Shoulders of Giants
Our ability to be innovative, to produce something new and incredible to both benefit humanity as a whole and, of course, ourselves depends on role models. In a February 1676 letter, Sir Isaac Newton commented in a letter to his colleague Robert Hooke (to paraphrase): “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.” It was with this quote in mind I’ve been thinking about what makes BC a great place to live and work.
In the midst of this line of thought, something disturbing struck me: we really don’t celebrate or recognize the people from Vancouver (or BC as a whole) that have made a Big Impact (or are at least known) the world over. Sure, there are articles that celebrate the Canadians who made it big (such as the Financial Times’ “Top 40 under 40”), but usually these heroes no longer live here! Brian Adams may have scored big with his emotional song for the Olympic bid presentation, but it’s not like I’ve seen him strolling down Robson lately.
That got me thinking: who are those people (not just in business, but in other areas as well) that made it big and stayed? I can name a few, off the top of my head: Douglas Coupland, Geoffrey Ballard, David Suzuki, William Gibson.
But who else? Where are our giants?
So here’s what I’d like from the Vancouver crowd out there: name the “big” people in BC, the ones that their name would probably be recognized anywhere, and they’d be recognized as leaders in their fields. The rules of inclusion are simple: they have to be alive and they have to still be living in BC. Submit details on people you can think of using the comment system – who are they, what have they done, why are they important?
Okay, I’ll be first. It’s really tough to think of leaders in Vancouver that people ELSEWHERE know about. I thought Jimmy Pattison, but people in Toronto don’t know who he is. I’d assume the same for Arthur Griffiths. The best I could come up with is Dave Chalk. His computer TV shows are shown across Canada and parts of the US, as well as having had shows on several airlines. (Disclaimer: I DO work for Chalk Media).
haven’t been here in forever. didn’t realize you were blogging now (this used to be just a portfolio). that’s cool that i’m linked! woo. anywho, i added your rss so i’ll be here much more.
oh and wyatt has a site now too.
http://www.planetcerulean.com/candle
KC? K the C? Krusty the Clown commented on my blog? Wow!
Oh. Wait. It’s just Kevin Cheng, commenting off-topic when he could have just sent me an email instead. D’oh!
Right, back on topic: Terry McBride, President of Nettwerk (http://www.nettwerk.com), a record label he founded in 1984. The label has since gone on to sign and manage bands like Sarah McLachlin, BT, Avril Lavigne, and many more.
How about … Wil Sasso from Mad TV, Michael J Fox, Rick Hansen, Carrie Ann Moss (she does a great Trinity, sex appeal aside). Isn’t the founder of EA from Vancouver?
How about any Greenpeace activists?
I’ll tell you of one guy who isn’t from BC, but has made a huge, under-rated and little-known impact – Ron Mitchell, my University professor at UVic, and head of the Entrepreneurship program. They beat out Harvard Business School and Stanford one the year before for best Entrepreneurship pedagogy. Right now, the UN Compact is looking at using the program in third world nations. And it is also in use in several native reserves in BC that manage assets worth millions of dollars. Few people know any of these facts, but I do, and I think they are huge. Ron is an exceptional professor, tailoring his lectures and the entire ENT program to various learning styles so everyone gets the most out of it.
What a badly bowdlerized version of Newton’s most famous aphorism. However, it’s remarkable that he could write anything at all, at the time you attribute it to him. He’d been dead for almost 50 years.
Whoops! At first I thought I’d fallen victim to the wonders of Internet publishing (“It was published on the Internet…it has to be true!”). But instead, it appears to be either a typing error or a brain fart; the date on the quote should be 1676 – in addition, this quote is a paraphrase of an excerpt of Newton’s letter, not a verbatim quote. I’ve adjusted the entry to correct this mistake. My apologies to Sir Isaac for inappropriately bestowing upon him superhuman abilities – though he was a man of many powers, one doubts he had the ability to conduct scientific correspondences posthumously. Ditto for Robert Hooke.
On a brighter note, at least I learned a new word to soften the blow to my ego for this mistake: bowdlerized!