J. Bruce Flatt speaks with the quiet, clear-eyed calm that those in total and comfortable command of massive amounts of money often have.

Flatt is the transformative chief executive officer of Brookfield Asset Management. He is 50 and reportedly Canada's 94th richest citizen. He joined Brookfield in 1990. Back then it was called Brascan and had made a name for itself as a bit of a buccaneer on the back of an aggressive deployment of the legacy of wealth built by the founder of Seagram Co, Samuel Bronfman.