Expect Miracles: Recollections of a Lucky Life

by David M. Culver, Alan Freeman

Overview

Expect Miracles is the personal and professional story of a leader in the worlds of business and culture. David Culver narrates his journey from his upbringing in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, through his studies at McGill and Harvard, his army service during the Second World War, to his impressive rise at Alcan to become chairman and chief executive officer of one of Canada's leading multinational corporations. The memoir provides an inside look into the management of a global company with roots deeply planted in Quebec and offers pragmatic advice on how to grow talent, foster technology, and handle adversity in a far-flung organization. Anecdotes of meeting the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, and Jawaharlal Nehru, reveal the experiences of a strong corporate leader who continued to live a Montreal life, while never losing his interest in discovering the world. A man of many interests and talents, Culver reflects on his long love affair with architecture - and his efforts to restore and preserve Montreal's heritage by creating Maison Alcan - and how music and sport helped shape his life. Expect Miracles is evidence of Culver's positive outlook and belief that the most extraordinary things can happen when you least expect them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773590731
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	Footprints Series , #19
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

David M. Culver is the former chairman and CEO of Alcan Aluminium.

Alan Freeman, a native of Montreal, is an Ottawa-based writer who has worked for the Canadian Press, the Wall Street Journal, and the Globe and Mail.

Table of Contents

Illustrations follow xii

Preface ix

1 "Be Emergent!" 3

Early Memories of Life on a Hill

2 "A Bunch of People Helping One Man Do a Job" 23

Learning to Manage

3 "We Were Like the Jesuits" 47

Selling Aluminum to the World

4 "Je me souviens" 65

Alcan's Québécois Heart

5 "Dimension, Dimension, Dimension" 97

How Architecture Became a Passion

6 "An Unobtrusive Jewel" 111

Building a Home for Alcan

7 "On Hands and Knees" 128

Developing Ties with Japan and China

8 "A Sense of Measure" 144

Multinational Musings

9 "Like A Trip to the Kennel" 162

Growing People

10 "An Outsider on the Inside" 180

The Trials of the Independent Director

11 "Hitting the Right Note" 196

The Meaning of Pastimes

12 "Just Another Graduation" 216

Life after Alcan

Editorial Reviews

“David Culver is sui generis and that is what makes reading this book such a pleasure. Consistently persuasive, in part because of the richness of detail, Expect Miracles is both highly instructive and inspiring. A truly outstanding book by an amazing human being.” William G. Bowen, president emeritus, Princeton University and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

From the Publisher