With everything melting down in the financial markets, I couldn’t help but think about a dinner I attended last spring with the keynote address by the CEO of the New York Bank of Mellon, Bob Kelly.

“I sincerely believe it’s because I come from the Maritimes,” was Mr. Kelly’s response when asked how he is able to have coffee with prime ministers in the morning, meet with fellow captains of industry at lunch and host town hall chats with hundreds of staff later in the afternoon. The question was, “How is it that you can remain so down to earth while running a global corporation?” After all, he is head of The Bank of New York Mellon,with 45,000 employees and $23 trillion under management and administration. That’s right, $23,000,000,000!

For those of you who are not familiar with Bob Kelly, like me before hearing him speak on April 17, you should check out his impressive bio, and remember, he’s a kid from Nova Scotia.

Mr. Kelly in Halifax for the third annual Turning Points in Leadership event at Saint Mary’s University.

We, at trampoline, have been a sponsor of this event since its inaugural year in 2006, but this was the first time I had been able to attend. If the other two were anything like this year’s event, I’m disappointed to have missed them.

Turning Points in Leadership features successful leaders, sharing their unique and individual perspectives on turning points in their careers and how they have evolved as leaders. Past keynote speakers have included Steven Landry, chairman of DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc., vice president of sales for Chrysler Group and an alumni of SMU; and Linda Kuga Pikulin, president of Pepsi Bottling Group Canada.

The evening was packed full of speakers, presenters, entertainers and a touching posthumous presentation to Robert Shaw, who’s wife, Gretchen, was presented with this years Turning Points Hall of Leadership Award. Mr. Shaw was one of the cities outstanding citizens and a great friend to Saint Mary’s University for more than 40 years starting as a student in the mid-’60s.

The highlight of the evening for me was certainly the 45 minutes that Bob, that’s what he asked us to call him now, spent sharing his thoughts on leadership, business, work values and a brief history of his career so far.

I wish I could get a copy of the speech he made that night, but he did not follow one. I know this because I was sitting next to Maria Anderson, Bob’s assistant vice president of public affairs based in Pittsburg. She had just flown up from Pittsburg that afternoon with Bob — have I mentioned that he told us to call him Bob? — on their corporate jet. After his second sentence, which went something like, “I had a prepared speech, but if it’s okay with you I’d like to just share a few things that have helped me along the way in my business career,” a hush came over the crowd as we settled in for one of the best keynote addresses I have ever heard. Bob was candid, relaxed and very matter of fact as he shared some of his experiences and insights.

Two points in particular stood out for me: the first was his scheduling policy. Basically, he leaves at least three hours a day for “getting it done” time. His rationale is that during this time, he is able to get at projects that are important to him. In his position, it would be easy for his days to be consumed with the projects and issues championed by others. I found this very insightful because, in my case, though many project may be important, they will still get done with or without my input. On the other hand, there are many projects that rely on only me to get started or completed. This may sound contrary to an “open-door policy,” but Bob was quick to point out that if you leave yourself enough time you never have to close your door.

The second particular point of interest was his view on Halifax becoming an education capital. He compared Halifax to Boston and shared with us what the mayor of Boston said in the early ’80s, while they were experiencing very difficult economic times. During those dark days, the mayor was very vocal about his belief that it was their universities and the local education industry that was keeping them from falling even further into recession and that their recovery would be equally dependent on this area of their economy. His words have proved to be most prophetic, as the Boston area has gone on to be a model of a sustainable academic industry. Of course, all industry comes at a cost and Halifax has, and will, experience some of the same problems that Boston has with regards to space and student housing.

But if we have to pick an industry, I’d much rather deal with some late-night partying than millions of gallons of toxic oil sludge.

I've been in the marketing game for almost 25 years now and the most valuable thing I've learned is that I have a whole lot more to learn. I started off in sales and worked my way up (so I thought) to advertising. In hind sight, I realize that sales was the top! You can have sales without advertising, but advertising without sales is just useless art. When Trampoline Branding was formed, we set out with that firmly planted in our minds. Now more than ever we need to keep it very simple for consumers. Good thing, I'm a very simple guy!