In June 2008, Tim Coates, published an editorial in New Brunswick’s Telegraph Journal, in which he stressed Atlantic Canada’s need for “building stronger partnerships between our multi-cultural associations and young professional associations; organizing monthly ‘think tanks’ with eminent speakers on issues of provincial or global concern AND putting them online; developing targeted mentorship programs; developing a social networking platform within an already popular social networking software for provincial youth, i.e. building on what works.”

A tall order, certainly. Still, he is well on his way towards achieving some of these goals. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, and named one of New Brunswick’s “21 Leaders of the 21st Century” in 2005, Coates is a co-founder and current executive director of 21inc. This New Brunswick-based network emerged out of a 2004 public policy leadership initiative called Next NB, and carries on the mandate of that earlier initiative. It aims to “provide some of New Brunswick's most promising young leaders from all sectors with the skills, networks, inspiration and confidence to make a real difference in their careers and communities. .” In November 2008, 21inc. hosted in partnership with the New Brunswick Business Council the inaugural 21inc Ideas Festival in St. Andrews, NB, an assembly of minds looking to initiate change and development in the Atlantic region. Eminent speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds included Buzz Hargrove, Antonine Maillet, Noah Augustine, Susanne Alexander, and Michael Adams.

ECC’s Alex Willis spoke with Tim Coates this April.

Alex Willis: Congratulations on getting the inaugural Ideas Festival successfully off the ground. Can you tell us a little bit about it? How do you feel it went?

Tim Coates: The Festival stemmed from an idea amongst the founders of 21inc before we launched the organization actually. We felt that New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada didn’t have an opportunity to really engage in some of the conversations that were shaping our future. Looking at conferences like the World Economic Forum, people were really grappling with some of the complexities and challenges that we we’re facing here, and trying to move forward. There was a feeling that Atlantic Canada didn’t have a similar type of forum. Moreover, we really wanted to focus on leadership and what the leaders of our companies, departments and other organizations could do to improve their performance. I think based on our exit surveys that a lot of people walked away with real learning about how to do just that.

Having worked here for a little while now, we’ve found a few events like this, but they are very focused on specific audiences. Young people especially, who are going to be shaping future policies and the direction of this region, weren’t playing a prominent role. And we thought they could add a lot of perspective.

AW: Going over the list of speakers and attendees of the Festival, one is struck by the impressive – and intimidating – calibre of the participants. Was it a challenge to balance the input of such heavy-hitters with the voices of the young leaders?

TC: Yes, it was a big challenge. Moving forward from the first event, young voices are going to be given a more prominent role. One of the main challenges we faced was finding a young person who could speak articulately and knowledgeably about specific topics relevant to the discussion. It was tough, because the obvious figure in any major field will have years of experience, and just isn’t “young” anymore! Looking at, for example, Atlantic Canadians who won the Top 40 Under 40 Awards they were recognized because they were really good at what they do in a specific field, not necessarily because they knew their “generation”.

So yes, we struggled with this. But the really great thing is that so many young people were in attendance, were asking questions, and were part of the conversations that were going on. It was important to be as inclusive as possible in this sense. Such as, we wanted to make sure that this was a bilingual event, and we pulled that off. There was a lot of conversation about getting as many perspectives as we could.

AW: It seems like a lot of what you’re talking about is raising Atlantic Canadian consciousness towards leadership venues and mentalities, or raising the level of conversation generally in the region. From what you’re saying, the people are there, but the conversations are happening at a kind of “niche” level.

TC: We need our businesses applying leadership principles and ideas, and government incorporating and applying the same at the same speed as the private sector – if not faster, to make sure they’re laying the groundwork. The non-profit sector needs to be up-to-speed, so they’re filling in the gaps between private and public sectors, and we always need to be reaching out to specific populations like Aboriginal groups, rural communities, trades-people – all of whom have interesting things to say, but we’re certainly not hearing from them on a regular basis. We’re asking, “who is it from these communities who are going to shake things up?” Reaching out to different groups isn’t just so we can say, “hey we have a diverse group.” It’s about finding important ideas that we know are out there, and acknowledging that Atlantic Canada won’t reach its potential until we hear that perspective. In economic terms, we’re looking for “knowledge spillovers.” In Atlantic Canada we need to be constantly creating this, because while it can happen naturally in a densely populated urban space...well, we don’t have those kinds of spaces in abundance.

