“Investor activism is a right of shareholders. The only reason it’s newsworthy is because investors have been so lazy for so long.” Greg Boland
Since Derek DeCloet made the declaration in 2006 that Greg Boland was the “Smartest Guy on Bay St.,” this idea has been allowed to persist without being challenged. That is, until I started to ruffle some feathers over the course of the past year and shake things up.
Now, after giving it a lot of thought and acting in my capacity as the Sheriff of Bay Street, I have arrived at the realization that Greg Boland ought not to continue to hold the title of “Smartest Man on Bay St.” any longer. Put away your skepticism, I am fully capable of achieving this goal. I appreciate your confidence in me.
Now, it is true that I am doing this primarily out of spite, because Greg Boland did not respond to my emails asking for his performance numbers. However, this does not excuse the fact that I am acting in this manner.
Nevertheless, this in no way justifies the fact that I am engaging in this behavior. In point of fact, I did receive a response from him once, and the subject line I used was “Please open me.” It is my sincere hope that the information presented here will be of assistance to you in your efforts to email people with whom you are not familiar. However, that conversation did not result in the discovery of any new and insightful information.
Thomas Dea, who was one of the four principals at West Face, graduated from Harvard Business School, and had been a partner at Boland since 2003, has left the company, as I have learned since my previous post on him. Thomas Dea was a former medical director at Onex, and he is also a graduate of Harvard Business School. In the past, he was in charge of addressing unusual situations whenever they arose.
I have a lot of admiration for Boland because I think his early numbers were so impressive that even if he had slept for the past ten years, he still would have had one of the best records that was available. This is one of the reasons why I have so much respect for him.
The title, however, has been held by Boland for an inexplicably extended period of time. Therefore, we need to take stock of the situation and determine whether or not there are any new players who are worthy of it.
As a consequence of this, I am going to submit my application to be considered for the prestigious honor of being formally acknowledged as The Smartest Person on Bay Street Who Is Not From Winnipeg. Because both Bruce Flatt and Gerry Schwartz were born and raised in Winnipeg, and it would be unfair to give the award to either of them, I had no choice but to rule out Winnipeg as a potential winner.
Even though Larry Sarbit is from the same city as me, the fact that we both come from the same place is neither here nor there.
The search for our honoree will now be directed by a Blue Ribbon Committee, which I will now appoint. I’m going to be the only person serving on this committee, and I’ll be accompanied by a blue ribbon. Nevertheless, I am open to taking into account what it is you have to say.
I don’t know if Greg Boland went around introducing himself to people as the Smartest Man on Bay Street or if he put it on his business card, but from now on, he must refrain from behaving in such a manner. I don’t know if Greg Boland went around introducing himself to people as the Smartest Man on Bay Street or if he put it on his business card.
Read more work here.
