Unlocking Your Leadership Potential: The Power of Authenticity with Kendra MacDonald

Kendra McDonald serves as the CEO of Canada's Ocean Supercluster (OSC), where she spearheads a national effort to accelerate ocean innovation and cement Canada's position as a leader in the sustainable blue economy. Her leadership at the OSC has been instrumental in generating thousands of jobs and launching nearly 200 ocean companies. Notably, Kendra has been recognized as one of Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOs and as one of Canada's leading sustainability figures. Her previous role as a partner at Deloitte and the first Chief Audit Executive for Deloitte Global brings over 30 years of expertise in innovation and strategic growth to her current initiatives.

Episode Summary:

This insightful episode of Leadership Moments, hosted by Stacey Caster and Tracy Ann Palmer, features an engaging discussion with Kendra McDonald, CEO of Canada's Ocean Supercluster. The conversation centers around Kendra's transformative work in the sustainable blue economy and her personal journey of leadership and innovation. Kendra shares her wisdom on the importance of authenticity in leadership, deriving energy from problem-solving, and the necessity for continuous learning across a professional lifetime.

In this episode, Kendra delves into the critical components that make a great leader—combining vision, systems, and people. Kendra's narrative provides listeners with an understanding of what an ocean supercluster entails and how Canada's OSC is building economic growth through sustainability initiatives. Her perspectives on collaboration, particularly involving women and minorities in STEM, highlight her commitment to diversity and inclusion. Her openness about transitioning careers and embracing innovation serves as an inspiring blueprint for professionals at any stage in their careers.

Key Takeaways:

• Authentic Leadership: Kendra emphasizes the significance of being an authentic leader who actively marries vision with practical systems and people management.
• Continuous Learning: Understanding the importance of constant education and evolving one's career to stay relevant and invigorated.
• Collaboration Across Boundaries: Insights into effective collaboration despite hierarchical limitations and the value of diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.
• Introvert Leadership: Dispels the myth that introverts cannot succeed as leaders, stressing the power of being a thoughtful listener.
• Career Expansion and Change: Kendra’s career journey demonstrates the courage to pivot professionally after decades of success and finding purpose in new challenges.

Notable Quotes:

• "You have to walk the talk. You have to be authentic as a leader if you're not doing it."
• "For me, a great leader needs to be able to marry three things: vision, systems, and people."
• "Fall in love with the problem, not the solution."
• "You can't go to school for this stuff; sometimes you have to watch others and learn by doing."
• "It's not about the loudest voice in the room. It's about the best listener.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You have to walk the talk. You have to be authentic as a leader. If you're not doing it, they see that.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

It is entirely universal. There's other people who are going through this.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

For me, a great leader needs to be able to marry three things: visit, assistance, and people.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome to Leadership Moments if this is your first time. And if you are returning, thank you for your support.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

This show is about leaders from all walks of life, leadership tips, and maybe even a little of what you wouldn't expect to help you in leadership.

What Is The Ocean Supercluster

SPEAKER_02 0:35

We would appreciate it if you tell someone else about our podcast as we strive to support all leaders that want to just be better. Let's get on with the show. Today our guest is Kendra McDonald. Kendra is the CEO of Canada's Ocean Supercluster, where she leads a national cluster accelerating ocean innovation and positioning Canada as a global leader in the sustainable blue economy. Kendra has played a pivotal role building the OSC from the ground up, harnessing Canada's ocean advantage to solve global challenges and unlock economic opportunity. Under her leadership, the OSC has committed to projects contributing to the creation of thousands of jobs and launch almost 200 ocean companies, fostering unprecedented collaboration across regions, sectors, and communities. Kendra has been named one of Atlantic Canada's top 50 CEOs by Atlantic Business Magazine for the last five years and one of Canada's top sustainability leaders by Clean 50 in 2022. Kendra is also committed to community through her board work with multiple organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and was recently recognized as a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal. Prior to leading Canada's Ocean Supercluster, Kendra was a partner at Deloitte and served as the first chief audit executive for Deloitte Global. She brings more than 30 years of experience in innovation, risk management, and strategic growth that she applies to help shape a sustainable, digital, and inclusive future for Canada's ocean economy. Today we are going to talk about what Ocean Supercluster is, and then also how you can succeed being your authentic self as a leader. Let's jump in. Kendra, I am super excited to have you on our show today for two reasons. One, you have a very unique job of what you do, and I can't wait to dig into that. But I also want to dig into you've been doing a role for over 30 years, been working for over 30 years, and great success. And then when we were talking, you talked about how you decided to go back to school. And I think this is really interesting because we can get complacent in our roles sometimes. And I think it's so important for continuous learning. And I talk about this all the time. So I'd love for you to tell us like why did you decide to go back to school and what kind of initiated that?