AW: Sure, and some of these groups may not be in ready contact with each other. This really seems to foreground the relevance of what you were writing about in your Telegraph Journal editorial. Channelling Richard Florida, you ask, “Do people flock to these [economically and culturally successful] regions because of economic activity, or did the mix of people bring economic activity?” How does 21inc approach this question in New Brunswick?

TC: We’re hoping to be part of answering that question. How do you give people a sense of confidence about a place that they can use to create a great future? You’re artificially creating the density. You’re creating the network, not for its own sake, but to ramp up leadership and professional ability. A focus on human and social capital is critical.

AW: Since you published your editorial, Florida and Roger Martin have released a study entitled “Ontario in the Creative Age.” This report, among other things, argues that a large scale shift is “evident in the long-term trend away from employment in goods-producing to service industries, from occupations that depend on physical work to produce goods to ones that provide service and rely on creativity.” Do you agree that this is happening? What challenges face New Brunswick in adapting to this new definition of economic and cultural success?

TC: This is happening at different paces in different parts of the country. It’s absolutely happening here. Atlantic Canada’s been a little more buffered than elsewhere in the country, but you’re still seeing layoffs in forestry and related industries, for example.

I enjoyed reading the report. (Andrew Potter has a really interesting rebuttal in Macleans, by the way.) But the thing I enjoyed the most was the part about connectivity, and connecting the rural areas to the urban areas. How can we ensure that not only goods, but people and ideas are connected? I thought [Florida and Martin] didn’t go into that as much as they could have. But they were just creating the framework for discussion.

AW: Florida and Martin were, to be fair, tailoring their report to Ontario, which does have these “mega-regions.” So how do you tailor these kinds of recommendations to a place like Atlantic Canada which has no “mega-regions” in terms of goods- or ideas-infrastructure?

TC: That’s actually the topic for the next Ideas Festival!

AW: Really? Tell me about it.

TC: We’re only at the planning stage, but one of the things which stuck out for us is the need to focus on universal challenges. Rather than dwelling on why Atlantic Canada is different and navel gazing, we’re looking at universal ideas with an Atlantic “spin.” Ideas like the “mega-region,” which is a growing and soon to be universal phenomenon. Now, I’m not sure how Florida measures these regions, how he distinguishes them, but Atlantic Canada isn’t in any. So asking what the ideas are which allow the kind of dynamism within mega-regions that we can use to help places aren’t in one.

AW: You recently attended roundtable talks in Toronto with New Brunswick Finance Minister Greg Byrne, looking at the role of reduced corporate income taxes. [Editorial Note: New Brunswick hopes to reduce corporate income tax rates to 10 percent by 2012.] What did you take away from these talks?

TC: The talks were really interesting. The ones I attended were for young professionals from New Brunswick living in Toronto. What I took away was that many had a clear passion for their home province. Many of the attendees were from the arts community, especially film, and they recognized that “making it” in the New Brunswick region can be tough. But my sense is that there are lots of companies in that sector here who are doing a bang-up job. Hemmings House Pictures (http://www.hemmingshousepictures.com) is one of them – they’re doing great work. One of the advantages to being a creative company in Atlantic Canada is that you’re not necessarily competing against a lot of others who are doing similar work. You get noticed if you’re doing that kind of work here.

AW: Could government be doing a better job raising awareness about entrepreneurial business potential in the region?

TC: Sure government could, but so could everyone. But these roundtable talks were really great because it was a chance to hear other leaders talk about what they’re doing. Talks like these were a much stronger sell than any form of advertisement or policy. Peer-to-peer, word of mouth – it was really inspiring and probably put Atlantic Canada on the radar a little more than it was before.

AW: You’ll be attending the Atlantic Business Summit in June of this year. What do you hope to hear discussed, or do you have something to bring to the table?

TC: I’m on one of the last panels, so that’s exciting! I’m really looking forward to Don Tapscott. I read his book on the digital generation (Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, 2008), and looking forward to hearing him elaborate on some of those topics. I made a lot of really valuable connections at the last event, so I’m looking forward to the networking breaks. The Summit attracts a very diverse and concerned crowd, and the crowd is very interested to learn about what is happening in Atlantic Canada, and about the talent that lives or is from there.

AW: Got any projects on the go that the ECC readership would be interested in learning about?

TC: 21inc has an annual leadership development program that seeks out 21 of the most promising young new and emerging New Brunswick leaders, it’s our 21 Leaders for the 21st Century program. We’re really ramping it up this year to focus on the training and professional development. We’re beginning our selection process begins in a couple of weeks. Look out for that.