Paul Godfrey shares his views on life

Paul Godfrey, The current president of the Toronto Blue Jays (that's right.. Toronto has a baseball team!) came to our school and shared with us his life story and important lessons he learned. I wrote an article about him in our engineering paper and I think some of the lessons he talked about are worth mentioning here as well. Truly, if you want to do anything in the macro level, you have to recognize that it cannot be done alone and you need people. With the right people, and the right management of these people, you will succeed and therefore, people skills is a very important skill to have.

Also, another point worth mentioning is the fact that no matter where he went in life, be it politics, management, or life in general, he always used what he learned in engineering.. Whenever you are faced with a problem, break it down into smaller pieces, and think through them logically. This skill is very easily said but no doubt, it takes four years of engineering education to understand. If well understood, there is no telling how far you can go!

Paul Godfrey, the president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays visited UofT to speak to engineering students at the first weekly f!rosh Friday seminar. A proud graduate of Chemical Engineering at UofT, class of 6T2, Mr. Godfrey gave an inspirational speech about the lessons that he has learned in life.

Paul Godfrey is a Toronto icon. As the chairman of metropolitan Toronto (equivalent to Mayor), he had many contributions to the city including building the Metropolitan Convention Centre, the Skydome (now called the Rogers centre) and was also responsible for bringing the Blue Jays to Toronto. After a successful career in politics, he became the publisher and CEO of the Toronto Sun. Then, as he decided to retire, Ted Rogers from Rogers communication approached him and asked him to take over the Blue Jays baseball team. He is currently the CEO and president of the Toronto Blue Jays team.

Paul Godfrey was born in Kensington market in 1939. During his speech at the f!rosh Friday seminar, he admits that he was a very poor student and he struggled through high school and first year of engineering at UofT. After just barely making into second year engineering, he somehow started to focus and fared well in the next three years of chemical engineering. At the seminar, Mr. Godfrey recalls his very last exam at the university and admits to students that at the time, he didn’t know where to go next. After graduation, he landed a job in CIL, which was where he worked for a year. After about a year, his mother, who was a well reputed election campaign manager in North York asked him to run for Alderman/Coucillor for North York. Surprised and confused, Godfrey accepted the offer and decided to enter into the world of politics.

Mr. Godfrey confesses that it was due to his mother’s excellent coaching and reputation that he won the election by about 200 votes. At the time, he was only 25 years old and had made headlines for being outspoken, aggressive and angry. No one ran against him in the next three terms and he was the councillor from 1964 to 1973. In 1973, one of the deputy mayors in the municipal assembly passed away and he became a deputy mayor alongside Mr. Mel Lastman. At the same time, the chairman of the Metropolitan Toronto Council, Albert Campbell, contracted cancer and was forced to step down. Encouraged by his colleagues, Paul Godfrey decided to take on the job of the Chairman of Metropolitan Toronto (Mayor) at age 34. During his time in office for 11 years, he did many great things for the city including bringing the Blue Jays baseball team to the city, building the convention centre to attract tourists, and building the skydome for all the baseball games.

“It is better to quit 2 years too early, than 2 minutes too late” –Paul Godfrey

After 11 years, he decided to step down from the position and found himself in the same position as he was when he graduated from UofT. The field of engineering had changed and it would’ve been impossible for him to go back. At this point, Douglas Creighton, the publisher of the Toronto Sun approached and asked him to become the publisher and the CEO of the reputed newspaper. Dumbfounded, Godfrey reluctantly took on the job after a few arguments and discussions with his wife and friends. He surrounded himself with talented people, who taught him the tricks of the trade and eventually, he became a very popular person among the editorial staff and the public.

Mr. Godfrey recalls the reporter who handed his resignation because in the past, he had written some nasty things about Mr. Godfrey. Godfrey refused the resignation and told the reporter that he understood the circumstances and was proud that the reporter was able to speak his mind and express his opinion.

“You pass the same people on the way UP the ladder of life as you do on the way DOWN the ladder of life. The way you treat them on the way UP is the same way they would treat you on the way DOWN” –Paul Godfrey’s mother

Throughout the talk, Mr. Godfrey stressed the importance of people skills and ability to make friends. Some people who are incredibly smart have failed because they lacked people skills, and at the same time, some people who are incredibly stupid have succeeded in life because they had people skills.

Also, as one can see from a small glimpse of his life, it is indeed full of twists and turns and one must do the best with what one has in the present. Mr. Godfrey was pulled towards several unconnected careers due to the particular situations and circumstances at the time. Mr. Godfrey admires the impact that his engineering education had in his life. Among other things, it taught him to approach a problem. Whether it is in politics, publishing or business, every problem can be solved by breaking it down in smaller parts and approaching and reasoning with each part logically.

After a successful career in publishing, Mr. Godfrey tried his hand in business and bought the Toronto Sun along with his management team. The Sun, of course later got acquired by Rogers communications for $400 million, at which point, Paul came in contact with Ted Rogers. After working with him for a few years, he decided to retire. Two days later, he received a call from Ted Rogers who asked him to run the Toronto Blue Jays!

Once again dumbfounded, Mr. Godfrey accepted his fortune and took on the job and in 2000, he was named the CEO and President of the Toronto Blue Jays, a position that he still has today.

At the end of his talk, he once again stressed the importance of people skills and stated that “Doors were open for me, not because I was smart, but because I had good people skills.” When asked about his future plans, Mr. Godfrey announced his plans to build an aquarium at the foot of the CN tower (look out for the official announcement in the next couple of months), and he also wants to bring another sports team to the city of Toronto. This time, it is not baseball, but football! He intends to bring an NFL team to the city and hopes to do so in the next few years.

The first F!rosh Friday seminar this year was very inspirational as it showed the significance of good fortune and people skills in life. It was very pleasing to hear that despite the various career shifts in Mr. Godfrey’s life, he always used his engineering education in one way or another.