Why Go Back To School Mid‑Career

Falling In Love With The Problem

SPEAKER_03 3:09

Excellent. So it's an it's an absolute pleasure to be here. I did as an almost 50-something when I started and an over 50-something when I finished go back to school to do my master's. Probably it's three main reasons. So, one, I also believe uh in continuous learning. I think that we have a responsibility as leaders to learn because I think that sets the tone and gives permission to the rest of the organization to be continuous learners as well. So I think that that is uh incredibly important. I think it's really important for resiliency as a leader as well as for the organization because it gives you some ownership over the all the changes. How do you keep learning and treat those as opportunities and not just challenges? So I think that's one. The second one, and they're gonna get increasingly personal as as we go through them. So the second one was I decided to really pivot my career almost seven years ago. So I had been in one role with a management consulting firm with uh Deloitte for almost 25 years. I'd been a partner with them for 12. And then I decided to go from there, this organization of 275,000, to be the first permanent employee of Canada's ocean supercluster, really trying to um build the ocean economy for Canada, um, being in an economic development role, being in an ocean role, which I hadn't really worked with ocean clients in my previous role. So I wanted to learn something about ocean. And so when COVID came along and I had, you know, all this, I don't know how much extra free time I really had, but I felt like I had all this extra free time. So I thought, hey, I might as well go. We have Marine Institute. I'm based in St. John's Gift in Land. We have this world-class, you know, ocean uh institute. And I thought, okay, I'll take some courses, and those courses turned into uh my master's. I will say that COVID finished before the master's finished, so I may have underestimated how much effort that was, but but once I was in, I was in and and finished it through. And then the third reason, um, because I could have really achieved both of those without going back to school, right? In terms of all of the online learning that you can do and and different tools and readings. But for me personally, when I was in high school, I was in grade 11, I took a computer science course. I loved computers, I was really interested in technology, and there were 14 of us, and I was the only girl. And I failed an assignment, everyone was working together, I was working by myself, and I failed an assignment, and I talked myself into the fact that I was too stupid to go into computer science, to go into engineering, to go into anything that was technology related. And, you know, you're not when you're 16, 17, you're not really thinking about sort of the macro issues around that. But as I got into working in technology and technology associations, really realizing that I was one of many girls that are opting out of technology and out of technology careers and careers in STEM and doing that early in school. And so there's lots of programming now that's trying to address that. But for me personally, to be a champion for women in technology and not having done that technology degree, having opted out of it, I went back and I did my master's in technology. So now I feel um more credible and being able to say it's really important and went back. And so it was a personal sort of miss for me that I wanted to go course correct 30 years later. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

I love that. And so many good nuggets in there. And I definitely, you know, being a woman in technology myself for the majority of my career before I pivoted, I can completely relate. Um, so I definitely want to get back to that. But I think the our listeners are probably saying, what is an ocean supercluster? So let's just talk about that real quick, and then I want to get back into the leadership part of it.

