Best of 2023: What it Will Take for Businesses and Leaders to be Resilient Going Forward

Welcome back everyone! We are wrapping things up with an upcycled bow around here with a “Best of 2023” episode of The Resilience Report. For our regular listeners, you know that we like to end every episode with the same question, which is “What do you think it will take for businesses and leaders to be resilient going forward?” Not an easy question to tackle, but this did not stop our brilliant business leaders and ecopreneurs from sharing their actionable tips and tricks.

This is an audible thank you to all of our listeners and guests for being part of The Resilience Report in our inaugural year. Your support, feedback and desire for positive impact have been like nothing I have ever experienced before. We already have some amazing content lined up for 2024 based on your messages, and I cannot wait to share more with you over the coming weeks! 

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To kick things off, this first pair make up our most popular podcast category in 2023: Aviation. Interest in this sector seems to be at an all time high, and our guests certainly delivered on sharing incredible insights on where we are going. Here is what Chrystal Healy, VP Corporate Responsibility at Air Transat and Ashwin Jadhav, VP of Business Development at Twelve (the sustainable aviation fuel company) had to say:

Chrystal Healy (Air Transat): “Resilience is like the heart of sustainability. It really is. And I think it's really about knowing what you don't know and really - you can't get disengaged because it can be frustrating. Like you're taking two steps forward, one step back and I think that's something that we've always seen. It can be frustrating that doesn't go fast enough, but to be resilience is really understanding all of your stakeholders. You need to take a step back. You have to be able to take that bird's eye view and really understand what's going on. What is going on upstream? What is going on downstream? And I think that is what resilience is and we've seen it with this value chain, with the supply chain disruptions, with greenwashing. These are all things that are going on outside of our operations. And so, if you want to be resilient, you need to be two steps ahead. You need to understand: what is happening in my supply chain? How do I make this supply chain more robust and what are the expectations of my clients? Of my investors? What is going on with the governments? What do my employees care about? So really being more in tuned and having that bidirectional communication across the value chain is, I think, what is going to help us be more and more resilient. You need to be open and listening all the time.”

Ashwin Jadhav (Twelve): “For businesses and leaders to be resilient moving forward, you obviously have to have your business as the center of everything, which means that you always want to make sure that you're surviving as a business number one. But at the same time, I think that the resilience has to come from your people and your processes and your tools and your vision. 

Your actual values make you progress towards the mission and the vision. And I think that that resilience comes from those values essentially and you can see a lot of corporations these days focusing on sustainability as being part of creating that roadmap, making sure that they're either offsetting some of their carbon footprint or making sure that they're contributing to the future in some way. So, I think it's just continuing to develop and maintain your mission, vision, values and having that sustainability component will actually drive a lot of the resilience.”

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This next category is very close to my heart. For our listeners who don’t already know, I had the opportunity to work in the Energy & Renewables sector a few years ago, and was so inspired by the brilliant minds working this space. Our next two featured guests are no exception: Hassan Shahriar is President and Founder of ADAPTR Inc., and Rod Matthews is the Co-Founder and CEO of Brevian Energy:

Hassan Shahriar (ADAPTR Inc.): “So ultimately, it's people that run businesses. And forming a cohesive team needs everybody: all kinds of folks, all kinds of capabilities. You cannot have one type of person across the board. So in terms of building resilience, the ability to build a good team that can work well together is by far the most powerful thing that an organization can do in terms of resilience. And maybe, you know, to give that great team that you’ve built momentum, that ideology it's also important. Somebody needs to carry that flagpole. So two things: the flag bearer and build a good team.”

Rod Matthews (Brevian Energy): “I think it takes commitment, right? It takes everyone to coalesce around any inconvenient truth. We all have to really come to that conclusion of really what truth is, number one, and then we have to be committed to an action plan. To try to remedy it before it's too late. Again, we're seeing massive storms, we're seeing droughts and fires here in the West. And even now what's funny is this year for the first year, (I've lived in California here for the past 30 years) I've never seen it rain so much ever. We had record snow levels this year in California. So, it's just been kind of kind of strange in general. But in a lot of cases, I've seen it when it has rained before not nearly as much as we get a lot of growth during the season and then we go through a year or two of no rain and drought. And all of this brand-new growth is now all dried out and now it's already to burn again. So, wildfires. We just have to be careful with that as well going forward.”

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Our next pairing of guests dive into the world of Real Estate, Construction and Major Projects. Chantal Beaudoin is Partner and Head of ESG at Knight Frank Investment Management in the UK, and Kim Milligan is the Major Projects Manager for the Yukon Government, focused on Environmental Assessments. 

