In his prime as one of Canada’s celebrated Crazy Canucks of skiing, Ken Read captured a country’s imagination by throwing caution to the wind with a daring style, fierce pride and unbridled passion for the top step of the podium.

It has been 20 years since Read retired from an illustrious 11-year career with Canada’s national downhill ski team that included five World Cup downhill victories, but the man hasn’t changed that much.

Many of the same characteristics that drove him to be a champion are still evident in his leadership as the second-year president of Alpine Canada.

And the mission hasn’t changed either. Read’s eyes are still riveted on the top step of the podium in his bid to bring Canada back into prominence as a force on the world downhill circuit. 1. Where did you initially get your passion for skiing?

Photo courtesy of Alpine Canada
Alpine Canada president Ken Read still has his eyes on the top step of the podium at international athletic events.

“I have to blame my mom (Dee Read). She was a ski racer and the Canadian champion in 1948. My mom is so passionate about skiing and still skis at 77.”

2. What do you think made you successful and gave you the edge over the competition?

“I think it stems from my passion for the sport. When you’re out training and the conditions are just horrible, be it freezing cold or foggy or a blizzard that’s making it uncomfortable, that tests your resolve. If you’re passionate about the sport, you’ll stay out and train in any conditions. I’ve also always had the attitude of being investigative and having an inquiring mind about how to do it better. I’ve always tried to find ways to be ahead of the game ,whether it was technique, course examination or working with equipment. That attitude has to be all-pervasive – every run, every day, every week, every month, every year.”

3. How did you cope with the low points of your career, such as when you lost a ski a few seconds into your run at the 1984 Olympics?

“I turned to Nancy Greene (the former Olympic champion) a lot in those situations. She was a very influential person in my career. She would tell me to consider the bigger picture and stress that if I was dedicated and focused on my ultimate agenda, good things would happen. She would admonish me somewhat for behaviour after a bad result. She said: ‘You’re a representative of the sport and you’ve got to think about what your influence is on those around you and those thousands of kids around the country.’ She said that as long as you were focused and dedicated, you will succeed and you can’t be reacting in an immature way. She’d say: ‘Suck it up, learn from it and move on.’”

4. What was your most gratifying moment of your skiing career?

“I think it was winning at Kitsbuhel (Austria). That is our unofficial world championship and the focal point of every season. For us, that’s like winning in Wimbledon (tennis), winning the Kentucky Derby or the Stanley Cup.”

5. How difficult was the transition from the athletic world to the real world 20 years ago?

“When I read the sports pages and see athletes grappling with moving on or coming back or dabbling to come back, I have empathy for them. In sport, you eventually get to a point where you can’t do it anymore. You just don’t have that edge anymore. The difficulty is finding the right time to retire and there is no right time, so you just have to take the best guess. It may seem like you’re stepping off the precipice, but when you’re young, you’re flexible and adaptable so life is just beginning.

"For me, it was a steep learning curve and I was very fortunate to have a mentor (Andy Farvolden) in Calgary who gave me good advice, guided me through the transition and got my feet underneath me. It’s certainly not easy stepping out of the competitive ski world and into looking at balance sheets, tax returns, invoicing and the ins and outs of running a business.”

6. How were you able to channel the lessons of ski racing into running your own event-management business (Read & Company, which he sold to his employees when he became president of Alpine Canada)?

“A lot of what you practise in sport are just good principles to live by such as setting goals, developing a plan, sticking to that plan and showing integrity. I always looked at my sports career as a platform and it was a platform to enable me to step up to another platform. One of the benefits of being an athlete is that you rubbed shoulders with a lot of very successful and very influential people. That enabled me to step into a business career with some very good contacts and good influences.”

7. Why did you take the job as president of Alpine Canada?

“Probably, it was because I’ve always had ski racing in my blood. I had stepped away for effectively 20 years in the business world, but I kept my foot in it with involvement with the 1988 Olympics, with the international and Canadian Olympic committees and with the International Ski Federation. I always devoted at least 20 per cent of my time to sport and alpine skiing in particular on a volunteer basis, which to me was part of giving back to the system. That’s something my parents taught me. Then, the opportunity came up with the program desperately needing new leadership, new focus and new direction. I had previously put my name forward, but they chose not to offer the position for reasons that I think were valid at the time. This time, the timing was right. They needed to have a new, fresh vision.”