Collaborating Without Formal Control

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Yeah, absolutely. So the ocean supercluster, we have a global innovation cluster program in Canada. Our job as the ocean supercluster is really to grow the ocean economy. And so we're really trying to change the way business is done in ocean. It's meant to be collaborative. So we step back, we invest in technology projects, is the majority of what we do, but we do that to be able to grow the ocean economy and the ocean ecosystem. And a lot of those projects also are trying to create a healthier ocean. So they're trying to tackle some of the challenges of the ocean. And so we're really building these collaborative projects, getting people to work together in new new ways, and then building an ocean economy that is much more digital. So lots of technology bringing into the ocean uh more inclusive because we have talk about technology, traditional workforce. We've also got many of the ocean industries or traditional workforces. So, how do we get a more inclusive uh environment and then more sustainable solutions? So that's what we do.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Love it. Thank you for explaining that. And uh thank you for what you're doing. I think this is awesome about growing the economy, creating jobs, and uh near and dear to my heart, trying to save the earth. So love that very much. Okay, let's get back to some of your leadership decisions recently. So you are in a space of, and I want to get back to the the STEM part and women in STEM or even just minorities in STEM. Um, but I want to talk about really going back to school and being in a role now that's really all about innovation. And I mean, that everything you do is about innovation with what you're trying to do. And that can be exhausting for some. Some people feel that they're not creative individuals. So, what are some tips and tricks that you could tell leaders of how to have an innovative mindset?

Introverts As Powerful Leaders

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah, so I mean, starting going back to school, so I convinced myself it was going to be awful. I had never done online learning, uh, I had never gone to school remotely, I wasn't sure I could use the tools, all those things that we do to talk ourselves out of doing something. It was actually my husband who said, you are being absolutely ridiculous. You are just, you need to just step in, do it. And once I got through the first course, uh it was all good. And I think that is part of the challenge with innovation is innovation is change. It's stepping into something new. And we sort of as humans don't really like change, even though I think we are surrounded by change. And I think innovation is a theme throughout, right? We're always trying to do something new. I think your comment on exhaustion is an is an absolutely fair one. You're out on a limb, and so people, you've got lot lots more naysayers before you have supporters when you're trying to do something new. So trying to find those champions that are willing to be out on that limb with you uh is incredibly important. Um, and the other piece is just really focusing on what it is that you're trying to do. So what is the purpose and being really passionate about the purpose, being really open to this the path, but really focused on the purpose. And, you know, for me, one of again, examples personally, I was um I was going through fertility, trying to get pregnant, and the doctor said to me, is the purpose to get pregnant or is the purpose to become a mom? And that was a really, you know, we learn sometimes from our personal lives and we translate that into our professional lives. But for me, that really did change. And so I adopted my daughter from Kazakhstan. She's now 16 years old and went down an adoption path because I was able to really rethink what the problem was that I was trying to solve. And I think that's really important for innovation is you want to stay laser focused on the problem and be really open to asking lots of questions and trying to figure out what the different pathways are. I think we're seeing this a lot in this world of artificial intelligence, is we want to implement artificial intelligence. That becomes the problem we're trying to solve when in fact artificial intelligence is a tool, just like previous technology tools, maybe more pervasive and more revolutionary, but it's still a tool. And so are you trying to improve member experience? Are you trying to improve your pipeline? Are you trying to improve your back office? What is the problem you're trying to solve? And so if you can stay focused on that, then that helps in terms of bringing other people along on that innovation journey.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

I love, first of all, you're right. So many things happen in our personal life that can connect to our professional life and tying those threads all the time. We try to put up that wall and divide the two, but the reality is it's all part of life and we can learn on both sides. And even things in professional and tie them to personal can assist you. What I really love is how you talk about the problem because what I like to say is fall in love with the problem, not the solution. And we get shiny lighted all the time. We get so excited about that solution and the end result that we lose our way of what we're actually solving on the way. And so if you stay in love with the problem, then you can make sure that you are actually solving for the problem because we all know that things don't always go as planned. So we might think we have the solution and then we're gonna learn as we go, and we may have to pivot if we continue focusing on that problem in itself. So love that piece that you said there.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Absolutely. We had one company and they said we know the technology is not there today, but we're convinced by the time we're ready for it, it's going to be there. And so we are, you know, making a bet that five years from now when we're ready to go, we're going to have the technology and those two things are going to come together. So again, not uh falling in love with the problem, not the solution.

Inclusion Across Gender, Culture, And Age

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Yeah, yeah, love it. Now, okay, so you collaborate with many different really organizations outside of your own. You don't, you only have so much control, right? And so this is very common with a lot of people is how do you collaborate when you're not, I'm gonna say in control, right? Um, there's a lot of leaders that feel that if they're not at the top of the hierarchy, they don't have that control to be able to collaborate successfully. And I say that is so wrong. Um, there's so many good things about that, but I'd love to hear from you on what helps you be successful in collaborating with all these different areas that you have to do today.

