JUN%$$$5.00E 2009

METANOIA

The “Singing Revolution”

ON ESTONIAN FATHERS

ERNIE LOVE Ph.D. INTERVIEW WITH

THE 2009 SPECIAL EDITION!

3566 King George Highway

Surrey, BC

doctors@shaw.ca

Phone 604.538.8837

Capricorn (December—January 19)

Up and down, Up and down. You’re on a see-saw. If you don’t want to be on a see-saw

get off. Just play in “The Good Earth”.

Aquarius (January 20—February 8)

Looking for support and love? Try spending more time focused on completing what you’ve

started. Loving what you do turns others on, but as soon as you lose focus and begin to

play to them, you lose their admiration.

Pisces (February 19—March 20)

Worrying about how others interpret what you say is narcissistic. You really aren’t so

important that every word you utter needs an interpretation. Don’t focus so much on the

importance of what you say, but on its insignificance.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

So you want to please everyone. How has that worked for you so far? Try reading Ayn

Rand’s “The Virtue of Selfishness” or “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins. So based

on what you read how will that manifest itself in your thinking and behaviour?

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

You like to travel, don’t you? As the saying goes: “Leave all your troubles behind you!”

Read “The Road Less Travelled”! The cost is less than the price of a good meal, but the

benefits are everlasting.

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

Worries, worries, worries! God you are important. You have so many things to do, so

many lives to save? Try reading Carlos Castenada’s “ The Fire From Within” or “The

Secret Ring of Power”. You’re only a worm caught in a fire storm. Learn how to detach!

By Onieh Siel

Page 33 METANOIA

Page 32 METANOIA

Leo (July 23—August 22)

Ask direct questions but don’t believe the answers. No one trusts you enough to tell the truth because you punish them for doing so. You already know what you want to do – but don’t like it – so you ask for advice from people who will encourage you to undermine your own success – as always.

Virgo (August 23—September 22)

Are you willing to be a leader? Responsibility has been thrust upon you - but do you want to take it and run with it. Then speak in low voice and carry a big stick. Don’t threaten to use it, because you might have to, and by doing so – lose the power that you have.

Libra (Sept 23—Oct 22)

Give away what you won’t ever use. Be selective in choosing the recipient of your largesse. In so doing you will have the gratitude of the receiver and be rid of something that is dragging you down.

Scorpio (October 23—November 20)

Knowing what you need to do is different from understanding. The ability to anticipate consequences demonstrates a perfect balance between your intentions, actions and your results. But, when you think about it, this is always the case. The only time the question about your intentions comes up is when you feel you’ve failed.

Sagittarius (November 23—December 21)

So you are arrogant and pretentious but won’t admit it. That’s why, no matter how nice

you pretend to be, people are always taking advantage of you. Your body armour has holes

in it, so people you are trying to fool see through you, and the visor in your headgear

prevents you from seeing others.

HOROSCOPE

(June21-July21) Being emotional has little to do with

how much you value someone else. It’s all about you

being out of control. All those little lies you’ve told

yourself and others have now come together. You’ve

lost it because every story conflicts with the other.

Keeping stories straight requires you to be a writer.

So write!

Cancer

Special Edition

Metanoia 2009 ● THE RANT

Heino Leis

page 20

● THE INTERVIEW

Ernie Love

page 21

● THE ARTIST

Enda Bardell

page 30

● HOROSCOPE

page 32

4 My

Estonian

Father

Painting by Enda Bardell

METANOIA

EXECUTIVE AND STAFF

PUBLISHERS Allison L Patton

Salme J Leis

COPY CHIEF Heino (Hank) Leis

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS JR Leis

Heino (Hank) Leis

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Page 31 METANOIA

Page 30 METANOIA

Enda Bardell

I was born in Estonia and fled to Sweden with my parents to escape the Soviet occupation. As refugees, we lived in isolated communities where I had very few children with whom to play. At the age of six I discovered art to be a fulfilling occupation for an active mind. It became a lifelong passion from that time onward. But my love of art lay dormant for many years I was involved in marriage, raising children, single parenting, and a variety of stimulating careers. I was a costume designer, banker, fabric artist, founder and former owner of Enda B. Fashion Limited; and a Real-tor with Royal Le Page. Now at last I am able to pursue that lifelong dream-painting full time. With a thankful heart I think of my parents in heaven, and rejoice that they followed their dreams and brought me to beautiful Vancouver, B.C.

www.endabardell.com

METANOIA

—A Shift of Mind The word is "metanoia" and it means a shift of mind. The word has a rich history. For the Greeks, it meant a fundamental shift or change, or more literally transcendence ("meta"-above or beyond, as in "metaphysics") of mind ("noia," from the root "nous," of mind). In the early (Gnostic) Christian tradition, it took on a special meaning of awakening shared intuition and direct knowing of the highest, of God. "Metanoia" was probably the key term of such early Christians as John the Baptist. In the Catholic corpus the word metanoia was eventually translated as “repent."

Senge, Peter. The Fifth Discipline. Doubleday: New York, 1990, p. 13.

