Spilling The Means
Conversations about Inspiring Biographies.
Spilling The Means
EP2 The Commander: The Life and Times of Harry Steele
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
How Harry Steele Built a Newfoundland Empire at 49 | Spilling the Means
Is it ever too late to build an empire? On our premiere episode of Spilling the Means, hosts Gerry Carew and Wayne Howlett dive into the fascinating biography of Newfoundland business legend Harry Steele: The Commander.
From growing up in isolated Musgrave Harbour to mortgaging his house at age 45 to buy a failing airline, Harry Steele’s journey is a masterclass in risk, leadership, and recognizing value where others see a lost cause. We discuss his turnaround of Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA), the incredible business mind of his wife Catherine Steele, his unlikely friendship with Craig Dobin, and the controversial reason he preferred not to hire golfers!
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a history buff, or just looking for some serious motivation, this episode is packed with lessons on how to build, scale, and lead.
A huge thank you to our sponsor, Biblio Gifting! Move beyond generic corporate gifts with curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read. Perfect for personalized marketing with real social impact. Check them out: https://www.bibliogifting.com/
👇 Navigate the Episode:
Don't forget to like, subscribe, and let us know in the comments: what was your biggest takeaway from The Commander's story?
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro & Sponsor (Biblio Gifting)
0:46 - Welcome & Introducing "The Commander" Biography
1:31 - Harry Steele’s Superpower: Recognizing Value
4:16 - Starting an Empire at Age 49
6:47 - Early Mentorship: "I Sold for Cash" vs. "I Sold for Credit"
8:36 - Military Lessons: Secrecy, Listening, & Leadership
13:00 - The Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) Turnaround
19:33 - Banning Smoking on Planes to Cut Costs
23:21 - Risking It All: Mortgaging the House at 45
28:06 - The EPA Pilot Strike & Management Style
32:34 - Expanding the Empire: Clarke Transport & Halterm
34:32 - The Media Play: Newspapers, Radio, & Conrad Black
39:07 - Catherine Steele: The Driving Force Behind the Albatross Hotel
44:36 - Craig Dobbin: A Friendship of Polar Opposites
49:19 - Fishing Lodges, Work Ethic, & Why He Didn't Hire Golfers
55:44 - Harry the Man: Kinetic Energy & Final Thoughts
1:01:27 - Sponsor Shoutout (Biblio Gifting) & Outro
Filling the memes.
SPEAKER_01Conversations around inspiring biographies. Big thank you to our sponsor, Biblio Gifting. If you want to move beyond generic corporate gifts, Biblio Gifting offers curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read. From starter to strategic packages, it's about personalized marketing with a real social impact. Check them out to be an early adopter. Well, folks, welcome back to Spilling the Means. I'm Jerry Carew, and I'm with my good friend from business school, Wayne Howlett. We are embarking on a journey, as we said in an introductory video, to investigate and talk about and have conversations about inspiring biographies. The very first biography is The Commander, The Life and Times of Harry Steele. And I know Alan Alan, I'm going to do that a lot. Wayne, what we've been doing, you know, back and forth talking about this book has been really exciting for me. I guess let's just start it off by saying, you know, your overall impressions of what we're embarking on, and then we'll highlight some of the things in the book.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely, Jerry. And you're right. It's been a wonderful read. And I guess our mandate is to share the lessons that we got out of that biography. And I think when you look at someone like uh like Harry Steele, the commander that we're doing today, um, you you think about him as an accomplished businessman, but when you look at, and he certainly very much was, but when you look at um, you know, what what his likes and focuses were, his love was the stock market. He loved absorbing information. Uh, like any good leader, all good leaders do. They absorb, right? They they spend 75% time listening, 25% talking and portraying their ideas and comments. So I think he was a master at that. And by the admission of his, you know, the quotes in the book from his son, from the authors, from his friends, co-workers, uh, colleagues, they all said about him his greatest strength was recognizing value. And that is the key of his whole entrepreneurial life. I think is his ability to recognize value in the company. He recognized uh the value of shares. He could foresee uh almost in a bro and pro in that in in uh lost a word, but he could almost project uh you know what share value was going to do in the company. He knew when it was underperforming, a management issue. Uh he could see value. He knew if we got buy low, turn it around, sell high. That's what he was really good at. And uh and and Newfoundland Capital Corporation had a number of different businesses within it. And we're going to talk today about his time with EPA, and I know that's an era that you like mostly of the book, um, was his time with uh Eastern Provincial Airlines. And that was one of the probably the only business he was hands-on operator, um, versus every other business that he was into, where he was more of an investor, you know, left it to the people that were good at what they did, managed the companies he oversaw it, but never actually got in hands-on management of the company like he did at EPA. So he was a value, um recognized uh you know, he recognized the value in corporations. He knew when to buy uh and when to get out, when to sell, how to build them. Uh so it's just a range of of uh interesting topics there for me, uh, versus unlike you know, somebody who actually starts a business line and sticks with that and builds that into a fortune. Uh Harry Steele was very much of more so looking at value rather than industry or business. He he looked at the value of something and how to make it turn it around and sell it high.
SPEAKER_01I agree with you, Wayne. And you know, like the very first tab, so I did offline in tabs, and I know you you did a notepad, but what's interesting, the very first one is 49. Tell us what it means to you to read a book about a guy who really started his empire when he was 49 years old.
SPEAKER_02I thought it was fascinating. You know, one of the things, and it's certainly encouraging when you're 49 plus like we are, um, and you still want to do things in in terms of entrepreneurship, Jerry. But I think one of the great uh lines I would like to challenge was by Joey Smallwood, then Premier Joseph Smallwood, who said, uh, I never seen anybody come so far so fast of Harry Steel when he was developing his business. Uh I think your camera dropped there, Jerry.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, no, I got the book.
SPEAKER_02I put it on intentionally. Okay. Um, so in that realm, because for me it started in 1929 when he was born and and raised through the Great Depression in the in the community of Musgrave Harbor, which by then was accessible only by boat or by walking um several miles to get into that community. So I think that's where the formation of his discipline, of his tenacity, of his strength, of his determination was really started to be, was really born in Musgrave Harbor. And as he progressed out of there, going to Deer Lake to work on the highways, road construction, thereby reading about uh you could get a $300 voucher from the government to go to Memorial University if you would become a school teacher. He went to the he moved he went to Memorial University, got that teaching certificate, but never taught. Uh, immediately joined the Navy after attaining that that uh certification. So all of that began to build what he did at the age of 49. His multi two plus decades in the Navy. There's where he learned teamwork, there's where he learned how to delegate, there's where he learned the importance of quiet, strong servant leadership. And that's one of the pieces that many people I find that I interact with don't understand. Leadership is not one facet, it's multifaceted, it's multi-dimensional. Leadership can be on the fly in one day, at corporate level or an entrepreneurship, running your own company, it doesn't matter. One moment you're a servant leader, the next the next time, uh, you know, within the next hour, you're a disciplinary leader. Um, you're a quiet leader, you're a loud leader. There's so many different styles of leadership. And in one day, you can you can have to to draw on all of those different styles on the fly. That's what leadership is about, and and that's what Harry Steele was about.