Learning In A Fast‑Moving Tech World

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Yeah, so so lots of life lessons in in that one. So uh the first for me is I'm an introvert. And so it's interesting to be in this role where I'm on stage constantly all around the world talking about ocean and networking functions and all the things that are sort of inherently against how I would necessarily spend my time. Um, but I think one of the strengths of introverts is they ask lots of questions, they observe, and they listen. And so that is part of collaboration is is really trying to understand you're bringing multiple parties together, they have lots of different objectives. And so, how do you listen and then find those points of connection? Because the more points there are of connection, then the more people are aligned and able to work together. And the more that when you have those problems of disconnection, you're able to realign on the problem. So, so that is is one is really being curious back to that learning, right? I'm curious, I'm asking questions, I'm trying to understand the technologies, trying to understand the companies and and where the points of alignment are. So, so that's a big one. I remember when I first started, um, and uh one of the hiring committee was interviewed why Kendra, and he said, Well, you know, Kendra has no ego. And I thought, well, I don't know how I feel about that. I what what does that mean? And but what he meant was I would be able to really focus on what are the objectives of the other parties rather than what I am trying to achieve myself. And so I think that is really important is you really have to be able to park what it is that you're trying to achieve at the door and focus on what the others that are collaborating are trying to work through. Um, and so I think that's that sometimes I and I do I feel like I do have some ego, so I do have to work at checking that, um, checking that at the door. The other thing for me is I do like to be um to have knowledge. And so I think as leaders, right, your technical skills become less important, your leadership skills and your what we would call the soft skills um become increasingly important. Um, but I like the technical skills. I mean, I just told the story of going back to school, back to an ocean school, learning much more about ocean technology. Um, but early on in my career, I worked with another leader and I did not think he was particularly competent. I won't name any names. And I said to, but he had a great team and the team was working around him. And uh, I said to one of my colleagues, like, why is that? And she said, Well, you know, he's a very likable person, and we know he doesn't have the competencies, and so because we like him, we rally around him to help him be successful. You know it all. We don't need to help you. And I thought, Wow, okay, like that was a real moment of uh, and I I I remember this a number of years ago, but I really have to in conversation, just because I know something, I feel more comfortable by knowing it, but it is still my job to make sure that others are empowered to be leaders as well and to bring their own knowledge and that me knowing it doesn't stifle everyone else being able to learn and grow and tackle a problem. And so I'm not perfect at it, but it was uh it's definitely a voice in my head that reminds me to be quiet and let others um shine.

Leaving A Prestigious Role For Purpose

SPEAKER_02 16:41

Yeah, thank you for sharing that because one, being an introvert, I know that's not easy to share. So appreciate your vulnerability and telling that because uh with me being in technology in the in most of my career, I have a lot of clients for my coaching side that are in technology. And you're right, they tend to be more introverted. And I have other people that are introverted in other areas too. It's not just technology. But the point is, many of them say, How can I be successful? How can I get to that next level when I'm an introvert? Because they feel like they are stunted because they're not an extrovert and they don't, they're not the loudest voice in the room. And the reality is it is not about the loudest voice in the room, it's about the best listener. And when you do speak, it's worth listening to. And many times extroverts tend to use their mouth more than their ears. And I always say we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. And so introverts can be very powerful leaders because when they do speak, you're listening because you know they're not speaking until it's something worth listening to. So I really appreciate that you share that. And for our listeners out there that are introverts, you absolutely can succeed, uh, even though you're an introvert and you don't have to step out of your authentic, you know, when you're doing that. So I appreciate you sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

I I think that's true. I I was lucky in that uh exactly what you said. You need the people to recognize that when you speak, you provide value. Um, and sometimes uh so I was lucky I had people who saw that and then made sure they would say, Hey, Kendra, right? What do you have to add to that? Or um, you know, let's make sure that we hear from Kendra. I think also we're getting more tools that are trying to kind of democratize input so you're not necessarily just hearing uh from the loudest uh uh voice in the room. And I think the other thing is back to authenticity, um, I am more exhausted when I do get up on stage, or I am more exhausted after that networking function. So as I have gotten perhaps older and wiser, uh hopefully older and wiser, um, is to recognize when you've hit that wall and recharge yourself. So my husband's an extrovert, we go out together, he is you know recharged, and I am exhausted, and that's okay, right? So being, you know, um kind to yourself in terms of how you engage as an introvert so that you're able to um maximize your um your value.

