Recruit the right people.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: News - Learn from Leaders - Boniferro Mill Works

Jim Boniferro often says he did not know a lick about the lumber business 20 years ago.

The Seneca College graduate was in the restaurant business at a Thunder Bay seniors' complex when he struck up a conversation one day with Bert Seaman, owner of Great West Timber, and a future mentor.

"He came into the restaurant regularly and asked if I ever thought of being in the lumber business," says Boniferro, now the president and CEO of Boniferro Mill Works in Sault Ste. Marie. "I didn't know a toothpick from a 2 X 4.

"And (Seaman) said, 'That's exactly right; I know lumber. What I do is go out and hire people. I can teach you about lumber.'"

Boniferro relied on that formula last year in assembling a team of 44 committed managers and workers to resurrect a mothballed Domtar hardwood mill.

"It's important in your business to have the right people who can work together and get the job done," says Boniferro, whose 20-year lumber career includes stints with Buchanan Forest Products, where he worked his way up to president of lumber sales and a position as mill manager for Domtar in Sault Ste. Marie.

"We don't need to find people who know hardwood lumber. We have people with that knowledge. We need to make sure we have the right people."

That fundamental trait is having a "shared vision" of individuals taking ownership in what the results are.

Many of his more experienced workers have endured turbulent times at the Third Line mill, working under a plethora of ownerships with different...