Brett Wilson

Ask the Legends: Brett Wilson

The Saskatchewan-born “capitalist with a heart” speaks with PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth philanthropy, networking and raising the profile of Canadian entrepreneurship.

By Ian Portsmouth, October 12, 2010

BRETT WILSON chairman
Prairie Merchant Corp., Calgary

Early in your career, you failed a management-aptitude test at Imperial Oil. What did that experience teach you about yourself?
It discouraged me at the time, because I believed I was on the management track at Esso. Part of my decision to go back to school [to pursue an MBA] was made on the basis of failing that test. They told me that I would be a great technical expert but that I wouldn’t fit the mould of the management track. It took me a long time to realize that all it really meant was that I wasn’t going to fit into a large, bureaucratic, monolithic, highly structured company.

The Prairie Merchant porfolio includes a wide range of businesses, from sports franchises to energy firms. How do you select your investments?
A lot depends on what upside I’m seeing. I have a really dirty rule of thumb that says if I think I can see double or triple [growth] over a three- to five-year period with an investment, I’m willing to risk losing that money. But if I’m getting an 8% return with a possible coupon or a possible kicker, I’m going to want that thing secured six ways to Sunday.

What do you look for when you’re listening to a pitch from an entrepreneur?
People pitching tend to feel they have to provide a smart answer to every question. I’m really comfortable if someone says, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” Sometimes, you get these half-baked answers from people who think they have to give an answer because they’re on TV or under the scrutiny of pitching a deal; they’ll give an answer you know isn’t quite right. You can sense that fairly quickly. I often ask questions with an idea of what the answer will be in mind. If I don’t get a good answer, they lose credibility.

You encourage entrepreneurs to view corporate social responsibility as an opportunity, not an obligation. Why?
I start with the premise that my charitable-giving program is about investing rather than giving it away. At FirstEnergy, we decided to use charity and community involvement to build our brand. We chose a 2.5% pretax profit threshold [to donate] and used it as our marketing budget. I can tell you, in the years I was running the firm—and I suspect it’s still true—there wasn’t a single request for funds from a client or staff member that went unheeded. We didn’t always give what they wanted, but we always gave them something. We respected that it was a branding and marketing opportunity that we could use to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. That was our thesis, and it proved to be true.

Do you personally find it difficult to say no to charities?
I tend to work with a cause, do what I can to help raise awareness and money, and then—this may sound harsh—abandon it. I move on, and hopefully I’ve left the charity working at a slightly higher plateau than where it was when I joined it. If they ask me to do it again, I’ll say, “I did what I could for you, and now I’m going to try to help someone else.” I’m a bit of a serial philanthropist.

How has joining the cast of Dragons’ Den changed life for you?
The whole concept of celebrity is somewhat new to me. I had a reasonably high profile in the Canadian business community before through the Young Presidents’ Organization and in Alberta and Saskatchewan through some of my charitable and business undertakings. But at a national level, I never dreamed of having recognition. I was sitting on an airplane the other day, and a woman carrying an eight-month-old baby and a two-and-a-half-year-old stopped. The woman turned to her child and said, “Hey, Robbie, it’s your favourite Dragon!” And I ended up giving a two-and-a-half-year-old a high-five. That wouldn’t have happened before. Ten minutes later, I turned to my partner, who was sitting with me, and said, “Did I really just high-five a two-and-a-half-year-old who loves my show?” “Yeah.” So, that was kind of a cool moment.

What do you get out of being on the program?
I’m the only Dragon who doesn’t have a brand to build around my business. Kevin O’Leary has mutual funds, Robert Herjavec has his Internet security company, Arlene Dickinson has her marketing business and Jim Treliving—well, if you don’t know he’s associated with Boston Pizza by now, you haven’t watched any of the shows. They’ve done a fabulous job of branding. But I’m the Dragon who doesn’t really want any calls. I don’t have a business that requires any kind of public persona or brand. So, I’m building this brand, and you might ask, “For what purpose?”
The real opportunity is to celebrate entrepreneurship. I’m doing what I can, in the academic world and the real world, to separate the idea of “small business” from “entrepreneurship.” Sometimes governments and academia tend to pigeonhole entrepreneurship; they say, “It’s just a little business; it’s not that important.” It’s not just something you do when you get fired and are out of a job; it’s a way of thinking. Dragons’ Den allows us to celebrate, respect and encourage entrepreneurship.

How did the experience of having cancer change you for the better?
We in the business world get pretty caught up in creating the next deal or chasing the next dollar. I admit I was part of that.
There are many reasons to acknowledge that the pace I was running at might have taken me down if cancer hadn’t. Cancer was the wake-up call, the stop button, the brakes—whatever you want to call it—that really gave me reason to reassess that pace.

Do you bring new values to the table in business now?
If you think that making another dollar is the only reason to be in business, you’re not the sort of person I really want to be in business with. There’s a sacrifice required to be successful in business, but that sacrifice shouldn’t be permanent, it shouldn’t be structural and it shouldn’t be at the expense of your family. And it often is.

You have three kids who are now grown. What can entrepreneurs do to ensure that their kids develop a sense of self-sufficiency despite their parents’ ability to satisfy their every whim?
I feel passionately about this. I think kids can get infected by what one of my friends calls “affluenza.” It’s an entitlement attitude; it takes away drive and motivation.
The whole concept of intergenerational wealth transfer needs to be addressed in a big way. I appear to be rich, but my children aren’t. I’ve been open with my kids. I’ve said, “My plans are to give away my entire portfolio, and that doesn’t really leave you with

much. You’re going to live a good life while I’m alive, and there might be something for you, but there won’t be enough for you to live off.”
My kids were given a little bit of money, in the context of the wealth we enjoy. And, with that little bit of money, we gave them great responsibility. We’ve managed to mitigate the expectation that the lifestyle of the rich and famous is available just by showing up.

How did your experience with a peer mentoring organization [the Young Presidents’ Organization] help you as a businessperson?
In many, many ways. There are several benefits. One is education. Two is networking. Sometimes, there’s a negative connotation associated with networking. But the people I know I can rely on and count on as friends, thanks to the Young Presidents’ Organization, are generally only one or two calls away from anyone I’d ever want to reach, and they’re incredible influencers in their own right. The amount of money that goes back and forth between businesses that I know in that network is incredible. And charitable requests—I can’t say no to any of them, because they come from people who have given to me without asking two questions. It’s just the way the world works. That network has proven to be invaluable.

Why do you think so many entrepreneurs don’t take advantage of the peer-mentoring opportunity?
I love the reasons people give for turning down joining these organizations. They say they’re too busy or can’t afford it.
I always say, somewhat facetiously, “Don’t worry, once you join, you won’t be busy, because none of the other people in the organization are busy. They’re just running companies like you.” I’m a pretty big proponent of these organizations. They provide a forum; you can get in a small group and discuss everything from family issues with a parent to intergenerational wealth transfer to appropriate compensation in a down market for senior employees. There is a wide range of things you can discuss with group members, because these people are living the same life you are. I certainly acknowledge that they take time, but anything worthwhile is going to take time. It’s a matter of setting priorities.

What do you consider to be the attribute that makes you most successful?
My willingness to bet on people. I’m not always right, but, more times than not, it’s people who solve a problem, not assets. I’ve often said that really great assets with a bad manager are of no interest to me, but a great manager with questionable assets? That’s something to work with.