Page 4 METANOIA

MY ESTONIAN FATHER

FROM AUSTRALIA Arvi Parbo on his Estonian father Aado

Parbo

My father was a somewhat stern man with clear-cut values. Integrity and

self-reliance were his hallmarks. He worked very hard and did not

tolerate slackness or sloppiness in others. A stickler for punctuality, he

transferred this habit to me; to this day I cannot stand being late. He was

active in a number of organizations in the district such as the School

Board, Volunteer Fire Brigade and Defense League, and in local

government, including a period as Elder of the local government Council.

The tragedy of my father’s life, in common with many tens of thousands

of others, was that his life’s work was completely destroyed in one stroke

by the communist takeover in 1940.*

*Taken from “On Estonia and Estonians” by Arvi Parbo 2007

Ellen McNeice on her Estonian father Arvi Parbo

Like many Estonians in Australia in the 50’s, my parents thought they

would only be in Australia for a few years, until the "troubles" in Europe

blew over, and then they would return home. So I was raised in an

Estonian household - we spoke Estonian at home, ate Estonian food and

celebrated all the annual holidays. I couldn't speak English when I started

school.

My father was a highly ambitious and driven man. He

started work as a labourer, and ended up Chairman of

the same company years later. As children we really

didn't get to know him, as he was always busy -

during the week he would be working, and then on

weekends he would be working on the house.

I only really came to understand my father in my

twenties, when I met his father, my grandfather. Grandfather was a

dignified patriarchal man whose word was law, and who was obviously

the centre of the house-

Page 29 METANOIA

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hold. My father didn’t go quite that far, but he expected to be obeyed,

immediately and with no question. He wanted the household to be run his

way, and mostly it was. When things went wrong and dad became en-

raged we children quickly made ourselves scarce.

Dad was as demanding of us as he was of himself. We were all expected

to follow household rules, and to study and excel academically. Handing

over the report card was quite a ritual. This did not pose much of a prob-

lem to me, as I was always academically inclined. My brothers did not

suffer so well. They were certainly bright, but their paths lay elsewhere,

and it was a source of irritation to my father that they did not follow in

his footsteps. Although he loved us, and we certainly loved him, I don't

think my father had any empathy for people whose life choices were dif-

ferent from his own.

My father's attitude towards childrearing and work is clearly that of an

older European generation.

I enjoy spending time with my father very much nowadays. Under the

unusual circumstances under which we were brought up, I think my fa-

ther did as good a job of bringing us up as he was able, and we children

and grandchildren are all proud of him and our Estonian heritage and

connections.

Who is Sir Arvi Parbo?

Sir Arvi Parbo (born 10 Feb. 1926 in Tallinn, Estonia) is a business executive

who was concurrently chairman of three of Australia’s largest companies. He

was made a Knight Bachelor for services to industry in 1978.

Along with thousands of his Estonian countrymen, Parbo fled from his homeland

ahead of the Soviet occupation in 1944, ending up in a refugee camp (DP camp)

in Germany. After attending the Clausthal Mining Academy in Germany from

1946 to 1948 he migrated to Australia in 1949. He graduated from the

University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1955.

Parbo joined Western Mining Corporation in 1956 and over the next 12 years

held the positions of Underground Surveyor, Underground Manager, Technical

Assistant to the Managing Director, and Deputy General Superintendent. He was

appointed General Manager in 1968 and became a Director in 1970. He was

appointed Deputy Managing Director in 1971 and became Managing Director in

(continues)

Page 6 METANOIA

FROM CANADA Marje Suurkask on her Estonian father Jakob Kembi

Jakob Kembi was born in Parnu, Estonia on the 12th of July 1916. He

left for Sweden in 1944 in a small fishing boat. There were thirty people

aboard with another eight people in a much smaller skiff in tow in which

was his future brother-in-law, Theodore Wesik.

Estonians thought that they were still not safe in Sweden and they made

plans to leave for safer haven. They bought a former Canadian wooden

mine sweeper and converted it to a passenger vessel and in July 1949

they set out to Canada with 154 people on board (50 men, 50 women and

54 children). They arrived in Halifax on August 2nd, 1949, on MS

“Parnu”.

Jake got his first job in Vancouver at Burrard Shipyard at $1.65/hour. At

nights Jake made tool boxes which he sold to Woodwards. There was a

great demand for these – he did well. Now that he was no longer a fish-

erman, but a carpenter he set his sights on something bigger than

toolboxes. He started building houses in North Vancouver in 1955. This

was followed by high rise construction which culminated in 1970 with a

23 storey apartment structure in the West End. In all he built nine high-

rises, including his first hotel, Mayfair Towers on Hornby Street which is

now operating under its new name, Wedgewood Hotel.

the same year. In 1974, Parbo was appointed Chairman and Managing Director

of Western Mining Corporation, subsequently renamed WMC Limited. In 1986

he relinquished this position and became Executive Chairman. In 1990 he retired

as an executive but was appointed non-executive Chairman and retired from this

position in 1999.

