The Single Greatest Economic Opportunity Alberta Has…

I am a proud Alberta boy that knows where and how my bread gets buttered, but I have to say that I am getting sick and tired of the whining that is coming from our Oil & Gas Industry.  Enough already about how we are being mistreated by the environmentalists and their “false” accusations and comparisons.  Jumping up and down and saying that they are wrong and pointing fingers at times may be necessary but it is never highly effective.

We seem to think that just because it is oil and that the world is going to continue to need it that the world should shut up, be happy we are developing it and let us look after our own backyard – after all we have the highest environmental standards in the world when it comes to heavy oil. I can’t say that I really disagree with this, except that it is bad practice and bad business.

There is no doubt that our heavy oil reserves are going to be developed but are we missing the bigger and longer term opportunity due to our attitude? I think so.

Environmental Management will become the biggest industry in the world in the next 25 years. Energy will be the largest sub-sector of Environmental Management. We have a global stage that has been created for us by the “evil environmentalist empire” (EEE). If we perform well we will not only ensure our oil has a strong market in the U.S, but also that we are the leaders in the global environmental management industry built on the expertise of our heavy oil reserves and our promotion by the EEE.

This “new” industry will grow as long as the world population grows. This cannot be said for the Oil & Gas industry whose remaining life span is about 150 years, provided no “alternative” energy displaces it sooner.  Don’t scoff at this notion; look at the advances of the world in the last 150 years! Also keep in mind innovation and adoption, (not to mention global population) are only speeding up. 150 years is but the blink of an eye and if we don’t want Alberta to become like a gold rush ghost town or dilapidated coal mining region, we need to face some hard facts.

Dave Taylor, former Alberta Liberal MLA set an inspiring target, (yes you are reading this correctly, “Liberal”) in his 2010 Oil & Gas Policy Platform – to produce the cleanest oil in the world from the oil sands. Crazy! I think not. It is possible we just need to grasp and manage the benefit of doing it.

I know a lot of people here think that global warming…oops I mean “Global Climate Change” is overblown, regardless Environmental Management is the greatest single economic opportunity this province has right now.

What the Alberta Liberals could learn from the Federal Tories

One issue, one solution, and stay on message.

The Federal Tories, Harper in particular has said his platform is grounded in real world experience.  Since 2006 his government has made a point of going against the grain of academia, which offers sophisticated and elegant solutions to complex problems. Why are they doing this?

The Federal Tories learned a valuable lesson in the 2004 election that they lost. The Tories ran on a platform of tax cuts, which was deemed on some accounts, as the most well collaborated and thought out tax plan by the experts and academia in Canadian history. Ian Brodie, who was Harper’s former chief of staff,  said “A program so well thought out that even the people that wrote it can’t remember the details now.”

(Ian Brodie with Stephen Harper in 2008)

Brodie explains, “We promised a comprehensive system of moving brackets around, cutting bracket rates, multi-year this, multi-year that, a corporate income tax cut as well.”

What seemed to happen is that people did not trust this system because too much time was spent explaining it, which made people question the Tories on every aspect of the plan from the amount of changes, to historical presidents, to implementation tactics.Very quickly it gets people to the point of thinking, “This is too complex, and represents a risk in my mind; I will stick with what I know and not vote for them”.

By 2006 the Tories changed their tactics. They had the same platform of cutting taxes but one simple idea: Cut the GST.

As you know the Tories got elected. Why their new tactic worked is because it focused on one issue, offered one solution and they stayed on message. People generally do not trust what they cannot immediately grasp and thus sophisticated solutions generally fall flat. The instant a politician says, There are no easy answers, people tune out and chalk the politician up to another typical fence sitter protecting his or her career.

