该 全球 & 邮件 recently profiled American-born entrepreneur Jennifer McNeill, vice-president and chief executive officer of Calgary-based CipherSoft公司.

In this interview, 麦克尼尔, 一 “cross-border entrepreneur” who has lived and worked in both the U.S. 和加拿大, commented on some of the differences between American and Canadian business culture.

她说：, “Canadian organizations sometimes hold themselves back because they lack the confidence of American companies.”

她解释说：:

If I am working 与美国. business person who is talking about their company, 天空是极限 他们. They are going to do whatever it takes to get wherever they need to go.

But when you are dealing with Canadians, 他们可能会说, “良好, 我做了 $200,000 去年. I got to travel, and I’m going to the beach. In the winter months I spend two to three months in Phoenix, so I am completely happy.’

The hunger is not there – which is not necessarily a bad thing because the quality of life in Canada is much better. But when it comes to the business world, in small to medium-sized businesses especially, they limit themselves on what they can do.

麦克尼尔是在阿拉巴马州出生和长大, 并且在年龄 30, she relocated to Calgary to work for a high-tech company, 密码系统. She eventually rose to become Cipher Systems’ 总裁, before selling the company. She subsequently co-founded CipherSoft in 2002.

With dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, 现在，她将时间分散在卡尔加里和拉斯维加斯之间.

Here’s a link to the complete interview: A serial entrepreneur on both sides of the border.

你怎么看? Can entrepreneurial drive and good quality of life co-exist? Have you found other significant differences between the business environment in Canada and in your home country?

Photo by dherrera_96 (Flickrçš„)