SPEAKER_01Well, let's go back, Wayne, to mention Musgrave Harbor. And uh uh, as you're talking there, I'm gonna rate something. And I know you and I talked about this. In Musgrave Harbor, there was only one place to buy things: a store run by T.W. Abbott. The shop owner, uh, the shop owner fascinated the young Harry Steele. Here was someone who didn't have to fish or cut wood to make a living. I wrote down mentor. So in my book, when I write, I have a pencil in my hand and I write the words that really impress me. Mentor. The entrepreneur that my father encountered as a young boy that led him toward the business side was a gentleman known as T.W. Abbott, says uh Peter Steele. And the last thing I'll say on that, and I know this is going to resonate with you, is the picture behind the cash register. Behind the cash register of T.W. Abbott's store in Musgrave Harbor was a frame photograph showing two men, one smiling, the other frowning. Underneath the smiling man were the words, I sold for cash. Written below the frowning face, I sold for credit.
SPEAKER_02Isn't that something? It is, and you know, it's I'm glad you brought that up because that was a section that I think I went back and read three times because I really got uh you know the meaning and the lesson from from the highlighting that that um picture on the wall and the quotes are attributed to each situation. So um that's something, and you look at the mentorship uh piece of that, and Harry Steele being mentored by T TW Walsh, um Musgrave, Harvard, the only store to buy things, you know, back in the 30s, 40s. That started to formulate who he was at the age of 49. Um and like I said, when he joined the military, when he joined the Navy, that's where he learned so many skills in and he professed himself. One of the things I got out of it, Jerry, when many quotes throughout the book, when they talked about his military service, was how much he didn't talk about it, and how he held uh secrecy, he was sworn to secrecy, and he took that very seriously and and perhaps died with many secrets of his time at the military. He's a communications officer. Uh, and the book does elaborate a little bit about on his time with you know, basically spying on the enemy's communications and and and gleaming information for reporting and having spent time in Washington, D.C. as the attache, I do believe, for the Canadian Navy for a number of years before going to Gander for four years as base commander. So within that time frame, so many skills and mentors, I'm sure, uh, that went through that time period, but he highlights his military career um as really a time when he learned, and same thing in entrepreneurship, and I'm sure in his business, especially with uh share trade uh buying and selling, he learned how to keep information to himself when it was necessary to do that, and not to be uh, and and quite often um but when he was on certain boards of directors, they talked about uh Harry's demeanor, his professionalism, his quiet demeanor, his uh his experience that he brought to the table and put on the table when necessary and when appropriate. And they talked about how many others across Canada were on these same boards, entrepreneurs talked about how uh he wasn't a braggart, he wasn't flashy, he wasn't bragging all the time about the things he did. That was not him, and that's what they liked about him, that's what they remembered about, and that's what they attributed to his memory when asked. Yeah, so they valued what he brought to the table because he knew how to do it, he knew how to listen, what he calls receive, and he knew when to transmit, which means when to speak. So I thought that was an important lesson I took out of that. Um, for me, it's not all about you know, me as an entrepreneur bragging about everything I've done and want to do. It's listening to others that helps me do what I want to do and incorporate that at the right time, and then by sharing my experiences and knowledge too. So there's that's important. One important lesson I got um from that section of the book.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, and I I'm on the chapter three in the Navy, and one part here he says, uh, September 18, 1952 is recorded as the starting date of active service for acting sublieutenant H.R. Steele on the Naval List, the official record. Harry was first assigned to HMCS Cabot. And and Wayne, you know, you may or may not know when I was in the Naval Reserve, um, I was in HMCS Cabot. I didn't realize that um Mr. Steele was actually in Cabot. That's the start. But back to the lessons out of the Navy, discipline. Uh, but I think the other thing that really struck me, and you touched on it, was the the career that he had. You know, uh on page 25, it says here, um, what was it says here? The NATO ships patrolling North Atlantic, including those of the Royal Canadian Navy, were on full alert. Lieutenant Harry Steele was a busy, was busy decoding messages and monitoring Russian language radio traffic. It's interesting that he ended up in an in a in a job that prepared him so well for the future and you know the the end of his career in the radio business. What do you what did you what's your impressions of that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's very interesting then how um, and I think that was the time his son Rob became involved in leadership of the uh of the Newfoundland Capital Corporation when they when they first came into the media. And you've got a connection there because you worked for some of the steel broadcasting, I do believe in your career.
SPEAKER_01Uh steel auto. I actually never worked. I worked in the newspaper business and I competed against the steel family. I never actually worked for them until I joined the car business in uh 2018. Oh, okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_02Um, so nonetheless, both sides are very interesting. I'm sure uh Mr. Steele would have enjoyed talking to you when you were in your in his competing against the media companies. Um, but I think all the lessons learned there, you know, and and and if you looked at the portfolio of his company and the different types of businesses he got involved in, and as I alluded to earlier, the lesson there, he wasn't necessarily concentrating on a business or an industry. He was looking at any business from the share um uh share value point of view. And when he's seen um you know shares low and he was able to buy in, and I think Jerry, there's a great um uh connection over to discussion on EPA because that's how he's seen EPA, who was previously owned by the Crosby family. Uh is that correct? Yeah, oh yes, yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna touch on the Crosby family at some point, um, because that runs so deep in the business fabric of Newfoundland Labrador. So but anyway, yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02And he's seen that company with declining share value uh because it was struggling. And that's where he's seen an opportunity that those share values are low, but with the right management, if I get in there, I can I can turn it around, sell this at a high value. And it's kind of the way, in a nutshell, it worked out. Um, and it's a great segue into the Eastern Provincial Airlines acquisition, at the same time up noteworthy, and we'll discuss it probably at the end of the EPA. But he also purchased Park Transport in 1981, which was a rail, shipping, and road network of shipping. So while he was involved in the air transportation industry, he was at the same time involved in ground and ocean transportation industry through the park acquisition.
