Gimme a Crisis

Bestselling author Howard Green profiles former Scotiabank CEO Rick Waugh and sketches an unprecedented and up-close picture of what it is like to run a global bank, often during financial chaos, while leading more than 80,000 employees in more than fifty countries.

From navigating a violent economic default and loss in Argentina and a bail-out of the Dominican Republic to surviving the global financial crisis, actively promoting women in banking, and helping secure the NBA’s Raptors for Toronto, Rick Waugh was in the room. Green captures the riveting stories, intense conflicts, and pivotal moments that occurred at one of Canada’s biggest banks, a significant player in international finance.

Waugh’s clear-eyed approach to managing risk offers lessons for steering through economic uncertainty, lessons that will be increasingly relevant as we enter a new era of global insecurity. His simple formula: when assessing deals, investments, or major decisions, know your downside, never calculate the upside. Let risk guide decision-making, and the upside will take care of itself.

Interweaving extensive interviews with Waugh over the course of a more than twenty-year relationship with the author and scores of interviews with others who worked closely with Waugh or intersected with him, Gimme a Crisis takes readers into the executive suite, revealing the rapid-fire, pressurized decision-making that took place during the most volatile—and harrowing—period in Canada’s financial system since the Great Depression.