A first-year chief executive of a $7.2-billion corporation with 6,000 employees could be excused if he were a tad jittery.

But Pat Daniel, the one-time hockey goaltender who heads Enbridge Inc., doesn’t exhibit any signs of stress that one might expect from the guy in the hotseat of one of Canada’s largest public companies.

On a recent morning at his 30th-floor Calgary office, the modest-mannered 55-year-old Edmonton native is about as calm, cool and collected as a guy artfully swaying a fishing line in a placid Rocky Mountain pond. (In fact, Daniel is an avid fly-fisherman).

At the end of the interview, a patient Daniel accommodated a photo shoot when he ought to have been dashing to his computer to catch a stock quote. In the hour in which this relaxed and confident exec spoke about life and the energy industry, Enbridge’s share price had gained another 20 cents en route to a banner day in which it spiked $1.40 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Who said a bad day fishing was better than a good day at the office?

1. You’ve been in the corner office for one year. What has that first year been like? “We’ve had a very busy, aggressive year in terms of growth. In the case of the transition to the CEO role, we had that transition under way for a fair while. So it hasn’t been a big shock. I’m really enjoying it. It’s always easy to enjoy being a CEO when things are going well.”

David Lazarowych, Business Edge
His first year in the corner office has been enjoyable for Pat Daniel.

2. During your youth in Entwistle and Red Deer, did you aspire to be a business leader? “I guess if I had any aspirations as a youngster, it was to be a goaltender in the (National Hockey League) or to be a sports hero. I was a very avid hockey player. But it truly was a dream. This was not a reality at all.”

3. Who was your boyhood idol? “That was Terry Sawchuk (Hall of Fame goaltender). Unfortunately, I made the mistake of reading his life story a year ago or so and he didn’t have a very happy life off the ice. But he was absolutely my hero.”

4. Who has had the greatest influence on your life? “Obviously, one’s parents have a huge influence on your life. From a business standpoint, my older brother (Terry) has probably been the biggest influence. He’s a professor of business at the University of Alberta. He has a certain clarity of thought and thought process for analysing things that I’ve always just really admired. I’ve probably tried to model my approach to business on his approach to life.”

5. Could you elaborate on that approach? “The approach I try to use that my brother uses is to listen very well. I try very much to be a consensus builder in my approach, but I like to listen very well and then try to apply some logic to what I’ve heard. This is where my brother is particularly effective. This way, you’re not necessarily making your decisions just on gut, but considering all of the data that you have.”

6. What was your first job of any kind? “I was a paper boy, delivering papers for the Advisor (weekly) newspaper in Red Deer. My total income was from voluntary payment. I think it (payment) was a dime a week or maybe a dime a month. I had a big bag of dimes. I thought I was rich at the time. Our family didn’t have a lot of money. It was a challenge month to month to make ends meet, yet I never felt that I lacked for anything. We had to earn our own money and we had to get scholarships to university. I received a Bechtold scholarship.”

7. Reflecting on your 32 years in the energy industry, to what do you attribute your success? “I guess being hard working and listening well are the attributes I’m most proud of.”

8. What’s the best advice you can offer a budding oilpatch executive? “I think probably the best advice is that there’s all kinds of opportunities and you can make of it what you really want to. I sure didn’t feel that I had any God-given talent to allow me to get to where I am. This business environment that we have in Alberta and Canada makes it possible for people (to do) what they really set out to do. So decide what you want to do and go after it.”

9. Are there stressful days in this job? “I don’t find it stressful. Maybe that’s because I enjoy it so much. It’s very demanding and time-consuming, but I like working with people. A lot of people would consider having 6,000 employees to be stressful, but I don’t find it stressful at all because I like working with these people.”

10. How would you describe your management style? “It’s a style of consensus as much as anything. I really look to utilize the strengths of the people around me. I don’t feel I’m an expert at anything. I think utilizing other people’s strengths is what I do best.”

11. What’s your long-term vision for Enbridge? “I’d like to see Enbridge recognized as being one of the top five or so energy delivery companies in North America. We’re there right now in Canada, but we need to be bigger and stronger south of the border.”

12. To that end, what is the company’s strategy? “The key strategy (for attaining that goal) is to increase our North American footprint and that means not just Canada and the northern U.S. We also have to increase the scale of the company and to focus more on our technology. We’ve got some great technology that we’ve developed internally, but we’ve never done a good job of leveraging that outside the company.”

13. How will technology change the way Enbridge does business in the future? “I think it’ll be more evolutionary than revolutionary because the pipeline business is relatively slow to change because of the nature of the business. The changes will be in our customer-billing system, our downstream distribution system, our pipeline-control systems and new emerging energy technology like fuel cells and wind power. These are all a very important part of the equation for us. If we don’t evolve that part of our business, we’ll be completely out of date in 10 to 15 years.”

