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John Ruffolo - Say What You Mean
Episode 41 • 17th October 2021 • THE ARENA - Living a Courageous Life • Linda McLachlan
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John Ruffolo is a father, son, a first generation Canadian, an avid cyclist, and member of Les Domestiques a philanthropic cycling team. He is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur.

In the business world, John joined OMERS Pension fund over a decade ago, and founded OMERS Ventures, a private equity fund established to back promising Canadian companies Notably Hootsuite, Wattpad and Shopify. However, the pension fund rules capped the growth potential of those investments.

He decided to leave and start his own private equity firm called Maverix Private Equity (https://www.maverixpe.com/) just as the pandemic hit. He pushed ahead raising the capital in spite of the uncertainty. Surrounding himself with some of the most recognized business leaders and brands in Canada, across numerous verticals through their team and advisory board.

And then, just over a year ago, in September 2020, he was out cycling. It was his weekly 3-hour ride, on a road outside of Toronto. The last thing he remembers was hearing a truck’s airbrakes and then the impact.

He should have died. To the shock of the EMT who was treating him in the field where he landed, his eyes popped open, and he began speaking and tried to get up. The EMT managed to stop him as the trauma to his body might have caused him to bleed out internally.   

The impact shattered his T12 vertebrae, his pelvis was an open book fracture, which left it in 6 pieces, all of his ribs on his right side were shattered. The doctors had to wait 36 hours before they could perform any kind of surgery. The chances of survival were slim in those first few days. But somehow he pulled through.

By some miracle he did not suffer any kind of brain injury. John began rehab and within 2 months of his injury, he began calling his investors from his hospital bed to close their investment in the fund.



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Transcripts

Linda:

Thank you for being here.

Linda:

I acknowledge that the City of Hamilton, where I record this podcast

Linda:

is situated upon the traditional First Nations territories of the

Linda:

Erie, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Mississaugas and the Chonodon of

Linda:

the so-called 'Neutral tribes'.

Linda:

is also directly adjacent to the Haldimand Treaty territory.

Linda:

This land is covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, which

Linda:

extends between Montreal and Fort Erie.

Linda:

It was an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and the Anishinaabe.

Linda:

That Wampum uses the symbolism of a dish to represent the territory and

Linda:

one spoon to represent the people that are to share the resources of

Linda:

the land and only take what they need.

Linda:

Hamilton is home to many Indigenous Peoples from across Turtle Island.

Linda:

And this Land Acknowledgment is a small gesture to recognize

Linda:

the rich history of this land.

Linda:

And so that I can better understand my role as a settler, as well as

Linda:

neighbor, partner and caretaker.

Linda:

I stand in solidarity with all those that fight for justice on behalf of the

Linda:

murdered and missing indigenous women, girls, LGBTQ + , and two spirited people.

Linda:

I grieve the generational trauma created by the residential

Linda:

school system and the 60's Scoop.

Linda:

I grieve the children and childhoods lost through ignorance and racism.

Linda:

Miigwech.

Linda:

Thank you.

Linda:

Welcome to the arena where sometimes the hardest part is showing up.

Linda:

My name is Linda McLaughlin.

Linda:

Thank you for being here.

Linda:

I am so pleased to share season four of my podcast with you.

Linda:

Once again, my guests are drawn from many backgrounds and circumstances that

Linda:

propel their inspiring stories of courage.

Linda:

First up this season is John.

Linda:

Before we got to the formal part of the interview.

Linda:

We did a little catching up.

Linda:

In September, 2020, John had a catastrophic cycling accident.

Linda:

So we were catching up on his recovery and rehab.

Linda:

We share a love of the Teddy Roosevelt quote, the Man in the Arena, which

Linda:

was the inspiration for this podcast.

Linda:

As you will hear, it is part of his ethos.

Linda:

He speaks his mind about health, wealth, sustainability, and legacy.

Linda:

Thank you for listening.

Linda:

This is Episode 41.

Linda:

Thank you so much for agreeing to have this conversation with me, John.

Linda:

I appreciate you carving out the time.

Linda:

You're uh...

Linda:

to say that you're highly in demand would be a, an understatement everybody's

Linda:

trying to get in your calendar.