Parbo was Chairman of Alcoa of Australia from 1978 to 1996. Chairman of

Munich Reinsurance Company of Australia from 1984 to 1998 and Chairman of

Zurich Australian Insurance group from 1985 to 1998. He was appointed a

Director of the Aluminum Company of America from 1980 to 1998, Hoechst

Australian Investment from 1981 to 1997, Chase AMP Bank from 1985 to 1991

and Sara Lee Corporation from 1991 to 1998. In 1987, Parbo was appointed a

Director of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) and was appointed

Chairman in 1989 until retirement in 1992.

stand and get it exposed to the harsh evaluation by mentors and potential

investors to see if the proposition really has what it takes. And even then,

one in a hundred actually gets significant venture funding and gets

moved along. That takes a lot of staying power. There are better

frameworks to really challenge budding entrepreneurs than an MBA

program. At most it is just a course in an MBA program. But that is not

what the risk and reward proposition for an entrepreneur is all about.

I don’t however have a problem with an entrepreneur thinking about an

exit strategy very early on, in fact, most of the time it is necessary. If you

go for venture capital, they insist on knowing what your exit strategy is.

That’s because they put up very risky money, want a big and quick

return. Then they want to cash out and re-invest in other leading ideas.

They don’t want to be there for the long haul. So you have to have a

credible exit strategy if you want to attract risky capital. That doesn’t

mean that you, as the entrepreneur, have lost your baby. Some of the best

exits are doing a float on a stock market. Then you can remain an active

player. But if your idea is a one trick pony then it may well be better to

exit by selling to a firm that can use your idea to fill in a hole in their

offering to the market.

Even the President of the U.S.A. seems to put an emphasis on his role

as doting father. Are leaders no longer expected to make the trade

offs that require more or all of their time and attention spent on

public matters rather than private matters? Is the leader no longer

expected to sacrifice his personal life for the greater good? Are our

expectations of how a leader spends his time no different from those

of us who are asked to follow?

I assume here you are questioning the balance between work and home

(or outside) life. I don’t really have much of an opinion on this. Being a

workaholic works for some, not so for others. Frankly mostly my

sympathies lay with the kids when these things don’t work out. Unless I

have missed the point of the question all together!

Page 27 METANOIA

How CEO’s view ‘their companies’. I agree with the sentiment of your

comments here. CEO’s are managing these companies and don’t have

particular ‘pride of ownership’. It has been argued by many that there is

a very serious ‘agency theory’ problem here – reflected in giving these

CEOs stock options. At some level, this induces them to focus on driving

the stock price and not the core business. This is all part of the serious

abuse we have seen lately with respect to bonuses being granted to the

CEOs of failing firms. Firms that are asking for government bailouts only

to then reward themselves with excessive bonuses.

What are business ethics other than determining the trade offs be-

tween short term requirements and long term opportunities in the

context of what is legal?

Ethics. I am not sure I am following this question. It is clear in terms of

the discussion on these excessive bonuses being granted to CEOs (often

of failing companies) that there is a serious ethical issue here. I suppose

some new laws might come into being as a result but often this can pro-

duce unintended consequences. It does seem to me that ethics is a power-

ful force in Society and often gets revealed by ways such as embarrassing

those exhibiting unethical behaviour rather than forcing a new law into

being.

Why does it seem that entrepreneurs have become almost the

“intellectually disabled children” of the M.B.A. program? The

M.B.A. programs seem to be designed more and more for bureau-

crats and administration and less and less for entrepreneurs. Does it

just seem that way or is entrepreneurship now regarded as merely a

mechanism to feed the appetites of huge corporations? (many Entre-

preneurs build companies for the purpose of being taken over)

I don’t know that entrepreneurship and the MBA curriculum is a particu-

larly good match. MBA programs are designed to take non-business peo-

ple (engineers typically) give them core business skills and then teach

them how to strategize. Those are worthwhile goals for such a program.

This doesn’t mean you can’t teach a bit about entrepreneurship along the

way like defining a value proposition and writing a business plan. But it

doesn’t seem to me the incentives are particularly well aligned. A fledg-

ing entrepreneur has to take a value proposition that they really under-

Page 26 METANOIA Page 7 METANOIA

In 1974 he finished building the Surrey Inn. From that point on he found

a new occupation – innkeeper.

He had four traits that I personally admired that never left him. He was

very curious, very observant, he had a phenomenal memory and a won-

derful sense of humour.

When he saw a process or procedure for the first time, he would pay

close attention to what was done and how. He would take in all nuances

of this activity, not missing a thing. It was then stored in his memory to

retrieve at a later time.

He had two overwhelming wishes towards the end, for he was far more

aware of his precarious health than he let people know. The first thing he

wished for was to be able to see the dawning of the millennium. This he

did. The second wish was his family in Estonia to obtain possession of

his family home in Parnu that had been confiscated during the war. This

happened just before he passed away.

Alar Suurkask on his Estonian father Harald F. Suurkask

The only things I can pass on to you are your name and birth country.

Try to carry your name with honour and don’t forget your beloved home

country. (Words of wisdom from Harald Suurkask to his son Alar)

Jakob Kembi with grandsons: (left)

Anton Suurkask, Jakob Selde, Jakob Kembi, Hans Selde

(missing Jakob Kembi (jr.))

Page 8 METANOIA

Harry Jaako on his Estonian father Arved Jaako

My father, Arved Jaako, was born in Viljandi, Estonia, in 1915. The

youngest of three brothers, he was raised by my grandfather’s second

wife.

