SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Richard Morland says it's the "wow moments" that keep in him in the Northwest Territories.

New president of the NWT Chamber of Commerce Richard Morland stands outside Centre Square Mall in downtown Yellowknife April 26. The former mining executive says working together is the best way to tackle a struggling economy. - Meagan Leonard/NNSL photo

The newest NWT Chamber of Commerce president said when BHP Billiton sent him to the NWT a decade ago, it was just another job. Having spent most of his life on the Australian outback, he didn't know what to expect.

It turned out the two places had many similarities - both were remote, struggling economically and presented a challenge for any entrepreneur. The difference? The North seems to have a "wow moment" every day.

"It's the longest in one continuous stint that my wife and I have lived anywhere in our married life," he said with a laugh.

With a corporate mining career spanning three decades including positions at two of the world's largest players: BHP Billiton and Glencore Xstrata, along with NWT-famous Ekati Diamond Mine and Avalon Advanced Materials, Morland says he's ready to give back to the community and industry.

"When the opportunity came up to join the Chamber of Commerce, I jumped at it, because it was an opportunity to leverage my skill set, to help out a community-based organization and make a difference."

One of the highlights of his job has been spent turning under-performing businesses into successful ones and he says he hopes to take this strategy and apply it to his role with the chamber. The key, he says, is having the sensibility to step back and give people space to grow.

"The job of a leader is to create space for a contribution to be made," he said. "Declare a compelling vision for the future and get people enrolled in that vision."

When it comes to his new role as chamber president, he says his approach will be similar with a focus on fostering partnerships across the NWT.

Morland says he is tired of hearing the word "or" in conversations about the development of Northern industry. While the resource sector is the natural dominant, Morland says it should assume more of an anchor role to help create new niches.

"It's the resource industry or it's green technology or it's local business," he said. "None of those choices are mutually exclusive. What we need is 'and.'"

One of the territory's biggest challenges over the last number of years has been the decline of local business. Typically these small establishments are not self-sufficient and exist to serve the needs of larger industry, says Morland - however, waiting for mining or oil and gas to pick up cannot be the answer.

"It's not a linear conversation - we have to work on multiple fronts," he said, adding one way to accomplish this is by encouraging entrepreneurship and promotion of other aspects of the economy. "A good example of that is (Yellowknife's) Woodyard Brewpub - it's a great example of what's possible. It took drive, it took struggle, it took persistence and now you see the result is thriving and it fills a lovely niche in a growing market - that's tourism."

But he hasn't given up on the resource sector just yet.

With 33 years in the industry under his belt, Morland says he has grown accustomed to its temperamental nature and a downturn does not leave him pondering alternate careers. He says those able to adapt to economic challenges will ultimately be most successful in the long-term.

"We have to adapt otherwise we fall by the wayside and those who are prepared to adapt are the ones that win," he said.

Pessimism around mining's recovery has more to do with unrealistic expectations, Morland says. The economic boom seen in the decade spanning 2002-10 was a rarity, but a rarity that became confused with normalcy - particularly in the diamond industry, which saw its peak in the territory between 2004 and 2007.

"(Those years) were very unusual - the rate of growth in the industry was huge and that was driven by China," he said. "I've never seen prices like that in the other 23 years of my career and may never see them again ... the resource industry will recover, it's just a question of how fast that recovery is."

Heading into the summer season, Morland says one of his first orders of business will be to visit each community in the territory with a local chamber to engage with residents.

"It's important to me to meet those folks and understand what it is we need to do as a territorial chamber," he said. "My wife and I like doing road trips so I can see a lot of driving in my immediate future."

Although the presidency term is just one year, Morland says the deadline is an exciting challenge and he's eager to get started.

"I like that," he says with a laugh. "It means there's a sense of urgency about getting into action and getting things done."