JANUARY 2014
CEOs, Entrepreneurs, and even an Astronaut – all Top 100 Award Winners; not one of these women let her gender hold her back in order to get where she needed to go, and for that, this year’s Top 100 Award Winners are the epitome of why our dreams should be limitless.
What a year 2013 has been! From the incredible lineup of speakers we welcomed to our podium, to the thought leadership experienced in our Mentoring Programs, to say we had a remarkable year would be an understatement.
higher than the year previous, which always seems like an impossible feat to accomplish (my staff will attest to this), but through the thought leadership of remarkable Canadian leaders, we are able to do so.
We are so grateful to you, our community, for your engagement and participation at our events and in our programs. After all, you are the reason we do what we do: inspire smart women to lead.
This continuous elevation speaks to the calibre of leadership we are seeing emerge in Canada, and further emphasizes the importance of inspiring the next generation of leaders.
As I take a moment to pause and reflect on 2013, it seems almost impossible to summarize the year’s highlights within the confines of one page: I could probably write a book! This was our absolute best year yet. Year after year, I find myself saying these same words, “this has been our best year”, but I genuinely mean it each time. Repeating that statement at each year’s end makes me realize that we are doing exactly what WXN sets out to do, to provide inspirational and cutting-edge content and programming to our community of 19,000 smart women. Each year, we manage to raise the bar
This year’s Top 100 Award Winners are the epitome of why our dreams should be limitless. Our country boasts so many wonderful role models, that we’re now seeing a benchmark for where we need to be as professionals. I experienced this first-hand at this year’s Top 100 Awards in Toronto. As I looked around the room, I found myself in the presence of female Majors,
Although we still have mountains to move in order to see gender parity across the board, I am confident that the strong female leadership emerging in Canada this year (and in the past decade of Top 100 Award Winners) will continue to elevate what it means to be a leader; after all, male or female, a good leader is quite simply, a good leader. On this subject, I am pleased to announce that the OSC has taken the next step to promote women to board positions and executive roles by releasing a set of recommended changes to the Corporate Governance Disclosure Rule, closely reflecting the recommendations we submitted in October (in collaboration with you, our members, who submitted your feedback via our survey). If you would like to learn about these recommendations, read more on p. 7. And last but certainly not least, wxnetwork.com has had a facelift! If you have not already seen our new website, I encourage you to visit the new face of WXN. Sincerely,
TABLE OF CONTENTS P. 3 TOP 100 HIGHLIGHTS P.4 CANADA’S MOST POWERFUL WOMEN TOP 100 LEADERSHIP SUMMIT IN REVIEW P.7 CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S WINNERS P.8 FIVE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FROM CYBELE NEGRIS P.9 2013 WXN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
P.10 IS HUMILITY THE KEY TO GOOD LEADERSHIP? P.11 CONVERSATIONS WITH TOP 100 WINNERS P.13 OSC TAKES WXN RECOMMENDATIONS TO HEART P.14 MARKET YOURSELF AS A THOUGHT LEADER P.15 AN INTERVIEW WITH SHOPIFY’S DANIEL WEINAND P.16 THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Awards Gala Keynote Dr. Roberta Bondar
From left to right: Leadership Summit Keynote, 2012 Top 100 Award Winner Dr. Fiona Costello; Award Winner Flash Panel with Sandie Rinaldo, Major Eleanor Taylor, Sharon MacLeod, Betty Devita.
From left to right: Gala Musical entertainment Soular; WXN Members networking at the Summit; 2012 Top 100 Award Winner Lisa Lisson; 2013 Top 100 Hall of Fame Inductee Sue Paish.
From left to right: Media personalities Marilyn Denis, Sandie Rinaldo, Michelle Dubé; Top 100 Awards Gala Emcee Anne-Marie Mediwake; Top 100 Award Winner Rosemary McCarney; Gala Keynote and birthday girl, Dr. Roberta Bondar, reacts to a roomful of 1,200 people singing her ‘Happy Birthday’.
