PEO hosts from ‘recession to recovery’ with Scotiabank’s chief economist

This is the value of networking…you can spend an hour with Warren Jestin and your peers and not only learn what you could never derive from reading a dry report but you can also hear other leaders to react and process the information.

This is the value of networking: you are not alone. You are in a room with representatives of companies like Sodexho, the international services giant; like Drake International, the global placement specialist. There was also Parker Canada, a giant in its field and Automodular, Aseco, Doxim and Insight One. In addition, represented were Green Blue Inc., Veracap Corporate Financial; AVW-Telav, Hubbel Canada, Deloitte and Thomas Cook. Where else could you find a group like that in one place?

If you have never heard Warren Jestin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Scotiabank speak, please check his schedule. Insight after insight, speaking without a note. His mind and his fingers on the pulse of every aspect of business, virtually everywhere in the world. The conclusion?

Warren Jestin on the world today: Canada is better off than you’d think but the U.S. is not. China is China is China and that hasn’t changed. The new world economic axis comprises rapidly developing countries: China, India, Brazil. Those who pursue the familiar markets, the US, European Union, UK and even Japan, will not be rewarded. Those who figure out the developing world—language, culture, business, politics—will thrive. Who is the bigger auto manufacturer in China—none other than GM, the so-called North American failure.

Of course, it’s not all rosy, Jestin says. There is a demographic time bomb ticking among the Baby Boomers; health care co-pay arrangements might be the order of the day in Ontario.

The recovery will continue, then slow down. But unquestionably Canada is in recovery and, as a resource economy, will benefit from upswings everywhere. It’s good to be Canadian and it’s not just because of the Olympics.

As Mark Coetzee, president of Drake International, stated: “We are not recruiting the same way everyone did in the past. We are looking for disruptive innovators who are seeing ahead in this new international economy.”

Are you a disruptive innovator? Can you imagine being in a room like that with Warren Jestin and companies with blue chip worldwide names, or ones who do very well in this market? It’s not just a necessity, it’s a command performance for success.