When Terrapin Communications Inc. began in 1998, their objective was to market a personal alarm system designed to save small children and pets from drowning in backyard pools. A decade later, the award-winning Ottawa company's products are in demand globally, as Terrapin sells its Safety Turtles across North America, Australia, Europe and South Africa.

The 62-year-old company president and CEO Bob Lyons holds various degrees from Carleton and Queen's universities, and invented the patented wireless-alert system that transmits a one-way radio signal from an electronic water sensor worn by a child or pet to a receiver, or base station, 30 metres away.

Mr. Lyons and his wife, Patricia Malone, have three daughters aged 24, 22 and 18. The oldest has just completed the first year of a graduate degree in engineering. The family also has two dogs, a miniature schnauzer and a coton de tulear. Mr. Lyons' hobbies are swimming, skiing, gardening and travel.

OBJ: What are your main day-to-day responsibilities at Terrapin?

LYONS: I am a one-man band in many ways as there are only three full-time employees. We cover a fair amount of business areas and have a supply chain and various people contracted. I do the engineering. I also closely supervise an outside sales force, as well as the inside sales.

OBJ: Who are the company's major clients?

LYONS: We have a diverse clientele and sales in Canada are non-exclusive and open. The pool and spa industry and the pet industry are our main focus. Canadian Tire is one of the companies selling our products in Canada. Leslie's Pool Supplies is a major seller through 700 stores in the U.S., and Safety Turtle Africa is a very good customer. PetSmart was also a good customer. (The great untold story is the number of pets – about 50,000 a year – that drown in pools.)

OBJ: Has Terrapin won any awards?

LYONS: The Safety Turtle has won a number of awards. I was awarded the Manning Innovation Award in 2004. Although it was given to me, it was really for the Safety Turtle. The Pool Search planning guides in 2000 and 2001 selected Safety Turtle as the editor's choice for the single best product of the year.

OBJ: Are you a member of any organizations?

LYONS: I'll answer that by borrowing from Woody Allen, who said he wouldn't want to join any group that would have him as a member.

OBJ: What is your most recent major achievement?

LYONS: The product achieved initial success through early adopters. The greatest positive response has always been from the people using the product. We have also had a very positive response from the media. We were featured on Oprah three times and a big milestone was when CNN demonstrated both the Safety Turtle wristband and our gate alarm in its annual water safety presentation last year.

OBJ: What is your biggest success?

LYONS: Sticking with it. I refer you to The Dip by Seth Godin, a book about when to hold and when to fold. Knowing that is a definition of success. This business is making a social contribution in terms of reducing drownings and so is worth doing from that perspective. It is also a going concern operationally and is above water commercially.

OBJ: What was your biggest mistake?

LYONS: I didn't come into this with my eyes open. In year one, 1999, we were cautious. We didn't produce a lot. The industry was excited. We manufactured more in year two than any other year. The mistake was to believe that the channels — in this case, retailers and distributors in the pool and spa industry — had more than limited intelligence about new lifestyle-altering products. When the channels' premise about how much product they needed was wrong, they blamed the product. In fact, the product is fine.

OBJ: Do you have a mentor?

LYONS: I have had several mentors. For the last 25 years, my wife has been my mentor.

OBJ: Do you have a favourite saying?

LYONS: Put yourself in the other guy's shoes.

OBJ: Do you have a favourite book?

LYONS: Two that have made lasting impressions are The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk and Sideshow by William Shawcross.

OBJ: What is your life philosophy?

LYONS: It's about balance too. Pace yourself. Once in a while, opportunities come that are for you. Recognize them and go for them.

OBJ: What is the state of your industry?

LYONS: My main focus is the consumer market, particularly the pool and spa industry. In the U.S., my largest market, the (credit crunch) is affecting that industry in a big way, particularly the building of new pools. In Canada, partly because of the Canadian dollar, there is nowhere near such an effect.