In September 1944, my father worked for Viljandi’s city administration,

and managed the supply and delivery of heating fuel for city buildings -

firewood from farmers’ woodlots. On the evening of Sept. 23rd, my fa-

ther and his colleagues gathered to decide whether to stay or flee Esto-

nia, as the Soviet Red Army was only a day or two from Viljandi and

approaching fast. At the urging of mayor Albert Vilms, my father and a

car full of colleagues drove to Parnu that night, and sailed for Germany.

In late 1947, my father left Germany for Canada. He had told Canadian

authorities that he had forest industry experience, and was accepted for

immigration to Canada, to be sent to Northwestern Ontario to work in

logging camps, along with other Estonian refugees.

Their train stopped in the middle of a snowy night at a deserted spot on

the CN mainline, and a lone lantern flickered a greeting. The person

meeting them was told they were from Eastern Europe and welcomed

them in Russian. The poor Estonians thought they had been tricked and

sent to Siberia.

My father worked for almost thirty years in the forest industry around

Thunder Bay. Starting as a camp clerk, he rose through the ranks at

Great Lakes Forest Products, retiring as Chief Internal Auditor in 1976.

He married my mother, Elsa Soosaar, and I was born in 1952, my sister

in 1954. For the first 9 years of my life, we lived a nomadic life as my

father worked at a string of logging camps, at a time when logs were

skidded onto frozen lakes by teams of horses, and after spring break-up,

the logs were floated down the rivers to the mill at Thunder Bay.

My father was a soft-spoken, well-mannered, gentle man. Throughout

my upbringing I rarely heard him raise his voice, or become visibly an-

gry. My mother, like many Estonian women I have met, was a strong-

willed, opinionated matriarch, who ruled the household, and my father

typically deferred to her wishes in matters pertaining to our family, our

Page 25 METANOIA

incredible appetite to take on debt and not save. This goes right up to the

top where the US Federal Reserve has wanted to keep money cheap so

that people can borrow and continue to drive the economy. It does seem

that that economy was so highly leveraged (and owing the Chinese most

of their debt) that the slightest tremor was going to start the tumble.

The other factor is how the technical people in the financial sector began

to hold sway with an ever growing array of complex financial instru-

ments. In an attempt to continue to drive the success of the financial mar-

kets world-wide, more and more complex hedges, derivatives, swaps,

funds and the like were created. I think it is generally acknowledged now

that the real risk of such instruments was largely near impossible to de-

termine. Certainly not by the average investor who was borrowing cheap

dollars on the promise of double digit gains. I suppose you could point

the finger at MBA programs to some extent since that is where many of

these financial wizards were getting their advanced training.

But I think it is generally acknowledged that some of the blame must also

be borne by the rating agencies. There certainly appears to be a strong

view that they were not providing proper risk advisories on many of

these investment instruments. Asset back securities, which triggered

much of the meltdown, feature centrally in this. These were bundled and

re-bundled and sold off in ways it was virtually impossible to assess the

risks. But once it began to unravel, the fall has been pretty hard.

Has anyone noted that in the last 15 years that there has been a ma-

jor paradigm shift in the way that C.E.O.’S view “their” companies

and that this has resulted in an ominous change in the relationship

between company executives and shareholders? (i.e. executives re-

gard themselves as mere employers – who get stock options to dis-

pose of at the highest prices – i.e. no pride of ownership as the Rock-

efellers and others had. As a result the stock market has become an

exit strategy for those in the upper echelon) rather than a place to

accumulate wealth (Wealth v.s. Income strategy, which also indicates

that pride of ownership is no longer relevant to a C.E.O.’s strategy.)

Page 24 METANOIA

brings engineers, scientists, accountants and behaviorists/HR types to-

gether to problems solve, and then good MBA program do span bounda-

ries in this sense.

I would probably suggest that of the three key aspects of moving a busi-

ness forward: vision, strategy and implementation that MBAs put the

lion’s share of the emphasis on strategy (of course they also build foun-

dation skills – marketing, accounting, finance, operations etc. since one

needs those). Vision I think is quite different and harder. It requires that

one spend time in a business to know what the art of the possible is.

Strategy is implementing a vision. And of course since a typical MBA

program takes a year now, there really isn’t much time for implementa-

tion, though in reality anyone will tell you, “The devil is in the details”.

III. The Economy

The current state of the economy has put a lot of holes into economic

thinking. Why is it that the few who predicted this economic fiasco

were not heeded by the economists and the M.B.A.’s?

Does the current economic situation point out the flaws in what has

been taught in M.B.A. schools? “The Black Swan” by Nassin Taleb

seems to indicate that much of what is taught in M.B.A. schools is

flawed. Do you yourself think that the M.B.A. needs rethinking?

It seems that the concept of leveraging is particularly flawed – from

Main Street to Wall Street – and because of that, the economic col-

lapse was not a possibility but an inevitability. Why were the bright-

est and the best not able to convince policy makers to deal with this

before the problems became so severe?

These questions seem highly interrelated to me. There has been a lot of

‘expert’ talk on the reasons for the economic meltdown of the last eight

months. I don’t know that I have any real qualifications to posit opinions

beyond what has been offered by many others. It does seem to me how-

ever that much of what we have seen has been driven by two major fac-

tors. One has to be the American attitude to debt. They seem to have an

Page 9 METANOIA

schooling, and ultimately our family’s move from the logging camps to

the city of Thunder Bay.