Fun Rapid‑Fire Questions

SPEAKER_02 19:09

I love that. And it's about knowing where you find your energy. And sometimes that energy comes from quiet time and alone time, right? And sometimes it comes from the the mass group and big parties and you know, loud, boisterous scenes and stuff like that. And so just knowing what that is. And I think what's important there is if you're a listener and you're an extrovert, helping those introverts come along by, like you said, they opened the door for you saying, Kendra, what do you think? Right? That's so powerful to be able to just crack that door for that individual and give them that ability to speak up when they're ready. Absolutely. Yeah. Quick funny story. I had um a leader reporting to me at the very beginning COVID that was an introvert. And with so when everyone came back home and was working from home, the extroverts were like, get me out of my house. And the my the introvert said, Ha, now you know what it feels like for us introverts, because I'm in heaven right now being able to stay in my safe space, but still lead and lead effectively. And by the way, this leader was very effective. And, you know, it's like, and I thought first, I'm like, wow, that's such a great view to be able to say that when you're going into the office every day and you're enjoying it and you're thriving, that not everybody, it's not easy for them to thrive and that they do have to find their space to thrive in. So um again, love that you brought that up. It's so important to be able to find what's uh important to you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 20:40

Yeah.

Closing And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_02 20:41

All right. I want to jump into your experience. Um, and we know it was years ago, and hopefully things are better. Um, but you know, about women being in STEM, but I I don't think it's just women in STEM. I think it's just minorities in certain fields, right? And this is your experience with being in technology. I have similar experience as well in technology. Um, but I think it's so important. And I live in Michigan, and we have a very great nonprofit that's been around for many years that works across the entire state, which is helping girls from the fifth grade all the way into the professional world get them into technology and help them along the way. And I'm so thankful that this is in my community, but it's not in every community. And so tell me a little bit about maybe some things that we can do as leaders to help bring these minorities into, you know, a field that, you know, they know that they might be the only person sitting at the table that's like them.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Yeah, so I think uh we know that role models are absolutely key. So for us, one of the programs that we've had is has been a mentorship program where we have found uh leaders that are more ethnically diverse or more gender diverse to tell their stories, how they got in there, what worked, um, what didn't work, what they learned. We also created spaces where they can talk to each other. So, what has your experience be? And, you know, what did you do about that? And and being able, there's actually a group here, um, it's called Tequity. And so it's actually a group, it's focused on women, but it's it's created this huge space for hundreds of women to get together and talk about their experience and and being able to learn from each other. So I think those are, you know, those are really important steps. I mean, I have a 16-year-old girl, so I think part of this is as we're leaders, but we're also parents. So how are we actually encouraging? So you know, I always find it interesting when I go to a group of students or you look at career programs, and they're very focused on what I would call more traditional careers. And so, how do we make sure that those career programs or those conversations about careers are talking about, you know, prompt engineers for artificial intelligence or digital software or digital media or bringing in these new careers? And I think, you know, as leaders, we're less familiar with them if we're of a certain age, perhaps, and as parents as well. And so it's a bit of a double whammy in terms of how you are then encouraging the next generation. I think the other thing that we can do is get out of the way uh in terms of um, you know, creating environments where we're bringing diverse teams together, um, that we are encouraging that I am lucky, I see that happen relatively naturally. If you sort of create the environment where everyone feels welcome, then you get more diversity of who is at the table, um, but then have uh environments where they can learn from each other. And so how do you get out of the way? I think we are in a very important moment with technology where we need equity and how we're building these tools. So there's lots of examples of where, whether it's healthcare or others, where we've built tools without having all of the perspectives. And so we need to actively as leaders make sure that we are being uh responsible and who we're bringing to the table to try to avoid biases in the tools and solutions that we're building. That was a bit wandering all over the place, but hopefully the answer was in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Yeah, it absolutely was. And I think it gives a lot of good things to think about, right? And I believe that everyone has good intentions and wanting to bring in everyone that shows interest, but sometimes it's cracking that door