Dr. Rebecca Sutherns

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Toronto's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:04] Speaker UNKNOWN: [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
[00:19] SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, a business visionary,
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Toronto's Podcasts.
[00:24] SPEAKER_00: Part of the Canada's podcast network,
[00:26] SPEAKER_00: your source of great insights
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: from entrepreneurs across Canada.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: Today, we are meeting with Rebecca Suthans,
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: a professional facilitator and collaborative strategist
[00:37] SPEAKER_00: who helps mission-driven leaders and teams
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: make wiser decisions faster.
[00:42] SPEAKER_00: So welcome, Rebecca, nice to meet you.
[00:45] SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much, Phil.
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: So let's sort of fire into things.
[00:49] SPEAKER_00: How did you actually get started?
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: You know, tell me a little bit
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: how you became an entrepreneur
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: and you're journeyed to get where you are now.
[00:56] SPEAKER_01: It really started, in a sense, by accident.
[01:00] SPEAKER_01: I was, I had quit my job.
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: I was home with our first baby.
[01:05] SPEAKER_01: I was going back to graduate school.
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: And in the midst of that,
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: people started calling me and asking me to do stuff.
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: Contracts, projects, little things here and there.
[01:16] SPEAKER_01: And over the course of those next years,
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: while I finished my PhD, we had another baby.
[01:21] SPEAKER_01: I was juggling other things.
[01:23] SPEAKER_01: Those calls continued.
[01:25] SPEAKER_01: And really, my filter for those projects was,
[01:28] SPEAKER_01: wow, I can't believe somebody will pay me
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: to use my brain while I'm doing these other things
[01:31] SPEAKER_01: with my babies.
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: And also, can I fit it into my busy calendar?
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: And those were really my two filters for a really long time.
[01:39] SPEAKER_01: And I didn't think of myself as an entrepreneur.
[01:41] SPEAKER_01: I didn't think of myself as a business owner.
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: I barely thought of myself as a private sector entity
[01:46] SPEAKER_01: at all in the sense that my main client base,
[01:48] SPEAKER_01: even back then, and now this is 23 years ago,
[01:51] SPEAKER_01: was mostly the nonprofit sector community benefit space.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: And so I would spend a lot of time with social agencies.
[01:58] SPEAKER_01: And I don't know that I would have thought of myself
[02:00] SPEAKER_01: as a social agency, but I didn't really
[02:02] SPEAKER_01: think of myself as a private business,
[02:05] SPEAKER_01: either, although in fact, I was.
[02:06] SPEAKER_01: And so I think what's shifted over that time
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: is really a mindset of gradually, in some ways,
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: and suddenly, and others seeing myself
[02:15] SPEAKER_01: as an entrepreneur, thinking of myself
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: as a business owner, developing business strategy,
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: when what really started out as a side project
[02:24] SPEAKER_01: or freelancing or contracting has evolved
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: into more than a full-time gig.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[02:31] SPEAKER_00: Just for everyone, what does your company do exactly?
[02:36] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my company is called Sage Solutions,
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: and we facilitate group processes,
[02:43] SPEAKER_01: group collaborative planning, basically.
[02:46] SPEAKER_01: And so what that looks like in real life
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: is strategic planning for community agencies,
[02:52] SPEAKER_01: for health organizations, universities,
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: educational institutions, of various kinds,
[02:57] SPEAKER_01: municipalities.
[02:58] SPEAKER_01: So I help groups make better decisions together,
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: whether that's a public meeting
[03:03] SPEAKER_01: or a series of strategy meetings, policy input,
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: that kind of stuff.
[03:08] SPEAKER_01: That probably represents 70% of the consulting side
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: of my business.
[03:12] SPEAKER_01: I also do stakeholder engagement,
[03:14] SPEAKER_01: getting people's opinions into things,
[03:16] SPEAKER_01: whether that's into strategy or policy.
[03:19] SPEAKER_01: And I do governance work with boards
[03:20] SPEAKER_01: and team effectiveness with boards and leadership teams.
[03:23] SPEAKER_01: The other maybe 20% of what I do is teaching all of that.
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: So I teach at universities and colleges,
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: and I teach privately, workshops on facilitation skills,
[03:32] SPEAKER_01: conflict management, community engagement,
[03:34] SPEAKER_01: that kind of thing.