Linda:

I'm sure.

Linda:

But I really appreciate you being willing to share your

Linda:

story and to chat with me today.

John:

Great.

John:

Thank you very much.

Linda:

How long are you still doing rehab every day or is it

Linda:

like three or four hours still or?

John:

Yeah.

Linda:

Wow.

John:

It would be like that for my guess is, for sure.

John:

The first two years.

John:

And then after that, there is a lot of debate of, do you actually

John:

see functional improvement?

John:

Does it really do anything for you.

John:

Frankly no one knows.

John:

So my view is do as much as you can, as fast as you can.

John:

And.

John:

It's not going to hurt me.

John:

It might be a little bit waste of my time and that's the only thing, but . I

John:

progress is still, I'd say it's measured, not in days, but measured in weeks.

John:

Every week, there is a performance improvement.

Linda:

Right.

Linda:

You're a very goal oriented person.

Linda:

So I have to think that they're giving you some milestones to look toward

John:

I'm walking now.

Linda:

You're walking.

John:

Yeah.

John:

That's, I'll tell you that.

John:

No walking.

John:

Oh yeah.

John:

So I have a Walker.

John:

I am assisted walking, but my cycling outside is up to 15 kilometers now

Linda:

and you're cycling.

John:

I see you.

John:

Yeah.

John:

And you can't see what's on my phone.

John:

If I show you that to you, are there, could you, I guess

Linda:

you could kind of see, I can see.

Linda:

Yep.

John:

Okay.

John:

Hold on.

John:

I don't know if you can see,

John:

can you see that?

John:

Yeah, my legs can power.

John:

Isn't that amazing?

John:

I'm a paralyzed guy.

John:

I hit 25 kilometers an hour on that one there.

John:

So that was August 21st, almost a month ago.

John:

And my power's gotten up since then, but it's been in the last month,

John:

but now this is two months ago.

John:

That's me walking in my Walker and my, there you go.

Linda:

Wow.

John:

10 months after my, my injury.

John:

Give me one more year and I should walk with walking poles.

Linda:

Right.

John:

And then I have mobility now, is that my end goal?

John:

No, like I would like to be back fully.

John:

That's a recumbent bike.

John:

Like.

John:

On my normal bike.

John:

And I'd like to be, I was never a marathoner, but I like to be able

John:

to jog or move quickly without aids.

John:

The one thing, at least from a mobility perspective, that is a question mark

John:

for me is my below the knees have not turned on from a mobility perspective.

John:

That's the biggest question, mark.

John:

So why is that relevant?

John:

What you couldn't see on my bike is that I wear these braces right below my

John:

knee to keep my foot from not flopping.

John:

Like I would like to remove the damn braces.

John:

And if I moved the braces, I'm walking.

John:

Now it's more rehab, but I'm walking over it.

John:

The likelihood of me walking is high in a year.

John:

Its walking unaided is a possible, it's possible.

John:

It's not probable, but in two years, it's possible that I'm walking

John:

unaided fully in two years, provided that my nerve fibers regrow again.

John:

This is what, 20 to 30 hours of rehab every fucking week gets you.

John:

That's right.

Linda:

Oh my God.

John:

Yeah.

John:

And the reason why is that?

John:

It's not like a super miracle maybe, but I don't think so.

John:

It's because for 99% of the people, it's difficult to have the financial

John:

resources to do so in Canada, it's bullshit in Canada in that the acute

John:

care is very good, but rehab, there is really no government paid rehab.

John:

I could afford it because I continue to work.

John:

Hmm, most don't that's the problem.

John:

So no one really knows.

John:

Does rehab really work to get you to walking?

John:

There's not enough examples, but what I've been told is your path is

John:

probably 99% rehab and maybe 1% stem cells maybe, but even the stem cell

John:

side, no one really knows about that.

John:

But

Linda:

That opens up a whole can of worms in terms of conversation around

Linda:

accessibility, on so many levels.

Linda:

And in every sense of that, in that word from financial accessibility to

Linda:

that care, what's the productivity loss, what's the loss to the economy.

Linda:

Let's let me get it in economic terms, in terms of somebody who has

Linda:

catastrophic injury, as you did, and.

Linda:

Now they're no longer able to contribute or not able to contribute in the same

Linda:

way that they once were the options to people and the barriers then to people

Linda:

who are in a wheelchair or having to go through this rehab and put in

Linda:

the hours that you are is massive.

John:

So they've quantified.

John:

My doctors told me at Toronto Western they've quantified the cost to society.

John:

Nevermind the productivity.

John:

Hm, but just the drain for a lifetime of a paraplegic like

John:

me, it's $10 million a person.

John:

Okay.

John:

So what Canada has decided and it's complex, but it is better to get you

John:

out within three months when look like really, I should have been in a hospital

John:

for a year if I didn't have the resources.

John:

I should just stay in there for at least the year.

John:

And I'm very strong now, and I could do anything in the community, but

John:

they kick you out in three months and they don't provide you any rehab care.

John:

The drain to us is 10 million bucks plus loss productivity.

John:

And they don't factor that in because they really don't have someone of my

John:

income earning capacity that typically has this situation, the most common

John:

spinal cord injuries are diving accidents, motorcycle, that sort of stuff.

John:

It's actually a lower income situation for the most part.

John:

And so no one cares.

John:

And so here is the problem, and it's not just for spinal cord injuries

John:

for a lot of things in society.

John:

Wealth brings you health, where did that's a very.

John:

Interesting debate.

John:

So you could try to fool yourself and say it doesn't happen, but I was stunned

John:

that the wealthy might be able to rehab themselves as opposed to the poor.

John:

How fair is that?

John:

Just not right?

John:

Yeah, no one gives a shit.

John:

Yup.

Linda:

So we've been chatting for a little bit.

Linda:

I thought I would throw out my intro that I've written for you.

Linda:

John refollow you're a father, son, a first-generation Canadian, an

Linda:

avid cyclist, and a member of lado mystique, a philanthropic cycling team.

Linda:

You are what one might call an entrepreneur's.

Linda:

In the business world, you joined OMERS pension fund over a decade

Linda:

ago and founded OMERS ventures, a private equity fund established to

Linda:

back promising Canadian companies were notably HootSweet Wattpad and Shopify.

Linda:

You decided to leave and start your own private equity firm called

Linda:

Mavericks just as the pandemic hit.

Linda:

You pushed ahead on raising the capital in spite of the, some of the uncertainty

Linda:

surrounding yourself with some of the most recognized business leaders and brands

Linda:

in Canada, across numerous verticals through your team and advisory board.

Linda:

And then just over a year ago in September, 2020, you were out cycling.

Linda:

It was your weekly three hour ride on a road outside of Toronto.

Linda:

The last thing you remember was hearing a trucks, air, brakes,

Linda:

and then you felt the impact.

Linda:

You should have died to the shock of the EMT who was treating you in

Linda:

the field, where you landed, your eyes popped open and you began

Linda:

speaking and tried to get up.

Linda:

He managed to stop you as the trauma to your body.

Linda:

Might've caused you to bleed out internally, the impact

Linda:

shattered your T 12 vertebrae.

Linda:

Your pelvis was an open book fracture, which left it in six pieces.

Linda:

All of your ribs on the right side were shattered.

Linda:

The doctors had to wait 36 hours before they could perform any kind of surgery.

Linda:

The chances of your survival were slim in those first few days, but somehow you

Linda:

pulled through and by some miracle you did not suffer any kind of brain injury.

Linda:

You began rehab.

Linda:

And within two months of your injury, you began calling your

Linda:

investors from the hospital bed to close their investment in the fund.

Linda:

There's so much to this story.

Linda:

Welcome to the arena, John.

John:

Thank you very much, Linda.

John:

It's a pleasure to be here.

John:

It's a pleasure to be anywhere at this point.

Linda:

Yes.

Linda:

And the, uh, and the postscript, I guess to part of this story.

Linda:

There's many different parts of it, but you just shared some video with

Linda:

me of you actually out cycling.

Linda:

You've been walking.

Linda:

So you have had beyond a miraculous recovery.

Linda:

It's not perfect and you're still largely in a wheelchair, but that

Linda:

is a pretty remarkable achievement.

