00:00About 30 years ago, I was called into my vice president's office.
00:03I was a young HR professional, relatively new to Alberta Blue Cross.
00:08I'd been hired in part to bring fresh thinking and challenge some established ways of doing things.
00:14And I was doing exactly that, maybe a little too enthusiastically.
00:19So when my vice president asked to see me, I wondered if I'd pushed too far.
00:25But instead, she told me, keep doing what you're doing.
00:28She understood that change could be uncomfortable.
00:32She believed I had something to contribute.
00:34And she gave me the trust and freedom to do it.
00:38That conversation stayed with me.
00:41In fact, she attended my retirement celebration some 30 years later.
00:46Looking back, I realized she taught me something fundamental about leadership.
00:50When you believe in people and give them the opportunity to succeed,
00:55they often rise to meet your expectations.
00:58I spent more than three decades at Alberta Blue Cross,
01:01eventually serving as Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President.
01:06For those unfamiliar with the organization, Alberta is a province in Western Canada.
01:12Alberta Blue Cross is an independent, not-for-profit health benefits provider based in Alberta,
01:18offering coverage for prescription drugs, dental care, and other health services through individual employer and government-sponsored plans.
01:26And throughout my time there, one conviction only grew stronger.
01:32People and performance are not competing priorities.
01:36We sometimes talk as the leaders have to choose.
01:38Be compassionate or demand results.
01:42Offer flexibility or expect accountability.
01:46Care for employees or focus on the business.
01:49I've never believed those were either-or choices.
01:52People want to achieve, not just executives, but the people answering calls, helping customers, solving problems, and keeping the organization
02:02moving.
02:02They care about its success.
02:05They want to contribute and know their work matters.
02:08Our job as leaders is to create the conditions where they can.
02:13And that starts with trust.
02:15But trust matters most when things get difficult.
02:19During COVID, like so many organizations, we've faced enormous uncertainty and some very hard decisions.
02:26We didn't always have the answers people wanted.
02:29What we could do was be honest.
02:31We held weekly town halls, leaders made themselves available, we explained what we knew, admitted what we didn't, and answered
02:41difficult questions as openly as possible.
02:44We didn't pretend everything was fine.
02:46We trusted our people enough to tell them the truth.
02:50And that reinforced something I've always believed.
02:54People may not agree with every decision you make, but they will remember how you treated them.
03:01That's culture.
03:02Not the words on a wall, but what people experience, especially when circumstances are hard.
03:08The same belief shaped how we approach well-being.
03:12At Alberta Blue Cross, we dedicated the entire top floor of our main office to a wellness center.
03:18In many organizations, that's where you'd expect to find executive offices.
03:23We chose to make it a place for employees and their families.
03:27With fitness facilities, classes, gathering spaces, and quiet areas.
03:33I love what that decision represented.
03:36Our people have lives beyond their jobs.
03:39And those lives mattered.
03:41But a beautiful wellness center doesn't automatically make a healthy workplace.
03:46If people are afraid to speak up, if they don't feel respected, if their leaders don't listen,
03:51no facility can fix that.
03:53Well-being has to live in the everyday culture, and it absolutely does not mean lowering expectations.
04:01I was a fairly demanding leader.
04:03I wanted strong results, and I expected people to challenge themselves, but I also wanted them
04:10to challenge me.
04:11To say respectfully, Mark, I see this differently.
04:16Because I didn't have all the answers.
04:18We saw that kind of culture coexist with substantial business growth.
04:23Over my career at Alberta Blue Cross, we grew from less than $1 billion in annual revenue
04:30to approximately $5 billion.
04:32And from roughly 400 employees to 1,400.
04:35We also achieved strong results in engagement and retention.
04:39Of course, no single leadership approach or wellness initiative explains that growth.
04:46Many factors contributed.
04:48But our experience showed me that investing in people and pursuing ambitious business results
04:54can go hand in hand.
04:56And that belief matters even more as we look forward to the future of work.
05:01After our employees had shown they could effectively work from home during the pandemic, why would
05:07we automatically insist that you return to the office five days a week?
05:12Being together does matter.
05:14Relationships and collaboration matters.
05:16But so do autonomy, focus, and the realities of people's lives.
05:22So we set expectations for spending time together while giving employees meaningful flexibility
05:28in how they worked.
05:29And we still expected results.
05:32When somebody wasn't meeting expectations, we addressed that situation with that person.
05:37We didn't build restrictive rules around the assumption that nobody could be trusted.
05:42That's the balance I believe future workplaces need.
05:47Clarity, trust, and accountability.
05:50Technology will keep changing how we work.
05:53Expectations around flexibility, purpose, and inclusion will evolve.
05:57But the fundamentals of good leadership are remarkably durable.
06:02People want to be respected, they want to contribute, and they want to have lives outside of work.
06:09They shouldn't have to choose between achieving at work and living well.
06:14And lately I've realized that applies to leaders too.
06:17Almost two years ago I experienced a life-threatening medical emergency.
06:22I came very close to losing my life.
06:25To be honest, I'm not sure I fully processed it even now.
06:29That experience, along with other changes in my personal life, have made me reflect on something I've always stopped, I
06:38hadn't always stopped to consider.
06:40I've always been an achiever.
06:42I've always been an achiever.
06:42I love challenges.
06:43I want to contribute, make things happen, and keep growing.
06:47And let me be clear, that's not going to change.
06:51I'm proud of what I've accomplished, and I have plenty more I want to do, personally and professionally.
06:57But I'm learning to ask different questions alongside my ambition.
07:01Am I saying yes because this matters to me?
07:04Or because I've always been the person who says yes?
07:09Am I making choices that support my health, my relationships, and the life I actually want?
07:15Having boundaries doesn't make me less driven.
07:18Looking after myself doesn't mean giving up on achievement.
07:22It means making room for both.
07:24For decades, I have encouraged organizations to see employees as whole human beings, not simply as the work they produced.
07:33Now I'm learning to extend that same consideration to myself.
07:37And that brings me back to the future of work.
07:40The goal isn't to ask less of people.
07:43It's to create workplaces where people can accomplish extraordinary things without having to leave their humanity at the door.
07:51So here's my challenge to follow leaders.
07:53Do your people know you believe in them?
07:56Can they disagree with you?
07:58Do they understand what you expect and have the freedom to deliver?
08:04Can they succeed without sacrificing everything else that matters to them?
08:08And are you giving yourself that same opportunity?
08:13Thirty years ago, a leader saw potential in a young HR professional and chose to trust him.
08:19That trust helped shape the leader I became.
08:23Today, I believe our task is to offer that same trust to others while remembering something equally important.
08:31The people we lead are human beings first.
08:35And so are we.
08:36When we remember that people in performance don't have to compete.
08:41They can thrive together.
08:45You're doing awesome.
