Our typical clients (organizations and individuals) are ambitious:
- Vision that might knock the socks off their industry / sector
- Business models that could change the game in which they operate
- Ethics and commitment that make others notice
- Risks that could crush if not managed
- Collaboration embedded into their culture
Stated another way, our best clients are ambitious to ski the fall line well, in deep powder, in beautiful remote locations—so that they can make a real mark on their industry / sector / community.
Some Clients that Operate(d) on the Fall Line
Many of our clients operated on their versions of the fall line and a sample is outlined below. These, and our other clients, taught us a lot about innovation, collaboration, ambition, strategic adjustment, and the need to produce solid organizational results.
Calgary Homeless Foundation—established in 1998 to transform Calgary’s homeless-serving system of care, it continues to strive to chart a path towards the day when homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Carbon Management Canada—founded in 2009 as a National Centre of Excellence to fund and guide research for reducing industrial carbon emissions. Now a world-leading centre of carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) research and expertise.
Centre for Sexuality—Began in 1972 as the Calgary Birth Control Association, the now Center for Sexuality continues as an activist, educational and support organization with its vision of “Sexual well-being for all.” To this end they help boys understand masculinity, support 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and groups, train professionals who work with youth, and help build safe spaces.
CPV Group & Gibbs Gage Partnership—two prominent Calgary-based architectural firms, each producing award-winning office towers, hospitals, and university buildings.
Emera Energy—a start up natural gas and power trading company established to transform the energy industries in Canada’s east coast; and to provide an entrepreneurial model for its parent company, Emera Inc.
Encor Inc.—a mid-sized oil and gas producer that built one of the first truly team-based organizations in the Canadian oil and gas sector.
Fear is Not Love—a women’s shelter (formerly Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter) whose scope got too big for its name due to a focus on prevention, root causes, and a long-term perspective.
Hull Services—A Calgary leader in child and youth mental health since 1962. We worked with Hull Homes at a time of serious funding shortfalls and leadership transformation. They faced these shifts with exceptional courage and commitment to their clients.
Minerva Technology—a startup IT consulting firm founded in 1990 with the ‘revolutionary’ idea of basing their services on employees having PC’s on their desks, instead of computer terminals.
National Energy Board & Alberta Energy Regulator—two energy regulators that implemented significant initiatives over many years for modernizing their cultures and processes to improve both their organizational performance and that of the regulated industries.
Nexen Inc.—one of Canada’s largest oil and gas producers, committed to being a world leader in sustainability.
North American Oilsands—a start-up oilsands company committed to being a values-driven, high growth organization.
Novagas Clearinghouse Ltd.—set up as a jointly owned subsidiary of Nova Corp. and NGC Corporation to transform the Canadian oil and gas midstream business, and to establish an entrepreneurial model for the parent corporations.
Tsuut’ina Nation—a Treaty 7 First Nation, located on the edge of Calgary, Alberta in the midst of building legislation to enable it to establish successful self-governance.
These, and many of our other clients, worked on the fall line in their sectors—steep learning curves, high ambition, and serious risks to manage. Most of the time things went well, occasionally there were great successes, and a few times there was the equivalent of a faceplant in deep powder snow. Rarely did the faceplants deter the organizations or their people from working on their mission. Most of the time they dusted themselves off and got back to work.
