Vol. 101 No. 01
Brian Street, President
Joan Posivy, Secretary
Next meeting: Tuesday July 10, 2018 Robert Spector The Nordstrom Way to a Values-driven Culture
Robert Spector is co-founder of the RSi consultancy, bestselling author, international speaker, educator and advisor to organizations. He is also the author of Amazon.com: Get Big Fast and The Mom & Pop Store. Robert’s presentation, The Nordstrom Way, sets the stage for creating, encouraging, and maintaining a superior customer experience built on a non-negotiable set of core cultural values. The underlying philosophy and culture of the Nordstrom Way is disarmingly simple: Use your own initiative to provide customers with exceptional levels of service. You’ll never be criticized for doing too much for a customer, only for doing too little. If you’re ever in doubt, err on the side of doing too much rather than too little. How the company organizes and empowers its employees to use their initiative in practice is impressive. Customers love it, employees thrive on the responsibility and flexibility of their job and sales soar. And paradoxically, the Nordstrom Way illustrates the direct link which many companies fail to realize -- specifically that the more front-line employees are trusted and empowered, the stronger the long-term relationship that can be built between a company and its customers. The Nordstrom Way is the gold standard of customer service.
Upcoming meeting: Tuesday July 17, 2018 John Madden Open Net Pen Salmon Farms in BC - Are They a Problem?
John Madden studied physics at the University of British Columbia, and completed a D. Phil., also in physics, at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. For Rotary Club purposes, John became involved in Tony Allard’s Wild Salmon Forever organization in the unofficial role of chief scribe four years ago. Wild Salmon Forever is attempting to apply some new, lower profile strategies to assist our governments in paying appropriate attention to the recommendations of the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into Fraser River Sockeye insofar as the recommendations pertain to all wild BC salmon, with special focus on the role open net pen salmon farms appear to play in the spread of sea lice and viruses to wild salmon. As most of us are well aware, our salmon face many hazards, real and potential, including overfishing, low water in our rivers and streams, high water temperatures, algal blooms, pollution and predation (particularly while young). Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control. However salmon farmers appear to have options for raising salmon other than in open net pens, and it appears to us (amongst many others) that the net pens can and sometimes do have a substantial negative influence on wild salmon survival.
Upcoming meeting: Tuesday July 24, 2018 Dr. Johnathan Berkowitz, UBC Sauder School of Business Word Games & Cerebral Challenges
Correction to the spelling of Grandma Stephanie's granddaughter:
Everleigh Diana Stewart
A very proud Grandma indeed!
Last Meeting July 03, 2018
The 2017-18 & 2018-19 Board members who were present paraded into the meeting, accompanied by Don Evans on the piano.
2017-18 President Phil Webber opened the meeting and gave the invocation.
Don Evans accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Jim Evans, Sergeant-at-Arms, introduced visitors and guests.
From Rotary Club of Kinshasa-Kingabwa
Celestin & Clementine Tangamo
Martin & Christelle Balikwisha
Fred Ne Tiabu & Maty Batonda
Benoite Baderhwa
From RC of Southbank, Melbourne, Australia, Steven Aquilina
From RC of New Orleans, USA, Randy Feljman
From RC of Paris, France, Christophe de Jaeger
President's announcements:
Claude Lemay who recently passed away, was remembered by way of a piece written by John Hayto read by Phil Webber (John is still away convalescing after hip surgery).
Bike-a-thon: one last push to get your pledges in before Sunday.
International Service Committee members are hosting and entertaining our friends from our Twin Club, RC of Kinshasa-Kingabwa for the week they are in Vancouver. Many thanks to Verona Edelstein, Barbara Welsh & Bob Macdonald, and Tom Crean.
Thanks to Tom Crean for opening his home to all of us for the Canada Day's pool party.
Secretary's, Franco Gallo, announcements:
Franco presented Phil with a personal gift of thanks for his support through the year.
reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above);
birthdays:Keith Phillips Jul07
member anniversaries:none this week
wedding anniversaries: Malcolm & Janice Hunter 43 years Jul05, Franz & Hildegard Gehriger 46 years Jul07
Special announcements; presentations, and members' moments:
Swissreal Investments' individual representativesNadja ("Nadia") Gehriger & Jeremy Towning were inducted as our newest Corporate members. Franz Gehriger changed his membership status from individual to Corporate.
John Bathurst, on behalf of the Club, thanked President Phil Webber for the outstanding leadership he provided us over the last year bringing us to the Club of the Year as the crowning jewel. Of course this was the accomplishment of many, many people doing many, many things but nonetheless the leadership Phil provided was appreciated. John presented Phil with a gavel plaque and a bottle of champagne.