Over the years, I respected my father’s dedication to being our family

breadwinner, his intense loyalty to those that mattered to him, his strong

personal commitment to his work, and the most ethical standards that

guided all of his actions.

Heino Leis on his Estonian father Johannes Leis

There are two stories that speak to my relationship with my father.

I was born in Estonia but grew up in the town of Mackayville, Quebec.

Each morning and each evening I bussed my way between Mackayville

where I lived and St. Lambert where I went to high school. Each day

there was a fight to get into the packed buses. One evening, the bus

pulled up to the stop on Taschereau Blvd. where I stood waiting with my

chums. The bus door opened, a few of my fellow students scrambled

aboard, but there was no room left for me. I was resigned to waiting an

hour for the next bus. Suddenly a hand appeared through the crowd

grabbing mine forcibly yanking me into the bus. There was my father,

who in his grubby work clothes, directed me to move on and join my

friends and instructed me in a quiet voice to pretend I did not know him.

The other story involves a midnight phone call I received from a French

speaking childhood friend I had not seen for over 30 years after I had

long moved away from Mackayville. While at a retreat he had been

asked to describe the person who had most influenced his life. He had

been told to call the person to thank him. My father had died, so instead

he had chosen to call me, the next of kin. That said a lot about my father,

always preaching about the need for education, to be independent, a free

thinker, to have passion about life, to be proud of being an Estonian, and

never letting communism subjugate us in our minds or in our hearts. All

the French speaking kids in my neighborhood knew some Estonian

words, especially my dad’s favourite words “Kurat Kull!”

Page 10 METANOIA

Salme Leis on her Estonian father Heino Leis

I once met a lady, who asked, “What is your nationality?” When I said I was Estonian, her reply was “Oh yes, the proud Estonians”. My father is certainly one of them. My childhood was very unusual. My father was always travelling, meeting new and interesting people, and as he calls it writing a script called “Life”. When I was little it was quite a normal thing to invite my friends over to my “office” instead of my house. It was normal, for my mom to look for me and find me in a meeting with one of the executives. My best friends were CEO’s, Artists, Pirates, and Cow-boys. This has very much to do with how my father shaped my life.

My father told me a story of his first business deal. He was 12 years old and translating for his father. They were buying a farm and my father told me that later that night he was riddled with the fear that he had mis-takenly translated $15,000.00 into $1,500.00. Fortunately, his translation was correct. This is how he first learned the value of investing in proper-ty.

I have two sisters and one brother. My brother is an actor, one sister a model and the other a curriculum writer. None became an entrepreneur and investor like my father. I think growing up with an Estonian father can sometimes be intense, to say the least. He always stressed the im-portance of the pursuit of knowledge, having dreams, and the passion to create a life story. Sometimes pushy and always passionate about his philosophies, my dad’s way of life could seem stressful, lacking in bal-ance and demanding. While I have agreed with these statements most of my life, it seems now, I want this for myself.

I am the youngest of his four children, and probably against all odds, when it came time to choosing a “career” I decided to follow my father’s footsteps. And without embarrassing him too much, I found in him the best teacher, ally, and dare I say friend I’ve ever had. He taught me the value of detachment, not having my ego dictate my choices, and that fear is something to be used as a tool. “Go into your Fear”, he would say. He has taught me that too often people use their morality (absent of integri-ty) as an argument to excuse failure that resulted from their actions. The virtuous always have a compelling reason for failure. Hence his com-monly quoted phrase, “Failure is moral success”.

Our off beat sense of humour has brought us together and in these past few years we have created a world that is all of our own and I am truly honoured to follow in My Estonian Father’s footsteps.

Page 23 METANOIA

Schools have a lot in common with most businesses. You don’t lack for

opportunities. The issue is to decide which opportunities to take up. That

requires vision and strategy and ensuring you get buy in from all your

stakeholders.

My understanding of business has been that there are basically 3

levels on which business needs to be understood, Strategy, Tactics

and Implementation. How does this relate to what is being taught

now?

I was the RBC Professor of Technology and Innovation. So my world

was operations management, operations research and the management of

technologies.

But you ask the question about 3 levels: Strategy, Tactics and Implemen-

tation. I rather prefer to think that the 3 levels are: Vision, Strategy and

Implementation. And your stakeholders – all of your stakeholders, have

to buy in to what you do at these three levels.

But I also believe that much of management is filtering through the op-

portunities and picking the ones that are consistent with the agreed upon

vision. Mostly I found that there were plenty of opportunities. The trick

is to be very clear about where you are going, pick the opportunities that

can help you get there, figure out how best to incorporate the new oppor-

tunity and then execute, execute, execute.

There is a kind of sense by MBA students that they are all either

leaders or learning to become leaders. The term “boundary span-

ning position” is hardly ever talked about in most educational sys-

tems. Is there a kind of dishonesty in the notion that everyone is or

can be a leader?

There is no question that you are trying to teach MBA’s to be leaders.

That’s the nature of why they are there. Typically they want to move up

in an organization and get to the top of the pyramid. The top side of a

business needs leadership since that is where vision and strategy are set.

