Today’s industry leaders didn’t always work in their current fields, and the lessons they experienced along the way continue to inform their thinking. Two particular types of lessons stand out.

First is the importance of making mistakes. In their own words:

“The first career I pursued was to be a field engineer with the Canadian Armed Regular Forces and I was fortunate enough to be sent to St. Jean, Quebec, for basic officer’s training. I learned a lot about hard work, resilience, teamwork, and learning from my failures to become better.” —Bowinn Ma, MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale and Parliamentary Secretary for TransLink, Legislative Assembly of BC

“Going to university and finishing degrees taught me a lot about learning: how to dive in, learn, make mistakes, fix them, and move forward. I love that I was able to take the tools I learned into my role as an entrepreneur and then as a CEO.” —Renée Merrifield, CEO, Troika Developments

“I was lucky to work with a senior lawyer who took me under his wing and provided me with many opportunities to learn, to challenge myself and, of course, to make mistakes. The greatest lesson I took from those years was that making mistakes is all a part of growth. The key is to understand what happened, do everything you can to fix it, and then make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice.” —Leslie Howatt, Executive Officer, Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation

Second is the importance of other people in your success:

“I learned many lessons but probably the one most useful and that stayed with me was the importance of the people you work with—how your success and your company’s success is a function of their success.” —Connie Fair, President and CEO, Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia

“I was the assistant editor at McGill News…. Here I learned the value of clear written and verbal communications and the need for a team approach to produce value.” —Darlene Hyde, CEO, BC Real Estate Association

“I undertook research and evaluation of AKPBS projects in rural and remote areas of Pakistan…. It is important to observe and to truly listen to those you meet and to directly learn from people’s experiences, their wisdom, and their practices. We have much to learn from others around the world, and the same is true in our own backyard. You cannot truly make a difference if you are not able to listen and observe.” —Noha Sedky, Manager of Development CitySpaces Consulting

Download Summer 2020

To read more about leadership, see the Summer 2020 edition of Input. Download Summer 2020

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