2018-19 President Phil Webber's Wrap-up:
Thank you, to each of you as members, who answered the call during my year as PResident starting with our Club Secretary for my year, Franco Gallo, Past President, Jack Zaleski and his team for pulling off a successful bike-a-thon, Past President Franz Gehriger for his leadership in the Membership Committee and Past President John Bathurst for his leadership and guidance throughout many facets of the Club including as Chair of the Youth Committee and Co-chair of the Foundation Dinner so ably driven forward by Min Kuang and with support from many, not the least of which was provided by Franco.
Thanks to Kaz Kadono for serving as Treasurer and guiding our Club financially, to Bill Dauphinee for his ongoing accounting support, and to Gordon Esau for the legal support required for maintenance of the Club and our two charitable foundations.
But this thank you extends to each and every one of you here, and indeed, those who could not be here today.
Thank you for being Rotarians: Making a Difference.
The worst moment of my year as President was being asked to write out the factual basis for our Club's nomination as Outstanding Rotary Club of the Year; but hands down, the highlight of my year as President was actually the 10 plus hours compiling the factual basis of the nomination after receiving input from the Chairs of the Youth Committee, Community Service Committee, International Service Committee, and the Hearing Committee.
Summarizing all we did in the lead-up to Easter was truly inspiring, so let's continue...
2018-19 Board Installation:
DG Darcy Long recognized those continuing on in their roles as Directors:
Jason Boudreau, Director
Keith Phillips, Director
Gerry Glazier, Director
DG Darcy Long performed the installation of the 2018-19 RC of Vancouver Board:
Kaz Kadono, Treasurer (continuing)
Joan Posivy, Secretary
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-arms
Phil Webber, Past President
Franco Gallo, Director (2 years)
Angus Campbell, Director (2 years)
Jack Zaleski, Director (2 years)
Bill Davidson, President-Elect
Brian Street, President
Signing of the Twin Club Agreement with RC of Kinshasa-Kingabwa:
President Brian Street and a representative for President Dan Mulinda Muhima signed the Twin Club agreement binding our partnership for another five years.
CLICK HERE to see the presentation highlighting the joint projects of RC of Vancouver & RC of Kinshasa-Kingabwa
2018-19 President Brian Street's Introduction:
Thank you to Phil for Making a Differenceand bringing us to the Club of the Year! Our membership is in great shape and we'll see it continue to grow.
I attended the Toronto Convention. It was, as promised, somewhat overwhelming but it was a fantastic experience -- excellent speakers and breakout sessions. It was during the breakout sessions where connections to other clubs and members happened. I'd recommend attending to all members.
Rotary International has specified five avenues of service; the foundation of all club activity:
Club Service
Vocational Service
Community Service
International Service
Youth Service
Our strategic plan has identified four major areas of which more detail will be forthcoming:
Broaden our fundraising pool
Focus on the younger generation
Raise non-charitable donations
Connecting our members
This year I want to focus on youth working to achieve the objectives of both our own Strategic Plan and RI, recognizing the importance of empowering youth and young professionals through leadership development programs such as Rotaract, Interact, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), and Rotary Youth Exchanges. This will by no means detract the wonderful work of our Community and International Service committee which will undoubtedly continue.
We are introducing a new signature fundraiser, the annual Red Carpet Ball, This year, on Saturday, October 27th, it will be the Red Carpet Ball, A Night at Studio 54, held at the Seaforth Armoury. There is lots of work to be done to make it the success we envision; please ask me how you can help. The goals are to:
Raise $100,000+ for Rotary Youth Programs and At Risk Youth Mentorship Programs at the excellent Ray-Cam Cooperative Community Centre
Strengthen relationships with our local community
Boost the profile of Rotary
Engage Rotaractors in community service as mentors
It will be my honour to serve as President of the Rotary Club of Vancouver. Please join me this year to Be the Inspiration so that our Rotary service continues to make a positive impact on both our local and global communities.
Meeting adjourned with a toast to being the inspiration.
ience built on a non-negotiable set of core cultural values. The underlying philosophy and culture of the Nordstrom Way is disarmingly simple: Use your own initiative to provide customers with exceptional levels of service. You’ll never be criticized for doing too much for a customer, only for doing too little. If you’re ever in doubt, err on the side of doing too much rather than too little. How the company organizes and empowers its employees to use their initiative in practice is impressive. Customers love it, employees thrive on the responsibility and flexibility of their job and sales soar. And paradoxically, the Nordstrom Way illustrates the direct link which many companies fail to realize -- specifically that the more front-line employees are trusted and empowered, the stronger the long-term relationship that can be built between a company and its customers. The Nordstrom Way is the gold standard of customer service.