I don’t know about ‘boundary spanning’ and whether it is or is not talked

about. I do think good MBA programs do spend a lot of time on devel-

oping collaborative models and team building. To the extent that this

Page 22 METANOIA

realize what an opportunity this was. Obviously my parents did, and it is

only after one gets older and also travels to other countries do you realize

just what an opportunity this was.

Who were the people that inspired you?

Well obviously, from what I said above, my parents, particularly my fa-

ther, was a big influence in my life. That’s no doubt true for many peo-

ple. Parents have that influence and certainly they ensured that I got off

to a good start. But I also admired my father as an individual. He always

seemed a very well rounded individual. Growing his business was very

important but he also involved in many outside activities in the commu-

nity and throughout his life always gave a lot back. See that close at hand

does impact the way you look at life I think.

But I would also have to say that one early friend in particular had a very

strong influence on the path I took in life. He was quite different than me

when we were young – or at least that’s how I perceived it. Much more

scholarly, intellectual and with an enormous passion for travel and histo-

ry. I am quite certain this influenced my going down an education track

farther than I otherwise probably would have. It certainly set in me my

great fondness for travel and an interest in cultures and history - more

than I would have otherwise I am sure. I am still good friends with this

fellow after close to fifty years and I think that itself speaks to the issue

of influence.

II. About the M.B.A.

Did you develop a strategy in your own life and how successful were

you in achieving your objectives?

Probably although I don’t think I articulated it in any detail and certainly

there wasn’t a single strategy. Mostly I found I made some important

career shifts and that required making decisions about how I was going to

be successful on a different path.

I undoubtedly thought a lot more about strategy when I became a Dean.

Then you really have to map out a vision, develop some strategies and

execute. But that is part of running an organization and needing to en-

sure the organization is going to grow and flourish. I suspect Business

Who is Heino Leis?

Heino ( Hank ) Leis was born in Haapsalu, Estonia in 1943. In 1948 his parents

brought him to Montreal, Quebec. In 1966 he founded Strato Geological Engi-

neering Ltd., a Vancouver, B.C. based company that provided services

(geophysics, drilling etc.) to the mining industry. He has been a director of nu-

merous private and public companies, and other organizations.

Nelson Leis on his Estonian father Heino Leis

When thinking of traits that resonate with an Estonian father or an Esto-

nian in general for that matter, some of the following descriptive may

come to one’s mind: Person of integrity, practical, proud of their name,

proud of the homeland, modest, reserved, hardy stock, and enjoys work-

ing the land.

Well not for me. What comes to mind first when I think of my Estonian

father is: knows how to make a phone call.

I remember that at some point in my teens my father said, “Don’t ever be

intimidated to pick up the phone and call someone, anyone, if you need

something. The worse they can do is say no.” This seemingly simple

advice has served me incredibly well as a producer in the entertainment

field and in life in general. Because of my willingness to call anybody, I

have opened many doors and developed incredibly fruitful relationships.

I used to think that anyone could ‘pick up a phone’, but have been con-

stantly surprised to find people who are nervous to do so and as a result

miss out on any number of opportunities.

This enthusiasm to call someone is not always rewarded however. An-

other moment that I remember from my teens is when my father called a

stranger whose name he recognized to be Estonian. My father said, “Hi,

I’m Estonian. And the other guy said, “Good for you.” I don’t think the

conversation lasted much longer. Maybe Estonians are better at making

calls than receiving them.

Page 11 METANOIA

FROM ESTONIA Liivi Laos on her Estonian Father Ants Laos

All I ever needed to know...

Well, not all, but a lot of

things in my life I have

learned from my Dad Ants

Laos, a former Minister of

Food Industry and Trade

both during the period of

Soviet Union and after

Estonia had gained

independence, currently a

counsel to one of Estonia’s

largest oil factories. Being a

daughter of a Minister for nearly 10 years, many thought that you did not

have to work to achieve something. Quite the contrary, the more was

expected! I realized that education and knowledge is something that

cannot be taken from you. He proved it at the transitional period when

Estonia gained independance and quite often former leaders were not

wanted to be in leading positions. I also realized that languages are an

invaluable asset that opens the doors to the world. Without that I would

definitely not be doing the things I do nor be where I am today.

Now, at the age of 65, he is taking life a bit more easy. Taking care of

himself, swimming, biking and having discovered downhill sking at the

age of 60, he is in good health and looks like Giorgio Armani. The

balance of body and mind is something to strive for. Education, hard

work and taking care of yourself are the key words I think of when I

think of my Dad.

Page 12 METANOIA

Born in Hamilton Ontario, Ernie’s initial training was in Chemical Engineering.

After graduating he worked for Shell Oil and Union Carbide in Ontario and Que-

bec. This was followed by a return to McMaster for an MBA with the intention of

returning to industry. However a teaching opportunity at the University of Sas-

katchewan initiated a lifelong career as an academic. Time at Saskatchewan was

followed by three years at the London Business School in England for a PhD in

Business (Operations Management/Operations Research) and a subsequent thirty

year career at Simon Fraser University as Professor and subsequently as Dean of

the Business School. Interspersed throughout the thirty years were many extended

visits to other Universities world-wide in order to work with international col-

leagues on a variety of research projects. He is shortly to embark on a one or two

year stint in the United Arab Emirates working at the American University of

Sharjah.

