National Post - Financial Post Magazine
POWERFULLY EMPOWERED
Powerfully empowered. This is the theme of WXN’s 2019 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 awards. In order to show what “powerfully empowered” looks like, FPM spoke with five of this year’s honourees, women who are carving out new paths and leading in traditionally male-dominated industries. Here, they share their views on power and how they’re helping Canada’s next cohort of leaders achieve and own their unique power. Conversations have been edited for length and clarity.
Shannon Hosford, Chief Marketing Officer, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment: “In sports, it’s all about the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back.”
“I grew up in a family that played every sport. When you’re part of a team, you quickly learn no accomplishment is because of one person. Every person in this organization had a hand in the Raptors winning the NBA championship and having 3.5 million people show up for the parade. My role is to make my team appreciate that and understand their role. My general philosophy is that everyone around me are stars. That means allowing people to have autonomy, to be experts in their own fields, to have a voice. It means embracing creativity, celebrating successes and letting everyone know mistakes are okay. Giving that gift of empowerment, the opportunity to challenge and share ideas, shows them this is not a one-way street. We empower each other. I’m in a unique position to be a custodian of some of sports’ most beloved brands. That comes with great power, but also responsibility. I mentor both men and women who have reached out and want advice, insights and support in how they can navigate in the sports marketing world. Within the NBA and NHL, I play an active role in speaking with women from other teams about how we can promote women and diversity within sport.”
Melanie Debassige, Executive Director, Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (OFNTSC): “I’m not just doing this for myself. I’m a role model.”
“I look at power in terms of strength. I believe the strength I hold comes from the resiliency and the work of my ancestors. Being the daughter of a residential school survivor and having attended an Indian day school, these experiences demonstrated to me I was meant to be born, survive and thrive to ensure equity and recognition for Indigenous people through my work and through my journey. I’m the first woman to lead this organization. A part of our vision and mission is to provide technical services and encourage First Nations youth to become the leaders of tomorrow. We have a proposal into the federal government for funding to launch a youth outreach program to encourage more Indigenous women to enter the trades and technical fields. I was appointed to the inaugural board of the Canada Energy Regulator [formerly the National Energy Board, for which Debassige helped draft a reconciliation plan], which gives me the opportunity to give back to my country. Governance is at the heart of First Nations people. I am always focused on how to bring forth better governance so we are able to move our companies and organizations forward in a good way, where we are able to hold our historical teachings and way of life and bring forward a modern approach.”
Brenda Lucki, Commissioner of the RCMP: “Empowering in an organization is empowering from the bottom up and giving people the tools, training and opportunities so they can pave the way for the future of the organization.”
“In 2023, the RCMP will be 150 years old. When I took on the role [in 2018 she became the first permanent female commissioner], we looked at what we need to do to modernize the RCMP and included people in the process, giving them a say and making them feel valued and contributing to the change. Last September, we created an innovation mailbox and said, ‘tell us what you think,’ hoping to get 100 suggestions. We are up to more than 7,000. We now also use a gender-based analysis plus lens on all the decisions we make to ensure we are being inclusive in our decision-making. For example, we used to start the executive recruiting process in September. After looking at the process through the genderplus lens, we realized this was a busy time
for anyone with children. By letting people enter the process throughout the year, we increased women applicants by 18 per cent and applicants overall by 28 per cent. Of our 15 commanding officers, seven are women and eight are men. Part of what I’ve done is provide leadership training at all levels, from the time you enter to the time you’re an executive. You may start in a functionaltype leadership role but you can grow into an organizational-type leader.”
Melissa Kargiannakis, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Skritswap: “I got here by other women empowering me. That’s why my sense of duty to others is even stronger.”
“For me, power is about autonomy and choice. That’s the individual piece of power. The community piece is about influence. As a female entrepreneur and tech founder from Sault Ste. Marie, I have been able to raise venture capital from the San Francisco Bay Area. Only 2.3 per cent of all global venture capital goes to women. This is not acceptable. I empower other female founders and especially other Canadian female founders by helping them fundraise, connecting them to other founders and different investors. The first step is information. I have a whole bunch of spreadsheets with information about the ecosystem, who’s who, contacts, that I share. I opened and closed my entire pre-seed fundraising round in four hours. Typically that takes anywhere from three to four weeks. I did that by running the round with a specific structure and I share that. Advisers have cautioned me to be careful where I put my time and energy. I feel it’s disingenuous to build my business and do nothing to help others. I think even if you’re a few steps ahead of someone else, it is your responsibility to pull as many people to at least where you are as you can and continue that while you are still climbing.” Reetu Gupta, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Easton’s Group of Hotels/ The Gupta Group: “I had the privilege of hearing Christine Lagarde speak at the ForbesWomen summit in New York and she does something that is so badass. She will not attend a meeting if there are no other women at the table.”
“I’ve always been the only woman at the table and the youngest person at the table. I’ve faced bias, especially being the boss’s daughter. In hospitality, there are not a lot of women in leadership. I try to make sure we have diverse groups at the table. I include as many people as I can in the decision-making process. In the past two to three years, we’ve been changing our structure to make sure our team has the opportunity to move up. Today, our executive team is 60 per cent women. For me, having power is a huge blessing and gigantic responsibility to spread the power of love. Empathy is a big part of how I lead. I created the Shakti Society and teach meditation monthly at one of my hotels. Meditation has given me a sense of clarity, and with clarity comes confidence. This year, I created a mentoring program for women in my company, and I also do keynotes on gender equality and women empowerment. I’m on the advisory board for Women in Hospitality. It’s our goal to bring women to the forefront and give them the knowledge and confidence on how to progress their career.”