Bob has a way with words.
That might explain his astronomic rise in the business world, decades back. Intelligent, smart, prescient in a sensitive way – most conversations lead to a more positive outlook, despite the grind facing many businesses and families today.
In recent days Angus Reid has been releasing findings on their latest Canadian polling. One in three Canadians suggest their finances rank between horrible and bad while others have dipped into savings just to cover usual living expenses. Major purchases are being put off and a select few have needed to tap friends and family for money just to get by. Turn on the news and it only gets worse.
But according to Bob, if you give these things a bit of time, something out of the blue will restore one’s faith in humanity. That might be stretching it a bit, but there is good news to be had if you are willing to see it.
It was quite late Friday night when a text came in. Unless out of town or seriously occupied, the right to disconnect for a business owner doesn’t exist. Being connected goes with the territory, but in this case, it was a welcome word, coincidentally involving young people.
A colleague in the print business shared a text from his son who we suspect straddles that Gen Z and Millennial category. He noticed a little surprise in his newspaper that week from some young ladies in Arthur who are carriers for us. Unprompted and unsolicited they had drawn some nice lilies and flowers on a sheet of paper and added the script “Happy Easter – Love your carrier girls”.
It is these acts of kindness that serve as a reminder there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful. Clearly the young man who thought enough of it to share with his dad and the dad thinking enough of the situation to text us late at night suggests anyone can be receptive to goodness. Imagine for a moment if the rest of us tried a kind word without strings attached.
As we often have suggested, making the world a little brighter doesn’t require grandiose schemes in far flung climes. It starts in our communities right at street level, where neighbour helps neighbour and family sticks together.
With the sun out, and spring in the air, let’s all get outside and do something for others. It can be contagious.
Congratulations, Mr. Wilson
At the March county council meeting, Warden Andy Lennox presented Scott Wilson with a pin recognizing his 25 years of service as CAO of Wellington County.
We readily recall his first attendance in Wellington, along with John Guardhouse, reeve of East Garafraxa, who was also a previous warden of Dufferin County.
Although we knew a new guy had been hired through our friend and colleague Les Foote, who was warden of Wellington at the time, it caught us a bit off guard seeing this young(ish) guy bounding up the back steps two at a time.
Another stride or two and this long arm reached out for a firm handshake – “Hi, I’m Scott Wilson.”
It would be a greeting we saw repeated dozens of times and we suspect over his tenure literally thousands of people will have experienced his friendly and outgoing nature.
As the top bureaucrat in Wellington, his leadership is evident in the many facilities and workplaces associated with the county level of government.
Somehow, despite all the challenges foisted on municipal government in the past 25 years, every obligation has been met and then some. He will also be the first to humbly note, those successes were a result of council initiatives.
It is a rare skillset to capably organize and channel the will of the elected. Managing to do that while retaining the respect of employees, colleagues and elected officials is no small feat.
Dedicating much of his career to Wellington as he has by reaching this important milestone exemplifies commitment and dedication organizations like this rarely see.
Congratulations, Scott.