John:

Yes.

John:

It's been a lot of hard work because so far I'm in the first year and

John:

it's a long windy road ahead.

Linda:

Anybody who looks at the Canadian business landscape, you are what we

Linda:

might call a Titan in the Canadian space.

Linda:

And you've done so much to work at building the

Linda:

Canadian private equity space.

Linda:

And now with this new fund, what was your hope in setting this up?

Linda:

What did you see was missing from the current landscape?

John:

Sure.

John:

When I joined OMERS to build OMERS ventures, I had a three part plan

John:

that I expected would take around 10 years and to overly simplify it.

John:

If you were to segregate companies through their growth stages and using revenues

John:

as your proxy, making it very simple.

John:

Getting them from zero revenues to $10 million was one phase getting

John:

them from 10 million to a hundred million dollars was another phase.

John:

And then the final phase was getting them from a hundred

John:

million to a billion dollar.

John:

Plus when I founded OMERS ventures.

John:

It was really predicated first on getting companies from zero to $10 million.

John:

And there's lingo from a financing perspective that describes those stages.

John:

But essentially what that involves is building or

John:

developing some sort of product.

John:

And seeking what we would call customer market fit.

John:

Will somebody buy the thing at the price that you want for them to pay for it?

John:

Once you hit that $10 million or thereabouts, you start to go

John:

into scaling up mode and at OMERS ventures only after about three

John:

years where we starting to see.

John:

A bunch of these companies are able to get to the 10 million where the blockage was.

John:

How do you really scale them up really through sales and marketing

John:

brand distribution partnerships, you name it, but how do you.

John:

Generate faster revenues than the growth of your expenses.

John:

And really through my entire time at OMERS, I really focused in on those two

John:

areas and started to get companies that were hitting the hundred million dollars.

John:

And now I'm starting to think, okay, I'm starting to gear up for the

John:

third phase and the first company that really blasted through that

John:

and flying colors with Shopify.

John:

And so how do we get a bunch more companies like Shopify

John:

to go from the a hundred Ms.

John:

To the billion dollar plus where you scale in a global perspective and really

John:

around 20 17, 20 18, I was really focused in on that final piece, but I, as you had

John:

indicated, I determined that it was more effective for me personally, to complete

John:

that final piece in a private fashion.

John:

Private firm, as opposed to, to through the pension fund.

John:

And that led to the thesis behind Maverick's private equity a year

John:

into it, just after I got hit, I realized that I was still physically

John:

capable of executing that strategy.

John:

I felt that last phase of my life.

John:

And to be honest, I was thinking about what does Canada need?

John:

And.

John:

Nothing was going to get in my way to complete that last phase of

John:

my life because Canada needed it.

John:

And as you had indicated, I'd never did damage my brain.

John:

Thank God.

John:

I don't understand why that didn't happen because my face was an unbelievable mess.

John:

It was scraped beyond belief.

John:

So I did hit my head.

John:

It just didn't crack for some reason.

John:

And so.

John:

I felt a little bit that maybe there was a little bit of divine intervention

John:

and my mission was incomplete.

John:

So it would be who've me to complete the mission.

John:

And hence, I continue the mission, raised all the capital and launched

John:

the fund and that's where I am.

Linda:

Okay.

Linda:

So there's a joke in there about a fixed skull,

John:

but yes, there's an Italian one too.

John:

Have you ever heard of the term test to do today?

John:

I'm a Southern Italian, which is known for our hard heads.

John:

And they're going to see, there you go.

Linda:

So you're the son of an Italian immigrant who came to the country with.

Linda:

10 bucks in his pocket at 17 years old.

Linda:

So it's a bit of a classic Canadian immigrant story, but

Linda:

take me back to your childhood.

Linda:

What was dinner conversation like in your household?

Linda:

How did that start sets you on the path that you're on now?

John:

Yeah, I grew up in a classic blue color immigrant family in an area of

John:

Toronto, which I think it gets denigrated.

John:

More than it deserves, but it's the Jane Shepherd Jane and Finch area.

John:

That is the area where I grew up right up until my university years.

John:

I went to school, all of my school within a kilometer of the area.