8. What’s your primary goal for Alpine Canada for the next year?

“It’s to achieve fiscal stability. A lot of people say: ‘Don’t you want the team to do well?’ But that’s an objective that is inherent within the operation. We’re trying to build long-term thinking into all the planning processes that go on within the organization. We’re not like the Flames, we can’t buy our talent, so we have to develop our talent. But that has to be done within a sound fiscal framework. We won’t be doing a service to the athletes if we have to withdraw funding.”

9. What’s the key to achieving fiscal stability?

“No. 1, it’s to operate with integrity. No. 2, it’s to have the fiscal controls in place to ensure that the organization is operating on a sound fiscal basis. No. 3, it’s to operate with management practices that ensure you’re sitting within your budget and operating in a fiscally prudent manner. This year will be a crucial year. We have very good partners that have come on board, sponsors and so, who are demonstrating confidence in the direction of the organization. The bottom line is that you sometimes have to say no to keep your budget in line.”

10. Is your budget sufficient now to give the team a fair shot at competing on the world stage?

“We believe it is and we believe it is comparable to other countries. But we don’t want to be competitive with the competition (in terms of budget). We want to be ahead of the competition. I think we’re competitive with the competition, but we are definitely restricted in terms of devoting resources to get ahead of the competition. Total operating revenues are $10.1 million. About 10 per cent comes from government sources, about five per cent from fund-raising, about five per cent from membership fees and so on, and about 80 per cent from corporate support.”

11. Are you pleased with the support you’ve gotten from the corporate sector?

“We’re very pleased with the way they’ve supported the organization. We have space for a couple more sponsors, but we don’t want to go too far in having our partnerships cluttered. Our preference is to work closely with a specific number of corporations that are investing in us and we in them. You don’t want to have too many masters to have to satisfy.”

12. What’s your vision for Alpine Canada?

“Our vision for strategic excellence is called Podium 2010. We’re devoting the resources necessary to the current athletes that have been on the podium (top three) or close to the podium and intend to aim for that again. We want to instill long-term thinking that is going to develop a program, from bottom to top, that is consistently delivering excellence on the competitive slopes from our Canadian teams wherever they are.

“We’ve also created an athlete-development model that is integrated and ensures youngsters who want to choose alpine skiing as a way to express their talents, goals and desires will have that opportunity no matter where they live in the country. Finally, we want to deliver value to our partners – the federal government, provincial governments, corporate sponsors, the parents of the athletes and the volunteers.”

13. How important is it to create and promote heroes – or are there any to promote?

“I think Melanie Turgeon (women’s downhill star) is a relatively well-known name in Canada, but it comes down to success. I think Catriona LeMay Doan (speedskating star) has fairly high name recognition in Canada and most youth would know her. That comes down to success and you have to have consistent success. That’s what happened with Nancy Greene and the Crazy Canucks. What captures the imagination is when you consistently do well. I’m a solid believer that having a successful athlete attracts young kids into a sport. To me, that’s the way you build. Sports heroes attract the attention of children, and children then gravitate to those sports.”

14. In your mind, what attitude builds those champions?

“To me, one of the more powerful motivations for an athlete is that they want to be the best on their team. But you don’t want an athlete walking away and saying: ‘I was the best Canadian today, but I finished eighth.’ You want them saying: ‘I was the best Canadian today and to be the best Canadian today I had to finish first.’ That’s why you need to build depth in the program. To me, when you arrive at that level, you have the competitiveness within the program that will drive success. An inter-team rivalry drives people and fosters an environment of excellence. Rivalries are healthy but, having said that, at the end of the day the riddle to be solved is how to get down the hill faster, so the real adversary is the hill, not your teammate or an athlete from another country.”

