BCBusiness

70 BCBusiness dECEMBER/JAnuARy 2018 illusTRATiOn: TOniA COwAn S aul Klein can't help repeating himself this lunchtime. Just into his second ve-year term as dean of UVic's Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, he's talking about myriad in- ternational tenures over the past four decades and how they propelled him to his current pivotal role. Whether he calls it social justice, social conscious- ness or social purpose, Klein is evangelical about instilling that ethos in students and companies. He comes by his passion for this "di‚erent view of a business school" honestly. Soon after Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, Klein spent ve years teaching business in Johannesburg ("phenomenally interesting place to be, although it bordered on an- archy") in the 1990s, following a two-year stint in "authoritarian- controlled" Singapore. Then there were formative years in his native Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. "It was such a privileged life but also one that was screwy," the 59-year-old recalls of the troubled country, which he left at 17 to study economics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and avoid conscription into its national army. "I took away from it a broader sense of social justice cre- ating a society that has more opportunity, that's more equal, and that's why Canada is such a great place to be." With its place in this social purpose narrative and its unusual international lens, UVic was a nat- ural t for him to join as a professor of internation- al business in 2001, the Oak Bay resident explains. (Compared to the national average of 3 per cent, he notes proudly, the business school sends 80 per cent of its undergraduates to study abroad.) He and his American wife, Susie, a speech lan- guage pathologist whom he met at a conference in Spain, also wanted to return to North America with their son, Zak, who now studies political sci- ence at UVic. Klein has an MBA and a PhD in mar- keting and international business from the Uni- versity of Toronto, and during the 1980s he taught business at Boston's Northeastern University and Wake Forest University in North Carolina. "We all want our graduates to be nancially successful, but that's not the ultimate measure of success," he says between bites of tuna salad at Yew Seafood + Bar at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Vancouver. Short-term prot maxi- mization can lead to "undesirable social conse- quences" such as greater inequality, which can be a breeding ground for protec- tionism, he adds. Klein suggests that B.C. busi- nesses need to guard against such leanings, citing the current U.S. ad- ministration and Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Diver- sity is the province's strength, he avers. "B.C. is a trading economy— we've been a magnet for migration, which has been a wonderful advan- tage," Klein says. "It's important that we know how to operate in a global world—that we're selling internationally, dealing with diverse multicultural workforces and a social purpose around that global vision. Business has to be part of the solution." For Klein, part of the solution includes serv- ing on the board of the National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development (Canada), where he says UVic acts as a "neutral zone" to build connections between First Nations, busi- ness and government and helps with entrepre- neurial training in Haida Gwaii, among other areas of the province. At the university—which made the Financial Times' top 95 master of management programs in September—he also launched the Gustavson Brand Trust Index. Published annually since 2015, the index can- vasses more than 6,500 Canadian consumers on how much they trust nearly 300 companies, highlighting the importance of community en- gagement and corporate social responsibility. "We're trying to show that there doesn't have to be a trade-o‚, that doing well and doing good are aligned," Klein says. ¦ A Higher Purpose For uVic business school dean saul klein, there's no contradiction between doing well and doing good in the world ex–Vancouver canuck Willie mitchell swaps skates for spreadsheets to manage his Tofino resort by Lucy Hyslop Three Things aboUT… saUl klein NEXT moNTH lUNCH WITH lUCY 1. having checked off more than 70 countries (including india five times), he's on the road every month working with international partners. "i like the experience of trying different things." 2. his migration lineage is long: his grandfather left lithuania for several years to train horses for the british army in southwest africa during the boer War, and his father quit the then–Soviet European country for Rhodesia at the beginning of the Second World War. "he had wanted to go to South africa, but they had quotas on Jewish migration," Klein says. 3. Klein has long been addicted to the works of indian authors such as V.S. Naipaul and arundhati Roy. "Perhaps there's an ex-colonial piece to why i'm fascinated–there are similar experiences," he observes. x 5

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