Lawyer's leadership skill fit retailer's needs

Sue Paish keeps popping up in the darnedest places.

In the last 18 months alone, she has conducted an investigation that introduced changes designed to end sexual harassment in the Richmond, B.C., fire department; served on a panel that granted hefty pay and pension increases to provincial politicians; and helped launch a Vancouver Board of Trade women's leadership council.

As if that wasn't enough, Paish, named in 2005 to Canada's list of 100 most powerful women, also changed careers. She has gone from veteran lawyer to rookie retailer, leaving her former post as managing partner of Fasken-Martineau DuMoulin's Vancouver office to become president and CEO of the Pharmasave drugstore chain, which has 400 outlets across Canada.

To think she started out as a labour lawyer ...

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge

Pharmasave president and CEO Sue Paish sees some similarities between running a law firm and overseeing a national retail drugstore chain.

1. What did your parents do?

"My parents were both school teachers. They are both immigrants, from England in the mid-'50s. They started their life in Canada on the Prairies and slowly moved west - ended up in Vancouver. Before environmentalism was a recognized profession, or even an issue, my father was very involved in governments and business on being environmentally responsible. He left teaching and set up his own consulting practice. We moved to the Lower Mainland when I was nine. Very shortly after that, I went to live in England by myself and went to three different schools.

2. Why did your parents send you back to England for school?

All of our family, other than our nuclear family, are in England. Coming from a very strict reading, writing, arithmetic background, my parents thought my siblings and I would benefit from the exposure to the English school system. We were basically put on a plane by ourselves - each of us, when we turned 10 - and the idea was to go over for a year, visit the various relatives for a couple of months at a time and go to school in the neighbourhood. A lot of people, when they hear that, say 'Oh my gosh, that must have been terrifying. That must have been awful. How could your parents have done that?' But it was a fantastic experience as a 10-year-old. You grow up really fast."

3. What lessons did you learn there?

"I have no doubt that that experience entrenched in me a need and an ability to adapt to an environment. You move from a North American environment in 1968 - at a time when there was a very casual, laid-back environment in British Columbia - to an English environment that was very disciplined, very strict and very rigorous in terms of the academics. You learned to adapt very quickly. You learned to make friends and build relationships, because you're in a completely foreign environment in every way. You learn to be pretty independent and figure things out on your own, because there's nobody there telling you what to do in which order, or how to get from one place to another."

4. Who were your mentors when you were growing up?

"Both my mom and my grandmother on my maternal side - for different reasons. My grandmother grew up in a very traditional, old British environment and was widowed at a relatively young age by today's standards. She carried on with her life and lived until her late 90s and was always a very independent soul.When she turned 80, we thought it would be a good idea to get her an electric lawnmower, because she still lived at home with a big garden. She was furious that the grandchildren would give her an electric lawnmower instead of an old hand-push mower.

I always remember that as being a real statement about my grandma's independence and her value around being healthy and keeping her life her own. My mom taught all of us about work ethic. She worked ferociously hard and made many sacrifices for the good of her family. I learned the value of keeping balance in your life and being engaged in the community and taking care of yourself. In my later years, I've had wonderful mentors through Fasken-Martineau, formerly Russell & DuMoulin. I was really lucky to work with people who were in a very traditional, conservative profession, but who as individuals were very visionary, creative and pretty gutsy. I have to say in the last 20 years, though, my biggest mentors, believe it or not, are my own kids. My three daughters give me more guidance, more support, more criticism (and) more inspiration than I could ever have learned at law school."

5. What are some of your passions?

Sue Paish

"I have one really strong passion, and that is being engaged in the community in matters that are important to me and my family. There's a lot of talk now about corporate social responsibility. I'm a big supporter of that. However, I think it starts with the individual. I think there's a moral and an ethical responsibility to give back. I feel a sense of obligation, because I am blessed with healthy children, a fabulous marriage, a good family, a wonderful work environment for my entire life and a lot of happiness."

6. What were some of your early interests?

"I was very involved in music as a youngster. I'm not that involved in playing musical instruments now, but throughout high school I played at least two, and up to four, instruments. I played piano from a very early age and played the saxophone and the oboe and did a short stint on the trombone in Grade 9. I lost my interest in that when I went to university, because it was just very impractical and hard to stay engaged. I've also always been really a fanatic about the outdoors. Anything that will get me outside."

7. What steered you toward a career in law?

"I was in the business school at the University of British Columbia, the commerce (faculty). In my second year of commerce, I was encouraged by the then-associate dean to apply for a scholarship at General Motors. I pointed out that I wasn't qualified for the scholarship, because I was only in my second year - not my third or fourth year. He took me aside and he said, 'As long as you're very clear in the application that you don't meet the qualifications, why wouldn't you apply? What's the worst that could happen? What's the best that could happen?' So I applied, made it very clear that I was not qualified - and I got the scholarship, which resulted in going out to work in the General Motors offices in Oshawa.