John:

And I worked there and I worked right on the corner of Jane and Finch right

John:

in the middle of the perceived war zone.

John:

But it wasn't like that at all.

John:

My family worked paycheck to paycheck.

John:

I didn't know that because I felt that we got everything that I ever wanted.

John:

But when I look back, a lot of the things that my family did for

John:

financial survival reasons is now viewed upon is the envy of others.

John:

Cultures.

John:

We grew all our own vegetables.

John:

We smoked all of our meats.

John:

We made all of our own wine, all of our tomato sauces, et cetera.

John:

It's unbelievable.

John:

And now you pay massively high prices for that, but we did it, or

John:

my parents did it in order to feed us and growing up, I felt a desire.

John:

To be viewed as a normal Canadian white individual and did everything in

John:

my power to shed my immigrant roots.

John:

And what I didn't realize at the time is that it did make it tough as

John:

nails and resilient because you had to be, and nothing was given to you.

John:

You fought for everything.

John:

Little that I know that it really formed the foundation of who I was

John:

not because I wanted to, but it was foisted upon me by circumstance.

John:

And I didn't quite realize who I was until I graduated from university and I went

John:

downtown and although I am Caucasian, Look, wait, I, for the first time in my

John:

life realized, oh my God, I am not white.

John:

There is a real white population in Toronto.

John:

And boy, I am not part of that already.

John:

Now your defenses go up.

John:

But with the defense, I think it ultimately further increase the

John:

resilience, but what it was also doing was increasing my adaptability

John:

in a variety of different situations.

John:

And the one advantage I did have, and really the only advantage I

John:

have compared to other immigrants is I do have white skin.

John:

And it did give me that advantage despite the fact that I was.

John:

Considered a white individual.

John:

So it was very odd to me.

John:

And there was a couple of incidences that really triggered it, that a shock

John:

to me, but I think it made me ultimately stronger at the end of the day.

Linda:

What event in your life has had the most profound impact on you?

John:

I would say there's been several, obviously this accident is been one

John:

of the most profound, but I would say one of the first, most profound.

John:

So I just gave you a little bit of my shock.

John:

Once I got out of my little cocoon and going into downtown Toronto, realizing

John:

that, oh my God, the world is different.

John:

It wasn't until I was in my late twenties, I had gotten divorced.

John:

I had gotten married very early because that was the thing to do.

John:

And I knew in my heart that I wanted to advance in my career as much as I could.

John:

And.

John:

At around 28 years old, I started full-time when I was about 21

John:

in, although in seven years I worked harder than anybody.

John:

So I really worked the equivalent of 20 years and started to

John:

realize that what was driving me.

John:

Was the same insecurity and chip on my shoulder that I had developed

John:

when I left the cocoon and realized there was a very different world.

John:

And by that 28, where I was a very determined young individual

John:

and nothing would ever get in my way, I started to realize.

John:

Calm down life is going to be okay for you.

John:

You do not have to fight like your parents did.

John:

You don't have to worry about money.

John:

So calm everything down and start to enjoy life just a little better.

John:

And I would say that was the first moment of balance in my

John:

life that I started to embrace.

Linda:

What does living a courageous life mean to you?

John:

To me, it's all about authenticity.

John:

And it's a little bit, even I was moaning about this just in social media, just

John:

in this current election, as an example, we're now a society, not that dissimilar

John:

to United States where people look at parties, not from the policies or the

John:

ideas, but rather the personality.

John:

And the personalities are not even fact based.

John:

Perhaps the personalities are not authentic in and of themselves.

John:

And it's almost like we don't care as a society, whether folks are authentic

John:

or not, as long as they represent.

John:

Uh, view of something, whether you come in from the left or from the right, ignoring

John:

the actual specifics of the policy agenda.

John:

And it just feels like everything is now in sound soundbites.

John:

And no one is really listening, debating.

John:

And when I meet individuals who say what they mean.

John:

Come to the point, they'll even have the guts to say it on social media

John:

and they're going to get vilified it.

John:

But it's the truth.

John:

When they're you agree with the policy idea or not?

John:

It's the truth.

John:

So let me give you an example.

