The FWE Talk befittingly took place at one of Vancouver’s most prestigious and historic buildings, The Vancouver Club, a go-to hub for the city’s key dealmakers, entrepreneurs and political movers and shakers. So having someone who embodies all of this take to the stage was perfectly suited. As a Canadian entrepreneur, three-time panelist on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and passionate philanthropist W. Brett Wilson has more than established himself as a force to be reckoned with (and all the way from a tiny town called North Battleford, Saskatchewan, at that).
A reputation for success, honorary doctorates and degrees aside, when FWE’s CEO Jeanette Jackson introduced Wilson to the stage, it was to a room of warm applause.
One thing that immediately struck us was his amazing way of connecting with the audience through down-to-earth storytelling and easy humour that was often self-deprecating. His sage words of advice were peppered with comical anecdotal stories of his formative years and challenges he faced as a strappy young kid from a town with a population of about 12,000. Heck, he even apologized for taking a call mid-presentation from his lawyer ‘John’ when he realized he’d forgotten to turn his ringer to silent. Who does that? W. Brett Wilson, that’s who, but not before explaining that he’s in the middle of a bit of a lawsuit and is optimistic that he’ll win.
Of course, Wilson inevitably had to provide his insider scoop on what it was like to be one of Canada’s most favoured Dragons from CBC’s popular Dragons’ Den show (which now airs in more than 30 countries and is equally as popular in the US where it was renamed ‘Shark Tank’).
He shared stories about everything from his take on reality television to the pains of media training, hanging out with the Prime Minister’s family for home screenings of the show, meeting Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher, as well as a near miss with one of the Vancouver Housewives (phew!)… and more.
Dragon talk done, the remainder of Brett’s presentation revolved around personal growth, what it means to be an entrepreneur, find to success and to discover true passion for what you do. Being from a solid Saskatchewan-based family with parents who consistently gave back to their community, the importance of relationship-building and philanthropy is not lost to Wilson. Nor is the importance of planting seeds of possibility throughout life and loving what you do.
With the launch of his latest book, Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes, Wilson used the later part of the FWE Talk to impart a sense of self-reflection. Having dealt with cancer, business upsets, divorce and had time to reevaluate success, he’s clearly come away with an altered outlook on life. What he made a point of drawing our attention to, as young professionals, was just how important it is to have our own evolution of success and be able to “make sure we’ve got our own definition of what success means, ensuring that it’s multi-faceted.”
To wrap up, Wilson laid out his top three ways he believes we ought to engage when defining our sense of success in today’s professional and personal environment:
First, he suggests that we study marketing, pointing out that this begins with our most important marketing tool: our resume.
Secondly, Wilson states that as young professionals, we need to study entrepreneurship, nurture our connections, and engage with a larger audience through social media.
Finally, the study of philanthropy and importance of nurturing and maintaining relationships was noted. Wilson suggested that as entrepreneurs we ought to be proactive in terms of providing support as we build our careers and successes.
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