"I was in the labour-relations stream at the (faculty) of commerce (now known as the Sauder School of Business). At General Motors, I worked the first summer in the personnel and human resources department and was influenced by a really wonderful supervisor who said, 'You know, you should really think about going to law school. Why don't you go watch some of these cases that General Motors does?' I remember being 18 and sitting in the office of the general counsel for General Motors having a chat. He was a wonderful guy who taught me what it was like to be a lawyer, and what it was like to go to law school, and the good parts and the not-so-good parts. I fell in love with it and thought: 'OK, I'm going to go to law school.' It was a turning point for me."

8. Why did you choose labour relations?

"My natural inclination is toward the people side (of business) more than anything. It was a very natural fit for me to be in the labour relations stream of the commerce program and then, when I went to law school, to focus on employment law. It just felt right to me."

9. How did you end up joining Fasken-Martineau?

"When I applied for articling positions during law school, I had applied to what was then Russell & DuMoulin, now Fasken-Martineau. (They) actually offered me a position twice and I declined. I went to another firm and, partway through my articling at the other firm, I just didn't feel right. Again, it was a connection with the culture, a connection with the people. It wasn't the quality of the work or the nature of the work. Somewhat sheepishly, I went back to Russell & DuMoulin and said, 'I think I made a mistake. Any chance that offer is still open?' They offered me a position in January of 1983, and I stayed there until 2007."

10. What were some of your memorable cases and projects?

"A little less than a year after I was called to the bar, I was invited to become part of the Expo 86 project. Russell & DuMoulin was retained to provide advice on how to build the project in a labour-peace way. This was the early 1980s, when labour peace was not something that was (common) in British Columbia. We had Operation Solidarity - a lot of tension between unionized and non-unionized organizations, especially in the construction field.

"Our mandate was to get that world's fair built on time and on budget without a labour disruption. As a very new lawyer, I was given a lot of responsibility to help move that along. It was a very difficult and fabulous and fascinating experience. Later on, I had the opportunity to work with a lot of employers over time, in the context of helping them maintain better workplaces. So it was a very non-traditional practice. I was able to work with really progressive employers."

11. How did you get connected to Pharmasave?

"I was what's called an outside director on the Pharmasave board. I had no affiliation at all with Pharmasave. The then-chair of the board approached me about a year after I'd been on the board and asked if I'd ever consider leading Pharmasave. Our CEO was in a pre-retirement agreement. I looked at (the chairman) and said, 'OK, I'm not a pharmacist. I'm not a merchandiser. I don't know a lot about marketing. I'm not from the retail industry, and I wouldn't be considered a franchising expert. Yeah, I'm perfect.' He and I both laughed, and he pointed out that Pharmasave has a lot of people with expertise in those disciplines."

12. What were they looking for?

"What the board wanted was a CEO who had different expertise and could bring the people together and build a culture and environment that would allow Pharmasave to grow and prosper into the future. They actually were looking at skills in leadership and working with people as being the priorities for the new CEO. That's how I became interested and then it was sometime later before there was actually a formal search."

13. How does running a law firm compare to operating a retail drugstore chain?

"There are many similarities and differences. It's about working with people, and it's about building a sense of connectedness between the individuals in the organization and the organization and its goals. Whether the individuals are working a cash register in a small store in central Saskatchewan or whether they're responsible for leading the development of an entire province, making sure that those individuals feel connected to the organization is important. You can have the best technology system in the world. You can have the most wonderful marketing and merchandising campaigns. But if you don't have the right people doing the right things for the right reason, you're not going to get the benefit out of the rest of your business."

14. Can you describe the Pharmasave ownership model?

"We're basically a franchise. We have, in the past few months, made some modifications to that ownership model, where we have owners of multiple stores through various kinds of consortiums and other types of platforms that we're putting together. But, primarily, we are a franchise organization. We're not as independent as some franchise organizations are, where it's a name and a colour scheme. We provide a lot of programs and services to the franchisee. We focus on building an enterprise and the value that you can get by having 400 stores (together) as opposed to being a store on your own or a group of two or three stores."

15. How do you try to make Pharmasave a progressive employer?

"One thing that we're trying to do is to be more environmentally responsible. That means something to our customers. The reusable bag is an interesting example. Our bag is made from 100-per-cent recyclable material. It's not just a cloth bag. It's also (about) taking materials that would otherwise be in a landfill and making them functional. We're also being very open and clear about the goals and the visions of Pharmasave. That may sound somewhat trite. But when you've got 400 stores spread across a very big country in a franchise arrangement, to make sure that our owners and our employees, from coast to coast, have a good sense and a feeling of excitement about what Pharmasave means - and what it means to be part of Pharmasave - is really important. There's also a huge opportunity for pharmacies and pharmacists to play a role in the health-care system in a much more active and engaging way than they have in the past. We are a pharmacy first. We are certainly going to have the front-store merchandise that our customers want. But we are very much focused on ensuring that our customers know that when they come to a Pharmasave they are going to get the best possible pharmacy care, advice and consultation."

