When we started planning the new WILSON’S website we decided early on that one of the goals we wanted to accomplish was to make the site interesting for both beginners and experts alike so we can engage the greater fly fishing community. This is no easy task because the level of knowledge between those two poles is tough to pin down and what might interest one group would bore the other. One of the things that we came up with was inviting anglers to participate in an interview that anyone can complete

regardless of experience or skill level. The key to our Fly Fishing Interview is that it is not focused on skill level nor on experience but rather on the experience itself. It does not matter if you took up fly fishing last week or 50 years ago, anyone can answer the questions we pose. The other keys to the interviews are that they both educate and entertain as demonstrated by our latest participant, David Webster, from Perth Australia. David got into fly fishing while sitting in a high school class. “My friend Geoff and I were sitting in a physics class and [our teacher] was using his fly rod to demonstrate the principles of harmonic motion. Geoff and I were intrigued by this strange looking rod and asked him about it at the end of the lesson. At the end of that year he took us camping at Waroona Dam and introduced us to the basics of fly fishing for trout.” We have received a lot of responses to this question but David’s answer stands out as unique!

One of the other questions we ask in the fly fishing interview pertains to what the best advice is you have received and if you read through the answers to this question, well, you will get some good advice! David’s response is a good case in point: “Fish the water directly in front of you before you wade in and scare them away. It’s amazing how many times you’ll catch fish directly under your nose.”

If you have not read any of the interviews we encourage you to do so because not only will they get your mind off work they will often bring a smile to your face…

A big thank you goes out to David in Perth for participating in our interview and sending us a few photos for our monthly photo contest. Check them out at www.canadasflyfishingoutfitter.com/gallery.php

We have been an Abel dealer for a number of years and are often surprised at the number of customers who, after seeing our selection of tools, knives, nippers and pliers made by Abel, tell us they had no idea this company has been making these cool items along with their reels. Watch for a great selection of Abel products on our soon-to-be-live ecommerce site! In the interim, for more information please check out the Abel website at www.abelreels.com/

The following article by Matthew Wilson appeared recently in the Globe and Mail and it struck home with me as a business owner. I thought it worth passing along because the message is not restricted to business…

“A quote I stumbled on recently really resonated with me. It happened to capture perfectly an idea that had been formulating for a while in my mind. It was actually Oprah who said “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” This may sound quite ordinary to some, but it happened to encapsulate what I feel is a great strength of Business School.

In the short time that I have been in B-School, the breadth of knowledge I have been exposed to and the quality of talented business professionals has been immense. Getting to meet and chat with a CFO of a large multinational mining company, the head of a world-renowned advertising agency and the former chief economist of a large investment bank is just a taste of the experience that our cohort has had.

Meeting truly talented and successful business professionals coming from a wide variety of disciplines, who are willing to give their time to share experiences and inspirations, is an opportunity that not many get in their daily work environment. I believe the more exposure you can get to people excelling in the field, the more likely that success will rub off on you eventually.

Ultimately, the people who surround you in your daily work and school life will be the ones whom you learn from the most and will shape your career for the years to come. However, hearing from people whom you wouldn’t usually get to meet, who have been to where you want to go, can be instrumental in your personal and professional development.

I found myself thinking this when hearing the stories of author Jim Hayhurst Sr. when he visited this week.

Mr. Hayhurst had previously been in the advertising industry and then became a founding partner in career advisers The Right Mountain, as well as being a motivational speaker and philanthropist. He wrote a book on his 1988 expedition to Mount Everest and how his experience on the mountain taught him various inspirational lessons that changed his definition of success. Ideas such as knowing your core values, relating success to your true purpose in life and looking back on past successes to gain confidence for the future were all real experiences from the mountain that are applicable to the business world.

One story he told, in particular, truly stuck with me. He was climbing the mountain with a team that included his 20-year-old son Jim Jr. While stepping from stone to stone crossing a river, Jim Jr. slipped and fell into the water. The current caught him and swept him downstream. Just before going over a cliff, a rock caught between his pack and his body, leaving him hanging over the edge of the cliff.

Jim Sr.’s first inclination was to bolt over the riverbed and jump in, but reasoning soon took over. Knowing that he had one good chance of saving Jim Jr. by throwing a rope to him, Jim Sr. realized he wasn’t the person who should be doing the throwing. He knew a member of his team was more capable of getting the rope to Jim Jr. in one throw, as that was probably the only shot they had. Without delay, Jim Sr. handed over the rope to the trusted member of his team and all he could do was watch. The power was out of his hands.

This story is a great lesson for business. Whether you are the owner of your own business, managing a team of 10 or working closely with a colleague, sometimes you have to know when to give up control to a team member who can do it better. “Sometimes you have to let somebody else do it,” is how Jim Sr. put it.

In the end, Jim Jr. was pulled from the riverbed to safety and the two Jims’ journey up Everest continued on.

Building a career is a lot like climbing a mountain at times. You need a solid team to rely on and seasoned experts to guide you along the way. Nobody’s climbing Everest without a guide, and when you are building your career, why should it be any different? Surround yourself with the best people and get exposed to as much talent as possible and the mountain just got that much more climbable.”

The author, Matthew Wilson, 27, is taking his MBA at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria.