MBiz

cover story W hat do Duff's Ditch, MTS Centre and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights have in common? They all qualify as the kind of BOLD ideas the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce wants local movers to use to shake things up in this town. Newly installed chamber chair Jodi Moskal and past-chair Brian Bowman are the current co-chairs of the BOLD initiative. So what is it? Bowman says BOLD is one of the chamber's key strategic initiatives. Its goal is to identify and support BOLD ideas, programs and leaders. It started three years ago as a movement which Bowman says now permeates the operations of the chamber and the services it provides to members and the community. "There were a number of board members who sat around a table after a recent provincial election and, quite honestly, the day after the campaign there was a significant amount of disappointment amongst the board members — not based on who won, but rather for the lack of ambition and the lack of vision that we saw from all the political parties," Bowman says. "Rather than complain about what we didn't see and didn't like from the political leaders, we thought we should do something positive: Raise the bar to elevate our thinking and ambition so that policies that are being contemplated and supported in the community are bolder, more visionary, more long-term." The idea was to inspire political leaders as well as the private sector and notfor-profits. The hope was to move leadership away from "tinkering" policies which don't plan for the future and to start developing a powerful new vision on how the community could come together on issues like job creation and community development. One way the initiative will change the status quo is in how the chamber responds to election cycles. Traditionally, political parties put forth positions and the chamber is invited to comment. A BOLD chamber will be more proactive and less reactionary. Now the chamber can put forward its own ideas, and Moskal says some candidates are sitting up and taking notice. "We can influence the candidates in the upcoming municipal election," she says. "I've already had one councillor contact me — unsolicited — saying she wanted to find out more about BOLD and saying she wants to start now. So that's very positive." Bowman says the committee wants to solicit a lot of BOLD talk in the community. To that end, members are meeting face-to-face with leaders of organizations like the CancerCare Foundation and United Way. They're also reaching out to see how business can support the good work being done in the community by people who are not usually associated with the Chamber of Commerce. "We want leaders in different capacities to ask themselves if their ideas are BOLD enough, to challenge themselves. We aren't just trying to identify BOLD initiatives and leaders, we're trying to support them," he says. Moskal says the initiative has seen plenty of ideas. "Some of them are quite far-fetched and fun and some of them have been put into play already." For example, World Trade Centre Winnipeg president and Co-chairs brian bowman and Jodi moskal are looking for bold people as well as ideas. Photo by Darcy Finley CEO Mariette Mulaire initiated Centrallia. The global "speed-dating" event held in 2010 and 2012 attracted 500 companies from 30 countries to Winnipeg last fall. Other ideas have included putting a beach downtown. Someone wanted to erase the border between Manitoba and Saskatchewan to share resources and create a province with more political power. BOLD Radio addresses a new topic on CJOB every Saturday at noon. And everyone is invited to call, email or tweet suggestions any time. Moskal says there's one hard and fast rule to ensure anyone can step up with a BOLD proposal. "No matter what is brought forward, nobody is permitted to criticize that idea. You can build on somebody else's idea and make it better or come up with your own, but there's no criticism allowed." And that should give people the courage to come forward ... BOLDLY. www.winnipeg-chamber.com/BOLD WINTER 2013 'peg biz | 15

• Cover