16. What did you think of the Globe and Mail report that came out recently on pharmacies in Canada?

"It's not surprising to me that if a report is written based on interviews with CEOs of corporate chains that the theme is going to be corporate change is the way to go. It would be surprising - and odd - if the CEO of a corporate chain gave credence and merit to independent pharmacies. I know three of the folks that were interviewed for that article. They're wonderful businessmen and they run terrific companies, but they're different - and they have a different focus. The whole theme of that article was, 'What are chain drugstores doing to drive more profits to the chain drugstore?' That was an astonishing theme. It jumped right off the page. There was no heed to caring for the patient and caring for the customer. It was oriented around moving the focus away from the pharmacy and into the conveniences, the cosmetics, the electronics and the computers, because they deliver more gross-profit dollars to the retail chain. The reality is, community-based pharmacies are of significant importance, especially in smaller rural communities in Canada. And despite our desire to get the best price on a bag of potato chips or a computer, we want personal, caring service when it comes to our health-care needs. That's what you get when you have a pharmacy that is owned and managed by the person that's in the store ... they live in the community, work in the community and know what the community wants. They're not getting their instructions from some place several thousand miles away."

17. Why did you decide to head the Vancouver Board of Trade's women's leadership council?

"I have three daughters. Also, as a woman who has tried to be engaged in the community and with my family and tried to build a career that I'm happy in and proud of, I've recognized that there are many challenges - as well as many opportunities - for women in the business community that aren't being realized. There's a proliferation of different programs and exercises that potentially dilute the overall impact for both women and the community. Secondly, a lot of programs are developed with the best of intentions, but from a traditional perspective. The idea of the women's leadership council is, in some ways, to bring together a lot of different perspectives, to bring together perspectives from various groups in one setting and see if we can't capitalize on some of the past experiences (and) some of the different perspectives."

18. What compelled you to take the thankless job of evaluating the pay of B.C. politicians?

"I was asked to consider helping out. I thought: 'Here's an opportunity for me, who's had a pretty lucky life, to give back to help ensure that we've got the right people in the public leadership positions and to take a look at whether they really are fairly compensated.' That's why I agreed to take it on."

19. What did you think of the reaction that resulted from the recommendation that their pay be increased?

"I wasn't surprised at all. Very few people outside of the elected officials understand what it is that the elected officials do. We see them on sound bites on the news every now and then, but we really don't have any idea what they really do when they're not in front of the television camera. We don't really appreciate the magnitude of the decisions that they have to make, the pressures that they're under, the timelines that they face and the goldfish bowl that they and their families live in. (And) even though few people understand what politicians really do, there wasn't a lot of interest in learning about what they do or participating in that process. The public-hearing process wasn't very well attended. Nor were there very many submissions that came in. Most that came in were anecdotal ... Yet, people were very comfortable expressing their opinion on the outcome without really having the factual foundation."

20. What would you be doing if you weren't running Pharmasave anymore?

"I'd be leading some other organization."

Sue Paish

* Title: President/CEO.

* Born/raised/age: New Denver, B.C./ Canal Flats, B.C., Coquitlam, B.C., and England/49

* Education: Obtained commerce and law degrees from the University of British Columbia.

* Family: Married to Brad Gunderson. Three daughters: Diana (19), Kyla (17) and Nadia (14).

* Career: Paish started with Fasken-Martineau as an articling law student in the early 1980s and rose through the ranks to become managing partner of the firm's Vancouver office. This past summer, she joined Pharmasave as its president and CEO.

* Moonlighting: Paish serves as vice-chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade and sits on the boards of several private companies and community organizations, including the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, MDSX Metro Labs, Corix Water Systems, Women's Hospital Foundation, North Shore Soccer Development Centre and Women's Executive Network. She has also served as a judge in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

* Passions: Community involvement, the outdoors and the Grouse Grind, a popular and gruelling hiking trail up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver.

Pharmasave

* Brass: Rob Perry, chairman; Sue Paish, president and CEO; Zvonko Maretic, national finance director; Jim Humphrey, national merchandising director; Allan Rajesky, national pharmacy innovation director; Marlene Novack, Pharmasave brand director; Coleen Hunter, human resources director.

* Profile: Pharmasave was founded by a group of pharmacists in 1981. Based in Langley, B.C., it has grown into a national chain of independently owned and operated drugstores. In addition to overseeing franchise operations, Pharmasave produces vitamins, herbal remedies, cough, cold and allergy medications, baby and personal care products and other items under its own brand.

* Stats: Pharmasave has 400 stores across Canada.

* 2006 Revenue: $1.1 billion.

* Website: www.pharmasave.com

* HQ: 6350 203 St., Langley, B.C., V2Y 1L9

* Phone/Fax: (604) 532-2250/(604) 532-2235.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)