Larry Pollock was no different from any other red-blooded, small-town Saskatchewan kid. He dreamed of playing in the National Hockey League.

Pollock did play professional hockey, toiling in the old Western Pro Hockey League for the Calgary Spurs, Saskatoon Quakers and Moose Jaw Playmors in the 1960s, one step from the NHL.

But, unlike many pro athletes, Pollock didn’t cling to the dream too long. When he realized he wasn’t going to make the NHL, Pollock applied the leadership qualities he’d learned in sports arenas to a new league — the banking industry.

Today, Pollock is playing in the corporate big leagues, as president and chief executive of Canadian Western Bank.

Ben Hyatt, for Business Edge
Larry Pollock has brought on-ice leadership lessons into the bank boardroom.

The Edmontonian is also on the board of directors of several companies, including WestJet Airlines and EPCOR, and chairman of the YMCA.

1. What are your most vivid memories from a boyhood in Dunleath, Sask?

“When we were kids, we didn’t have a lot of money. Dad (Ivan) was just out of the (military) service. He and mother both had tuberculosis, as did I. It was contracted after the war (Second World War). We were all hospitalized. I was actually chained to a bed when I was four or five years old. I was in for eight months and my parents were in (hospital) for two or three years. When they finally got out, my father became a watchmaker, but starting a business wasn’t easy and us kids had to work.”

2. What kind of work?

“We had a paper route, washed cars, loaded bales for farmers and caught chickens in the middle of the night. We were real entrepreneurs from when we were in Grade 5 or 6. So I had some money when I graduated from high school. It taught my brother and I the importance of a work ethic.”

3. Have the lessons from a pro hockey career come in handy?

“Yes, absolutely. You look at why you react certain ways and where you get your instincts from. A lot of it comes from team work. You never quit. There’s a solution for every problem. And the tough guys, not just physically but mentally, are the ones who tend to persevere. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. You’re basically playing with 15 or 16 brothers, effectively. You win together and you lose together.”

4. Who was your boyhood idol?

“Gordie Howe. I’ve met him and got his autograph when I was kid.”

5. While playing hockey, did you envision a future as a bank president? “This is going to sound strange, but actually I did. I saw myself as a leader and as someone who had more potential than I was realizing.”

6. Describe your business philosophy.

“Not betting the ranch on any one investment. Being aggressively conservative, where you’ll consider everything, but you’ll only do certain things within the discipline that you’ve outlined for your people.”

7. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in business?

“Putting together a business plan that is achievable and having the discipline to follow it. You don’t go off the rails. You always have to be aggressive in following a growth strategy. What I mean by growth is earnings per share or growing the bottom line, not growing a balance sheet or being the biggest company on the streets. It’s about being the best. That’s more important to me. And having respect in business is very difficult, especially in banking. When I started with this bank, we didn’t have any respect on the street and we sure do now.”

8. To what do you attribute the success of Canadian Western Bank?

“What we’ve tried to do here in formulating a business plan is to be different. We’ve always said, to be successful is to be different. The big banks are all closing branches, they’re all following this wealth-management strategy and they’re all trying to move into the U.S. in the brokerage business. What I’m finding in the banking industry is that most of the banks are saying: ‘We need to be automated, we need to have call centres and we need to serve our customers without ever seeing them.’ ”

9. So what is your bank saying?

“We can provide services less expensively with personalized service, with people and without voice mail and a call centre. And I can assure you that we have the happiest customers. If you don’t mind going to Royal Bank and lining up for 20 minutes to half an hour at your lunch hour, go there. But if you want really fast service, come to us.”

10. Have you personally taken calls from customers?

“I took a call the other day from a person and they were absolutely shocked that the president of the bank would try to help them. They had just called (another bank) and got a call centre in New Brunswick. They got the runaround and never did get served. Well, we served them right away and we served them efficiently.”

11. How do you see Canadian Western Bank evolving in the next five years?

“We would like to stick to the regional aspect of our bank, which is Winnipeg west. You always hear that to be global is to be successful. Well, we think we can be regional and still be successful. We have just less than a five-per-cent market share in our chosen target market and we think we can expand that. As I told our staff at our senior management retreat recently, we’re just graduating from high school now and it’s time to go on to university. I see a great future for us.”

12. What was your motivation for taking the helm of this bank in 1990? “I saw the bank had a good capital base and it had a bunch of entrepreneurs on the board, which meant we were going to be able to do things. I could see there was room for a new bank to expand and develop.”

“I was also running Western Canada for Lloyds Bank out of Calgary and saw that they weren’t going to continue in Canada for the long haul. I thought running my own bank would be far more rewarding.”

13. What’s your outlook for the Alberta economy?

“I think it’s going to continue to be strong. We have a tremendous advantage over any other jurisdiction because we have no debt. You still hear Ralph (Premier Klein) say that we have some, but it’s hard to convince me of that when you see the size of the surpluses. I think oil and gas are non-renewable resources so until there are viable alternatives found, the prices will stay fairly high. Most of the new power plants now are gas fired. So you’re going to see energy prices stay high. And as Alberta’s economy continues to allow us to reduce taxes and red tape for businesses, you’ll see more and more businesses locating here and prospering and diversifying the economy, and doing it without government handouts that other provinces have tried to use.”

14. Your reaction to speculation Canada will eventually adopt the U.S. dollar?

“Once we have the same currency and we rely on them so heavily on trade, I’m not sure Canada will look much different than another state in the U.S. I’d like to see the Loonie survive.”

15. How do you find time to sit on the boards of several other companies and organizations?

“You just find time by prioritizing things. You work smart, I guess.”

16. What’s your favourite retreat from work?

“Well, I recently took a month off and went to Hawaii. I read books and worked out. I enjoy lifting weights, riding a bike and golfing. When you surround yourself with good people, you can do that. An organization will grow so much faster and so much healthier if you empower people to make decisions and that’s what we’ve done here.”

17. If you could do one thing to make Edmonton a better place to live?

“I would like to see the downtown environment improved so it was an active and vibrant downtown. In other cities like Vancouver’s Robson Avenue, there’s some excitement, and I think Edmonton should work on trying to create some of that. Downtown’s a bit of a wasteland.”

18. God taps you on the shoulder and says you can change one thing in your life?

“I wouldn’t mind playing a few games in the National Hockey League. But I’ve always felt that being good at business, being practical and spending time with my kids were more important than pursuing some dream. I can look back with a smile and say I’ve really enjoyed the run I’ve had.”

19. How long do you see yourself in the CEO’s chair?

“Another five or six years. The average CEO doesn’t last longer than 10 years and I’m in my 11th. So I’m overdue. But I think as long as your ideas don’t become stale, your motivation doesn’t wane and you still have the fire in your belly, you can continue much longer than 10 years. I would leave the minute I saw that the organization would be better served by having someone else here.”

20. What do you see in your crystal ball?

“I see a very good lifestyle for anyone who wants to work at being successful in the next while. I see the baby boomers retiring and a tremendous void of management ability. I think anybody who really wants to take the bull by the horns can be very successful in the next decade or so. I see prosperity in Canada. I think we’re so lucky to have such a great country and I’d hate to see us screw it up.”