John:

That's not to criticize either individual, but let's take

John:

George Bush versus bill Clinton.

John:

From a policy perspective, at least in the United States, George Bush took a lot

John:

of beatings and Clinton largely did not.

John:

And Georgia bushes policies were then made into a caricature of

John:

who he is, evil decrepit, man.

John:

Unprincipled where as bill a very smart individual, a great origin.

John:

Well, a very good friend of mine knew both very well.

John:

And politically was totally aligned with bill Clinton.

John:

And I asked him this very question and he gave me the answer that

John:

I expected in these just said, my great friend is George Bush.

John:

He's such a good principled, authentic man.

John:

It is who he is.

John:

I hated the fact that he backed the policies of whatever it was called,

John:

the moral majority, but bill, Clinton's all about bill Clinton and his ego is

John:

legendary and he goes, he's not the guy that I would spend any sort of time with.

John:

That's an illustration and this is not an illustration to break bill Clinton

John:

because I don't know him personally, but it's just a reflection of the society.

John:

So I really align myself.

John:

To those folks who are in the arena and fighting it.

John:

And one such man, and this is the reason why we become very close as David Suzuki.

John:

There is no man in this country that has been in the arena longer

John:

and had more fights than that.

John:

And when I see him fight, I was like, oh my God, how do you take it?

John:

How do you take the spewing hatred that you get from all of these close

John:

minded individuals that think that he represents a threat to society?

John:

David represents the man in the arena.

John:

Uh, more than anyone I could think of in this country.

Linda:

One might think that you are focused on the bottom line, on

Linda:

the return on the investment, but I'm also aware of the fact that

Linda:

Mavericks was supporting the women's eights rowing team who won the gold.

Linda:

And you're prepared to roll up your sleeves, as you've just said,

Linda:

you're the vice chair of David Suzuki foundation who has been

Linda:

working in the environmental area.

Linda:

For so long and has been watching us driving towards this wall with climate

Linda:

change for decades and trying to warn us against what ultimately happened in the

Linda:

sea, nevermind elsewhere in the world.

Linda:

What happened in BC this summer, where people more people died

Linda:

in BC this summer from that heat wave than they had from COVID.

John:

That might be one of the cooler summers are going to have.

John:

Yeah.

Linda:

On that happy note.

Linda:

What's your legacy

John:

first and foremost, my, my legacy is my children and I spend a lot of time.

John:

I would say trying my best to influence them undercover, because if I try to do

John:

it in front of their face, they ignore me.

John:

But, but that's aside from my family, I've spent 30 years of my career

John:

unintentionally focused around this.

John:

It just led me down this path and I never realized it never swayed from it.

John:

And it was really around entrepreneurship and innovation.

John:

The two are linked in that.

John:

I believe that through innovation and automation, we're going through this.

John:

Global transition, which will be very painful.

John:

We haven't seen it really yet.

John:

And it's really the replacement of human labor with machine labor.

John:

And in the post industrial revolution, we moved massive numbers of people from

John:

the farms to the cities in order to work in the factories to give us all of our.

John:

Consumer desires.

John:

And you're still seeing this in China, still in massive numbers, by the way.

John:

So you'll see China is simply doing what we had done 150 years ago.

John:

But as you continue this innovation, you're seeing individuals that

John:

are no longer needed in the whole.

John:

Need and desire to be an employee will continue to wane.

John:

And I've seen this through from my post university graduation.

John:

And the only path that I saw 30 years ago would have to be a shift

John:

from an employment mentality to you're going to have to be your

John:

own entrepreneur in many cases.

John:

It you'll just be yourself and you're going to be a subcontracting, your

John:

services to the highest bidder.

John:

And this whole idea of lifelong employment is going to go away.

John:

Or in some other cases, you'll be able to hire other subcontractors to work for

John:

you and you can create value, but this.

John:

The path to prosperity in this country, the path to prosperity is

John:

not to get everyone to work for the government, despite some government's

John:

intended objective to do so.

John:

I have been really spending my career on helping those individuals.

John:

Get their dreams realized.

John:

And why is that?

John:

Because to the extent that they're building more and more companies

John:

that stay in this country, the more opportunity my children will

John:

have in having opportunities.

