BALSILLIE’S LEGACY
Canadian pioneer altered tech world,
There are cautionary tales in the story of Jim Balsillie, but his resume still reads: has changed the world.
The self-described “aw-shucks tradesman’s son from Peterborough,” who took Research In Motion from a startup to world-famous purveyor of the revolutionary ‘Crackberry’ resigned Thursday from the company’s board of directors, amid continued disappointing earnings.
He still owns of 5 per cent of the company, as does RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis.
“As I complete my retirement from RIM, I’m grateful for this remarkable experience and for the opportunity to have worked with outstanding professionals who helped turn a Canadian idea into a global success,” said the 52-year-old in a statement.
Balsillie was instrumental in the RIM fairy tale, which put Canada back on the map in the global tech industry. The humble beginnings of the startup in 1984 mirror his own as the son of an electrician in Peterborough, where he ran paper routes, sold greeting cards door-todoor, and developed a passion for hockey.
There was never lack of ambition — as a young man Balsillie declared he would go to Harvard Business School — and did, by way of U of T’s Trinity College.
Under his leadership RIM became the top smartphone company in North America, worth $68 billion in 2007. In 2009 Balsillie had a personal net worth of $2.7 billion, though it tumbled in 2011 as RIM share prices plunged, leaving him a mere multi-millionaire.
Through the many ups and recent downs, the man described as brilliant, hard-nosed and competitive — someone who hates to lose, as RIM director Jim Estill once said — was also the modest, friendly family guy who coached his son’s basketball team, and hit the ice himself as a right wing with a local team.
The latter half of this persona is what Kevin Michaluk, founder of Crackberry.com, found when he cornered Balsillie at a party during the 2007 Wireless Enterprise Symposium. For someone who had attained the status of a “celebrity CEO,” he was “just a normal guy,” said Michaluk. During their 43 minute conversation, Balsillie gave him tips on competing in triathlons (get a good wetsuit) and advised him to get a swim coach to eliminate even the smallest errors in technique.
The dedication he applied to sports he applied to business, he told Michaluk.
But the overlap of the two in his quest to own an NHL team is also thought by some to have been part of the downfall of RIM, a distraction during the crucial moments when RIM needed to compete with Apple and Google’s Android. The downward trajectory led to him stepping down as CO-CEO along with Lazaridis, and now his board resignation Yet if he succeeded, the rewards would have been immense, allowing Balsillie to position himself as a Canadian hero, the man who repatriated an NHL team. “I take on entrenched interests. It’s my character quirk. I don’t quit and I don’t get scared,” he told the Star editorial board back in 2009 while struggling to get the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton. His failure in the NHL arena and the subsequent criticism of RIM’S management decisions weigh heavily on Balsillie, says his friend of10 years, Ron Foxcroft, who heads Hamilton-based Fox 40 International Inc., makers of the Fox 40 pealess whistle. “Though no one on the outside can see it, inside I know it’s eating him up, because he has never not succeeded in anything he has undertaken in life . . . He only knows winning,” he said. Foxcroft recalls their meeting on a golf course when he won $20 off Balsillie. “His hand was vibrating as he gave [the money] to me,” he recalls fondly. Balsillie has yet to win it back. Perhaps he’ll try again this summer. Foxcroft predicts Balsillie will spend time with family before announcing a high-profile position in September in another company. And while Foxcroft believes Balsillie is already secure in his legacy through RIM and his generous philanthropy, the businessman is still working on leaving his stamp through his pet project the Centre for International Governance, a think tank he founded in 2002. But his latest efforts to give back to Canada, in the form of $30 million to create 10 research chairs and 20 graduate scholarships over the next 10 years at York University through CIGI, has been mired in controversy after 200 faculty members opposed the deal on the grounds it gives the think tank “unprecedented voice in matters of academic governance.” Even the road of a Canadian pioneer has potholes.