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: Now, you work and live, I think,
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: in the kitchen of Waterloo, Guelph, I guess Cambridge,
[03:42] SPEAKER_00: kind of area.
[03:43] SPEAKER_00: Let's call it Southwestern Ontario.
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: What are the benefits of doing business down there,
[03:49] SPEAKER_00: say versus Toronto or other parts, basically?
[03:55] SPEAKER_01: When you go to drive somewhere,
[03:56] SPEAKER_01: you know how long it will take.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: That's my favorite part.
[04:02] SPEAKER_01: It's small enough that the, in my sector,
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: anyway, in that nonprofit space and public sector space,
[04:09] SPEAKER_01: it's big enough to be doing innovative things
[04:12] SPEAKER_01: and small enough to run into people you know.
[04:15] SPEAKER_01: So I won't necessarily know everyone at every meeting,
[04:17] SPEAKER_01: but I'll know many.
[04:19] SPEAKER_01: And so there are overlapping networks,
[04:21] SPEAKER_01: and it's small enough for that.
[04:23] SPEAKER_01: But big enough for the innovation that I find interesting.
[04:26] SPEAKER_01: So it's got all the benefits of a small,
[04:28] SPEAKER_01: a small city, a combination of small cities,
[04:32] SPEAKER_01: but aggregated those, and in a culturally Guelph,
[04:36] SPEAKER_01: in particular, although not only Guelph is innovative,
[04:40] SPEAKER_01: is going places, is wanting to do interesting things
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: for the size of city it is.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: So I feel, you know, people here talk about it being a,
[04:48] SPEAKER_01: it's got a bit of a small town feel,
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: but it's got the big city amenities,
[04:51] SPEAKER_01: and I like that combination.
[04:53] SPEAKER_01: But when you take it in combination with the wider region,
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: there's enough going on.
[04:58] SPEAKER_01: I don't do all of my work in this region.
[04:59] SPEAKER_01: I work internationally also,
[05:01] SPEAKER_01: but I, I think local knowledge is one of the value propositions
[05:06] SPEAKER_01: I offer my clients,
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: because I do know this region
[05:08] SPEAKER_01: and the ecosystem of agencies within it very well.
[05:12] SPEAKER_00: So some of our best ideas come and released,
[05:14] SPEAKER_00: to expect them with children, it's hard,
[05:17] SPEAKER_00: but how do you disconnect, recharge,
[05:19] SPEAKER_00: or get inspired in your, in Guelph in your particular area?
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: I think there are,
[05:25] SPEAKER_01: there are really interesting people doing some creative things together.
[05:30] SPEAKER_01: So watching how groups of people collaborate
[05:32] SPEAKER_01: and ideas they come up with is really helpful.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: I love the fact that my job involves a ton of variety.
[05:39] SPEAKER_01: So I like learning from what's going on in one place
[05:41] SPEAKER_01: and helping apply that in another context,
[05:43] SPEAKER_01: or being able to say,
[05:45] SPEAKER_01: hey, you know, I've seen this and this in another place
[05:47] SPEAKER_01: would that apply to you?
[05:49] SPEAKER_01: And so that's not so much personal recharging,
[05:51] SPEAKER_01: but it's being able to almost cross-pollinate
[05:53] SPEAKER_01: amongst the various clients that I work with.
[05:56] SPEAKER_01: So I enjoy that part.
[05:58] SPEAKER_01: I'm really involved in a variety of community things locally
[06:01] SPEAKER_01: where I live.
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: And so it's, we're in Guelph,
[06:03] SPEAKER_01: where we have lots of,
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: at this time of year, especially lots of really great festivals.
[06:08] SPEAKER_01: This weekend is Art on the Street
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: and there's a great music festival called Hillside
[06:11] SPEAKER_01: that comes up in July.
[06:13] SPEAKER_01: We have great restaurants.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: I love living in a university town
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: because the restaurant per capita ratio is very high.
[06:20] SPEAKER_01: So we've got some great, you know, great options that way.
[06:24] SPEAKER_01: And I love the fact that I do have an opportunity to travel
[06:26] SPEAKER_01: and I travel, as I mentioned internationally,
[06:29] SPEAKER_01: and across Canada and have a chance to see
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: what else is going on.
