mitel and the owner of the Brookstreet Hotel & Spa amongst other notables) and he shared with us many amazing insights.
One of my favorite moments was when Terry quoted Charles Darwin on the idea that it is not the best who ride through change the easiest but those who are willing to adapt. Rock on Darwin, rock on.
Terry Matthews at the Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase
Terry also talked a lot about promoting the hiring of young people into companies as they have zero baggage and razor sharp focus. He said too many companies think age equals experience and therefore promotes a better employee but companies really should be investing in the next generation. One of the other things he said was that persistance was the single most important word to success.
Following Terry was the man I came to see speak — W. Brett Wilson.
W. Brett Wilson Speaking from the Heart at the Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase
Brett shared with us a candid, insightful, inspiring and touching view into how a success is born out of many failures and many learning lessons. He talked a lot about priorities and how you need to balance them all of the time. Brett is an avid philanthropist and he said that no act of charity is too small — the key is to be a leader in philanthropy. One of the last things I jotted down was, “Success, when only defined by wealth, is shallow and superficial.”
W. Brett Wilson Receives Standing Ovation at the Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase
Brett was also one of the speakers to receive a standing ovation and even brought tears to people’s eyes as he recounted a story about his young daughter giving him an eye-opening reality check when she was under the age of five. His honesty about his life was refreshing.
Another one of my favorite speakers of the day was Dr. Linda Duxbury. Dr. Duxbury was speaking about investing in our human capital and focusing your attention inward just as much as you focus it out. Dr. Linda Duxbury said, “The reality is, you can’t operate any longer focusing on money being your biggest focus. Your teams need to be.” Companies are often so concerned with pleasing their clients that they forget to take care of their inner team.
With our “revolution in fertility”, we are going to be running up against massive work shortages and companies can not afford to lose employees and talent. Dr. Duxbury was commenting on how we are not pro-creating like we used to and had we continued the pro-creation effects of the baby boom, we would not be in this situation but because we are, things have to change. Younger people need to be invested in and brought into companies BUT they do not want to be dumped on the way the older generations were. In reality, the younger generations don’t want to be the older generations.
All in all, she was a funny and insightful speaker that brought out many laughs but also made me nod my head furiously and sit back in contemplation when she presented concepts I had not thought of. All of the elements of a riveting speech.
Lastly, the main event… Donald Trump took the stage. The Donald is just as much “The Donald” you expect. He commands the stage and has a presence like no other. Yet, at the same time, he seems very down to earth and spoke in a light, humorous, witty yet captivating way. Very inspiring to see him talk about his business ventures.
Donald Trump Takes the Stage at the Eastern Ontario Economic Showcase
His talk focused around the idea of success and he provided the audience with a list of the ingredients of the success formula. They are:
- How You Handle Pressure
- Love What You Do & Know Your Subject
- Have an Inability to Quit – Persistance
- Focus
- Passion
- Trusting Your Instincts
- Hire the Best People… But Don’t Trust Them (here’s where, admittedly, he lost me but it’s okay… it was humorous!)
- Get Even (again… lost on me!)
- Always Have a Pre-Nuptial Agreement
- To Be a Winner, You Have to Think Like a Winner
So, I may not agree with all of the success formula… but, there are some valid points in there.
Here is a video that my friend @scobes sent me:
All in all, a great event showcasing Eastern Ontario’s finest and allowing us the opportunity to be inspired by some really amazing business owners. Congratulations to the event organizers for putting on an amazing event and one that I will definitely be looking for in the future.