2013 TOP 1OO AWARD WINNERS
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IN REVIEW: TORONTO’S LEADERSHIP SUMMIT As I sat attentively in the A/V booth at this year’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Leadership Summit, watching for precise execution of showflow, I had no idea how greatly I was about to benefit from being in the room that afternoon. Anticipating only participating as a staff member of WXN and no more, I find myself now looking at four pages of detailed notes from brilliant, eloquent and fascinating women: it is quite obvious that I took away much more than I had expected. WXN boasts the Leadership Summit to be “the perfect opportunity for professional development”, and it is exactly that. It is filled with insight from Top 100 Award Winners who know a thing or two about paving their way to the top of their fields - through gender barriers, no less. The lessons I learned from attending the Summit are ones I took to heart, and continue to share with my friends and family - and now with you. The afternoon began with a keynote from Sue Paish, CEO of LifeLabs, who reminded us that “our someday is now”. She shared how her husband stayed at home so that she was able to work, contributing to the theme of the day’s discussion on evolving gender stereotypes. She joked about how the few men in the room now knew how women have felt all these years, being the only women in the company of men. Through her humour and breadth of knowledge, Sue made a sizable impact on the audience, emphasizing that “if we know our values, decision making is easy”. Referring to life as a labyrinth (a phrase coined by her daughter, who considered ‘the glass ceiling’ to be “too oldschool”), Sue reminded us that we must remember to navigate through our labyrinth with our values in mind, and we will come out successful. Also keeping in mind that it’s not necessarily a ‘glass ceiling’ but rather, a “thick layer of men”, she joked, that we must push through in order to get where we want to be.
The second keynote was given by neurologist and clinical ophthalmologist from Calgary, Dr. Fiona Costello. Her speech, entitled “crazy”, was exactly that. A brilliant tribute to the successes of those before us who were considered ‘crazy’ by those who did not understand their intellect, Fiona told the audience she has always been honoured by those who call her ‘crazy’; it means she’s deviating from being normal (boring). Articulating perfectly how important it is to ignore those who try and put you down, she said “they told me I couldn’t have a successful academic career, a job, and then also have a family. I have four kids.” Not to mention she’s a wildly intelligent doctor at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, and a Top 100 Award Winner to boot.
If we know our values, decision making is easy. She emphasized the importance of having strong female role models, and that ignoring our self doubt is crucial in success. She joked about having to google ‘glass ceiling’, because even though she works in a male-dominated field, she has never experienced gender discrimination. She told us to treat the ‘glass ceiling’ as a mirror; to take it as an opportunity to look within ourselves in order to become who we want to be. Fiona’s bottom line: embrace crazy, and allow it to let you thrive. Next, we heard from the President and CEO of FedEx Express Canada, Lisa Lisson, who opened with a beautiful quote from her mother, “life is not about what happens to you, it's about what you choose to do with what happens.” No stranger to overcoming adversity, Lisa told us through her first-hand experiences that we must not ask “why?” during moments of tragedy, but rather to take a look at the
good and bad in order to learn from these moments. She gave her “10 tips” on how to overcome the fear of being a single mother and having a successful career, all of which were quite hard hitting. My favourite two tips were #2, to focus on the things you can control, and let go of the things you can’t, and #10, to surround yourself with people, places and things that inspire you. Lisa told us that she wakes up every day, puts two feet on the ground and declares “today will be a good day!” It is through this visualization and attitude that she is able to focus on her destination, not the path, and live every day to the fullest. Following the keynotes, we participated in a Flash Panel, which was comprised of four Top 100 Award Winners (the participants were top secret until they appeared on stage, so this was a particularly exciting moment), CTV News’ Sandie Rinaldo, Canadian Armed Forces Major Eleanor Taylor, Unilever Canada’s VP Marketing Sharon MacLeod, and 2009 Hall of Fame Inductee (President of MasterCard Canada) Betty DeVita. An ongoing theme during their panel discussion was the notion of balance, posing the question “can we really balance work, family and it all?” to the audience. Major Taylor joked that everything in life had prepared her for combat, but nothing had prepared her for having a child. The panel’s response was: the secret to work/life balance is a helpful second half. For those of us in the audience who don’t have that luxury, the panel reassured us there is comfort to be found in friends and family; work/life balance can be achieved as long as you surround yourself with a strong support system. The women told us to step outside of our comfort zones and get involved in things that might not be second nature to us – keep yourself challenged in order to remain current and resilient. During the Q & A period, 2013 Top 100 Award Winner Kelly Lovell (in the TELUS Future Leaders 4