[06:33] SPEAKER_01: And I don't, I mean, my work can't be my whole life.
[06:35] SPEAKER_01: I'm involved in lots of other things,
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: which also keeps it balanced.
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: What are you most excited about in your business,
[06:42] SPEAKER_00: but just in business these days?
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: Is there something that's saying,
[06:46] SPEAKER_00: oh, this is so good?
[06:49] SPEAKER_01: I am excited, I mean, I'm into collaborative planning.
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited that people who don't normally think
[06:56] SPEAKER_01: collaboration is worth it are seeing its value
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: and seeing how necessary it is.
[07:03] SPEAKER_01: I think for me personally, that's a great business opportunity,
[07:06] SPEAKER_01: but I like the collaborative spirit
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: that I'm seeing across a number of industries.
[07:10] SPEAKER_01: I appreciate that.
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: I appreciate the value that's being given
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: to a blend of what's traditionally been known
[07:16] SPEAKER_01: as hard and soft skills.
[07:18] SPEAKER_01: I think the whole trend toward
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: whether it's emotional intelligence
[07:22] SPEAKER_01: or psychological safety in teams,
[07:25] SPEAKER_01: paying attention to how people treat one another
[07:28] SPEAKER_01: and whether they are in a position
[07:30] SPEAKER_01: to bring their best and whole selves to their job is exciting.
[07:35] SPEAKER_01: I'm excited in my own work about helping people
[07:38] SPEAKER_01: think about multiple metrics of success
[07:41] SPEAKER_01: and not just economic ones,
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: although I think those are important.
[07:45] SPEAKER_01: I think in private sector context,
[07:47] SPEAKER_01: you hear about triple bottom line.
[07:49] SPEAKER_01: I talk about it that way,
[07:50] SPEAKER_01: but also about measuring what really matters to you
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: and assessing success in those ways.
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: So those would just be a few things
[07:59] SPEAKER_01: that come to my mind at first.
[08:01] SPEAKER_00: Well, is it possible to scale up and stay a solo for now
[08:05] SPEAKER_00: versus growing a business in more traditional ways
[08:08] SPEAKER_00: by hiring people that kind of thing?
[08:11] SPEAKER_01: That was a question that really plagued me a lot
[08:13] SPEAKER_01: for the last maybe two to three years ago.
[08:15] SPEAKER_01: I was really at a stage where I wanted to expand my reach
[08:19] SPEAKER_01: and wasn't sure if I would hire people
[08:21] SPEAKER_01: or get hired by a larger firm or what.
[08:24] SPEAKER_01: And I came across a program out of Australia actually.
[08:27] SPEAKER_01: It's called Thought Leaders Business School.
[08:29] SPEAKER_01: And their whole approach is to help solo partners,
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: like myself and like a lot of the people I work with
[08:35] SPEAKER_01: because that's another piece
[08:36] SPEAKER_01: in my businesses coaching solo partners.
[08:38] SPEAKER_01: They help solo partners scale up while staying solo perennial.
[08:44] SPEAKER_01: And that was enormously encouraging to me
[08:47] SPEAKER_01: that that was even possible
[08:48] SPEAKER_01: and that they also came alongside people like me
[08:52] SPEAKER_01: with a methodology to help us do that.
[08:54] SPEAKER_01: And so for me, that has been enormously effective.
[08:58] SPEAKER_01: My revenue has effectively quadrupled in the last 18 months
[09:01] SPEAKER_01: since I've been attached to that program.
[09:03] SPEAKER_01: And I can talk about why.
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: But I think more importantly than those results
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: has been just knowing that the possibility is there
[09:10] SPEAKER_01: because I think there's lots of pathways to growth.
[09:13] SPEAKER_01: I think there are lots of kinds of growth
[09:15] SPEAKER_01: and lots of ways to get there.
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: And it's linked with what I said earlier
[09:18] SPEAKER_01: about what you deem as successful
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: because for many of us being curious
[09:22] SPEAKER_01: and learning all the time is an important metric.
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: And so growing deeper, not just growing broader
[09:28] SPEAKER_01: could be an important skill.
[09:29] SPEAKER_01: And earlier in my career, it was really important
[09:32] SPEAKER_01: that my job allowed me flexibility.
[09:34] SPEAKER_01: That was one of my big criteria of success.