SPEAKER_01Before you go into that, I just want to uh go back to the Navy piece, and and there's I think something incredibly relevant to the career that he had. And I'll read this on page 31. Uh, he would also have been involved in monitoring technological developments, uh, technological equipment developments because of the nature of the industry in the United States, which was well in advance of our own. So he had gone to the United States and was working in uh Virginia or DC, I can't remember which. That Wayne, very interesting. Not afraid of technology, willing to, I mean, who who's willing to buy an airline and the complexities of the technology in that? So I thought that was foundational.
SPEAKER_02And again, it points to uh the foundation from his military career, life uh into his entrepreneur uh you know, life that began at the age of 49 forward. Um when he ended up ironically in the media industry, as it were, at the end of it. Um yeah, it really got developed and focused from his military time. I think you're absolutely right. It was a great pickup on that uh particular point in the biography, and uh so much was learned. And I also found that in in connection with that, um, he was one of the few to have computers, both in his modest Florida condo that's often referred to that he had, as well as in his offices uh in Nova Scotia and in St. John's when he was there. And he used those computers to constantly watch the stock market. He always wanted to know what was happening. He was watching, he was he was communicating with his investors, uh, investment people, he wanted to know what was happening. Uh almost on a daily basis, he had to know. He was surrounded with newspapers, magazines, because he was always absorbing uh information uh from around the world in many different, you know, from political um stories to business. Uh he wanted to know what was happening in the in the on the in the climate of politics and business. And he kept himself informed. And uh that was another key lesson I think that came out of it was your ability to be aware, to use your time value in a valuable way to um educate yourself on what's happening in the world. Um Wendy's uh you know, somebody like Harry Harry Steele would be monitoring certain businesses and looking at world events and geopolitics and saying, okay, I project I can see this coming two months from now. And he's reacting already in the stock market. So that's I think he was really known for that and really admired for his ability to foresee things in the stock market, and really was really considered uh a high-caliber investor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree. And uh, we're moving along, actually. It's it's funny, we're we're kind of moving along in the in the order of the chapters. Uh, chapter six, there's a man by the name of Seymour Schulich. And uh it opens up by saying a quote from Harry Steele Seymour has got an ego the size of Manhattan, but there's no better friend in the world. Um, I'm gonna disclose that I actually met Seymour Schulich, and uh I was actually asked to videotape Harry Steele's 75th birthday. And I'll never forget walking in the doors of the albatross. John was there, he waved me over and he said, Come here, sit down. Who did I sit down next to but Mr. Harry Steele and Seymour Schulich? I was about 31 at the time, yep, and I knew who Seymour Schulich was. He was already a billionaire investor in businesses at that point, but him and Harry, as you can tell in this chapter, were very, very, very close. And a lot of the success um that he had with the EPA was the fact that Seymour Schulich was such a smart uh investor and businessman.
SPEAKER_02Yes, exactly. And it was an interesting story on him within there, and it was alluded to uh and quoted on in the um biography several times uh how close they were, and that Harry and Steele actually had very few friends, um, but who he considered to be close friends, but he had, of course, many acquaintances uh in his life. Um but it was um mentioned and highlighted that he had very few friends, and I think um Seymour was certainly um probably one of the best in uh I agree. And more, as we'll talk about later toward the end of the book, that takes us into our segue into our second episode on a different entrepreneur. So um, yeah, the lessons uh I got out of that. And if you looked at um, you know, the quotes uh that are in there, Jerry, about Seymour's background and the challenges he faced growing up in just outside Montreal uh as a Jewish person in that era, and how Harry came from an um isolated community, um, you know, on the outside the circle of the St. John's business elite, you know, which was kind of formed uh the business community in Newfoundland, but then was pretty much controlled by the Water Street merchants, as they were called. Um so Harry and him had some uh commonality in there, I think, and where they came from and some of the struggles that they probably came through, and yet met with great success.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh I I think we're moving now into East Provincial Airways uh uh chapter seven. And as I said, you alluded to the fact that it just I was gobsmacked with what the story was uh you know outlining here and and going from uh just an investor to owning the entire operation. And I mean, to summarize it, it went to be one of the most cost-effect cost-effective airlines in the entire country. The thing that really struck me, Wayne, was when you know he doesn't like cigarette smoking and got rid of the cigarettes, uh the smoking on planes, and and how much that saved A, I guess, the morale of the staff, but also B, the turnaround time of a plane. And uh I mean, I can only imagine the pressures from the cost structure of an airline, but having not no longer needing to clean out all of those things. Uh that that to me was uh really interesting. What did you think?
SPEAKER_02And again, what resonated with me too was the was the the market segment of this customer base for airline travel who hated cigarette smoking as well and did not appreciate having that in a closed aircraft with somebody next to him smoking cigarettes. Uh so I I I it kind of reminded me, and I'll go on a little tangent for a moment, when I was in the restaurant business, I started in the restaurant business in a very busy restaurant environment when smoking was still allowed in the restaurants and how horrible that was. And when we transitioned, and it was um, I think uh Premier Roger Grimes at the time in Newfoundland, who uh uh whose government um passed legislation to ban smoking in public places, including restaurants. And I remember that at that time talking about people saying to me, it's really going to hurt your business, you know, because so many people smoked in there. And and I thought, and my view on it was it's actually going to attract the brand an element of brand new people who will come now because I know how to deal with that cigarette smoke. And I was right, uh, see more families with their young children who had never come before, who wanted to come, but weren't bringing their kids into that environment. So one of the best things ever happened to me in the restaurant business, which I was in for nearly 11 years, uh, was when they banned the smoking in public places and I was able to get it out of my restaurant. Uh it was the best thing ever. But and the same thing, uh, when you talk about reducing cleaning costs, um, I appreciate what he's talking about because when we got rid of that, the cleaning time we spent decreased dramatically. Dramatically, you know, and everything from the walls to your tables to you know how that cigarette smoke clings to everything, and just the health of our employees and customers was all improved dramatically, and we and we and we flourished even more after that. So it's a great um it's a great analogy there uh in the airlines. I remember flying on on small airlines in the 90s when the uh the cigarette uh the asterisk were still in the in the seat. There wasn't smoking allowed in the plane, but the asterisk were still in the seats. They hadn't even you know transitioned to move them out at that time. They were still there, but he didn't smoke. Uh but it took a while after that for the asterisk to disappear out of the the the armrest of the uh the airplane. But um so I can appreciate what he what he was talking about in that quote. Um, when you uh stopped the smoking, how you could decrease your costs in other areas, and actually, and it doesn't mention about the the market segment of travel, but the market uh who travels who don't want people smoking on airplanes while they're traveling on it too, um had to be affected as well. So yeah, it's just a great story, EPA.
