Yes, the man, the myth, the legend, Mr Joe Kowalski. My second summer at Keeners has been drastically different than my first. My first year here involved, kayaking and relaxing and hanging out with the other fellow Keeners at Keenerville. However, this year, most of my time is being spent as a senior Keener, which involves working at Wilderness Tours on the weekends. Though, this hasn’t stopped me from having the time of my life. My first workday started off with waking up, rolling out of bed, getting my stuff together, taking a shower and waiting for my ride. Little did I know that I was about to get in a car with a philosopher, visionary, business man and entertaining legend.
As the car pulled up in the turn around circle, all I could think about was how I was going to teach people how to roll their kayaks with no prior kayak instruction experience. As soon as I got into the car with Joe, I was immediately drawn off of my worries and into his ideas on why he wanted to hire us after Keeners. He seemed very keen on having us on staff for next year either on kayak school or as a guide, but on staff none the less. He explained why he liked having ex-keeners on staff and talked about how some ex-keeners are some of his best staff on and off of the river. Yes, this may seem like a pretty mundane topic and most people in his position would say the same things, but he seemed so enthusiastic about it that his energy about working at WT seemed to transfer over to me and next thing I know I am sitting on the beach thinking about where at WT I would like to work next year. Anyone who seems unmotivated to do work of any sorts should go for a drive with Joe and their passion for everything will come back to life.
The next weekend that I work began the same way, but this time I am not nervous at all about teaching but I am much more nervous about the car ride with my (hopefully) future employer. I was so moved by his passion that he has for the past present and future of WT and all of his endeavours. This ride was much more normal until he asked me what I wanted to do after high school. Of course I answered with University and that I was still in the process of deciding where and what I was going to study but that it was in the business field. As I was talking, I felt as though he was genuinely listening to me and was interested in what I had to say, I thought that that was great. Then, as I found out the previous weekend, there is always a lesson when Joe is in the car. He then shared the story of a man who’s name I cannot remember, and how he had no back up plan with his university degree and felt that he had done the wrong degree and went back to school for accounting. The lesson of this story was to always have a back up plan, and in this case, get an accounting degree with any business degree of my choosing. He explained how accounting an math were a universal language and that it could be used wherever and whenever even if times change. This was the car ride where I began to realize that Joe is always thinking of the future and how he wants to make sure that everyone he meets has the chance to have a bright future.
The many rides with Joe succeeding these two were full of insightful topics and wisdom, however one really stood out to me. The lesson that I learned from him that ride was that the world now revolves around politics and how even something as simple as picking a location of an event is all politics. I knew that politics drove governing bodies, events and organization, but he opened up a whole new side on how things work in this world. Being a business man and having to make huge decisions, he is the first person I would trust when talking about how politics drive everything. The main example of the ride was the placement and timing of the Canadian Freestyle Kayak Team Trials in Valleyfield. He was explaining how the governing body does not have to take into consideration how others feel about it and how there is no voting system in place. The real lesson was that to be (and stay) a leader, you must make decisions that most people are alright with. But to be a great leader, you must make decisions that accommodate to everyone, and thats what makes it so hard.
Other rides included, both of our views on green energy, economics, the Ottawa River, Whistler, Elon Musk, the Grand Canyon, books and the future, some funny, some sad and everything in between. What I will be taking away from Keeners is the work experience, the friends, the kayaking abilities, but most importantly, the wisdom and thoughts that have been brought up during my car rides with Joe Kowalski, the man, the myth, the legend, the visionary, the business man and a quality entertainer.
Thank you Joe.
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