[09:37] SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily a financial metric at that stage,
[09:40] SPEAKER_01: but more of a time management one.
[09:43] SPEAKER_01: Whereas now I'm more interested in issues of reach
[09:46] SPEAKER_01: and return on investment in lots of different ways
[09:49] SPEAKER_01: as I leverage what I now know at this stage in my career.
[09:51] SPEAKER_01: So the quick answer to your question would be,
[09:54] SPEAKER_01: yes, I think it is possible.
[09:56] SPEAKER_01: And a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have known how
[09:57] SPEAKER_01: and now I do.
[09:58] SPEAKER_00: Great.
[09:59] SPEAKER_00: What's the greatest challenge you faced
[10:01] SPEAKER_00: in your business today?
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: I think for me, it is a time question
[10:07] SPEAKER_01: and all of us have the same amount of time.
[10:08] SPEAKER_01: So I'm not whining about not having enough time.
[10:10] SPEAKER_01: It's not that.
[10:12] SPEAKER_01: It's choosing how to invest that time in the right things
[10:16] SPEAKER_01: to continue to grow the business in ways
[10:19] SPEAKER_01: that are important to me.
[10:20] SPEAKER_01: Because there are lots of demands on my time,
[10:22] SPEAKER_01: lots of things I could say yes to.
[10:24] SPEAKER_01: And I help people develop plans
[10:26] SPEAKER_01: and part of what I think strategic planning is for
[10:28] SPEAKER_01: is to help you say no to things as much as to say yes.
[10:31] SPEAKER_01: And that's in effect what I need to continue to keep
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: at the forefront in my own business
[10:36] SPEAKER_01: is how to be selective in a really wise way
[10:40] SPEAKER_01: so that I'm spending my relatively finite attention
[10:45] SPEAKER_01: and energy on the right things
[10:47] SPEAKER_01: so that I can have the most benefit
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: and so that those things can be leveraged the most.
[10:52] SPEAKER_01: So I think that would be one thing.
[10:55] SPEAKER_01: I think another thing would be the challenge.
[10:58] SPEAKER_01: I don't see it negatively necessarily,
[11:00] SPEAKER_01: but I think the context that we're in is uncertain
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: in ways that I mean, we're always in uncertain times.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure that piece is new,
[11:08] SPEAKER_01: but I think the reasons and the manifestations
[11:10] SPEAKER_01: of that uncertainty are very different
[11:12] SPEAKER_01: than they used to be particularly politically.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: And I see that with my clients a lot.
[11:16] SPEAKER_01: So we're in a very unusual political context right now,
[11:20] SPEAKER_01: geopolitical context globally, North American-wide
[11:23] SPEAKER_01: and certainly in Ontario where I live.
[11:25] SPEAKER_01: That is creating some uncertainty and some challenges
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: that we haven't seen quite this way
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: probably since the early 90s.
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: What do you know now that you wish you'd known
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: when you started your business?
[11:37] SPEAKER_01: I wish that I'd known that it was going to be a business
[11:41] SPEAKER_01: and that I was going to be doing it 20 years later.
[11:44] SPEAKER_01: I didn't know at the start that it was going to become a thing,
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: that it was going to become my thing by choice
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: for the rest of my professional career.
[11:51] SPEAKER_01: I wish I'd known that and might have started it differently.
[11:54] SPEAKER_01: But it allowed me to hold it loosely,
[11:56] SPEAKER_01: which was how full I didn't take myself too seriously
[11:58] SPEAKER_01: at that stage.
[11:59] SPEAKER_01: But I think what it did, I saw it changed my mindset
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: and it's taking me a while to revise that thinking.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: What I mean is I saw it as a side hustle
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: that even that language didn't exist back then.
[12:12] SPEAKER_01: But I thought as a kind of a nice to have thing on the side
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: that maybe allowed us to travel as a family
[12:18] SPEAKER_01: or allowed me to put my kids in soccer.
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: And it was that and I was coming out of a very privileged
[12:23] SPEAKER_01: context to be able to say that and I recognize that.
[12:25] SPEAKER_01: But I think if I had thought of it more seriously
[12:28] SPEAKER_01: and more as a business and thought of myself
[12:31] SPEAKER_01: as an entrepreneur and business owner sooner,
[12:35] SPEAKER_01: I would have done things like put my prices up sooner
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: and been more focused in what I said yes to
[12:41] SPEAKER_01: you because I said yes to anything that fit in my calendar
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: initially that sounded interesting
[12:46] SPEAKER_01: and the focus came later.