Category) asked the panel “how can we overcome the ‘double glass ceiling’?” Sharon MacLeod replied brilliantly by advising all young women in the room that if they wanted a “meteoric rise to the top,” they need to use their youth to their advantage. The discussion was enriched by having an interactive Twitter wall, showcasing the conversation happening among women in the room, as well as women across the country, participating in the dialogue. Lastly, the Summit was closed by a keynote from Sleep Country Canada President Christine Magee. A familiar voice from my radio, Christine’s wisdom and advice seemed to hit home the most, as I felt that I had heard her words before. She told us that if we want
something, we must go and ask for it, which was a piece of advice that my grandmother always gave to me – a very valid age-old motto. She told us that no path in life is straight, and there are many ways of getting there; there are risks, there is the potential for failure, but if we don’t go for it, we’ll look back and ask “what if?” forever. Christine highlighted the importance of living in the moment, embracing the beauty that can be found everywhere; reminding us that ‘every day we get to paint on the canvas that is our life’. She made us realize how proud we should be to be Canadian women, as we have the world at our fingertips and the support behind the advancement of female leadership, not only from fellow women,
but from the government. Despite the fact that the glass ceiling does exist, Christine says, we should never treat it as a barrier, but rather think of it as a mirror that reflects our dreams. My notes only capture a fraction of how inspiring this afternoon was, and if you didn’t have the opportunity to attend this year’s Leadership Summit, I highly suggest you attend – either in Toronto in November, or at our regional events this year in Vancouver (Jan 30), Calgary (Mar 6) or Montréal (Apr 9). Make sure you bring an open mind, a smartphone so you can engage on Twitter, a pen and a lot of paper – you’re going to want to take notes.
KELLY TYSON IS THE SENIOR COORDINATOR, DIGITAL MARKETING AT WXN
TOP 100 WINNER KELLY LOVELL DURING Q&A AT THE SUMMIT
A FEW HIGHLIGHTS USING THE HASHTAG #WXNTOP100
TOP 100 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE CHRISTINE MAGEE GIVING A KEYNOTE AT THE SUMMIT
TOP 100 AWARD WINNER DR. FIONA COSTELLO GIVING A KEYNOTE AT THE SUMMIT
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CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S TOP 100 AWARD WINNERS On Wednesday, December 4, 2013, we had the honour and privilege of recognizing and celebrating our 2013 Top 100 Award Winners at the downtown Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. From the morning Winner Forum to the afternoon Leadership Summit to the evening Awards Gala, the energy was electric and invigorating.
Our Leadership Summit speakers were inspirational and offered words of wisdom that resonated with the entire audience. Our Gala Keynote, Dr. Roberta Bondar, charmed our 1200 guests with her wit and enthusiasm, ending off her address with a standing ovation and the entire room singing her Happy Birthday. The evening was a memorable one.
We could have not pulled off the entire day without the ongoing support of our Corporate Community, our dynamic team and our engaged community of members. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our best Top 100 Awards event in 11 years and once again, congratulations to our 2013 Top 100 Award Winners.
The WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring Program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to be mentored by one of Canada’s most influential female leaders. This program matches you with one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners, where you will have four one-on-one meetings together; provides the arena for personal and professional growth during three days of classroom instruction; and facilitates your networking opportunities by helping you create meaningful connections with like-minded women. Over 750 Top 100 Protégées have already taken their careers to the next level because of their experience in the program - some of whom have even become Top 100 Award Winners themselves. Realize your potential, and register today at wxnetwork.com.