Chantal Beaudoin (Knight Frank Investment Management): “Businesses build their business cultures based on transparency, innovation and collaboration. These are nice words, but if you reward these values and practices then they get embedded in your company culture. So, if you're rewarding people that fail and try to do things differently or if you're able to communicate when your project has achieved or not achieved its objective, and when you're able to create win-win situations where collaboration thrives, then that builds resiliency.

And then, finally, I think in terms of what we talked about initially: understanding the climate impact of the supply chain, what will climate change have as an impact on your supply chain and being prepared and building solutions and networks to protect it. So, if your supply chain requires people to come to work, and transportation is a big issue, or if you need a specific material part of your supply chain or whatever it's looking at being prepared with the worst climate change scenario. Assuming right now our planet is 1.2 degrees warmer, we're trying to get to 1.5 and that's the target with the Paris Agreement. But what happens, what are the impacts of climate change on your supply chain if we reach 1.5 (which is a best case scenario)? And what happens to your supply chain at two degrees? Three degrees? Four degrees, which is a catastrophe. Businesses that will have Plan B, C, or D and have to be ready with those solutions or networks will be the ones that thrive and survive.” 

Kim Milligan (Yukon Government): I hope you get this same answer a lot, but it's just do the work. Don't keep out on the environmental stuff.

I think, in our current context, we will not save money in the long run. It's actually worth putting in the money and the resources and the time before it becomes a problem. So just take those environmental responsibilities seriously, instead of them being afterthoughts. I think even just in the past few years, when you or I would have started our careers, I think the environment was an afterthought; it was sort of pesky environmental person. So, I think it's changing - we're seeing a shift in that which is really exciting for professionals in the environment. I think that that's really important: bring in the professionals to help you and make sure that they have the resources that they need to be able to do their jobs, that's as important as the other sort of traditional business lines. If not, more!

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The next category as part of our Best of 2023 episode is that of Finance and Investing. While we might have only had one episode on this topic, I have heard you loud and clear: you want more! I am excited to share that we already have a couple of episodes in the pipeline for this coming year. Until then, I highly recommend you check out this episode with the brilliant Kyra Bell-Pasht, Director of Research and Policy at Investors for Paris Compliance, a climate shareholder activist organization:

Kyra Bell-Pasht (Investors for Paris Compliance): “Well, I think that we have to get more than lip service to the climate crisis. Ideally, individuals need to feel deeply within themselves what is happening in nature, how their companies, how their work, how their lives relate to that. And that's a big ask.

I think, in modern life, there's a big separation that people have between what they feel and what they do in their work lives, and if they're even in touch with how they feel in the first place.

I know that that has been an issue for me in the past, and something I'm working on: being more in touch with how I feel. And I try to help people in my peer group to deal with that question in relation to the climate crisis. 

And it's a tough one, which is why I also focus on the need for regulation, and demanding that governments step in and help people do the right thing when maybe they get in their own way of doing that.”

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Another area our listeners have expressed wanting to hear more on is that of Marketing & Communications. This might be due to my own network being largely tied to this industry, but it undoubtedly is also with the rising interest or concern over greenwashing across all industries. Ahmed Elshinnawy is digital advertising consultant, and shared his insights based on over a decade and a half in this space:

Ahmed Elshinnawy (digital advertising consultant): “It's a good question, and I think I tend to usually lean back into purpose and thinking about how companies today are defining their purpose, whatever that purpose is.

If they are a nonprofit, then that's a completely different brand messaging and way of communicating what their purpose is, and what are the things that are important for them.

I think, for a lot of companies in our capitalistic environment are for I call it extreme profit, they’ll have to make some choices about how they want to be positioned in in the marketplace and whether they may be forced in a way, under certain regulations, to report and adjust their business. And I think others are also thinking about, well maybe this is something that is important in today's world, there's some work to be done on that front, but does it really align with our purpose or not?

Those will also be very different conversations. So I try to always bring it back to purpose, because you know your decisions drive from what your purpose is, and I think we're going to see very different answers across the industry wherever those companies do default: being profit, nonprofit? Are they affected by regulations? What consumers are playing in terms of being able to apply pressure on those companies?

So definitely an interesting time with a lot of polarizing views.”

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These next two fantastic guests focused on Waste Reduction are probably those who have changed my day to day the most since speaking with them. How? Let’s just say I have not looked at plastic the same way since speaking with either Jonathan Mailhot of Les Plastiques DC or Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and Co-Founder at TIPA:

Jonathan Mailhot (Les Plastiques DC): “Pick one big part and, the fact that we kind of lived through the ups and downs recently, I think there's a lot of creativity that needs to be to be out there looking at your day-to-day business. But thinking what if? And, can I do it differently? 