and helping them. It kind of goes back to the introvert of when there's the only person like them sitting at the table, one, people may not even notice. And two, you need to notice so you can actually ask the questions of like, hey, what do you think? What are your thoughts? Those simple actions go a long way. And even to the point that you may see, now, I know a lot of times we're not in physical rooms together anymore, but if you are, and that particular individual is sitting in the back row when everyone else is sitting around the table because there wasn't enough seats, like are people moving aside and letting them get up to the table? Uh, so there's just simple things that you can do and make sure that you're inviting them along the way. It the other thing that I would say is it's not just um, I'm gonna say uh the typical male, female ethnic background. It's also age. And are you thinking about the older and the younger? A lot of people, when you think of ageism, you think only older. It's actually both ways. Um, and so thinking about how you're bringing those people along as well. So just considering all the different avenues. I know myself, last year I had a reverse mentor. So I actually was the mentee, and the my mentor was someone that was in the Gen Z. And so I could learn a ton from them on how they think, how they like to communicate, where are there, you know, what what is going on there that helps me be a better leader and helps me communicate better to all ages and all generations and things that might be important to people. It also helped me with my kids who happen to be Gen Z too.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a a couple of great points, is I think we were opening the lens of what inclusion means. And so um, you know, it is accessibility, it is um it is skills training, whether you're you know, higher education, not higher education. And so, how do you create that for everyone and not assume based on how someone looks, how they actually fit because of everything that's happening in the in the background? You're also seeing that with mental wellness and all again of those different lenses. So, how do we really create the environment where everyone can bring themselves and that we're comfortable with all of those versions of themselves? And I think you're coming around back to learning, right? Like just because we are, uh, I think if we as leaders treat ourselves as having the most knowledge because we are the most senior, then we are missing out on the fact I was talking to a colleague the other day who said the reality is you can't go to school for this. What is happening right now and the speed with which it's happening in terms of this technological changes, and so you need to learn from those that are in it, that have grown up, always surrounded by technology. I mean, what my good daughter can do with her phone, I cannot figure out how to do with my phone, right? And so you either are shutting that down or you're trying to be open to it, and then we're trying to always find that balance in our tech rules and et cetera, because I'm like, what she's learning is so incredibly important to her future. This is always going to be the least amount of technology and capability that she has access to. It's only growing from there, but at the same time making sure that she's still maintaining real connections to people and not just buried in technology. So, um, but yeah, again, back to that learning and and recognizing that you always have something to learn.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Yeah. I think that's so important. You said it really uh it was very quick. So I want to repeat it because I think it's so important. You can't go to school for this stuff. Like you have to do something different in learning, which is doing yourself, watching others do or whatever, because unfortunately, sometimes school is a little bit behind and this is moving so fast now. Now, can you go to school for learning the basics, trying to get an understanding for sure? But if you want to stay in the know for today, you gotta jump in with both feet.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Absolutely. And and experiment and being comfortable experimenting. I thought, you know, I'm I'm using ChatGBT and I thought I'm so amazing, and I saw something the other day that said for the over 50 year olds that are just using ChatGBT, you need to be using all of these other tools. And I was like, oh, darn it.

unknown 28:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:43

So um, yeah, you just need to keep testing, keep trying, keep doing new things and recognizing that we're all we're all learning. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Yeah, really good point. Okay, I know we're gonna run out of time soon, but I need to ask this question because I think it's important. So uh a partner at Deloitte, 25 years in, and then you decide to just switch to something completely different. Um, I can't even imagine how scary that might have been. And so, like, what what made you take the leap? What said, you know what, I'm gonna leave the, I'm gonna call it a prestigious role. And for people that don't know, getting to partner is not easy. Um, so congratulations on that. And then walking away from something that you worked so hard from, you know, for and you know, doing something that you're obviously succeeding so well in today, but like that turning point, what what were some factors and some things that you thought of that maybe our listeners could learn from?