[12:47] SPEAKER_00: So along side that, what's the best piece of advice you've received?
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: I mean, you give advice, but what's the best piece you've received?
[12:58] SPEAKER_01: I would say that I am, I guess broadly,
[13:01] SPEAKER_01: it's not one item of advice, but I'm experiencing now
[13:05] SPEAKER_01: at this stage of my career, the benefit of having a really good coach.
[13:09] SPEAKER_01: And I am learning a ton from that relationship.
[13:13] SPEAKER_01: And so I so appreciate that because I coach people
[13:15] SPEAKER_01: as part of what I do, but actually experiencing that
[13:19] SPEAKER_01: has been transformative in my business.
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: And so the advice that I both give and receive, I think,
[13:25] SPEAKER_01: is to make sure that there is integrity in your business
[13:29] SPEAKER_01: in the sense that it's really healthy for us to experience
[13:32] SPEAKER_01: what it's like to be a client.
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: So to be coached while I coach or to sit on a board
[13:38] SPEAKER_01: while I coach boards or to teach stuff that I actually do
[13:44] SPEAKER_01: has kept me really grounded in some deep way
[13:48] SPEAKER_01: that I think if I only talked about it
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: or only experienced that from one side of the equation,
[13:53] SPEAKER_01: I would not have anywhere close to the depth of credibility
[13:56] SPEAKER_01: that I can bring to my work now.
[13:58] SPEAKER_00: How have you balanced your entrepreneurial life
[14:01] SPEAKER_00: with parenting and now grandparenting I understand?
[14:04] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: The truth is my desk has moved into the hall in my house.
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, very well.
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: But the deeper issue really is again, back to those
[14:16] SPEAKER_01: understandings of what success looks like.
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: That kind of flexibility and balance was for me
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: one of the biggest metrics of success in my business.
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: So if I'm not balancing those things well,
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: I am not successful in my business
[14:28] SPEAKER_01: or in any other part of my life.
[14:29] SPEAKER_01: I don't separate things.
[14:31] SPEAKER_01: And so I think the full on integration of all of that
[14:34] SPEAKER_01: has actually been a strength for me.
[14:36] SPEAKER_01: And for a while, it was all about my family.
[14:38] SPEAKER_01: And then for a while I got kind of away from that
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: and the way I told my business story.
[14:42] SPEAKER_01: But the reason I brought it up today even was that my business
[14:45] SPEAKER_01: story, my business growth trajectory,
[14:47] SPEAKER_01: has really paralleled other parts of my life.
[14:51] SPEAKER_01: How much time I had to give it,
[14:53] SPEAKER_01: what I considered important around flexibility or accessibility,
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: whether I was staying up to date on the new story for me.
[14:59] SPEAKER_01: So for example, I needed to maintain flexibility
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: for a long time when my kids were small.
[15:04] SPEAKER_01: And I guarded that probably too tightly for too long,
[15:07] SPEAKER_01: even after they needed me too,
[15:09] SPEAKER_01: because I was so used to having that kind of flexibility
[15:12] SPEAKER_01: in my schedule, which I still love,
[15:14] SPEAKER_01: but I don't need as much as I used to have used to.
[15:17] SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of different ways.
[15:19] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now we're gonna do some quick answers
[15:21] SPEAKER_00: to some rapid-fire questions for the next five to 10 minutes,
[15:24] SPEAKER_00: just kind of leading to the end of the podcast.
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: So if you weren't doing what you do for work now,
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: what would you be doing instead?
[15:33] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so for those of you Canadian listeners
[15:36] SPEAKER_01: that know CBC Radio,
[15:38] SPEAKER_01: Annamaria Tomanti is the host of a program
[15:41] SPEAKER_01: and her career ended today in that program today
[15:44] SPEAKER_01: with her last day.
[15:45] SPEAKER_01: And I have said for years that if I could pick any job
[15:48] SPEAKER_01: in the world, I would want Annamaria Tomanti's job
[15:50] SPEAKER_01: on the current at 9 a.m. on CBC Radio.
[15:53] SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I would wanna do.
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: That's good.
