It’s been just over a year now since John Shields was appointed Executive Director of The Haven. One morning late in May, we sat down for a conversation about his first year in the saddle, during which he reflected on the past, present and particularly the future of this unique institution. From the upstairs window in his office in the main lodge, we could see across the lawn to the beach and the Gulf of Georgia to the distant islands and mountains, a view which has touched the hearts of many travelers come to rest briefly at The Haven.

Shields brings a lot of life experience to his new role at The Haven. He began his working career as a Catholic priest, moving to Victoria as a social worker in 1969. He became a highly respected labour leader as President of the BC Government and Employees Service Union, a long and complex involvement which ended in 1999. During this time, he helped negotiate the union’s first collective agreement, and tried, he says, “to give people tools and some say in their lives.”

Shields then took on the role of caregiver to his wife Madeleine, until her death from cancer in 2005, an exhausting journey, physically and emotionally. It was also a huge learning experience, which deepened his already intense spiritual connection to life. It was a time, he says, when he discovered love and care and compassion in ways he hadn’t known before, and he coped partly by “learning to be present, through meditation and focusing on being here now.”

After Madeleine’s death, Shields recalls, “I had a choice – to stay in the grieving and despair, or come back to life. I chose to develop a habit of saying ‘yes.’ As it turned out, I said ‘yes’ to taking the chair of Leadership Victoria and acted as program director for about five months. I also began work on a book about spirituality and the new cosmology. My happiest ‘yes’ has been to a new relationship with Robin June Hood, and to applying for the job at The Haven.”

Now in his mid-60s, Shields is taking on a major personal and professional challenge at an age when most people are contemplating the laid-back enticements of retirement. He smiles at the idea, and says, “The thought of golf and cruises doesn’t appeal to me at all.”

For the first 24 years of its existence, The Haven operated under the guidance of its founders Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen. The core programs they developed constitute the heart of the curriculum. In the 1970s, Shields attended several of their seminal workshops at the Cold Mountain Institute, where he experienced “some profound breakthroughs.” As a mature participant in a recent Come Alive at The Haven, he says he found “the experience again recharged my own resilience and reminded me that we have super stuff here.”

The Haven’s board chairman Bill Chalmers says that Shields’ familiarity with The Haven work and philosophy was an added plus when considering his appointment as ED (he was one of 38 applicants), along with his “huge ability as an organizational leader.”

“I’m having the time of my life,” Shields says of his new role. “This first year has been as enjoyable a period as I can imagine at this stage of my life and career. It feels like a kind of karmic gift. The learning curve has been immense. The board asked me to lead The Haven through a process of change without any of us knowing where it was taking us. With a sense of connection and patience with one another, I felt we would get through it, and we did.

“I spent the first six months just being a sponge, in a constant state of curiosity. At one point, I realized I had the picture, and I knew we were ready for change. It was and is not an easy process. Some people perceived my suggestions that we needed to grow and change as an attack on the major core work established by Ben and Jock, which surprised me somewhat. I have always thought of The Haven as a place for growth and change, and I hold on to that as a core value.

“I’m smitten by the potential of this place; along with its great history, it has enormous unrealized potential. We’re only scratching the surface of what we could be doing. I can imagine having programs here for helpers that are unique, that are not out there in the marketplace. Soon, we want to talk to deputy ministers and trainers in helping areas of government and agencies about what we have to offer – helping the helpers.”

Shields says that The Haven’s connection to China, developed initially by Ben and Jock, has huge potential. “Already, we have an excellent working relationship with a leading multinational Chinese corporation,” he comments, “who are drawing on our resources; they have given us a glowing account of what Come Alive does for their business. We haven’t thought to market ourselves to corporations at home, but we are in the process of doing that now, presenting the benefits of what The Haven has to offer to corporations and business leaders in BC.”

