Guest: Jennifer Geary (writer about corporate development)
Jennifer Geary is a writer but it may surprise people that she didn’t like to write. It started out of necessity as a chief operating officer, when she discovered that there was no how-do guide or book on that role. So she decided to give it a shot herself and it has morphed into a “happy part” of what she does.
How do you measure success? For Jacquie Griffiths’ role in Invest Vancouver, it has to do with how many jobs Vancouver attracts. She had always been interested in economics, but also people – and how those two are always linked. To her, the willingness to listen to your people (and change your approach if needed) is key to success.
Klaus Kleinfeld believes in people. To him, that is how businesses succeed or fail – knowing how to trust your people to do the right thing, even when circumstances change. And if you’re good at it and find it enjoyable, then you may have a chance to aim for a higher position, without it feeling “like a drag.”
What does Maureen Palmer do? Having many roles, it was hard to answer that question, until her daughter came up with an apt description – “knowledge translation.” And as a creator of documentaries which take time to make, that knowledge translation has to anticipate what the public wants to talk about months from now. To her, this is key to being successful and a big reason to keep her eyes and ears open.
Cruz Gamboa’s path to being an executive coach started with a love of finance. Through building his experience and moving up the ladder in the financial departments of different companies, it made him realize that a large part of financing is treating it like a “sales job” and that these experiences made him more well-rounded – this gave him valuable insight leading to his current job as an executive coach, teaching others to use their experiences to get a step up in their careers.
