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Pulp and fiction The daughter of famed Canadian writer Carol Shields is president of Weyerhaeuser’s Canadian subsidiary and an author in her own right
Mission: To strive for best-in-class execution in a wide range of goals Assets: An ability to multitask, a collaborative management style and a strong legal background Yield: An author who is also head of a major forest products company
 Krisendra Bisetty There’s a shelf full of papers in Anne Giardini’s Vancouver office that provides much food for thought for the energetic lawyer-cum-corporate executive. It’s not the draft of Giardini’s third novel, although the adept multitasker says that’s on its way. It’s a collection of theories and propositions going back to the early part of the last century, offered as salvation, perhaps, for a core B.C. industry that has been bedevilled by a host of problems. “People have been trying to figure out the best model for the coastal and the B.C. forest industry since our grandparents’ time, and probably before that,” said Giardini, 50. “There are all kinds of theories.” One year into her high-profile position as president of the Canadian subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Company, a Washington-based integrated forest- products company with a presence in 13 countries, Giardini is not the first to realize that solutions to vexing issues are hard to come by. But she’s candid about what’s wrong. “The major roadblock has been Crown ownership of forests. I think our U.S. neighbours would look to us and say, ‘Unless you have private ownership of forestlands, you’re never going to drive the kinds of fundamental changes that you need to see.’ “My view is that we will not see that change; that’s just not the Canadian way.” B.C. forestlands will remain publicly owned, she said, making it incumbent on those involved in leadership or regulation of companies to chip away at a model that not only protects public interests and generates tax revenue for government, but also provides a “sustainable and economically successful” model for companies that invest capital in the industry. “In strong markets, I think there is a sweet spot,” said Giardini. “In weaker markets, we’re all going to be challenged finding ways to achieve all those goals at once.” Giardini has been called to the bar in B.C. and Ontario, but much of her career as a lawyer was spent as in-house counsel at Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd. before her October 2008 promotion. Weyerhaeuser Co. boss Dan Fulton said at the time that Giardini’s strong understanding of the company’s Canadian operations and relationships and her energy, dedication and “passion for excellence” would serve Weyerhaeuser well as it worked to overcome industry challenges. Giardini joined Weyerhaeuser in the summer of 1994. Her trio of educational qualifications – a Simon Fraser University bachelor’s degree in economics, a University of British Columbia law degree and a master’s degree in law from Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge in England – worked in her favour as she entered a male-dominated industry. But there’s an artistic side to the Toronto-born Giardini that the world is also beginning to appreciate. The daughter of Carol Shields, a Pulitzer prize-winning author who’s widely considered one of Canada’s best writers, Giardini wrote her first novel, The Sad Truth About Happiness, as Shields was dying from breast cancer. “I realized that I was learning lessons about unhappiness, whereas I had a pretty good life up to then,” said Giardini. “And I was interested in what that meant and what I could take away from it. I tend to look for not lessons so much as opportunities in pretty well every experience I have.” The theme of Advice for Italian Boys, Giardini’s second book, published in 2009, is about the getting and giving of advice. “I’ve always been very interested in the fact that people dare, really, to give each other advice about anything because it seems quite intrusive and invasive to propose advice,” she said. “But I’ve been in an advice-giving profession for a quarter of a century, and I married into a family that loves to give advice,” she adds with a laugh, “so I thought I’d write a book about it.” Books are a value-added wood product, she quips, or at least until we all get Kindle, the electronic e-book reader. Giardini is working on a third book, despite – or perhaps because of – the pressures from all her other commitments, which include being a mother of three children, a community volunteer and a frequent public speaker on a range of topics. “I have a lot of energy, and, for me, writing is an opportunity to use different strengths,” said Giardini, who tries to stay keenly engaged in issues “that are both interesting and that have real meaning” in the world. “It’s just another way to use your brain and use your mind. And I’ve come to believe that doing different things with your mind strengthens everything you do.” What drives Giardini is not only achieving a range of goals, but doing so with a “best-in-class” mentality. “I don’t know why you’d want to be in business if you weren’t striving for this,” she said, adding that she once met a fellow who said his life’s goal is to be in middle management. “I still laugh at that,” she said. “It just seems like not a life goal to me. I think you have to strive to be best in class.” That’s something Giardini has achieved as a lawyer, a leader and a businessperson, said Billy Garton, a partner at the Vancouver law firm of Housser and Tupper LLP who has known her for about 15 years. “She’s got a remarkable sense of the deal and an ability to bring together people to achieve more than they can do on their own,” said Garton, whose practice focuses on natural-resources law. “Her ability to juggle multiple demands at the same time is quite remarkable.” •
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This article from Business in Vancouver November 3-9, 2009; issue 1045 Photograph: Dominic Schaefer |