John:

Either if they build their own businesses or if they work for others

John:

as subcontractors to those businesses.

John:

So I really believe this is the future path to success and wealth as this nation.

John:

Now, there is no true prosperity without environmental protection and

John:

you got to combine the two together.

John:

And you have sustainable prosperity.

John:

So everything that you see me doing today has those two levers.

John:

So the prosperity is being led by entrepreneurship and innovation.

John:

And the sustainability is through the protection of the investment.

John:

If we get both working together, then this is the panacea.

John:

And this, I would hope is part of a legacy for me personally, because

John:

I've been helping those organizations help Canada drive to those objectives.

Linda:

I normally ask the question, what would you do on your last day, but to

Linda:

you, I'm going to say, why are you here?

Linda:

Why are you still alive?

John:

I've already had my last day.

John:

It's, you know, I've been in some respects blessed with my last day.

John:

So w what have I really been focused in on is really just two things.

John:

As regards to my family.

John:

I always felt I was invincible, by the way.

John:

Now I've always taken care of my family.

John:

But now I feel like I'm really taking care of them for their future, for my children.

John:

I think that I was, I've been serving their immediate needs up until now.

John:

And ever since the accident, I've been really focused more

John:

on shaping who they might become far more directly than I have.

John:

And I would say more so on.

John:

Their future careers.

John:

My kids are still in their teens, so they got a long way to go, but I've

John:

been spending a lot of time on that, so that if I'm not here being able to

John:

shape that so that when I'm not here anymore, they can do that on their own.

John:

And so I'd say that has been my number one focus and my number two focus.

John:

Building this firm and getting the thinking about changing the world

John:

in the matter they just describe and being a capital provider in order to

John:

ignite that and even setting up the.

John:

In a manner that is designed for succession.

John:

I am not building this firm for me to work in the next 30 or 40 years.

John:

That was never my desire, but it was my desire to hire the brightest

John:

and the best that could carry on a legacy and hopefully use some

John:

of the thinking that I have today.

John:

Pass on the firm to them and allow them to move the firm in a direction

John:

that they liked, but using the same sort of ethos would be amazing to me.

John:

So I would like to have some sort of business legacy as

John:

well, from that perspective.

John:

And that is what I will be focused in on over the next two years, of course,

John:

building the firm to make money for my investors that goes without saying,

John:

you better do that, or are you going to be out of business, but there's so

John:

many things that you could invest in.

John:

And if you could invest in multiple things with a multiple return

John:

profiles, but one of them can just change the world for the better.

John:

Why wouldn't you do that every single time?

John:

A quick

Linda:

note for listeners at this point, John mentioned ESG,

Linda:

which refers to environmental, social and governance criteria.

John:

So although our firm is not an ESG firm per se.

John:

Ethos behind it is totally ESG.

John:

And we beat the living crap out of each other.

John:

When we're looking at various deals about how some deals, we will only do

John:

deals that are either neutral from an ESG perspective or positive, but if anything

John:

is negative, the team shuts it out.

John:

And I already start to see that path and I'm just very much enjoying.

Linda:

If you had the opportunity to have a conversation with someone for five

Linda:

minutes living or dead, who would that be

John:

living or dead?

John:

You knew who I missed out on.

John:

And it was somebody who I was dying to speak with.

John:

It was Nelson Mandela.

John:

So remember I was thinking about the authenticity.

John:

Nelson reminds me of David Suzuki.

John:

The amount of haters that he has.

John:

And yet the influence that he had, I thought was remarkable.

John:

I was supposed to go to the south African world cup with a bunch of friends of

John:

mine, and I had organized several matches.

John:

And then we were going to throw in a little safari in there

John:

and I was coordinating it with our offices in South Africa.

John:

This is before I was over at OMERS.

John:

And I was coordinating it with the CEO of the south African operations.

John:

And he had his assistant work with me to set up the trip.

John:

And I just said, do I have anything missing on this itinerary?

John:

And she just said, yeah, you got everything we need, except

John:

for seeing Nelson Mandela.

John:

And I just chuckled and I go, you know, it's funny you say that that

John:

is the one person in the world.

John:

That I would just love to meet.