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FIVE FREE SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS THAT SAVE YOU TIME
TIPS FROM 2012 TOP 1OO AWARD WINNER, CYBELE NEGRIS
I hear from small businesses all the time that they don’t have time to engage on social media. Many executives of large companies don’t participate at all, leaving social interactions to junior staff in their marketing department, often citing the lack of time or know-how as main reasons for their avoidance. In my opinion, it is important for the leaders to take part in social media, whether you own a small business or run a large corporation. People (potential customers) like to connect with and hear directly from a company’s leadership. The personalities behind a brand are often of more interest than the brand itself. Below are some of my favourite social media tools that help me save time, share effectively and expand my reach. 1. Hootsuite.com: Post to multiple social media profiles at once – One of the great advantages of this tool is that you can post to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare and other social media profiles at the same time. While it is best to customize your message to individual audiences on each social media platform, sometimes, this time-saving feature is really handy to have. Pre-schedule posts – Very few business owners or executives have time to tweet and post to Facebook during the workday. I tend to catch up late at night when everyone else is sleeping so it makes little sense to post messages then. It’s like picking up the phone to talk to people when there’s no one on the other end. Real-time engagement is still best but HootSuite can be used to pre-schedule messages and replies during times that I know my audience is listening.
Bulk messages – You can use the Bulk Message Uploader to schedule days or even weeks of posts in advance.
another aggregator that takes all your social pictures and videos and posts them to a webpage.
Auto-scheduling - If you don’t know the best time to post to your audience, use the AutoSchedule tool. It uses certain algorithms to automatically figure out when you will get the most reach depending on whether you are posting to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media platforms. Free, pro and enterprise versions are available.
4. Cardmunch (Acquired by LinkedIn) Take a business card, use your mobile device to take a picture of the card with your phone’s camera and the contact information is transcribed accurately, verified by a human and sent back to your mobile phone as a contact you can now store.
2. JustUnfollow.com JustUnfollow is a simple application for unfollowing Twitter users you follow who do not follow you back.The tool also helps you identify accounts that are inactive
The personalities behind a brand are often of more interest than the brand itself. (have not tweeted in 3 months or 1 month). You want to make room for people who are actively sharing good content and are connected with you. The other great feature is that it allows you to copy followers from another account. So if I’m going to speak at an event for an organization, I can go and easily follow their followers and engage with that audience online before the in-person event. There is a free and pro version. 3. Paper.li This free tool automatically finds and aggregates articles, photos and videos from people you put on your Twitter lists and publishes them daily and tweets to your followers at a time you pre-schedule. This is a great way to share other people’s content that you like to follow in a customized, newspaper format. Essentially, I publish my own daily digital newspaper called “The Cybele Negris Daily”. Readers can subscribe or retweet and share the link to my daily news. Rebelmouse is
Since the business card transcription service was purchased by LinkedIn in January 2011, the service is now free. No more having to spend time manually entering contacts into Outlook or your phone. 5. .TEL I use a .TEL as a communications’ hub to integrate all my social media links and other contact information. At an event people want to connect with you in different ways. Some want your Twitter profile, someone else likes to connect on LinkedIn, while others prefer Google+. I tell people, just go to Cybele.tel and all my details are there. I see this more like a digital business card than a domain name. Optimized for mobile, anyone who has your .TEL automatically has your most up-to-date information for life. It has a place for my picture or logo, a map of my location and a keyword sections that allows me to optimize my .TEL so that it can be found based on search terms I enter into my .TEL. With the ability to store up to 3000 pages, it is a super-sized business card or directory that packs a lot of punch. A .TEL isn’t free but if you want your own to try out, just share this article or leave a comment with your favourite tools and then email freetel@webnames.ca and someone from my team will send you a code to redeem a free .TEL for a year. These are just a few steps you can take to enhance your social media presence. I hope you found this relevant and helpful. Now get out there and build your brand! CYBELE NEGRIS IS THE FOUNDER AND CEO OF WEBNAMES.CA 7
WXN’S 2013 MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
WXN’s Transit Shelter Ad in downtown Toronto asking you to help us find Canada’s Most Powerful Women by nominating someone remarkable!
WXN’s Transit Shelter Ad in downtown Toronto cheekily announcing the launch of our brand new website.
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WHY HUMILITY IS THE KEY TO GOOD LEADERSHIP: AN INTERVIEW WITH TOP 100 WINNER JANICE MCDONALD
Today we’d like to introduce the warm-hearted and incredibly successful, Janice McDonald. Janice recently spoke on the panel for Ottawa’s WXN breakfast, so this interview is a very timely continuation around leadership style! With all the success she’s had, Janice remains a humble leader. We’re diving into that humility today and hearing more of her experiences. The Sister Leadership approach to humility is to consider walking lightly upon the earth, as the words “humility” and “human” both come from “humus” or earth. When we recognize that we are no more or less important than others, we approach even the most menial tasks joyfully. So, how can humility apply to the business setting? Let’s turn to Janice to for her take on this. How easy or difficult has it been to let others shine under your leadership, and does that nurturing come naturally?
