With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/394777
that ingrained spirit of passion for the customer. What's your vision for Ritchie Bros.? It's too early and premature for that— I'm not trying to duck the question. Ritchie has been a successful company. There's a lot of opportunity to continue to grow Ritchie and how specifi cally we do that will be the strategies the team and I will build on. There is a strate�y in place, so it will be an evolu- tion of that. Over the next six months, I'll come up with a plan. You're only the third CEO the com- pany has had in 56 years. What is your mandate? This is not—I emphasize not—a broken company. It's not about a turnaround or fi xing it. I think it's really more about taking the company to the next level. I'm the fi rst outside CEO to come in—and clearly, you look at things from a slightly diff erent lens. There is also a lot more competition than maybe 50 years ago when Ritchie Bros. was a pioneer in this industry. To me it's about accelerating sustainable, profi t- able growth. Business aside, how are you settling into Vancouver so far? I love the seawall. I try to walk along it at night after work—it's very peaceful. Vancouver is just a beautiful city. What I like here is the emphasis on outdoors and well-being. I am a vegetarian and I'm trying to reduce my carbs. It's not easy being vegetarian, but here in Van- couver I fi nd people don't look at you astonished when you asked for quinoa. Most restaurants have it. I also love the combination of the ocean and the mountains. It's a unique combination. You've lived and worked around the world, including India, the U.S., U.K., South Korea and Hong Kong. What's different about the way Canadians do business? When you live in a place, you are able to better appreciate the country and get a sense for the psyche. There is a tendency for people to view Canada as very much a place like the United States. While there are similarities, there are also a lot of diff erences. America is about individual liberties. Here it's about peace and good govern- ment. One of the things defi nitely that is really liked about the Canadian style of business is the kinder, gentler approach. But I'm not saying that it's not fi rm. What else is different? Canada is quite multicultural, which helps them in terms of looking at other parts of the world. At the end of the day, in any business, typically about 80 per cent of the drivers of the busi- ness are similar, regardless of which country, at least in the businesses I have been associated with. The key is to fi gure out what 20 per cent is diff er- ent—how customers are diff erent—and really understanding that. What are things that aff ect the fundamental driv- ers of the business? That is what a truly global executive really gets a good nose for and is able to sort out. That is what really allows you to bring scale. What's the best business advice you've ever received? When I was in South Korea [with SC Johnson], one of my direct reports said, "Look, Saligram… you're all about the superstars and you're always looking for those, but you're now running a company and not everyone is a superstar. A lot of people are average. Your job is to take average people and to help them become above average and bring the best out of them." I'll never forget that advice—which really, going into service businesses, helped me a lot. You really understand that the power is how to ignite the passion of hundreds of people across multi-unit businesses and get them aligned. • november 2014 BCBusiness 19 bCbUSIneSS.Ca 45,600+ consignments 334,350+ items 501,800+ 356 worldwide ritchie Bros. auctions in 2013 included the following: on-site & online bidders US$3.8B+ of equipment sold (total) US$1.4B of equipment sold to online buyers