15. How would you describe your leadership style?

“I try to set a standard in terms of integrity, quality of work and responsiveness. I try to ensure that people have responsibility for their specific areas and give them the ability to run and operate those areas. I also set a personal example in the way that I work and the effort that I put in, and by extension, try to provide leadership and inspiration to the rest of the staff to reach their goals.”

16. What’s your view of the corporate scandals that keep cropping up?

“I believe accountability is No. 1 and integrity is so important because the bottom line is that business is conducted between people. The foundation of business relationships is trust and respect. Without that, you have real challenges, especially for an organization such as ours where a lot of our transactions are based on goodwill. We’re constantly going to ski resorts or to corporations to ask them to assist or defer or waive a cost or whatever. So you have to operate with integrity.

“We have to operate with good governance principles, and one of the first things I asked for when I came was for an audit committee, because one did not exist.”

17. Would you accept sponsorship from an unethical company?

“Whenever we are engaging in a sponsorship, there is a process that you have to consider. A big issue in amateur sport, of course, is the issue of performance-enhancing drugs, so you’ve got to ask a lot of key questions of companies that make pharmaceutical or nutritional products. Even though a substantial amount of money may be on the table, you’ve got to ensure the standards are upheld.”

18. You’ve done a tremendous amount of charity work. What does that mean to you?

“Actually, I would say that compared to a lot of Calgarians, I’ve just put a toe in the water. I think it’s something that is really part of the nature and culture of Calgary in particular. People roll their sleeves up and get actively involved, so I’m somewhat of a product of the city I live in. I think in many respects you’re motivated when you see the result in what you’re investing in, and there’s some satisfaction to be gained from that. We’re a time-challenged society, but at the end of the day sometimes when you make that time, even though you didn’t think you had it, it makes you feel pretty good.”

19. How long would you like to remain as president of Alpine Canada?

“When I was asked that question in my job interview, I said that I felt it was going to take five to seven years. After a year and half, I think we’re ahead of schedule in that cycle. One of the factors is that I’m well aware of where my children are (in their development as skiers). My oldest son is 12 and in five years he could potentially be nestling up against the bottom end of the ski team program. I don’t think it would be healthy for me to be in this position with him potentially coming into the program, and I would hope that by that time I could say the system is set up so that it is running well and I have confidence that it wouldn’t require my involvement. I don’t think we’re too far away from that right now.”

20. What do you say to your sons about following in their famous father’s footsteps as ski racers?

“Just be your own person. I’ve seen lots of examples of athletes who have had children behind them and they’ve carved out their own identity. That’s really what it comes down to. Just because I was a certain way doesn’t mean you have to be that way also, nor does it roll out a red carpet for you.”

IN PROFILE: KEN READ
* Title: President, Alpine Canada.
* Born/raised/age: Ann Arbor, Mich.; Vancouver/Calgary; 48.
* Residence: Calgary.
* Family: Wife Lynda, three children.
* Education: University of Western Ontario (London), Bachelor of Arts (economics).
* Glory Years: As a member of Canada’s national downhill ski team from 1973 to 1983, Read won five World Cup downhill titles, 14 World Cup downhill medals, seven Canadian titles and was a two-time Olympian. At age 20, he became the youngest male to win a World Cup title.
* Business Career: Read was president of Calgary-based Read & Company, an event management firm, from 1983 to 2002. He sold the company when he became president of Alpine Canada in 2002.
* Accolades: Read is an officer of the Order of Canada, a two-time recipient of Canada’s male athlete of the year award, and an inductee of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
* Moonlighting: Read has been a member of the Canadian Olympic Association since 1981 and is on the executive of the International Ski Federation.
* Passion: Family ski outings, golf, mountain biking.

THE COMPANY: ALPINE CANADA
* Brass: Ken Read, president; Dani Guido, vice-president, operations; Max Gartner, VP, athletics; Greg Scott, VP, business development.
* Profile: Alpine Canada is the governing body for ski racing in Canada with 27,000 members.
* Mission: To create for Canada the best alpine ski-racing athletes in the world – male and female athletes who will consistently achieve internationally recognized podium results.
* Website: www.canski.org
* Address: 200, 505 8th Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 1G2.
* Phone/Fax: 403-777-3200, 403-777-3213.