14. How seriously do you take recent threats of terrorism in the oilpatch? “We take it very seriously, particularly post Sept. 11 (date of terrorist attacks). We have always taken (threats) more seriously than most (companies) because our liquids pipeline system is considered a strategic asset in both Canada and the U.S. because it delivers so much crude from Western Canada into the U.S. market. Since Sept. 11, we’ve really been operating at a heightened level of security and awareness. We’re also concerned and very attentive to the fact that we could be a target.”

15. Do you expect the threat of terrorism will leave anytime soon? “Unfortunately, I think it’s something that is going to be with us for some time. I think with the isolated nature of these cells of terrorism you keep hearing about, you’re never really going to feel comfortable.”

16. In your opinion, how is the energy industry doing in dealing with greenhouse gas emissions? “I think the energy industry is going a great job and is really engaged on this subject. I also think the executive and the management in the energy industry is very engaged, although there are exceptions. What I’m struggling with is getting the average citizen in this country engaged because I think most people are assuming greenhouse gas emissions are an energy industry problem or an industry problem. The real issue is with the consumer of the energy. I use myself as an example. I’m much more engaged as an energy industry executive in ensuring that we minimize emissions at our pump stations and so on. But as an individual I’ve done very little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unless the public gets engaged, we won’t make any progress. I think this energy industry is far ahead of the average citizen in engagement.”

17. What’s your favourite pastime? “I love to fly-fish. I like doing home construction projects. I also have a bit of a hobby helping my son (Paul) building bicycle frames. I’m kind of his assistant. He orders me around. I like working with my hands.”

18. How do you define success? “I think there’s probably only one word and that’s happiness. If people are happy with what they’re doing, I consider them a success. That means they can be at any level of an organization or any walk of life. But the real true measure of being successful is whether you’re happy at the end of it all.”

19. Ideally, how long would you want to hold this job? “When I came into the job, Brian McNeill, who was retiring from the job, reminded me that the average tenure for a CEO was something like four or five years in Canada. He’d been at the job 10 years. Hence, if I’d ended up at zero, it would just about average out. So I’m kind of living on borrowed time already after a year. I’d anticipate working into my early 60s. I’ve got so many things I’d like to do, like fly-fishing, so I probably wouldn’t go beyond that.”

20. Are you as keen as ever? “Yes, absolutely. When I lose the keenness and don’t enjoy what I’m doing, it would be time to retire. But right now I’m truly enjoying it.”

THE COMPANY: Enbridge Inc.

* Brass: Pat Daniel, president/CEO; Donald Taylor, chairman; Derek Truswell, vice-president/chief financial officer.
* Profile: Enbridge operates, in Canada and the U.S., the world's longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system. The company owns and operates Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and a variety of affiliated pipelines in Canada and has an interest in Enbridge Energy Partners. These pipeline systems have operated for more than 50 years and now comprise 15,000 kilometres of pipeline, delivering more than two million barrels per day of crude oil and liquids.
* Highlights: In May, Enbridge acquired Midcoast Energy Resources of Houston for $600 million US to strengthen its presence in the natural gas business. In October, Enbridge became the 76th Canadian company to list on the New York Stock Exchange (ENB-NYSE).
* History: Enbridge's name and brand came into being in 1998, but the company's roots go back to 1949 when it was known as Interprovincial Pipe Line.
* Recent stock price: $44.41 (year range, $33.90-$45.55).
* Website:www.enbridge.com
* Address: 3000-425 1st St. S.W., Calgary, AB T2P 3L8.
* Phone/Fax: 403-231-3900, 403-231-3920.

IN PROFILE: Pat Daniel

* Born/raised/age: Edmonton; Entwistle, AB, Red Deer; 55.
* Title: President/CEO, Enbridge Inc.
* Education: Bachelor of Science, University of Alberta; Masters of Science, University of British Columbia (both in chemical engineering).
* Family: Wife Dora, sons Paul, Jarrod.
* Career: Prior to being named CEO of Enbridge on Jan. 1, 2001, Daniel was president and chief operating officer. He has also been CEO of Interprovincial Pipe Line (the company that evolved into Enbridge), president of what is now Enbridge U.S. Inc. and has held senior management positions with Hudson's Bay Oil & Gas and Home Oil. He is a director of Lakehead Pipe Line, Alliance Pipeline and Enerflex Systems, chairman of the Energy Council of Canada and on the board of governors of the Conference Board of Canada.
* Idol: Goalie Terry Sawchuk.
* Passions: Fly-fishing, home construction projects.