Shields notes that since the time of Ben and Jock, The Haven has never had a marketing campaign. “Eighty percent or more of our business comes from word-of-mouth,” he says. “In meetings with faculty and the board, I was struck by the fact that person after person struggled to say what The Haven is, what it offers. In the past, we have been very skilled at presenting programs, but not in marketing ourselves. We are going to embark shortly on a major marketing program.

“Such a program will entail talking to marketing companies about how they would help us tell our story. We’re moving ahead and getting close; it’s very exciting. For example, our website is static; it needs to be more interesting and dynamic, and much better linked. It’s important to get the word out much more widely, and attract and excite people. That’s just one piece of telling our story.

“We are also looking at our calendars, which have been pretty good, and our brochures and other printed materials, which have not. We will consider other forms of advertising, and I would also like to see a first-rate documentary film or video done about The Haven; the kind of thing you would see on the CBC, for instance.”

A major change in the structure of the organization of The Haven has taken place in the last year, allowing it to do business in a new way. The two components of the institute – the charitable non-profit Haven Foundation, and the for-profit PD Seminars business division – have been unified. The assets of the firm have been transferred to the Foundation, which will own all aspects of the business, and will be called The Haven. Now it can raise money directly for construction or course development. PD Seminars will continue to manage the resort business, which, Shields says, will probably be phased out “as we get the educational capacity up to where I’m sure it can be.”

This major structural change will allow The Haven to upgrade its facilities, right across the board. There are plans to replace the lodge, for instance, with a new building to be constructed in the present parking area, and do major work on session rooms, accommodations and various buildings. “This is the kind of thing you run into with a 25-year-old institution,” Shields says. “The nature of the ‘container’ has to reflect the nature of the work, the spiritual quality of the work.”

After a static period of barely being able to break even, The Haven is now profitable. “We have experienced enough growth to be able to give staff a salary raise, and we’re taking care on a number of levels to lift the whole organization,” Shields comments. “We want to be able to carry the cost of borrowing, which we will be able to do soon, although we will ask graduates and friends to help us keep The Haven growing and viable.”

Looking into the future, Shields says he does not see a “worst-case” scenario for The Haven. His optimism is reflected in a positive and buoyant vision, in which he sees the tremendous potential of The Haven realized.

“Part of my job,” he says, “is to bring people to share that vision of possibility, to bring consciousness to a level to take that in, to lead the board and management to expect things to go well. I know we can move beyond doing what we’ve always done, and do some extraordinary work along the way.”

I ask Shields about the issue of developing more spiritual work at The Haven, an issue that appears to be of wide concern in the broad human potential community of North America, where there is clearly a hunger for ways to find more meaning and purpose in life.

“There is room for more of a spiritual component in the course offerings at The Haven, and that is something we will certainly be exploring,” he says. “It is important to make a distinction between spirituality and religion. We will always be respectful of personal beliefs, but spirituality comes out of your life experience and aligning with the purpose and unfolding of the universe. I would like to see the development of a new core course focusing on helping people in mid-life and beyond, particularly, to find more meaning in their lives, which so many individuals yearn for.”

Shields’ vision of the future of the The Haven includes a time, five or so years from now, when the institution will be “an environmental exemplar.”

“We need to get off the grid,” he says, “and consider such things as getting our water from the sea, and introducing solar power. As we think about renewing the physical plant, we will do it in an exemplary way. Looking at the beautiful physical setting of The Haven, we have an opportunity to develop a deeper connection to nature and bring people closer to the earth, a possibility which makes my heart resonate. We will look at ways to use the site much more effectively and open up the viewscape to allow people greater access to our extraordinary location.”

I can’t help but reflect, after our conversation, that John Shields is the right man for the job as Executive Director of The Haven, who happened along at just the right time. He embodies a compelling combination of quiet charisma, grounded optimism, deep spirituality and successful leadership experience. His love for The Haven and respect for the work that goes on there is obvious in the enthusiasm and joy he projects as he talks about it, finding himself, as he has, in a position to both lead and to give back – which pretty much describes what he has been doing all his life.

“This isn’t a business,” he says, “it’s a love affair.”

Ellery Littleton talks with John Shields