Board Seats as Reconnaissance Posts

“This isn’t to say that Desmarais didn’t have his sights set on a spot at the pinnacle of Canadian business; but he wasn’t ready, and the opportunity still hadn’t presented itself. The moves he made to di¬ versify his interests put him in the mainstream of Quebec and Canadian business. From here he could observe the players, learn the game, define opportunities and learn about what was worth buying. He was acting on the military principle that time spent in reconnaissance is time well spent. Montreal Trust provided him with a vantage point. He bought enough shares in the staid, old-line financial institution, having all the cachet of the “right” history and the “right” connections, that he was invited onto its board of directors in 1962. It was an ideal spot from which to conduct a reconnaissance of Canadian business.”

“Over the next six years, he collected directorships the way some people collect handkerchiefs. In the process he got to mingle with Canada’s business titans, people like Lord Thomson of Fleet (Thom¬ son newspapers), E. P. Taylor (Canadian Breweries Ltd., Argus Corp.), Fred Mannix Sr. (Mannix Industries, the Loram Group of Industries), and James Richardson (Richardson Securities). What he learned, Des¬ marais could never have gotten from a book. It’s a measure of the man and his mentors that he moved as far and as fast as he did, surpassing their achievements while most of them were alive to wit¬ ness his growth.”