SPEAKER_01Uh continue, Jerry. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna touch on pages 64 and 65. I have four points on these pages, and I I I uh it's just to me, these pages sum up, Wayne, what it took for Harry Steele to do what he did. And uh the first one, uh, it's more of a quote, one of his favorite sayings. He was talking about um the people in the airline business. He said, these guys don't know if they're pitching or catching, is one of Harry's favorite sayings, and one that applied, in his opinion, to the management of EPA. They don't know if they're pitching or catching. That's good for any of the Blue Jays fans out there. Um, the next one really, really, really had an impact on me. And I've got it, I got it written in pencil along the margin, and that's how I like to read. Mortgaged his house at 45. Listen to this. Coming up with the wherewithal took a lot of juggling. Harry mortgaged his house and the family stake in the Albatross Hotel and put it all together. It helped that he already had a sizable slice of the stock. Then on page 65, at the time, the airline was losing close to a million dollars a year. He mortgaged his house at the age of 45 to buy a business that was losing a million dollars a year. Last one, and I'll throw it over to you. This is on the bottom of page 65 from John Steele. The original deal for the airline is written on the back of an EPA placement placemat. That was pretty cool, says John. He knew, even as a young boy, that buying the airline was a gamble. I knew growing up that everything was in play and everything was at risk, and we were moving along. But I also knew in the back of my mind that this thing could capsize at any minute. They risked everything, and it was just such a crazy business, and it was so dysfunctional a company, and trying to wrestle that to the ground, you knew that at any time it could go. Wow, that got me, man. That that's like holy crap. Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gonna give you two quotes on that. Jerry likely that it ties perfectly into this. One quote from Harry Steele was find value in something underpriced or under pressure, buy it. And another quote that follows that finding opportunity and take advantage of it. Two quotes, and he did exactly that. And and and look at the risk of having a young family too at that age, and uh mortgaging that. I know he had the Albatross Hotel, he and his and his wife Catherine had uh the Albatross Hotel at that time or two, I do believe. Yeah, we'll touch on her.
SPEAKER_01Uh, she's she's actually a subject of a chapter.
SPEAKER_02We'll touch on her in a minute. Yes, indeed. And uh so I think that's how the man thought, and that's not everybody's gonna do that at 45 years old or older uh is going to uh you know mortgage a house on something. And in fact, I'm sure uh any investors and bankers and financial advisors told them that is absolutely ludicrous. Don't do it, you can't do it, you don't weigh that much risk. But how did these people become so successful? Because they were willing to take that risk, but many others said don't do it. So one of the and that was a calculated risk on his part, I'm sure it wasn't nilly willy, it was um a very calculated risk. He understood share value, it goes right back to that, right? He understood the share value of the EPA, he was underperforming because it was poorly managed. Remember, didn't know if they're pitching or catching. I love that one too. They didn't know if they were pitching or catching, so to him, share value was was down because these guys couldn't run it. He felt he could, and I guess he proved it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh chapter eight, making a go of it, still talking about EPA. Steele transformed EPA's eight hundred and fifty thousand dollar operating loss. I don't know, uh a 2014 article. So steel transformed, uh, I don't know what year that would have been, it wasn't 2014.
SPEAKER_02No, it would have been in the 80s.
SPEAKER_01That's an article that went out in 2014, Atlantic Business. But anyway, Steele transformed EPA's $815,000 operating loss that year, he bought it, into a $4.4 million profit five years later. Under the commander, EPA had the lowest cost structure of any airline in Canada. Last two sentences I'll read on this topic. First, the big airlines, Air Canada and CPAR blocked his plans to expand in Montreal, and more importantly, Toronto. He won that battle. Unions blocked his drive for reasonable hours and lower costs. He won that battle. Amazing, eh?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And maybe just one more point on EPA, Jerry, and talk about the pilot strike. And it was uh I'm sure that was a very anybody who was in living again or that era um would remember it very well. They do remember it being in the media uh during that EPA pilot strike. And there was a quote in there, well, there was a quote in the media that was attributed to Harry Steele, uh, where um just paraphrasing where he said the pilots were just a bunch of overpaid bus drivers, if you remember something to that effect. Uh, to which um it was attributed to him in the media, but it was not him who said it. Um, because I'm sure if he did, he would readily admit that he said it. But it was actually a gentleman, I believe by the last name of Champlain, I didn't write it down, who was sitting on the board of directors with him at the time. Uh, and he was actually the one that made the comment, and it got attributed to Harry Seal. But um, and then it just touches to that turmoil, and his son John, I think, and both Peter and Rob, I think, speak of that era in Gander, uh, when they were living there, and you know, and and Harry owned, it was only a small town. Uh, their father owned the EPA, and he was in a bitter strike with the Pilots Association, which were their neighbors and schoolmates and friends and so on, as young children, uh, who also lived during that era, but didn't feel a whole lot of backlash from their friends or theirs, you know, their high school levels, I think was one of them spoke of. They never really felt a lot of that back from from that that segment, uh, despite the fact that it was you know a very heated strike between uh EPA and represented by Harry Steele, uh, who was the hands-on operator at the time, and the pilots uh association. So and I think incidentally it's worth noting um that that was probably the only company that Harry Steele actually bought and actually was involved in daily operations management of the company. Typically, he didn't do that, he was sticking more to the the valuation side. By law, recognizing share value, recognizing that it can be you know there's opportunity to fix that and raise value, and then somebody else runs it under his his uh direct, you know, his his guidance and direction, somebody else does that hands-on operation, and then when it's right, they sell it. So it's interesting. EPA must have been a very formative time in his business career.
SPEAKER_01Well, look, on that note, we'll still talk a couple more uh minutes on on the on the airline because it's such a foundational part of his business. But listen to this. This is in the pilot strike. Uh, I don't know what chapter number it is, but page 93. Harry started his venture. Pardon me? Chapter nine, actually. Chapter nine. You got a good memory. I got the book in my hand. You don't even have it in your hand. Uh listen to this, page 93 at the bottom. Harry started his venture with EPA in 1978 as a man with a hotel, a middling-sized stock portfolio, and a mortgage on the family home. He ended with a profit of 20 million in 1982 after just four years. That 20 million went to the Newfoundland Capital Corp Corporation, not to Harry personally. It was the seed capital that started Harry Steele and his company on a buying spree over the next decade into even more profitable businesses. First in transportation, then newspapers and radio. The last sentence in that par in that chapter, Harry Steele would never look back. Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_02It is. It is. And you know, it's all about risk taking. And look at the risk they took. You know, you don't get to be that successful by not taking risk, you know, by being home at four o'clock every day. That's all wonderful, you know, and when that's what you're looking to do. But you can't become that successful uh without putting the discipline and the time and energy into something like that, you know, like that, and taking the the the risk. I mean, they must be uh geared quite differently when you look at the stress, uh, when you risk something to that level, um you know, and you're still able to sleep at night. It's gotta be you you've got to be a different type of person, human to be able to endure that type of stress.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I agree. Well, on that note, uh page 97, there's a guy by the name of Don Curti. Do you remember? I don't remember what his role was in CP. This is a chapter on CP here, but it this just listen to this. It's like Don Curti once put it. This isn't a business, it's a disease quipped hurry. I I I I mean that struck me. It's a disease that he ended up making 20 million dollars on. Something else, eh?
SPEAKER_02Isn't it? And just as easy could have lost 20 million dollars, that was the risk going in, but but truly believed, recognizing having an old for value, um and and the ability to to turn something around uh and make it valuable. I mean, that's the key to uh success, isn't it, when you're buying and selling, buy low, sell high. Um so that took us into maybe a brief discussion on uh CPR, and I think the next chapter evolved into Clark's transport. Yeah, it's right purchase of that in 1981, I believe, while he owned um EPA at the same time. So now you're talking about, you know, he had his hands in the airline business, so air transport, air transport of cargo and passengers, and now he's into rail, sea, and road transportation on the ground level. So Clark enabled him to actually cover both ends of the spectrum of transportation from the airlines right down to road transportation. So that was an interesting era, I found when he went through the Clark acquisition and later uh selling.
SPEAKER_01Well, I at the beginning of the Clark Transport chapter, chapter 11, quote from Rob Steele his best deal was probably Clark Transport because he bought it right. And then uh that morphed into Halifax term terminal, HALTEM. Harry sent the timing for the sale of HALTEM and his other transportation holdings was in retrospect very good and caught the market on the high side of the time. He knew when to get in and he knew when to get out. In the interest of time, Wayne, I want to go on to chapter 12, the media play. And of course, this one has a lot of uh, I guess it's close to home for me because I started in radio with VOCM, not when the Steels owned it. Uh it was the Butler family, and they sold it out to the Steels while I was working at the Telegram here in St. John's. And um eventually I went on to manage a bunch of the uh weeklies, which Harry sold. So I had never worked for the Steels until I got in the car business. I was literally on the periphery the whole time. Either they bought it after I left or sold it when I went to it.
SPEAKER_02Timing is the whole timing, right? Um it's yeah, and you're absolutely right. And I think this is the time when Harry was getting older, and I think him and his wife Catherine went to their son Rob. And Rob speaks of his time in Florida when his parents approached him and wanted them to take over the company, uh, take over leadership of the I think would have been called Newfoundland Capital Corporation at the time. And um, I think that's when the consolidation began that led them into being a media-focused uh company.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, and and uh we won't get into it. I mean, I I could literally go on and on and on about the media business. Um, but uh there's one thing in 1997, a dozen years after he bought the Daily News, which was a competing paper to the Halifax Chronicle Herald, um, Harry's phone rang. It was David Radler, Conrad Black's partner in the newspaper business. And it's funny, Wayne. What I find interesting in all this is that I didn't meet Conrad Black, but the paper I worked with was owned by Conrad Black at the time. And David Radler, I've read multiple biographies on Conrad Black. David Radler was his right-hand man. He came to the telegram, and I knew he he had this reputation for counting chairs and he had all the costs figured out. And if there was too many chairs, that meant there were too many people, and people heads would start to roll. But anyway, I'll never forget he stood on the table in the telegram, and all I could see he had on the most expensive shoes that I'm sure I've ever seen with these little gold tassels on them. And that that was like embedded in my brain. So, anyway, not totally relevant here, but uh that that's it.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think one one quick relevancy I'll point out to that is is the is the contrast of that to Harry Steele himself. And words quoted that you know he lived in a con he had a condo in his later years in Florida, he could well afford it, but it was a very modest uh condo. And one gentleman spoke of not what you'd expect to see with Harry Steele. You know, he thought it'd be much more elaborate and and big and and and expensive, but he actually believed in in moderation and lived that way. I think his only uh indulgence was the 1980, was uh 1981 uh Lambertini or uh it was a Ferrari. Ferrari, and he won Red Ferrari was his only real indulgence, right? So that was interesting. And speaks to the man and uh, you know, and how um and how disciplined he was. And again, that comes back to his upbringing and his uh military time, I think, is where that kind of self-discipline comes from. Because you don't see it a lot uh anymore in business in particular. No.
