Isabelle Marcoux of Transcontinental gives a careful interview

At Transcontinental, we try to do as little of that [media interviews] as possible. I think it is a family tradition. We're humble people. We release our results when we have to - we are transparent - but we're less inclined to talk about ourselves.

It is not Transcontinental Vice-Chair Isabelle Marcoux's fault that in the Q & A by Gordon Pitts with her in the Globe and Mail we learn practically nothing about the $2 billion business she helps to manage.

A casual reader would come away with the vague notion that the company is a printer and has some magazines (when in fact the company is the country's largest consumer magazine publisher), but no insight into the business or its aggressive acquisitions.

We do find that she gets up at 5 a.m., juggles her roles as mother and executive, works 60 hours a week and that her dad, Remi Marcoux, founder and executive chairman she is tipped to succeed, now works three days a week. We also find she is discreet about her relationships with her brothers and sisters.

(As for her characterization of having started at the bottom; recall the line about George Bush who was "born on third base and thought he'd hit a triple".)