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Daniel Veniez was handed a Crown corporation that had lost money for 30 straight years. He took no salary for the job — and within 18 months he had a new board, an unprecedented seven-year labour agreement, First Nations who now saw the terminal as theirs to help build, and the first repayment ever on what it owed the taxpayer.

He advised three federal cabinet ministers in Brian Mulroney's government. He built his own companies in British Columbia. Then he was sent in to fix Ridley Terminals.

Joseph Soares talks with him about what leadership actually is — and what it asks of the person doing it.

In this conversation:

• What leadership is, and why a leader has to know the detail
• Challenging assumptions without sounding arrogant
• Fixing a culture of complacency
• Winning a seven-year labour agreement with a suspicious workforce
• Making First Nations partners in the business, not recipients
• What Canada–U.S. trade demands of a leader
• Why major national projects take time
• When government should own a business, and when it shouldn't
• What to do in week one at a struggling institution
• Is leadership lonely? And what does it cost your family?

CHAPTERS
 0:00 Introduction
 1:59 What is leadership?
 3:43 Challenging assumptions without arrogance
 5:19 Fixing a culture of complacency
 8:00 A seven-year labour agreement
 13:53 First Nations as partners in the business
 20:39 Canada–U.S. trade and the leader's job
 25:00 Why major projects take time
 31:00 When government should own a business
 34:02 Week one at a struggling institution
 37:51 Is leadership lonely?
 42:10 The cost to family

Disclosure: Daniel Veniez appears in Joseph Soares' book, Leadership Under Fire (chapter three), coming October 20. He's here on the strength of his experience, not the book.

Leadership Under Fire: https://josephsoares.com/book.html?ref=podcast
The Corridor Brief: https://brief.josephsoares.com/?ref=podcast

Joseph Soares built his early career in international business, developing trade and accounts globally, before serving in the Prime Minister's Office of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis and as Chief of Staff in the Senate of Canada during the pandemic. He runs a management advisory firm that helps businesses and governments work through high-stakes challenges. Corridor Intelligence is his analysis programme on power, institutions and decision-making.

Thank you for listening to Corridor Intelligence.

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