grow their business. The program outlines a
recipe of success for companies of all scopes,
and Hughes works with firms, families and in-
stitutions on issues unique to entrepreneurs in
privately held companies.
Hughes advocates that the program’s in-
ception was sparked by the recession in 1992
where “there was nothing but bad news be-
ing printed those days. The concept was ‘why
don’t we print some good news for Canadians’
and in particular we wanted to celebrate small-
er businesses because they are the ones that
don’t often get the recognition that the larger
ones do.”
The program is a celebration of enterprises
that contribute to the nation’s business acu-
men and is more of a methodology to evaluate
companies based on fundamental distinguish-
ers. The corporations are vetted based on their
communal efforts and the uniqueness of the
program stems from focusing on the collective
group of individuals working towards a higher
purpose. “It’s important that we celebrate the
entire team, rather than a product, CEO, or
individual employee,” says Hughes. The pro-
gram does not distinguish by size, geography
or industry, though those that choose to par-
ticipate in the programmust follow a minimum
threshold of $10 million in revenue for the past
16
business elite canada
H
JULY 2014
John Hughes, National Leader
of Canada’s Best Managed
Companies and Managing
Partner at Deloitte
