UWomen Magazine - The Secret to Success: People

JIMMYPATTISON

CEO of The JimPattison Group

At 93 years of age, Jim Pattison shows no signs of slowing down. Recently, I had the honour to interview Jim Pattison, CEO of The Jim Pattison Group, at his Vancouver office tower overlooking Burrard Inlet. Jimmy is known as the Warren Buffet of Canada, a self-made multi-billionaire, philanthropist and SupportHER™ at heart. The Pattison story is remarkable. Jimmy is a humble man who attributes his success to the diversity of his businesses and the people he employs.

Jimmy is known as the Warren Buffet of Canada, a self-made multi-billionaire, philanthropist and SupportHER™ at heart.

It is an honour to have the opportunity to meet with you. You are one of the most influential business leaders in Canada asthe CEO of The Jim Pattison Group made up of strong and diverse operating divisions. Your companies span the automotive, advertising, media, agricultural equipment, food and beverage, entertainment, exporting, financial, real estate and periodical distribution industries. Today there are twenty-five divisions of The Jim Pattison Group. Yes, we are highly diversified.

You’ve created an incredible empire that is so diverse. How do you decide what businesses to invest in and bring into your group? We are in the people business. Our business is highly diversified. Everybody needs transportation. Everybody needs food. People need packaging. We are in the packaging business. We have two interesting companies. “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” is entertainment for young people in particular. We also have the Guinness World Records headquartered in London and that is a different category. So, we try to get into businesses that we think that have a long life and we can grow.

The culture that you have created is quite exemplary. How did you create the culture? Well, it is all people, and it is all leadership. If we have a company, the key is the top person and his team, because nobody does it by themselves. Of course, it is all people, the selection of people and Maureen Chant, the lady you just me. Over the years in our company, we have never hired top people that she and I did not decide together who it was. Maureen has been with me since the first car dealership 61 years ago.

Where did it all begin? What have been the keys to your success? I started my first business on May 8, 1961, at the age of nineteen when I purchased my first car dealership with a bank loan from the Royal Bank for $40,000. We made money on that business, and we wanted to grow the business. I like going to work and it is important that the people that we hire, they like their jobs. From there we try to grow the business, whatever business that we are in.

What is the secret to that longevity of those relationships? Well, the key is the selection in the first place. I mean, we all meet a lot of people and in our case, the key people that run our companies is by far, the most important decision we make is who is the person that is going to run the company. But you know that everything is people. People have different qualities that they are good at, and the key is getting the right people in the right place to do the job that you want to get done.

If you work seven days a week, what do you do for joy? In my downtime, I have a boat. I do not know whether it is in the day. Let me see whether it is in or not. No, our boat’s out. It is right at the end of this dock. It is out, and it has people on it. It goes out every week. Marine runs the boat and the airplanes. And we also have, I bought Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs, and so we entertained people down there. I bought it from Frank Sinatra quite a while, years before he died.

Imposter syndrome is a hot topic usually tied to fear of success or failure. Have you ever experienced imposter syndrome? No, I think I can only speak from my own experience. I used to sell garden seeds door to door when I was seven, eight years old. My family did not have money to give money to their children. I could not have had better parents. We rented a house furnished because we did not own the furniture. And I sold garden seeds door to door when I was seven, eight years old. I knew that if I was going to get something, I had to go work for it. I have worked all my life, but I have always liked what I do.