President Paul opened the meeting and Ben Jeffries led us in a dirge-like rendition of O'Canada. I think we are out of practice. Marcia did the 4 way test and Mark Houselander said the Invocation.

Chad was our SAO and  we had 21 rotarians -he introduced the following Guests - our Speaker- Evan,  Alison, Lindsey - and a few Rotarians we haven't seen in a while-Mamma Katie and Gary is back.

Two visiting Rotarians Mike and Diane

 

John Jonas was present again today and looked absolutely great - had some fabulous ideas for rotary so I would say he is recovering very well.

We hope everyone else  who couldn't make the meeting is feeling tip top for the spring.

Jim Mc. - back from Florida but definitely had some challenges with the plane so they decided to drive down. Therefore - driving down to the RI conference in Atlanta is out of the question

Sandra - was back from NYC had a great time despite the snowe storm. Sandra also announced a new magazine - they now have three.

Cayley - shout out to Mark H. and lucky Tim wasn't there as it might just be selective hearing is the issue....great experience and wonderful to take advantage of the experience in the club. Another such service is Larry B's Grand daugher is a reflexologist in town. See Cayley for info.

Gary D. - glad to be back and had a fabulous trip to Dubai.

Evan - Guest speaker - free lunch and his one of 8 grandchildren didn't have any broken bones when she fell

Mike Foley - Stoney creek Rotarian had some 50/50 tickets for a Harley Davidson - one for their two main fundraisers.

Jeff H. - Foodbank - needs some experienced Ikea assemblers to put up some shelving - great donation but extra assistance would be appreciated.  1st or 2nd week of April -Speak to Jeff for more info.

 

Ben introduced our Guest speaker - Evan McKinnon from Mckinnon Transport. His grandfather started the business in 1929 in Caledon area - at that time they were known in their community not just for trucking but the first flush toilet as well as the first TV in the community.  Evan grew up in a workaholic family and much like Rotary was taught service and hard work. In 1960 their company moved to Guelph. He describes himself as a "control enthusiast" rather than a control freak.  A much nicer term and understandable when the business grew to 500 employees and 450 trucks on the road. After 2008 however, the business was cut back to 85 employees and some real challenges ensued but were overcome. He worked with his family to do what needed to be done and worked through it. Having to let most employees go those that were left were chosen based on their contribution to the business.

The employees he was able to maintain and work with shared their passion to grow the business again. The kids now look after the business while Evan uses his time to talk about his experiences and help other busineses with their succession planning.

He promised his talk about his experiences would be like a mini skirt - short enough to make it interesting yet long enough to cover the pertinent material.

His outlook is to always make any person who bumps into him walk away happier or better experience than when they first started chatting.  He believes your thoughts influence how you act and the results you achieve.

Everyone has challenges and his was addiction - and his ego.  As with his business it takes an event to grow a process and he dedicates most of his time by coaching and helping those in business get through their challenges.

He ended the talk with a quote  " A vision without action or execution is just hallucination"