Give me the magic bullet answer; let me know how you will handle this issue. Respect the fact that I know there are a 1000 moving pieces behind your magic bullet answer. If you are clear with me I trust that you can handle the details, (fyi; I am not suggesting for a moment that the details should not be thought through and able to be addressed in the plan behind the message). A good political team understands that speaking in the language that a sixth grader can understand is not disrespectful. You speak to your audience in this way not because they are stupid but because they are smart. We have a very short window to determine if we are going to vote for you. If you put us in a situation where we have to figure out your plan, you have essentially told us you cannot communicate well, which means you cannot carry out the rest of the plan. We just need to know where you stand and that you are clear, this is the basics of selling to the “old” brain, the part of the brain where I make gut level judgments, like who I will vote for.  I don’t vote for you because I think you are smart, I vote for you because I feel you can do a good job, (competent). Giving me complex solutions or undefined actions tells me you do not have a handle on the situation. I base my judgment on your competence in telling me how you are going to solve an issue i.e. in three words or less, “Cut the GST”. Mark Twain famously wrote to a friend “I would have written you a shorter letter but I did not have time.” Our old brain senses that if you are succinct than you are competent and just “get it”. If you “get it” you will get my vote if you have to explain it out, I don’t think you “get it” and you don’t get my vote.

Almost every example of Alberta Liberal Policy and communication fails in the above regard. I don’t know what the Alberta Liberals stand for or how they will specifically handle any issue. I for one want a stronger democracy in Alberta, a democracy that has a left and a right not a right and an even more right political system. I don’t think I am the minority in fact from what I have seen I am part of the silent majority. Alberta is a progressive, intelligent driven society and we want a more balanced democracy but seem to not have a choice in the matter as the Alberta Liberals cannot tell us currently or historically what they stand for.

1 Thing I Have Learned From The Conrad Black Ordeal

1 Thing I Have Learned From The Conrad Black Ordeal

By Cameron Chell, PODIUM Funds.com

One of the topics we blog about at PODIUM is “Entrepreneurs We Like”.

When I suggested Conrad Black there was pushback at the table as the trials that Conrad Black has gone through – and his depicted conduct – certainly did not seem to match with our values at PODIUM.

Upon further reflection it became apparent that none of us were discussing if we liked Conrad Black or not (nor should we discuss this since none of us know him), but rather what was worth noting and learning from his ordeal.

At the end of the discussion the team gave me permission to write a blog on the “1 Things I Have Learned From Conrad Black.”

Note: that these are my observations and learning’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of PODIUM or any of the individuals that work with PODIUM.

Conrad Black watches as his wife Barbara Amiel is checked after arriving at the Dirksen Federal Building to hear the terms of his bail July 23, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois.

(Olson/Getty Images)

Black’s real problems started when Chris Browne (an institutional fund manager) fired off a letter to Hollinger demanding answers about non-complete payments. His apparent objective was to get Black to back down on these payments – but more over to light a fire of sorts – to get the company to unlock the value in Hollinger’s shares.

It set off a series of events that spiraled out of control as both sides refused to back down. What ensued was the U.S. Department of Justice laying charges of Fraud against Black under the Honest Services Statute. This is a Statute which now has been reworked (in part due to the Conrad Black Case) such that it only applies to bribery and kickbacks. And so it would appear that the U.S. government far overstepped its boundaries by trying to apply this to non-compete payments.

Black is now out on bail and his entire conviction is in question.

Consider this; in 2000, Black sold The National Post, The Calgary Herald, the Montreal Gazette and a few other smaller papers for $3.2 billion. After he was ousted, a new CEO was put in place, one that met the satisfaction of the Institutional Investors and supposedly the U.S. Justice Department (An investment banker / finance type with no newspaper experience – but with the apparent ability to unlock the value in the shares!?).

Hollinger International which owned London’s Daily Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post, the Chicago Sun-times and hundreds of smaller papers hemorrhaged and last year lost$344million on revenue of $324mm. The stock traded into the pennies, and then cease traded, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and was eventually sold last year for $5million – yes you are reading that correctly, $5million.

In an interview with Maclean’s Magazine, Browne was asked if he would do it all over again. He said he would not.

An almost unprecedented amount of value, time, opportunity and focus was and continues to be taken up by this whole ordeal primarily because people were trying to get more value rather than create more value.

One lesson I take from this?

Don’t focus on getting a bigger piece of the pie, focus on creating a bigger pie.