One of my favourite quotes is an old Chinese Proverb that says: “You can’t help someone up the mountain without getting to the top yourself.” I love this quote because it is about the service of others but recognizes that you benefit as well. As someone who has been a formal and informal mentor for many years in the communications and technology industry where I am Chair of the National Board for CWCT [www.cwc-afc.com], I understand firsthand the value of sharing your expertise and wisdom with others. This year, we had 25 members of CWCT who applied for mentorship and we are just finalizing those matches with outstanding senior women in the industry from across the country who volunteer their time and talents for the benefit of others.
As someone who has been a formal and informal mentor for many years... I understand firsthand the value of sharing your expertise and wisdom with others.
This program is now in its 14th year and it is more important than ever that women tap into the wider network of those that have paved the way and are willing to share their pathways and, hopefully, guide someone else around the bumps along the way. Personally, I have felt that I have received so much from mentorship aside from the simple pleasure of helping someone to achieve their goals and that is a great
example of letting others shine. We all benefit from a little encouragement, outside perspective and a champion in our corner and that is what having a mentor brings you. As a leader, can you describe a situation where you may have led with humility? As an entrepreneur, there are things I know I am good at and it is my competitive advantage to recognize not only my strengths, but my limitations, as well. Although I start each business with my own vision and goals, in order to see the idea and the business grow and thrive, I understand that I have to bring in expertise that differs from my own. This also means that there is a lot of talent in the room and these talented people know many things I do not. We do all know that we ultimately want the same thing, which is to grow the business and so, when you hire the right people, are clear on what they need to do, you can then let them do it! Yes, hold them accountable, but also get out of the way so they can excel. * Sister Leadership would like to thank Janice for sharing her time and her insights. It’s a gift to our whole community when a member stops and shares their experiences. Thank you again, Janice! CAMILLE BOIVIN IS THE FOUNDER OF SISTER LEADERSHIP, AND A WXNWISDOM PEER MENTORING FACILITATOR IN OTTAWA
JOIN THE MOVEMENT At WXN, we inspire smart women to lead. We are the home of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards. Become part of our exclusive community of like-minded women. Get inspired professionally. Stay informed of current business trends and challenges. Receive professional guidance and support. Join our community of 19,000 smart women today.
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CONVERSATIONS WITH TOP 1OO AWARD WINNERS CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: KAREN FLAVELLE, SANDRA HOKANSSON, DEBRA KELLY-ENNIS, CLARE BECKTON, DOMINIQUE DIONNE, ISABELLE HUDON, KEVIN GARLAND, TRUDY CURRAN, JUDY GOLDRING, AND MARTHA FELL.
CONVERSATIONS WITH TOP 100 WINNERS: LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP AND EARLY CAREER ADVICE What is the biggest hurdle that remains for women in leadership roles? What can be done to change it? Karen Flavelle (CEO & Chocolate Connoisseur, Purdy’s Chocolates) “Many of the hurdles that remain for women are fortunately within the control of women. In business, it involves taking risks, being bold with opinions, negotiating, taking on new projects while wondering where the time will come from, in building networks with both men and women. Success in the business world is not 9-5, even if you have a family. On the home front, it involves developing a support network, including carefully choosing a husband who will be supportive of her work, taking part in the household, errands and child care required at home.” Sandra Hokansson (President & Country Manager, Adecco Employment Services Limited) “I think one of the biggest hurdles is for women in senior positions to champion other women wanting career progression. I think men do a much better job at championing (networking, making a recommendation, placing a call, taking action) to help each other. Women tend to offer support vs. acting as a champion. The fact is women are still under-represented in senior roles as a percentage of the working population and we each need to take a more active role in fixing the issue.” Debra Kelly-Ennis (Former President & CEO, Diageo Canada) “For me, because women have made such progress, the challenge now is to encourage them to dream big and go after their dreams. We need to help women find the mentors who can help make their dreams happen.”