John:

And she said, you, my best friend is his assistant.

John:

He goes, would you like to meet.

John:

And I said, are you kidding me?

John:

And he goes, yes, but he was quite ill at the time.

John:

And he just said, you could come in, you could pay your respects.

John:

We'll only give you about five minutes, but would you like that?

John:

So I had arranged to see Nelson Mandela and lo and behold, the colleagues who I

John:

was going with to the world cup started to slowly bail out because they didn't

John:

want to go and fly all the distance.

John:

To Johannesburg and I'm freaking out saying guys it's Nelson Mandela.

John:

And I don't think the other folks, although they very much appreciated him.

John:

For sure.

John:

I don't think they had the, quite the same level of enthusiasm

John:

and he died shortly thereafter.

John:

It always bothered me.

John:

And that is one man, that boy talk about the arena.

John:

Doesn't get much better than.

Linda:

Is there anything else you want to share before we wrap up?

John:

I know you asked me some very good provocative questions.

John:

You're an interesting interviewer.

John:

You know, that you're not the normal interviewer.

John:

Most interviewers are quite linear in the questions that they ask me.

John:

So I'm quite used to it, yours.

John:

I think almost every one you made me pause and reflect, but I just never

John:

answered those questions before.

John:

So kudos to you.

Linda:

Thank you.

Linda:

This has been my COVID project to give back to the world and try and create a

Linda:

little hope, I think for you dark times.

John:

So, yeah.

John:

Yeah.

John:

And I think you had mentioned to me, if I recall that you've gone through

John:

some struggles, in addition to COVID

Linda:

2018, basically I blew up my life.

Linda:

I was part of a privately owned company and had been with them for 11 years.

Linda:

And.

Linda:

Massively grateful.

Linda:

But I had gotten to the point where it was time for me to leave the

Linda:

business, but it was also, I had run into some issues, you know, alcohol.

Linda:

In fact, I want to develop another podcast about our obsession with

Linda:

alcohol Canada's number one, in terms of increase in consumption during COVID

Linda:

we have a $3.4 billion deficit between healthcare and the tax dollars that while.

John:

Yeah.

John:

Um, I, you know, I didn't

Linda:

know that yeah.

Linda:

Alcohol is big in Canada.

Linda:

Well, I think we're number five in the world in terms of alcohol consumption,

Linda:

but it's one of those things where it's become so insidious very much like.

Linda:

Smoking.

Linda:

I remember the days when you walk in anybody's office and they have

Linda:

this like heaping ashtray and it was just normal and people would have a

Linda:

drink at their desk at four o'clock.

Linda:

And alcohol has continued to have that hold on us where cigarettes is gradually

Linda:

got pushed out and pushed out, but you kind of can't go out socially without

Linda:

people going, come on, have a drink.

Linda:

No, come on.

Linda:

Really seriously.

Linda:

No, we'll get you something.

Linda:

And it's.

Linda:

So, anyway, the podcast that I want to do is less about living a sober lifestyle.

Linda:

There's a lot of those kinds of messages.

John:

It's an interesting, it's a very interesting topic, you know?

John:

Uh, let me know when you do that.

John:

I'd love to hear it.

John:

Thank you.

John:

Thank you very much.

Linda:

I wish John well on the long road of recovery, if anyone can

Linda:

get back on his bike, it'll be him.

Linda:

Thank you for listening.

Linda:

Please follow or subscribe to this podcast.

Linda:

And if you feel someone else might benefit from listening

Linda:

to this episode, please share.

Linda:

Leave a rating or review wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Linda:

And if you want to support my efforts in creating this podcast,

Linda:

become a member of the arena.

Linda:

Go to my website, the arena, hyphen podcast.com and click on the support.

Linda:

You're listening and support is so greatly appreciated.

Linda:

I look forward to sharing my next guest story.

Linda:

It's about a woman who has had the most remarkable life as a

Linda:

whitewater river guide, a healer, an author, PhD, and living with.

Linda:

Painful legacy of being the daughter of one of the engineers, responsible

Linda:

for building the hydrogen bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Linda:

Don't miss it until next time.

Linda:

My name is Linda McLaughlin in the Erie now.