Bill black turned down a lot of job offers after he stepped down as president and CEO of The Maritime Life Assurance Co. Instead, the accomplished business leader is hoping his talents can be put to better use in Nova Scotia politics.

His public-sector ambitions first came to light in an interview with columnist Roger Taylor of The Chronicle Herald, Atlantic Canada’s largest daily newspaper. When asked what he would like to do next, Black replied, “I’d like to work with large numbers of people.” Taylor noted that sounded like politics.

The article hit the newsstands, with a headline saying that Black was eyeing a political future. Then the phone calls began.
The political machines saw the potential payoff in having one of Canada’s top businessmen in their camp. And Black also saw the potential in politics.

He is now preparing to seek the nomination for the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives in the riding of Halifax Citadel. The nominating session is scheduled for late September, but it could be earlier. The riding is currently held by Danny Graham, former Liberal leader in the province, but Graham’s wife is not well and he is expected to step down before his term is up.

Business people, Black notes, bring valuable skills to government: “You know how to get things done; you know how to make things happen.”

He’s also used to being at the front and centre of the action. Black has long been an active member of the Halifax community, where he was born, grew up and lives today.
He has served on numerous boards, including those of Dalhousie University, the IWK Health Centre and Symphony Nova Scotia. “You’re glad to do [it],” he says, but “at the end of the day, you’re on the sidelines. I want to be in the middle of things. I want my community to be a better place.”

Politics, he knows, has a downside. Compromise, while not foreign to Black as the head of a firm with 3,000 employees, investors from around the world and a parent company in the U.S., will take on new dimensions in politics. “I expect compromises will have to be made,” he says. “That’s not all bad. If the edges get rounded, that’s OK.”

Intense scrutiny is another potential downside, but he figures it will not be a problem. “I don’t mind the limelight. Maritime Life involved a lot of visibility and frequent media interaction,” he says. “I have a durable skin.”

On the flip side, he notes: “You worry because the world is not perfectly round.”
Translation: the media doesn’t always tell the story the way the subject would like.

Until now, the world has certainly been good to Black. The 54-year-old started his 34-year career with Maritime Life as a summer student when he was 15. In 1995, he became president. “I’ve been there my whole life … it was my history,” he says.

Strong leadership

And under his leadership, the company thrived. It grew to 3,000 employees from 600, acquired four companies in a six-year period alone (Confederation Life, Aetna Canada, Royal Sun Alliance and Liberty Health) and swelled its assets to $15 billion from $4 billion.

The accolades poured in. When Manulife Financial Corp. announced in the middle of a little dust-up called Hurricane Juan that it had acquired Maritime Life — and that the company would be dismantled — Nova Scotians were shaken. Maritime Life was not just a big company that employed 1,100 in Halifax alone; it was also a good company, and its achievements had been nationally acclaimed — always a sign that a company on the East Coast has made it.

In particular, the firm was known for its exemplary treatment of its employees. Black says he doesn’t “own” such an approach and notes that it is not rocket science: “We went through a process in the early ’90s about what we thought was important. The No. 1 goal was to satisfy customers. To satisfy customers, you have to take care of your employees.”

Maritime Life employees were certainly well treated. The company was the first major firm to have a daycare centre on-site. Every employee also had a training budget to expand horizons as the individual saw fit, and the list goes on.

Black is already transferring some strategies he used at Maritime Life to his bid for political office. He has spent the past few weeks doing what he calls “meet and greets.” He’s in the community listening to the party faithful, neighbours, teenagers, etc., and he hopes that, in the event of a contested and close race, those consulted over a cup of tea will turn their vote his way.
There is also an equally significant reason to drink inordinate amounts of caffeine, and this can be summed up in one word: ideas.
Black is learning what’s important to his future constituents and what they would like their world to look like.

@page_break@What seems to excite him now are ideas about health care and community services, the essence of a civil society. What is driving his party, however, is much more material.
Balancing the budget and reducing the debt are top priorities, and who is better to grapple with such issues than a man who took a company from good to great. So although money matters are “not a very exciting thing to do,” says Black, attending to them is important work.

Excitement — at least of the “running with the bulls” variety — does not seem to be what drives Black. When he is not working on the new career he aspires to, he likes to golf, garden and fish for salmon.

Nova Scotia has defined Black for his entire life. When he announced he would not remain with Manulife as had originally been planned, his phone rang off the hook with job offers. Most required a move, but Black wasn’t going anywhere.

Job offers that didn’t require relocation, he says, were more of the same, and he was ready for a change: “I didn’t feel like doing another corporate job. Been there, done that.”

Black says he’s a builder, and in business it takes five to 10 years to transform ideas into reality. He wasn’t prepared for another stint in the ranks.

As with most things connected to Black, expectations for success are high. Many politics-watchers already have him elected.
Many also have him as the front-runner for the premier’s office when John Hamm — at age 67, Canada’s oldest premier — gives up the reins, probably before the next election.

Black is not looking that far ahead. He’s focused on today and reality. Politics, he says, “is a series of lotteries.” IE