__________________________________________________________________

I. THE FORMATIVE YEARS

Tell me about your life growing up?

Interesting question! In reality I would have to think I had a pretty ordi-

nary kind of growing up. My father was quite successful as a contrac-

tor. This was the 50’s and if you were ambitious there was lots of op-

portunity with the strong post-war economy of Canada. But what had

the strongest impression on me was the entrepreneurial ability to see

business opportunities and capitalize on them. However my parents,

neither of which had the benefit of a lot of formal education were keen

to push me into University and here again, the 50’s saw a real growth in

University education for ordinary Canadians. As a kid you don’t

THE INTERVIEW

Ernie Love, B. Eng. (Chemical), MBA, PhD (Business)

Page 21 METANOIA

Let me begin by saying I am angry, very angry. I am angry at what the

C.E.O.’s have done to the companies they run, I am angry that those who

were supposed to be the watchdogs did not watch, and I am angry at the edu-

cators who produced the corporate looters and the self-indulgent losers who

produced fake economies that have collapsed worldwide.

Let me also say that I love the give and take of business and that for me the

world of finance is exciting. Even the chaos of it all appeals to me.

What I hate is intentional subterfuge by self-indulgent players who knowing-

ly and mindlessly traded off their short term gains at the expense of longevi-

ty. And for those who make the argument that they did nothing knowingly,

then they should be banned from the human race because the concept of

thinking has not yet been introduced to them. In other words they have not

yet reached ape status in their evolution!

What I want is accountability. In fact at 66 years of age I can demand it. I

have paid my dues-and very simply put I always knew that in any business I

owned or invested in-the trade offs and choices I made were always about

short term survival versus long-term possibilities. And if you don’t know that

about life, you should curl up in a cave and die. And according to evolution-

ists that is exactly what happens. And guess what? It is happening now.

Let me be clear. Ernie Love is my friend who has kindly taken the time to

answer my questions. He was also my MBA professor as well as a director

on the board of a company I once controlled. And because he is my friend

and an educator, I asked him questions about what role education has played

in the virtual collapse of the world economy. In other words, did what we

learn taking our MBA contribute to the current fiasco?

What I really want to do is ask every Dean and Economics Professor what

their teachings had to do with the current state of this economy. I want to ask

a lot of people in the community of politicians, professionals, professors

reporters, and businessmen to be accountable. I don’t want explanations

about what someone else did. I want to know what each one of you did? Yes,

even the soccer moms who “need” to drive SUV’s and pushed their hus-

bands into buying homes they could not afford.

I suggest that first we take responsibility, then change. In other words, con-

fession before absolution.

The Rant by Hank Leis

Page 20 METANOIA

FROM USA Steve Jurvetson on his Estonian Father Tony Jurvetson

I grew up with an immigrant

mentality – with an unbounded

sense of opportunity for those

who work hard, and a reservoir

of pride for our unique herit-

age. My father instilled a sense

of scientific curiosity in me, and

a love of learning about technol-

ogy. He would often ask me

how things work, from tape re-

corders to rainbows, and talk

through a logical decomposition,

invoking physics instead of fair-

ies. He was ambitious and took

risks to advance his career, with

a fire in the belly to achieve. Memories of his proud homeland, while

distant, provided us with a basis of self-confidence and belief that we

could succeed against all odds, much like our ancestors did in crafting a

free Estonia after WW1.

In many ways, the modern Estonia is itself a nation of immigrants. As

the iron curtain crumbled, and a new economy dawned, it was as if the

Estonian nation awoke from a numbing slumber to rediscover a free

homeland, a land of opportunity, globally connected now, that rewards

entrepreneurship, hard work and an innovative mind. We are proud to

have invested in companies like Skype that make manifest the dream of

every innovator – a small group of people can in fact change the

world. Vaba Eesti!

Page 13 METANOIA

Who is Tony Jurvetson?

As written by Tony Jurvetson:

I was born before WW2 in a free and independent Estonia. The war and Soviet

occupation took away my home and country for over fifty years and our family

fled to Austria, Germany, Sweden and finally Canada, where I grew up met and

married an Estonian girl Tiiu Mannistu.

My interests have always been electronics and high tech and I was lucky to be

able to make a career of it. My first job as member of the Scientific Staff at Bell

Northern Labs in Ottawa, Canada, gave me the experience to further my career at

Motorola, Arizona where our son Stephen was born.

Other highlights include: United Technologies Mostek, Texas as VP of wafer

fabrication and international operations and Senior VP, General Manager of the

worlds largest computer memory producer.

When Stephen went to attend Stanford, we too moved to California and I worked

at Varian Associates in various positions culminating as President of the Varian

Semiconductor Equipment Group.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my career and have now retired in Los Altos Hills, to

my most responsible position yet, that of partnering with my wife Tiiu, to help

raise two of the greatest grandkids we could ever have hoped for.

Painting by Estonian Artist—Enda Bardell

Page 14 METANOIA

Page 19 METANOIA

Who is James Tusty?

James Tusty was born in the U.S.A. but in 1999 while teaching a film course in

Estonia he reconnected to his Estonian heritage.