SPEAKER_01Um so back back to this, uh to the just a bit about him in the media play. Conrad Black admired Harry, and he was invited to join the board of Southam, which was owned by Conrad Black, which he did. Being a voracious reader of newspapers, Harry was attracted to owning them, and Rob says he enjoyed the newspaper business, but there was more to it. This is I found this very interesting. Business for Harry was the juice, not the action. He wasn't married to a particular industry. I don't think he was particularly in love with any of the industries, but then he loved them all. I would say that he probably enjoyed the airline business the most. It was probably a love-hate thing, but that was the watershed for him, said his son Rob. Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And that's what I was alluding to earlier, is that I mentioned a few times that he's he wasn't really like in this one business, one business line type of, you know, it wasn't just aviation, that's where he made his fortune. It was um he was more about share value in any company, in any industry, and he was looking at that. You know, that's what he was a great follower, and known to be a great follower of value. And uh, and that's such a hard skill to have. Um I thought, and I really enjoyed reading about that part of it. Um and before um maybe Jerry, we just quickly circle back to Catherine from uh, I believe the Buren Peninsula. Yeah, that's right. And her father was a noted sea captain, think of the time in that era, and early 1900s. And um this was a very enterprising uh lady, very educated, uh music teacher. When she met Harry, I think I moved to England with him in his early days of the Navy, before they they had a family. Um and they uh she was a fascinating lady in herself, and I liked her. I have uh always had an interest, even though I spent many years in the restaurant business in particular, uh, as well as a few other things. Uh the hotel business is one thing I would really still love to be involved in. Don't know why, uh what it is about that industry, but it's is is tourism customer driven, and I guess uh having really uh a lifetime revolving around customer service, especially in my years of entrepreneurship when I was, you know, when I had five businesses at one time, every one of them uh was customer so customer focused uh because that's that was survival. Um it was that's what it was all about, and that's what they still carry it today in in working in in government, it's not you know, that philosophy is not common when you're worried about your customer, whoever that might be, and your total legitimate focus is on your customer. Um so that's one of the great things I learned in my past over over the years of retail and business management, um because I had to be. Um but the one industry that I never got into and was still love to get into is the hotel business. I think that's a fascinating business to be in. Uh and and uh it's just a segue back to Catherine uh Thornhill Steele, uh, who was instrumental uh in the beginnings of the Albatross Hotel purchase. Because prior to that, I think in the dark math era when they lived there in Nova Scotia, she was buying up um um bank, you know, uh houses that were uh the bank had that the bank had had uh foreclosed on and was trying to sell cheaper. She was buying and fixing them up, selling them at profit. And in Ganner, when they came there, there wasn't that much opportunity for older homes to fix up and sell with the way it was in Nova Scotia at the time. Um the bank did I say we have a hotel that's in financial trouble that we like to sell, and they're quoted in there that that's how it began with the purchase of the Albatross Hotel. And she was the the probably the driving force in that era uh about the hotel. And I had a really lot of um, and I think John alludes to it some in some quotes, about the drive of his mother and her uh intelligence around the entrepreneurship field of customer service and and um tourism, you know, and and hotel management. And that's I thought that was fascinating part too, because that's dear to my heart, is one of the hotel businesses I'd uh love to be uh deep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I agree with you. You're you're hitting right into the crux of the whole uh, I guess, you know, it is, it was certainly an empire. Catherine Steele was the reason behind it. What I found curious, and there was a quote in there that uh, I don't know, someone in Toronto said, you know, they bought the albatross, which was ironic because it was bankrupt. Think about that. I mean, I think the first thing I would have done was change the name. You're gonna take basically an anchor around your neck, it's called the albatross, and uh you're gonna turn that into uh what what what you know they did. Uh it's just it's just something else, man. It's so inspiring. But back to the uh inspiration around hotels, and there's um page 159, she said uh the albatross wasn't a fascinating place, but as soon as I got it, I went to library in Gander. This is Catherine Steele talking, and I found a book entitled Every Customer Is My Guest. This must resonate with you, Wayne. I read that and I met with the staff and I would just discuss things with them and what they felt would make their jobs a lot better. I will never forget one of the girls said to me, Mrs. Steele, could we possibly possibly have a pocket in our uniform to keep our tips in? Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it is, but it is really, and I do resonate with that. I remember when I bought the restaurant uh back in 1999, one of the first things I was asked by staff when I had the very first staff meeting in the changeover to my ownership and management, are we still gonna get our smoke breaks? I never forgot that question. Um you know, and absolutely, why would you not? Uh but that was uh you know the fear of of of the transition and and getting to understand people more. So it kind of resonated with that that comment when I read that too. Uh brought me back to those those types of things and other comments similar to that. Um but I thoroughly in enjoyed. Reading about that part of the uh of the history, and I don't know who uh chose the name Albatross part of the steel ownership or why they would have chosen that name. That would be interesting. And the sister hotel was called the Sinbad. I never really got the meaning of that name either. Um, but of course, the steel family still owns the albatross and in and the Jag and the Capital, I guess, Jerry, and many others. I don't even know. But uh when it comes to the hotel part of their business, which carries on today. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, uh, that was chapter 15. I'm just gonna go back to chapter 14, which is Craig Dobbin, and we don't have enough time to talk about Craig Dobbin on this episode. So I think we'll sneak out the little teaser that that would be our next episode. The book about Craig Dobbin is one hell of a ride. What's really curious to me, Wayne, is how much these two gentlemen intertwined and how successful they both were. Craig Dobbin went on to build the largest helicopter company in the world. And a lot of that was related to their love of fishing in Labrador, which I found incredibly curious. That, you know, you buy a helicopter to go fishing in Labrador, and then you turn it into the largest helicopter company in the world. Harry owned EPA, he owned Universal Helicopters. It's just astounding that these two gentlemen living in Newfoundland, Labrador, built such incredibly thorough uh thriving enterprises.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And it went from one helicopter to 350 helicopters, I do believe, as their max, and it was producing revenue over $100 million a year. Uh the timing was great too, and they recognized that again with foresight of value. Uh Hibernia was announced, you know, came the offshore uh oil industry. And how do you get out there? Well, you get on a ship or you get on a helicopter. They quickly recognized that, and the helicopter uh business flourished for them at that time. And Harry Steele, and you can't, you know, cheat uh chalk and cheese, no greater uh example of that than Harry Steele and uh and Craig Dobbin and their personalities and the way they conducted the business um from conservative to absolutely flamboyant uh and wreck, not necessarily reckless, but it would be by some people's standards with Craig Dobbin, the way he would invest and gamble uh on businesses and and uh until he hit it huge. Um, you know, it goes back to his, and we don't want to get too much into that one because it's in the next uh episode, but uh when you look at uh young Craig Dobbin, the family, I believe, with seven children, when he started his metal his um metal recovery business from the bottom of St. John's Harbor, he would wear a uh diving suit with the helmet and the hoses that went up to the top for air to the helmet and a panic line in the other one. And he would go 30 feet under the water in St. John's Harbor on ships that had sunk there from World War II and try to to extract the brass that had some value off the ships and take it back up top and sell it. And I think it was Aqua Rec um Rest I don't know, Aqua's Recovery Services or something they called it, the young company making a few bucks. He almost actually uh met his end, and we'll get into that in the next episode. But some trying times and just fascinating to read about um these two individuals, two very different individuals. Um, you know, Harry Steele was a tremendous uh character by all accounts, commanded uh significant respect. Um and I like the part about when he was in his albatross hotel when he was a very successful point in his life, uh, how the staff um serving him, you know, the servers and so forth, and his staff still uh really appreciated him, respected him, and how much he returned that respect and appreciation to them. And he was known to do that and known to compensate people well. Um and even that was interesting too, it was a few quotes in there about the things that Harry Steele did for people that nobody knew about, how he helped people. Um there's a few quotes in the book, and I forget which chapter might be toward the end, but how he helped people uh financially and otherwise, yeah, and never ever spoke of that, you know, never used that nowadays. You see that all over Facebook. Look what I did for someone. Um, but in those, you know, in that gentleman uh class, you know, so classy and and um and committed um to his business, you know, helping people. And there's a lot of stories there about how he helped individuals that nobody ever knows of it. And I'm sure there's many others, many stories that we'll never know, but yeah, uh because he didn't talk about those, he just helped people because he wanted to. So aspect of his life.