What is one piece of advice given to you early in your career that you still draw upon? Sandra Hokansson (President & Country Manager, Adecco Employment Services Limited) “Some key pieces of advice I received early on and still use today: Set an example, don’t make assumptions (and yet it’s so hard not to make assumptions!), have courageous conversations and be a generous leader (with your time, energy and attention).”
We need to help women find the mentors who can help make their dreams happen. Clare Beckton (Executive Director, Carleton University Centre for Women in Politics and Public Leadership) “Take opportunities that come your way even if they are not in your plans. After all, you never know where life will take you if you keep the door open. I tried to remember this when life led me in directions that I did not contemplate and in turn reaped a lot of rewards.”
Dominique Dionne (Former Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Glencore) “Listen!” Isabelle Hudon (President, Sun Life Financial, Québec) “Surround yourself with more skilled talent than yourself.” Kevin Garland (Executive Director, The National Ballet of Canada) “It’s more important to make your colleagues look successful, and to work always with this in mind, than to try to shine a spotlight on yourself. The spotlight will move to you if you are good at making others look and feel terrific.” Trudy Curran (Senior VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Canadian Oil Sands) “One of the most useful pieces of advice was to think about an issue and be able to distill the problem and/or solution into words that 90% of the population could understand. If you have that clarity of thought, you truly get the issue at hand.” Judy Goldring (EVP and Chief Operating Officer, AGF Management Limited) “My father said to me when I was 15, that I could do anything I set my mind to, but that as a woman, if I wanted to succeed, I would have to work twice as hard.” Martha Fell (CEO, Women in Capital Markets) “Network with an objective and follow up!”
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YOU SPOKE, WE LISTENED. NOW IT’S TIME FOR ACTION. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has taken the next step in promoting women on boards and in executive roles. On Thursday, January 16, the OSC published, for a 90-day comment period, proposed amendments to the Corporate Governance Disclosure Rule. We are pleased to share that their proposal closely reflects the recommendations we submitted in October. Our submission was shaped by your feedback given in our September 2013 survey. The proposed Amendments would require TSX-listed and other non-venture issuers to provide disclosure regarding the following matters on an annual basis:
• director term limits, • policies regarding the representation of women on the board, • the board’s/nominating committee’s consideration of the representation of women in the director identification and selection process, • the issuer’s consideration of the representation of women in executive officer positions when making executive officer appointments, • targets regarding the representation of women on the board and in executive officer positions, and • the number of women on the board and in executive officer positions. To read the OSC official amendment, please visit: osc.gov.on.ca. We
are
pleased
the
OSC
recognized that it will take enlightened leadership to change the composition of Canada’s boards and executive teams in our lifetime so shareholders can benefit from those who are the most qualified in a greatly-expanded talent pool. As we begin to review the OSC’s proposed Amendments and prepare our feedback for the government, we look to you, our community, to help shape our opinion. We will be sending out a survey to our community in the next coming weeks and would sincerely appreciate your participation and feedback, as your opinions are important to us, and integral in shaping these new policies.
has
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HOW TO MARKET YOURSELF AS AN
INNOVATIVE THOUGHT LEADER leadership marketing. The next generation of leaders and change makers are precisely aware of how their thoughts, words, and actions are all reflected to their peers. So what does this mean for either directly or indirectly interacting with a team?
information forward into future growth. Influential and effective leaders will start by asking the following questions of their team and of themselves (honestly take 5 minutes and think about these questions): What was the time you were leading or working on a project that made you feel the most full of life and what were the conditions that created that? Would you define that as one of your peak moments?
