B.C. Publisher, Author to
Speak at Banquet

Legge Will Discuss Ingredients for Success

by Patricia Rathbun

Peter Legge, president and chief executive officer of the largest independently owned magazine publishing company in Western Canada, will be the keynote speaker at the Whatcom County 2000 Business Person of the Year Awards on March 28.

The banquet starts with a social hour at 6 p.m. at Resort Semiahmoo in Blaine. Tickets cost $30 apiece and are available by calling Business Pulse at 671-3933.

Legge, an internationally acclaimed professional speaker, will be discussing what it takes to be successful.

His presentations are based on his everyday experiences as a community leader, husband, father and CEO. His four books have motivated thousands of people toward positive change.

“If you truly want to be successful, you will need to walk hand in hand with those men and women who are infinitely more successful than you,” Legge remarks. “There’s no time in life to re-invent the wheel. We need to fine-tune the wheel by finding out what rules of life we can apply to our career and use those rules successful people have used. And have a positive attitude — attitude does determine altitude.”

If Only I’d Said That, Legge’s latest book published in 1999, was inspired by his father, Bernie Legge, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 85. Legge gives credit to his father for instilling in him the importance of commitment to family, a sense of duty to the betterment of the community and a deep, abiding belief in the power of words of wisdom and encouragement.

In the book, Legge recalls how his father was puzzled by the dozens of cards, letters, phone calls, flowers and visitors that poured into his hospital in the days before his death. “Why do they all love me?” his father asked. Legge concluded his father was loved by so many because his father had first loved them.

In a passage from If Only I’d Said That, Legge says about his father:

“When he thought I wasn’t looking, I felt him kiss me ‘good night’ and I felt loved. When he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw him give his time, talent and energy to this community and I knew that was the real pathway to success. When he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw him sacrifice for his family and felt awed by his unselfishness. When he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from his eyes and I knew that it was OK to cry. When he thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that he cared and I wanted to be everything I could be.”

Legge also has written the best-selling How to Soar with the Eagles (1991), You Can if You Believe You Can (1994) and It Begins with a Dream (1996).

Legge’s magazine publishing company, Canada Wide Magazines & Communica-tions, Ltd., is the largest independent publisher in Western Canada. The magazines are a diverse collection of 16 major titles that include business, consumer, leisure and trade publications. BC Business is British Columbia’s senior business authority and the most widely read business publication in the province. TV Week provides comprehensive coverage for viewers in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island areas. Grocer Today is an information source for Western Canada food producers, brokers and food and drug retailers. Canada Wide also offers extensive publishing-related services.

Toastmasters International voted Legge “Golden Gavel Award Winner” and “Top Speaker in North America.” Both the National Speakers Association and the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers have inducted him into the Speakers Hall of Fame. Legge is also a member of the prestigious Speakers Roundtable, an invitation-only society comprising 20 of North America’s top professional speakers.