Words of Wisdom from Jimmy Pattison

Last night I attended an Entrepreneur Toastmasters session at the Terminal City Club in downtown Vancouver. The special guest was no other than the venerable Jimmy Pattison. He agreed to do a Q&A session and I feverishly took notes!

Here are some interesting things he said:

• "I never hire people who put money first. You should do what you have passion for and then money will come naturally."


• "The most important requirement of any employee is people skills."


• "I don't believe in luck, I believe in timing. And the harder you work, the more opportunities you have."


• Question: The Jim Pattison Group is involved with a variety of industries, including manufacturing. Why isn't there more manufacturing in Canada? Answer: "Two reasons: Innovation and productivity, of which we're very short on both."

Here are some other things he mentioned:

• He (and his staff) have started 56 companies from scratch and 2/3rds of them have failed.


• The key point in time for success/failure of a company is 21 months. No one is really sure why but this number seems to recur time after time.


• Former BC Premier and now long time Pattison employee, Glen Clark, was just down in Bentonville, AK talking with Wal Mart about going green.

Listening to Pattison talking about issues which are of extreme importance to the future success of our province was an enthralling experience for me!

Update: You can view more photos and videos here.