Bernard Lord
When Bernard Lord was nine, he started work as a newspaper carrier, building up to five different routes at the same time. "As the youngest of four, I've always been driven to succeed from an early age," says Bernard Lord, the former Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006. Competition was stiff in Lord's Moncton home, with overachieving siblings who helped guide him through childhood. His brother Roger has since gone on to international success as a concert pianist. Lord credits his pilot father and teacher mother with instilling clear values, responsibility for self and the impetus to give back to the community. "The character that I have, the person that I am, I owe primarily to my parents," he says. "We are all products of the people around us."
Fluently bilingual, Lord as elected as leader of the PC Party of New Brunswick in 1998 and shortly after won a hard fought by-election to become MLA for Moncton East. Then, Lord again came from behind in the polls to achieve a landslide victory in a provincial election in 1999, becoming, at 33, one of the youngest premiers in Canadian history. After losing the government to the Liberals in 2006, Lord returned to work in the private sector. Since October 2008, he has been president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), a group representing cellular, messaging, mobile radio, fixed wireless and mobile satellite carriers plus the companies that develop and produce related products and services.
"At the moment, you're disappointed," Lord says of his political loss. He would have liked another term as Premier. "But you learn from that experience. You try again with a new organization and a new goal and do everything to meet that goal. I loved every moment of public life, but I love what I do now."
Lord's in-depth knowledge of how government works and the skills he brings from his political career translate well to his job at CWTA, which include fostering consensus in the association, creating strategy, promotion and lobbying. "I see myself as someone with clear objectives," says Lord. "I like to analyze and understand things. There has to be a process. First, you set the vision and goals; then, you consult, analyze the information and set a course of action; then you implement and follow through to reach your goals."
One thing Lord says he's learned over the years is how to delegate and trust people to do their jobs instead of trying to do everything himself. "That's one place I've improved," he says. "To know when to deal with the details and when to let somebody else do that."
Lord says he likes to seek new challenges to push himself, but for the time being, that doesn't include plans to run again, despite being courted for a federal role. He's enjoying the luxury of weekends with his family after so much time away from home when his children were small. But he hasn't ruled politics out completely. "I'm only 43 years old," says Lord. "Never say never."