Mountain View Group, Ltd. founded in 1981 by James Tusty, is one of the prem-

ier film and video production companies. Its clients have included GE Energy,

The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Raytheon, Home Depot, and New York State.

Mountain View has won over 200 national and international awards.

Tusty and his wife, Maureen, also a film producer, have started a new company

called Sky Films Incorporated, focused primarily on feature documentaries.

Their first feature film, THE SINGING REVOLUTION, opened in New York

and Los Angeles in December 2007, where it was met with great success. The

executive producers were Steve Jurvetson and his wife Karla Jurvetson. The

New York Times made the film a coveted critic’s pick and wrote, “Imagine the

scene in Casablanca in which the French patrons sing La Marseillaise in defiance

of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you’ve

only begun to imagine the force of The Singing Revolution”.

Page 18 METANOIA

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Page 15 METANOIA

Who is Steve Jurvetson?

Steve Jurvetson is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading

venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world. He was the founding

VC investor in Hotmail (MSFT), Interwoven (IWOV), and Kana (KANA). He

also led the firm's investments in Tradex and Cyras, acquired for $8 billion.

Current Board positions include Synthetic Genomics, SpaceX, NeoPhotonics,

Telsa Motors, and Wowd. Previously, Steve was an R&D Engineer at Hewlett-

Packard, where seven of his communications chip designs were fabricated. His

prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research

(TEM atomic imaging of GaAs), and computer design at HP's PC Division, the

Center for Materials Research, and Mostek. He has also worked in product

marketing at Apple and NeXT Software. As a Consultant with Bain &

Company, Steve developed executive marketing, sales, engineering and business

strategies for a wide range of companies in the software, networking and

semiconductor industries. At Stanford University, he finished his BSEE in 2.5

years and graduated #1 in his class, as the Henry Ford Scholar. Steve also holds

an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He received his MBA from the

Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also serves

on the Boards of SRI International, STVP, and SEVF and is Co-Chair of the

NanoBusiness Alliance. He was honoured as "The Valley's Sharpest VC" on the

cover of Business 2.0 and chosen by the SF Chronicle and SF Examiner as one of

"the ten people expected to have the greatest impact on the Bay Area in the early

part of the 21st Century." He was profiled in the New Y ork Times Magazine and

featured on the covers of Worth, Red Herring, and Fortune magazines. Steve

was chosen by Forbes as one of "Tech's Best Venture Investors", by the VC

Journal as one of the "Ten Most Influential VCs", and by Fortune as part of their

"Brain Trust of Top Ten Minds." In 2005, Steve was honoured as a Young

Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and a Distinguished Alumnus by

St. Mark's.

Painting by Mike Solomon

Page 16 METANOIA

James Tusty on his Estonian Father Julius Bienvenue Tusty

My father, Julius Bienvenue Tusty, came to the U.S. as a ten-year old

child in 1924. So the Estonian part of himself he passed on was not

learned as an adult, but just part of who he was. Most North American

Estonians came over fleeing for their lives from the terror of the Red

Army and Josef Stalin. My grandfather was different. He came over as

an émigré, not a refugee, and had no intention of returning. Therefore,

my father became what I call an “Ellis Island immigrant”…he believed in

America and wanted to raise his two children as Americans, not Estoni-

ans.

But nonetheless, looking back on it, I can say he was indeed an Estonian

father…not by conscious intention, but by DNA and upbringing. His

humor was very, very dry. It was all in the words only as his face didn’t

twitch or crack a smile at all. It was a humor lost on very young chil-

dren, but as I grew older I learned to listen carefully. Was Dad offering

me true advice for life or telling me a joke? His delivery was the same

for both. That made me a good listener I suppose.

He also was dogged on achieving his goals. One of his favorite phrases,

said over and over such that by age ten I rolled my eyes every time I

heard it, was “Never, ever, ever give up!” He lived by that maxim and in

many ways that’s how Estonia survived and ultimately triumphed

through fifty years of a brutal Soviet occupation.

He was generally of quiet demeanor, and very thoughtful on a variety of

issues. But I do remember him being extremely disappointed when no

one went in to support the successful Hungarian revolution of 1956.

Hungarians had not only fought their Soviet occupiers, they had van-

quished them and taken over the government!

But the West hesitated. Under cover of the Suez Canal crisis, the Red

Army reassembled and rolled back into Hungary and mercilessly

squashed the insurrection. I think my father knew then that any hopes of

the West helping Estonia throw out its Soviet occupiers were gone. This

was a sad turn of events.

In the course of producing our film, “The Singing Revolution”, my co-

producer and wife, Maureen, and I learned that Estonians in Estonia felt

the same way. Since the end of WWII, Estonians had held hopes of

freedom encouraged by messages on Radio Free Europe and Voice of

America. When they saw the world abandon Hungary in 1956, they, like

my father, felt that they were on their own to oust their occupiers.

The amazing thing is, Estonia eventually did. It took 35 more years to do

so.

Estonia fought for, and appreciates, its freedom. I hope that all those

who live in a free society understand that it is not a given like the air we

breathe…it is a slim minority of people in human history who have lived

under freedom.

Maybe that’s what I learned most from my father. Elagu Vabadus!

(“Long Live Freedom!” In Estonian)

Page 17 METANOIA