[15:55] SPEAKER_00: I listen to it actually because it's one of my favorite people as well.
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: What book are you currently reading
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: and what books would you recommend to our audience?
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: I have a big stack always on the go.
[16:08] SPEAKER_01: The one I just finished is called New Power
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: and it's really got me thinking
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: because it talks about old power and new power,
[16:16] SPEAKER_01: old power being expertise, being exclusivity,
[16:20] SPEAKER_01: being things you upload,
[16:22] SPEAKER_01: or sorry, things you download from the internet,
[16:24] SPEAKER_01: kind of thing that some expert has written.
[16:26] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a currency almost that can be hoarded or kept.
[16:30] SPEAKER_01: Whereas New Power is more like a river current
[16:33] SPEAKER_01: and it's things you share
[16:35] SPEAKER_01: and it's the whole crowdsourcing and sharing economy
[16:38] SPEAKER_01: and how do you get heard?
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: How do you gain currency in a New Power economy
[16:44] SPEAKER_01: or a blend of those two things?
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: So that's been a really interesting piece.
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: I'm reading a bunch of stuff on collaboration at the moment
[16:51] SPEAKER_01: and I'm really reading a really neat memoir
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: about a guy in a Canadian prison a long time ago.
[16:56] SPEAKER_01: So that's another sort of,
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: like non-fiction stuff as well outside of the business realm
[17:00] SPEAKER_01: but I'm always reading business books
[17:02] SPEAKER_01: and that's another piece I love in my business
[17:03] SPEAKER_01: is I read books so my clients don't have to
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: and I'm like the human blake list on that one.
[17:09] SPEAKER_00: I gotta read the new power one for sure.
[17:11] SPEAKER_01: It's a good one.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what keeps you up at night?
[17:15] SPEAKER_01: I'm concerned, I mean, am I allowed to say the newborn
[17:19] SPEAKER_01: that is currently living with me?
[17:20] SPEAKER_01: That's actually the true answer question.
[17:23] SPEAKER_01: The notes.
[17:25] SPEAKER_01: I mean, I wonder about the
[17:30] SPEAKER_01: the factionalization is that a word,
[17:32] SPEAKER_01: like the divisiveness in our culture
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: that I'm concerned about that.
[17:37] SPEAKER_01: I'm concerned about the swing away from collective values
[17:41] SPEAKER_01: and I'm concerned about just the frankly
[17:45] SPEAKER_01: the political trends that are happening around us
[17:48] SPEAKER_01: and I'm not, I don't usually consider myself
[17:50] SPEAKER_01: a particularly politically active person.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: I'm usually pretty informed but I'm not,
[17:53] SPEAKER_01: I'm usually losing sleep over that stuff.
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: I am losing sleep over the kinds of trends I'm seeing right now
[17:59] SPEAKER_01: in terms of what has been until recently seen as public good
[18:03] SPEAKER_01: and publicly funded,
[18:05] SPEAKER_01: well, if things are seen as public goods
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: they will be publicly funded
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: and I'm concerned about how many of those things are being
[18:11] SPEAKER_01: moved back into private hands
[18:13] SPEAKER_01: because I see high levels of inequity that come from that.
[18:17] SPEAKER_00: What's your favorite place in the world and why?
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: I've had the privilege of traveling a lot
[18:22] SPEAKER_01: and so that's a really hard question
[18:24] SPEAKER_01: but I went to grew,
[18:26] SPEAKER_01: I've been to Greece a couple of times
[18:28] SPEAKER_01: and there were a couple of moments on a couple of Greek islands
[18:30] SPEAKER_01: where the light and the clearness of the air
[18:34] SPEAKER_01: just took my breath away.
[18:35] SPEAKER_01: So those were the first ones that came to mind when you asked.
[18:38] SPEAKER_00: What are the three non-negotiations that have to happen
[18:41] SPEAKER_00: in your morning or evening routine?
[18:44] SPEAKER_00: We find that pretty much everyone has a kind of routine
[18:48] SPEAKER_00: either at the beginning of the day,
[18:49] SPEAKER_00: at the end or at the end, you don't want them saying so.
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
[18:53] SPEAKER_01: I'm a morning person so I'm gonna go for morning.
[18:56] SPEAKER_01: One is that I have to get up early.