SPEAKER_01Just one last quote out of the book here on page 140. Craig Dobbin was my father's closest friend, but I think they were polar opposites in terms of lifestyle, lifestyle, said Rob Steele. My father, I think, lived vicariously through Craig. My father was always a measured control guy who didn't have extracurricular habits that sort of wouldn't lend themselves well to business. My father was always a measured control guy who didn't have extracurricular habits that sort of wouldn't lend themselves well to business. Okay. Craig was the true swashbuckler entrepreneur that saw no walls that he couldn't break through. I think he and my father had that in common, but my father certainly was lifted and inspired by Craig. That's incredible. Let's jump over to the fishing. Um I found this chapter fascinating, and I didn't realize that Harry would go to the fishing lodge in June and not come back till September. Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_02And I know one of the quotes, I believe, from either uh Peter or uh maybe one of the sons, I think had mentioned about how he spent a lot of time up there, but not a lot of time necessarily fishing, because he was always doing business. Uh, and the people that he had in his camps, um, he was always always listening to them, uh, understanding them, gaining information from them, understanding what they were about. And um and he was actually doing business all the time and fished, maybe less than less than uh than he was doing business. So yeah, to him, I guess it was all part of uh of the business, which he truly loved. There's a quote there that he considered weekends a waste of time, um, because um, you know, he worked seven days a week, and when people ask him why he doesn't retire or whatever, he said, Well, how can I retire when I'm already doing that which I love more than anything else? What am I gonna go to? How do you how do you get better than this? Um, so we worked um, you know, I'm sure late in life. Um I would have liked to have met him. I would have picked um, you know, in my lifetime to have a a discussion with him, wouldn't that have been something, Jerry? We would have had that opportunity to to talk business with somebody like him as young entrepreneurs like we were back in the in that era, the impression that we would have had.
SPEAKER_01Well, I you know, you probably know this. I did meet him, um, and it was special. Um, probably the la not probably the last. So the one time I met him was at his 75th birthday. I actually put some clips of that, clips that I'm allowed to release, uh, uh, and I put those on uh Spilling the Mean socials. Um Craig Dobbin talking about Harry, and then Harry talking about himself about being a good connector. Those were there, and those were recorded in 2004, I think. Uh very interesting, but I tell you, Wayne, you know, I did uh that whole I used to shoot wedding videos, as you know, and it I was so I I was that's right. I was out in the room behind this little studio, uh, and I'll never forget it. The phone rings about three months after the um um the the parody, the birthday parody, and it was their anniversary as well, and in at the albatross. Who was it? But Harry Steele. He spent about 10 minutes on the phone with me praising the work I had done, and I I got off that phone call and I said to myself, Wow, this is a man that's running a multi, multi-million dollar operation, and he took the time to spend 10 minutes with me on the phone to thank me for the work that I had done because he had just watched the video. Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_02I'm so glad you shared that story. I didn't know the extent of that story, but this that is incredible, and it reminds me of the of um one last quote in there was he would tell people um, whether you're hiring good people or bad people, he'd say, Well, I always ask a few questions in an interview. Uh, do you play golf and do you own a boat? If the answer was yes to you, or those he wouldn't hire you. Well, you know what? You like to play golf.
SPEAKER_01So listen, you just hit on something. So people always say to me, you know, anyone who's followed me, and we've put Gale Force Winds together, which is still an exciting podcast for me. Um I love being able to interview people, but one criticism that I've gotten is that ah, you never see anything critical of anyone. That's on Gale Force Winds. Here you and I are glowing and glowing and glowing and glowing. Well, I am going to criticize Mr. Harry Steele now. And I I I you know think about this. Who the hell am I to criticize him? I actually don't like that quote. And part of the reason is you'll know, Wayne, I love golf. And it, you know, what's curious to me is the dichotomy between the fact that he would go fishing. That pastime was okay, the golf pastime, not so much. Now, frankly, I get it. Some people take golf way too far to the extreme. And when I was in business, 100% commission my whole life, I rarely took time off to golf because I I just couldn't. I was more interested in the engaging and making sure the clients were happy. Uh, I do know a lot of guys that would be able to manage, do well in sales, and still have the time to golf. That wasn't me. So, yeah, I mean, I've got that that quote here because he said, uh, what was it? Uh he goes, accolades and honors were not what motivated Harry. Neither was money, really. Harry loved to work. Did him the weekends were a waste of time. He had few hobbies apart from fishing. And though he spent more than two decades in the Navy, he thought messing around in boats was a waste of productive time. He was wary of hiring anyone who liked to golf or owned a boat. Anyway, I found that funny.
SPEAKER_02Uh I think he he may have said those things, you know, tongue-in-cheek, um, perhaps. We we don't really know, but he probably just may have had a dry sense of humor and wasn't really just just saying uh you know, to the point that he didn't like golfing himself, uh, and he spent uh 20 years on a plus on a boat. And maybe he was just making fun of that. I don't know. Um but either way, um he was just somebody that was dedicated to um you know to his time and and not unlike golf, um, his time at fishing was business, and that's maybe where he formed a lot of deals. Uh and I know those things equally happen on the golf course too. Um so yeah, I'm sure uh he probably didn't uh didn't make me that too too derogatory, but I like to stay on the on the positive side of people because uh the negative side is well represented. You see them all the time, it's just constant, constant negativity, and I'm so tired of it. So I try to choose, and we all fall into that boat of negativity times. I'm always fighting against it. Uh, but you do find yourself uh getting smeared with it at times. But I try to stick to the positive things because there are lots of people who want to be negative, so let them do that.
