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People. Celebrities
Encyclopedia of the 21st Century. Biographies and Profiles of
the First Decade. Volume I: People Who Matter
 This
is not a book about celebrities, stars, the rich, or the famous. Of course, many
of the people included in this book had achieved such status - but the status is
the least important part of their lives. Rather, this book is about living
people of our time who matter so much, who contribute, invent, create, cure, or
nourish our souls and our minds, that we know that our world would not have been
the same if they did not exist.
The author, Maximillien de Lafayette had been innovative in his approach.
Instead of uniform, traditional style that is highly informative but somewhat
dry, he allowed the people in this book to speak for themselves. They are worth
listening to, as they describe their lives, their parents, the love of their
spouse, the joy of raising their children, even the bonding to their beloved
pets. The personalities we view as titans become endearingly human. It covers so
many fields, that it should be a wonderful treat to jump from one subject to
another, learn new things, and enjoy the ones we already love. Zoology, art,
human rights, medicine, science, physiology, music, peace, literature, cinema,
philanthropy, media, theater, poetry, architecture, and languages are just a
part of it. It covers all human endeavor; it is indeed a gigantic biographical
encyclopedia. To the young, it is a learning tool, to the scholar, it is an
essential reference.
Surprisingly, there are so many people in this book. Every page you will open at
random will show you a story that will warm your heart, lift your spirits, and
inspire you to be all that you could be. And I believe that it is also eminently
suitable as reading matter for any teen-age boy or girl; it will lead the young
person to the right kind of road.
NOVELTIES. SUCCESS
The smart way to succeed: Award winner thrives by finding talent
 Photo:
Spindle, Stairs and Railings won the RBC Royal Bank
Small Business of the Year award Thursday night.
President Kevin Halliday says the key to success is
hiring smart people.
Kevin Halliday has a simple formula
for business success: hire people better and smarter
than yourself. Halliday has been using that philosophy
with great success over the years with his Spindle,
Stairs and Railings company. On Thursday night, the
company captured the RBC Royal Bank Small Business of
the Year award passed out by the Calgary Chamber of
Commerce during an awards ceremony. "One of the
biggest things about the success of this company is
basically our management style -- our management
team," said Halliday, president of the company. "Our
hiring practice -- basically we've hired great people
to run it. One of the biggest things I always say is
that I hire people better and smarter than me because
they only make me look good. "The thing is surround
yourself with people that are great. I don't know how
to make a circular stair, personally. But I know how
to get great people that know how to do it. I don't
need to know how to do it. I need to be the visionary
. . . bringing these people together has actually
helped our growth." Over the past few years, the
company has won a number of awards for its unique
work. For example, Profit Magazine in June listed the
company among Canada's 100 fastest growing companies
with revenue growth of 727 per cent in five years.
"With each one of these, it just gives us more
credibility as a fast growing company," said Halliday.
"With our new innovative product lines and our
management style, that really sets us apart from
anyone else and our training programs. Just to be able
to be recognized as one of these companies that are
moving forward in our training and in our new product
lines and in our railings and doing things outside the
box (is great)."
The company, which was incorporated
in 1999, manufactures, supplies and installs custom
spindles, stairs and railings. It operates out of its
own 25,000-square-foot facility with 55 employees -- 30
are in the trades. Other finalists for the small
business award were Pockar Masonry Ltd., (Malcolm and
Serena Holbrook) and The Bike Shop Ltd. (Kevan
MacNaughton). On Thursday night, the Chamber also
awarded Carmen Creek Gourmet Meats, with partners Kelly
Long, Dean Andres and Pieter Spinder, the Bennett Jones
Emerging Enterprise of the Year award. Long, president
of the company, said persistence has been the key in the
company's success. "We've run into so many hurdles and
so many obstacles and we've just been persistent. That's
been the key. Teamwork too. I think we've put some great
people together that extend beyond the partners," said
Long. Carmen Creek markets and sells high-end bison meat
from bison in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It has
experienced phenomenal growth since its inception in
2003. Long said that, when the company first began, it
needed some help in different areas of marketing and the
processing side of the industry. A company called
Vantage Foods helped them. "We have some unbelievable
outside support, and I think that's a big part of it
too," said Long. "A huge support too from other
companies helping us get to where we are. Even our
competitors, believe it or not." She said it's a "huge
honour to be recognized by our peers." Other finalists
for the emerging business award were K2C Industrial
Automation Inc. (Sahdev Sharma) and PixelTech (Susan
Mellon). - My Mario Toneguzzi.
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