[18:58] SPEAKER_01: I don't enjoy sleeping in.
[18:59] SPEAKER_01: I feel like if I get up later,
[19:01] SPEAKER_01: I've missed the best part of my day
[19:03] SPEAKER_01: and I really like connecting with my people in the morning
[19:07] SPEAKER_01: and just making sure that all is well with that universe
[19:10] SPEAKER_01: before I get into my personal business stuff
[19:13] SPEAKER_01: and I really appreciate having a couple of hours
[19:16] SPEAKER_01: at my desk before most of my clients do.
[19:19] SPEAKER_01: So I get some really good work done early
[19:21] SPEAKER_01: before my phone starts ringing
[19:22] SPEAKER_01: and that sets the rest of the day up really well.
[19:26] SPEAKER_00: So here's the one we love asking everyone.
[19:29] SPEAKER_00: There's a beautiful tropical island in the middle of the ocean.
[19:32] SPEAKER_00: There's only one phone booth and no internet.
[19:35] SPEAKER_00: We drop you off there, no technology.
[19:39] SPEAKER_00: At any time you can use the phone booth
[19:40] SPEAKER_00: to call the boat and we'll come and pick you up.
[19:43] SPEAKER_00: How long would you last before making the phone call
[19:46] SPEAKER_00: and what would you do?
[19:48] SPEAKER_01: Good question.
[19:50] SPEAKER_00: Kind of a fun one.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: It is fun.
[19:53] SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't last very long.
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: It would be maybe weeks definitely days, not hours,
[19:58] SPEAKER_01: but not in months being extroverted.
[20:02] SPEAKER_01: My batteries would run out quicker than some for sure.
[20:06] SPEAKER_01: But what I would do in the meantime is
[20:08] SPEAKER_01: I would, do I get paper and pen?
[20:11] SPEAKER_01: Do I get things to write down?
[20:12] SPEAKER_01: I would write if I had things to write on.
[20:14] SPEAKER_01: I would write, I would draw, I would sing.
[20:17] SPEAKER_01: I would reflect those kinds of things.
[20:21] SPEAKER_01: If it was a big enough island, I would probably walk and explore a lot.
[20:26] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it would be delightful and I would welcome it.
[20:30] SPEAKER_01: But I would probably get tired of it quicker than I care to admit.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's really good.
[20:37] SPEAKER_00: So we're coming to the end.
[20:38] SPEAKER_00: Just how can our listeners get hold of you
[20:41] SPEAKER_00: and you want to add anything before calling the day?
[20:45] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for that.
[20:46] SPEAKER_01: People can get in touch in a few different ways,
[20:48] SPEAKER_01: depending on what they're interested in.
[20:49] SPEAKER_01: We talked about books earlier.
[20:50] SPEAKER_01: So if you like to read, you can find a book
[20:52] SPEAKER_01: that I've written.
[20:53] SPEAKER_01: It's called Nimble, off script, but still on track.
[20:56] SPEAKER_01: And it's available on any Amazon affiliate.
[20:58] SPEAKER_01: And it's a facilitation guide for how to run meetings
[21:02] SPEAKER_01: when things go differently than you expect,
[21:04] SPEAKER_01: which is pretty much all the time.
[21:06] SPEAKER_01: If you're interested in reading blogs,
[21:08] SPEAKER_01: I write a blog called Wiser Decisions Faster,
[21:11] SPEAKER_01: every two weeks at RebeccaSethans.com.
[21:13] SPEAKER_01: And I'm active on social media,
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, RebeccaSethans.
[21:19] SPEAKER_00: Well, Rebecca, thanks for coming onto the show.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: It's been great and some really good input.
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
[21:26] SPEAKER_01: My pleasure, thanks for the opportunity, Philip.
[21:29] SPEAKER_00: Thanks everyone for taking the time today
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: to listen to Toronto's podcast
[21:33] SPEAKER_00: on the Canada's podcast network.
[21:36] SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
[21:38] SPEAKER_00: Make sure you sign up for a news service
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: or write a review for us on iTunes.
[21:43] SPEAKER_00: You can connect with us on Twitter, Facebook,
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[21:49] SPEAKER_00: where you can listen, discover, and engage.
[21:52] SPEAKER_00: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs
[21:54] SPEAKER_00: are doing across the country.
[21:56] SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.