Could marketing yourself as an innovative thought leader be as simple as the golden rule of treating others how you want to be treated? Leadership is essentially about choice; choosing how to portray yourself and the decisions you make. And one of the most important decisions a leader makes is how to establish a relationship with a team. While participating in an internship at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, I had the opportunity to hear Freeman A. Hrabowski, III speak. (As President of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, TIME magazine named him one of America’s “10 Best College Presidents” in 2009, and one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2012.) He was engaging and charismatic; clearly recognized for his approach to leadership. And he said something very powerful: ‘Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your character. Your character becomes your destiny. And character has everything to do with how you behave when you think no one is watching.’ These thoughts are truly indicative of successful personal
Innovative leaders understand that the needs of the team usually come before the needs of the leader. Innovative leaders understand that the needs of the team usually come before the needs of the leader. Your team is not a liability; they exist to help meet your goals. This stimulates innovation, hard work, and loyalty. Innovative leaders will also share information liberally in order to generate solutions as a cohesive unit. Most importantly, innovative leaders are mentors; available to both advise and to listen. A novel method for advising is via feeding forward information, rather than providing feedback (a technique I first heard about in a WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring classroom session). This involves growing and building upon experiences to create a stronger, dedicated, and more resilient team. Feeding forward means interacting with your team to determine their peak career moments – essentially recognizing fulfilling and challenging activities in order to feed
Are you moving back towards those conditions? Alternatively, are you moving away from those conditions? If so, what changes are required in your life to get back those conditions? The answers will provide the information needed to create a dynamic and positive work environment. Feeding forward hones in on the vast amount of opportunities that can happen in the future given the times when you have felt most successful and challenged. Leaders know better than anyone that we cannot change the past, but we can change the future. And in doing so, envisioning long-term goals and finding the resources to make them a reality. Marketing yourself as in innovative thought leader means establishing behaviors that are indicative of your most positive thoughts, actions, and character. It is about leading with integrity and taking responsibility rather than credit, ensuring to work towards a common good. Innovative leaders will take the time to learn as they lead, and collaborate in a way that stimulates passion and drive amongst a team.
NATALIE PANEK IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST, ADVENTURER, AND ADVOCATE FOR WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY.
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INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: AN INTERVIEW WITH SHOPIFY’S DANIEL WEINAND What efforts do you put in to maintain healthy and effective relationships at work? How do you know when a working relationship is effective?
Daniel Weinand is Co-Founder, Chief Design Officer and Chief Culture Officer at Shopify. He was also part of that fascinating discussion on corporate culture at the latest Ottawa WXN talk. (Not to forget a talented, generous fellow who mixes his computer and programming knowledge with leadership and a love for photography and design.) Following the WXN discussion on corporate culture, we thought we’d ask him a few questions on interpersonal relationships. Interpersonal relationships are the ability to establish and maintain mutually satisfying relationships that are characterized by intimacy and by giving and receiving affection. From the discussion last week, it seems clear that at Shopify there’s a back and forth exchange that values each individual’s perspective. So with no more delay, here are some very interesting responses and ideas from Daniel in terms of interpersonal relationships and working together well.
Being genuinely interested in the people around me. I don’t ask “how’s your weekend” as a set phrase. I really want to know. I take a fair bit of time every day to chat with people across all departments – doesn’t matter if they report to me or not. At Shopify, we also have a system in place that we call “Unicorn”. It is a peer-based bonus system. Instead of managers saying who should get how much bonus we thought it makes more sense to have peers reward each other.The way it works is that each month a percentage of our
This helped us create an even more collaborative environment where everyone at Shopify has a stake in helping each other. revenue is being put into a pool of bonus money and then evenly divided amongst all employees. The catch is that you can spend your share only on your
co-workers to acknowledge their achievements or simply to say ‘thanks’ for someone going out of their way to help you. This helped us create an even more collaborative environment where everyone at Shopify has a stake in helping each other. When there is a difficult situation – for instance someone has to sacrifice time for the greater good – you can measure someone’s reaction to gauge how effective the working relationship is. Tell us about a time when you had to put extra effort into maintaining a close relationship. What value did this relationship have in your life? I am finding that the definition of a close relationship is that you’re willing to put in extra effort and that a close relationship is something of extraordinary value in my life. As a German – maybe that’s a stereotype, I don’t know – I have trouble being overly superficial and the relationships I build are often tight and I care deeply about all of them. What I found more challenging is to maintain close relationships to the people I grew up with after moving to a different country. Remote relationships require both parties to be cool with periods of silence.
CAMILLE BOIVIN IS THE FOUNDER OF SISTER LEADERSHIP, AND A WXNWISDOM PEER MENTORING FACILITATOR IN OTTAWA
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