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Yes, so so it was terrifying. Uh it was a it was a very big shift on the one hand. It was a very natural progression on the other. So I had always been, if we talked about involved with technology, then I was involved uh with Deloitte's innovation program. They had done a lot of work about um Canadian companies not investing sufficiently in technology and different things that we had to do. So based on that, I had gotten involved in the technology association here. And so this was the bit of a natural progression of being a voice of technology, in this case in a particular industry. I also looked at, you know, this is a unique opportunity to do something different that probably won't come around too often. I remember, again, my husband who said, Well, you know, what you're doing today really matters to you, but what you what you could do with this would matter to everybody. So, and that that was part of it back to purpose. So I was at this point. Um, I think we're seeing increasingly conversation around purpose. Um, and this was an opportunity to really have impact and follow that purpose of, you know, technology, technology enablement. Um, and so I and the other, the last piece was here I talk about being innovative and trying new things, and all of a sudden I would have been in my career, the same career all the way along, which is so disconnected from where workforce is today and how people are moving around. So, again, back to that, you know, walking the walk, talking the talk. I'm like, why never change careers or even change? How do I even speak about how that happened? So that was another motivator as well.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

I love that. And thank you for sharing that. You know, the statistics show that a lot of people in their 30s switch careers. Um, but you did it much later in your career. And I think it's very powerful to be able to show that because I have a lot of people that are reaching out to me that are in transition right now. And, you know, this is a consideration of what's your purpose, what's your passion? And is it what you've been doing and what you're known for? And that can be a scary thing to say, you know what? It really is something else. And that's us evolving. It doesn't mean it was wrong in the past, it just means that you're evolving as a human and you're learning and saying, this is what I want to do now from what I've learned in the past. So I really appreciate you sharing that.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Yeah, the last comment I make, I know, because we're getting close on time, is is also reframing your skills. So actually, when I looked at, when I looked back at my career and the things that I really enjoyed, it was actually a bit more as I really enjoyed building teams. I'd worked in, you know, four or five different offices, three different countries. And so going and doing new things was actually something I'd enjoy. I'd always done it within the safety of an organization of the same organization. But this again was an opportunity to go and build something new. So when I looked back at really question what I was passionate about, it was more of a natural fit. So I think that's part of it too, is asking yourself what you really enjoy, and then that can help you get additional confidences, uh, confidence to make a jump.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Yeah, love that. Thank you for the mission. Okay, there's that sound. It's time for our fun questions. Are you ready for the fun questions? I'm ready. Okay. All right, this is gonna be interesting because you just talked about traveling, but you also said that you're an introvert. So I'm curious, do you prefer spending a weekend exploring a new city or spending a weekend completely relaxing at home?

SPEAKER_03 33:03

So I would say uh exploring a new city. Uh at exploring a new city by myself or with my family unit, relatively small group. I like people watching, not necessarily engaging with a bunch of strangers in that city. So that's that's my balance of introvert and travel.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

I love that. Yeah, you can learn so much by people watching. I absolutely love it. So that's a good ad. And I think I would have gotten that wrong if I would have had to guess what your answer was. So I appreciate that. Okay, would you rather give up sweet snacks or salty ones?

SPEAKER_03 33:34

Ooh, that's a tricky one. Uh, I would have to say chips would probably win out over chocolate, but by a very small margin.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Yeah. I'm with you. It's a tough one for sure. Okay. Would you rather explore space or the deep sea? Oh, deep sea. Yeah. Absolutely. There's I kind of set you up for that one. I think we knew that answer.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

Yeah. Great. Well, Kendra, thank you so much for your time today. A lot of great tidbits for our team, our listeners, and how they can show up as their authentic selves, an understanding what their passion and their purpose is. And if you're an introvert, you can succeed. If you want to pivot your career late in your career, you can succeed. So thank you for everything that you gave today. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

If you enjoyed the show, please go to LeadershipMoments Podcast.com to subscribe to the podcast or on your favorite player, as well as follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

You can also send us the message on what you like and don't like or what guests you want us to have on the show. So until next time, this is Stacy Castor, and what does it challenge you won't change you.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

And I'm Tracy Ann Palmer. Be the change you wish to see in the world.