In this episode we have the pleasure of interviewing John Brink on the show, and John is the CEO of Brink Group of Companies, which is 10+ companies with combined annual revenues in the hundreds of millions.
John A. Brink was born in 1940 in Nazi-occupied Holland during the Second World War. John’s mother was left to raise her three kids alone when their father was drafted into the Dutch Army. They wouldn’t know if he was dead or alive until the liberation of their village, by Canadian soldiers, on April 12, 1945.
This was the exact moment when John determined he would one day move to Canada – the land of his heroes. John’s other lifelong dream of owning a sawmill came to fruition 10 years later in 1975 with the creation of Brink Forest Products, which has since become North America’s leading secondary manufacturer of value-added wood products.
At 83, John continues to succeed in his role as President and CEO of the Brink Group of Companies and 10+ other companies. In recognition of John’s lifelong achievements, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws Degree by the University of Northern British Columbia. Less than a month later, he also received the Order of B.C. in June 2019, the highest achievement a civilian in BC, Canada can achieve.
John shares with us his secrets of how he has been through multiple recessions, and how it is the same recipe for success for all of them, and it is quite a different recipe than during normal business expansion periods. These are periods where most companies are shrinking and staying small, John is looking for opportunities to acquire other companies as they are typically in trouble. More on this in the podcast.
John also shares how his ADHD has actually been a superpower for him. He even wrote about it in his book: “ADHD Unlocked”, which he was kind enough to send me a copy of and I am reading now…quite fascinating and a must read if you even think you might have ADHD.
This is a must listen episode!
Join us for today’s episode of the High Performance CEO Podcast here:
