Want to find out more about Michael Potter’s thoughts on today’s tech scene? Check out obj.ca to read the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient’s full interview
POTTER AND COGNOS THROUGH THE YEARS 1944: Potter born in London, England. 1951: Family moves to Canada and settles in Vancouver. The Potters relocate to Winnipeg, Victoria and Hamilton before returning to Victoria, where Mike graduates from high school in 1961. 1966: Potter earns bachelor’s degree in physics from Royal Military College. 1967: Potter earns master’s degree in physics from UBC, begins three-year stint in navy.
Potter with partner Diane Cramphin. PHOTOS COURTESY MICHAEL POTTER
A skilled pilot, Potter continues to take to the air regularly.
“Although there was a good living to be made in the (consulting) business, expansion beyond Ottawa was difficult, and secondly, being service-based there was no leverage to it. I was young and had no family to worry about, so perhaps I was more of a risk-taker.” – MICHAEL POTTER, ON ACQUIRING COGNOS FORERUNNER QUASAR SYSTEMS FROM ITS ORIGINAL FOUNDERS IN 1975
it grows, it benefits from a different style of management and from executives who are accustomed to and interested in managing larger organizations.
Colleagues praise tech leader: Page 16
1979: Quasar introduces Quiz, its first mass-distributed software product. 1982: Company introduces PowerHouse, fourth-generation application development software for mid-range computer platforms. 1983: Quasar changes name to Cognos, from the Latin root word “cognosco,” which means “knowledge from personal experience.” 1985: Cognos opens new head office in Ottawa and relocates U.S. headquarters from San Francisco to Boston. 1986: Cognos goes public on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. 1989: At $100 million in revenues, Cognos is world’s largest company devoted to making software development tools. 1990: Company introduces PowerPlay, a Windows-based business analysis tool that becomes its flagship product. 1995: Potter steps down as CEO and is replaced by Ron Zambonini. 2003: Potter founds Vintage Wings of Canada, a non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving and showcasing Canada’s aviation history. 2009: Potter is named city’s outstanding individual philanthropist at Ottawa Philanthropy Awards.
15 OBJ.CA
OBJ: Speaking of flying, you used to pilot your own aircraft to business meetings. How did that passion for flying emerge? MP: I’ve been flying since I left university. Initially I was flying gliders strictly for fun. Then I started to use light airplanes to travel for business. I had enough flying experience to get from A to B fairly reliably, and over many years acquired more capable airplanes and added to my own flying skills – an instrument rating and then an airline transport rating – and I ultimately flew turboprop aircraft and business jets. When I had the opportunity after Cognos, I went back to my roots of flying for pleasure. I’ve have also had a passion for older aircraft, and I, somewhat impetuously, bought a Second World War Spitfire in 2000. It wasn’t a reproduction – it was the real thing. I learned to fly it, which was sort of a challenge, and I rather enjoyed the interest that many
OBJ: What else occupies your time these days? MP: I now have three daughters aged 18, 19 and 13 and they are the most important part of my life, as you can imagine. I couldn’t possibly have combined my business life and my family life. It wouldn’t have worked, and I think I would’ve disappointed myself in terms of being a parent. But when I finished my business career, I felt I was still young enough to be an active father. I suppose I also felt that I’d learned a few things that I might be able to share as they grew up, and I had a degree of financial independence I could use to give them some opportunities, both to travel and to give them a financial base to begin their adult life. I guess it was all a gut feeling, rather than a plan, but it became central to my transition from a businessperson to someone with more diverse interests.
1975: Potter buys out Quasar founders Peter Glenister and Alan Rushforth, becoming company’s CEO.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016
OBJ: Have you ever had any regrets about leaving when you did? MP: Not at all. I recall that, following the announcement of my resignation, I was asked by a journalist: “Mike, why would you step down now when things are going so well?” I think I replied something like: “What’s the alternative? Is it better to step down when things are not going well?” It was a good time for me to leave. New management would take over an organization in good shape. The challenges were all positive ones – like growth and how to manage it. And looking back on it, I realized that I didn’t want to define myself as a businessman. Business was a means to an end. Yes, I was fascinated with the challenge of managing people and building a business. I learned an awful lot doing it, but I wanted to explore some of my other interests – flying, sailing – to travel without just going in and out of a glass office tower, and to read things that were not about business management and
technology. I also didn’t think I was too old to think about kids and a family. I felt I would rather be known for some of those things than just being a successful businessperson. Stepping down as CEO at age 51 wasn’t a hard decision for me.
Canadians have in those old historic airplanes. I decided to acquire a collection of these classics and also took the steps required to create a charitable foundation called Vintage Wings of Canada with a mission to show the Canadian public, and particularly young people, what the history of aviation represented. We felt that people wanted to see these old warbirds as they were designed to be flown. We’ve displayed the collection at an air show here in the Ottawa region for a number of years as well as at other shows. I still fly the classics, but I have recently got quite addicted to aerobatic flying and spend more of my time in a modern aircraft designed for that. I don’t know what it is – sometimes I think I might get too old for this – but I just love to explore the full range of an airplane’s capability. It’s an immense amount of fun and a challenge that has no limits.
1972: After working in operations research for the federal government, Potter joins small Ottawa consulting firm Quasar Systems.