Last night I had the honour of toasting (and, OK, roasting!) Colin Jackson's accomplishments as CEO of the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts.  Colin's stint at the helm of one of the most important arts institutions in Calgary (and Canada) lasted 12 years.  I've known him for about half of that time, and have worked closely with him for the past 4 years.  As I was reflecting on what I would say, it occurred to me that, at 40, I was likely to be one of the “young” people in the room.  And at 62-ish, Colin is technically old enough to be my father... we are essentially one generation apart.  I point this out not to make him feel older (really though… the rocking chair can’t be too far away!), but rather as a jumping off point for thinking about the responsibilities of my generation as an older generation begins to hand over the torch.

I have personally benefited tremendously from the wisdom and vast network Colin generated as he grew up in Winnipeg, travelled around the country and the world, finally ending up making a home in Calgary.  He is a mentor, a confidante and a provocateur.  He’s someone who seems to know the right thing to say when you’re having a rough day, and gets you re-energized and focused on the big picture.  And as one of the founding board members of Calgary Arts Development, he has contributed countless hours and much intellectual horsepower to the task of developing an “arts development authority” from scratch.  For all of these things, and his warm friendship, I’m grateful and indebted.

As I was preparing my remarks, I also thought about the film “About Schmidt,” which vividly portrays the emotions and other challenges of retirement.  From the film, we see that facing retirement is also the time of facing your legacy: good, bad or indifferent?  Though it is 20 or so years before I’ll start to really think about this, in projecting forward, I can think of nothing I’d like more than to have my future legacy rooted in the actions and attitudes of the generation that follows me.  In the case of Mr. Jackson, I think that is going to be the case: by word and example, he has inspired in me, and in a number of people I know, at least two key things that I think my generation can and should take to heart:

First, Colin has a talent that I’ve decided to call Opportunigami.  Opportunigami is the ability to take challenges, problems, roadblocks or negative thinking, and turn them into opportunities.  He refuses to whine and complain, and constantly challenges deficit-based thinking.  He’ll stop meetings in their tracks and ask everyone in the room to reframe the topic to find and focus on the opportunity.  Often it takes many twists and turns to get there, so a playful attitude and patience are required traits of the Opportunigami Master.  Several people I know are learning the art of opportunigami, and many (like me) had their first lessons from Mr. Jackson.

Colin is also what I think of as a Meta-Citizen.  That is, one of his key contributions as a citizen of our city/province/country is to help others improve their citizenship.  He helps us rise above “the swamp” and focus on how we contribute to our common cause.  He is a meta-citizen in other ways as well.  His reputation and his contributions are global in reach. Through him and his far-reaching network, Calgary benefits from both participating in and often leading dialogue on issues of importance to the vitality of cities, the role of the arts in community, and many others.  The benefits of these efforts radiate well beyond our city limits, but too often we are unaware of the positive impact we are having.  However, it is very clear to me that the work must continue.

I think the challenge put to my generation from Colin and his cohort of senior community leaders is inspiring: come together to make Calgary a city for the world, as opposed to just another place in the world.  I’m committed to doing it, and I look forward to continued wisdom, guidance and collegiality from Mr. Jackson and others as we take these strides together.