SPEAKER_01I agree. I agree. And it I deviated a little bit just to offer a bit of criticism, only because it hit too close to home of my love of golf. We're on the last chapter. What? Got a reaction of the 50 years after the we're on the last chapter, chapter 18, Harry the Man. And it to it, you already touched on this. The quote that starts off that chapter the only good thing about Friday is that it's close to Monday. Harry Steele's aphorism on work. And uh quote here my father was just the kind of this from John Steele. My father was just the kind of guy who would just always knew when he entered the room, there was just kinetic energy that changed in the room. All the eyes would go to him, and he could walk into the room and it would change. I experienced it all my life. John says it's not something I have, but I could see that he had it. John is being very humble. I know John, and I know that uh, you know, he's done so much himself in business now, he's getting that aura of his dad is wearing off on him, and I and I respect that. I'm gonna end my part of this, uh, Wayne, just talking about the energy. And that's uh in this chapter, this last quote really got me. Along with leadership, he was interested in how people, how to keep people motivated. You talk about leadership, hey? Along with leadership, he was interested in how to keep people motivated, which may be too formal a word. He was interested in how to build energy, how to get things done. The aura Hari always exuded was one of a ton of energy and bigger than life.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And it was just an amazing uh story, and uh you know, thank you, Jerry, for uh for giving me the opportunity to co-host with you. This is uh uh an industry you're quite uh comfortable in and at very successfully for a number of years now. Uh GFOS wins most in most recent and successful, but I've known you since 1988, and you were in the media industry then, um, on Ennis Avenue in the basement of your mother's house, uh shooting videos. If um at that time, and and our one of our assignments in business school, and we did the video resume. I know. How did you bring that up? Uh but it just speaks to your longevity in the industry and where you are today, and and very well respected um in your company, and an opportunity for me now to learn something new uh for me, which I always love to do, I learned to learn love to learn new things, absorbing information about what's going on in different industries. This allows me an open door uh to come in with my good friend from decades ago uh and participate in this type of of discussion. And and we're so positive and centered on people who are building and doing, who have done and are still doing um such great things in the province of Newfoundland, Labrador and beyond, and are just great Newfoundland Labadorians.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, Wayne, it's an absolute pleasure uh to be on this with you. I I I certainly love biographies, I've always loved our conversations. I know both of us are extremely busy in our careers. I mean, a podcast is a heavy lift. That's why for now, this is going to be one episode a month. Um once you're more proficient at the tools and all that, maybe you'd be able to just throw something up. I don't mean throw it up, but actually read a book and talk about it, and we could generate some more content. We're open to suggestions. Um, a post that I put up in mine, I say, this is on my LinkedIn, I'm gonna read it. Books and in particular biographies have been foundational to my life. I welcome feedback and suggestions on this new podcast. To quote a line from the book, The Commander, in which Harry Steele is referring to the airline business, which we already talked about, this isn't a business, it's a disease. I feel like I've actually embarked on another disease. So that probably not a great analogy, but it's it it fits in the fact that if Harry Steele says one business is a disease and it gets in and you can't get rid of it, it's passion. And uh, if you and I are going to bring some positivity to this world using this form, I uh couldn't think of a better person to do it with. Thanks, Jerry.
SPEAKER_02And I think it's you know, hopefully we got some messages and uh lessons learned of the biography today of Harry Steele, and we communicated those uh hopefully in terms of a of an analysis uh type and uh of approach and how they can benefit us and and our audience, right? Our spill the bean spill the means audience uh exact knows exactly what you're talking about right there. Um and the thing, just think it's it's so great, you know, and that we can come together again after so many years of of varied backgrounds, but our link to business never changed, and all of the you know, all of our backgrounds, the industries I've been in and out of, um it's is is varied, as you know, um, but yet always tied to business uh from the business perspective of it. And um, you know, for the next 20 years or more, hopefully, Jay, we're gonna continue to build in business, not only by recognizing people like Harry Steele and the great things they did, but continuing to do new things ourselves, which may not be as big as what they've done, but just as important. And I think we've got a lot left to offer, and we've got a lot left to build in this province. And it's so exciting to see so many things happen in this province, and I hope, and uh, and that we can be a part of that in some small way, and uh highlight the people who are doing great things in it and be part of the people that are doing great things in it.
SPEAKER_01Uh, we do have a sponsor and it's biblio gifting. The uh my plan was to actually give some acknowledgement while we were talking midway. Um, but of course, we have uh what's called a pre-roll and a post-roll ad for Alex. Alex Lyott is a guy I worked for or worked with in the newspaper business. We were part of what's called a director of digital operations. He's gone and created a company, Wayne, that is incredible. It's using technology to curate books as gifts. So you can be uh business and uh biblio gifting is the name of it. But you you know, if you got say a bunch of key stakeholders in your business, clients, and you want to gift 100, 200, 500 books, this technology gives the ability to gift those books. So biblio gifting, Alex Lyott, thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02Uh Austin, thank you. I would love to meet Alex uh someday, Jerry, hopefully, um, and where we all of us could engage in a you know deeper conversation around uh that business, his business, and other things, new ideas that he might have. Wouldn't it be great just to explore and talk about those things? You know, not necessarily on air here, but just even to have a discussion over uh a coffee and and talk about the future. And he's from how uh Nova Scotia, or yeah, he's from Halifax.
SPEAKER_01So you and you know, at some point we'll get him on. Uh, I mean, that's the other thing. We're you know, we're not necessarily going to be an interview type um uh podcast like like my other podcast, Gale Force Wins. That being said, there are some authors I know that already have shown interest in being uh interviewed, so we can interview them and then talk about their books. Alex is a man that has gone out on his own. He is 100% embedded in his own entrepreneurial journey, and it's all around books. Uh, any recommendations he might have for authors down the road or topics, and I think you're right, uh uh Wayne, you know, having an interview with him, I think would be very beneficial to just what we're trying to curate here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and even if it's uh either be it online like this or whether we do, you know, have a private conversation with people as we move forward too. Uh, but always great to have a biography and actually be able to uh you know have have the author maybe or even the individual in some cases in the room with us to talk about in one of our sessions like this.
SPEAKER_01Well, remember uh it's funny you say that because I did reach out to Fred Langan and he did say get back to me. He gave me his phone number, and I got so busy this week I didn't reach out to him. So stay tuned. I'll hopefully get a conversation going with him, whether I record it or not, or just quote him and then we talk about it a little bit. I wouldn't mind getting the perspective of the people that write the books as well. I think that'll uh just give you that much more to uh sink your teeth into when you're reading the book. Well, thank you everyone um for joining us. This is our very first topic, very first uh biography, uh The Commander, The Life and Times of Harry Steele. Wayne, absolute pleasure spending some time uh on a Sunday afternoon with you. Uh whenever anyone watches this, uh we I was always told you don't talk about the time that it was recorded, but I think this is a great day of inspiration for me and you. And uh spilling the means, we'll keep on spilling the beans on spilling the means.
SPEAKER_02Thanks very much, Jerry. I'm right back at you. Really appreciate having this opportunity to work with you. And again, we'll take the meaning out of these biographies when we spill the means.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for watching or listening to spilling the means. Please like, follow, and share our content.
SPEAKER_01A big thank you to our sponsor, Biblio Gi. If you want to move beyond generic corporate gifts, Biblio gifting offers curated book collections that let your recipients choose their own read. From starter to strategic packages, it's about personalized marketing with a real social impact. Check them out to be an early adopter.