The second part is a lot of the relationships. I know that in my role, I'm kind of buying and selling, right? There could be a way to do a quick buck and kind of get this supplier to give something, but having that longer term relationship view kind of helps us go through these ups and downs. I know sometimes having a call with one of our suppliers and saying here the truth about the next month; this is what things are looking like. Can you help me? And we'll reduce but we'll only reduce by this much instead of fully cutting someone off because a better price came up is like is there a way to keep us going and I find that those are the probably the best partners that we've had after for the really long term. So, I think business wise, creativity and building and keeping those long-term relationships.”

Daphna Nissenbaum (TIPA): “I think it's part of what I said earlier. It's, you know, believe in yourself, keep working on your mission, don't change the mission because someone told you something. But at the same, keep doing what you are mandated to do and what you raised money for and what you built a company for. At the same time, be flexible enough to listen and change if the change is a real need. So it's being strict and flexible at the same time, believe in yourself, and eventually, you get there. If it's a true mission, if it's a true thing, I believe the truth wins.” 

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They say that, each day, you have three votes to change the food system. If you snack as much as I do, that number only increases! Which is why I cannot wait to grow the Food & Beverage section of The Resilience Report this coming year. In 2023, you loved hearing from our next guest, Callie Giaccone from Lufa Farms, renowned for their commercial rooftop greenhouses.

Callie Giaccone (Lufa Farms): “Well, I think that it starts with profitability in terms of sustainability.

So, how can we continue to bring out solutions and lower the impact on the environment while remaining economically profitable in that sense.

I think it is all about merging economics with sustainability. Because we know that, unfortunately, that is what drives businesses and leaders. Well, whether it is unfortunate or not, it is more of a reality. So, I think merging those two can be really interesting moving forward in sustainability.”

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For friends of The Resilience Report, it comes as no surprise when I say that I am a huge fan of this next section: Fashion and Beauty A longtime fan of vintage fashion, I have learned a lot of tips and tricks over the years to make more responsible choices (and even had a solo episode on this very topic for those interested in hearing more!). It has only been over this year, however, that I have started researching a lot more about two additional areas: jewelry and what products I use on my skin and on my clothes – specifically soap. Our next two guests are nothing short of inspirational and share phenomenal insights with our listeners. Here are Anie Rouleau, Founder and CEO at The Unscented Company, and Tonya Dickenson, Founder and Creative Director of Asymmetric by Design.

Anie Rouleau (The Unscented Company): I think we had a very big test on resilience right now. I think for entrepreneurs going through the pandemic and after that, us in Quebec, we had a shortage on, on people, employers. We had inflation. We had supply chain issues. We have turbulence / geopolitics turbulence right now. And we're going into a very 2024 that we will need to really make sure that we keep our priorities straight. So I do believe there's a lot of resilience that has been shown by entrepreneurs, and that we're not done. But I do believe by collaborating together will only be the thing that will only be the way out of this. And my little story with Cirka was exactly to finish on that note. Sometimes where you least expect it, someone is going to be there to help you out. And you don't have to be resilient alone. We can be all together and make sure that we stick together because we've shown quite a bit. We're the backbone of the economy in most here in Quebec, say, 80% are small, small and medium businesses. We're important to the workforce. We're important to the economy. We need to make sure that we collaborate and we help each other. And I say that to all other women entrepreneurs also where I do believe that when we help each other, it's not just the addition of one plus one makes two, but it makes three. And it does matter.

Tonya Dickenson (Asymmetric by Design): “Oh, I think they have to really start looking more for their long-term view than the short-term quarterly profits. That would be my wish. I wish that they would have a more inclusive leadership for sure. For sure. Focus on ESG and communicate, communicate, communicate with their employees, their purpose, with their stakeholders, customers. Communication is very important. And you know, really think out of the box, innovate. Embrace AI; it's here to stay. So see how that can, you know, improve your business as well. So yeah, there, there's a lot of real opportunities for optimism. And with all these crises. These are opportunities as well. So, um, I want everybody to believe that they have a sphere of influence and they have the power to make this world a better place.”

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Thank you, dear Resilience Reporters, for making it to this last section of our Best of 2023: Corporate Culture & Strategy – arguably what will make this all possible for businesses and leaders going forward. Our featured guests include Noah Redler, President of Arche Innovation, Maria Kellis, Leadership Coach, and capping things off with our most downloaded guest of the year: the energizer that is Emily Nketiah, Vice-President of Talent & Culture at Transdev Canada:

Noah Redler (Arche Innovation): “You know resilience in the future is going to be with the ability to deal with much more rapid change than we're used to. Business leaders, by nature, deal with constantly changing circumstances on a daily basis. When you're a leader in the business world, you understand that you are not in control of your entire environment. There are things that you have a vision on, there are things that are within your control, but the entire world is out of your control. You cannot control weather, you cannot control sickness, employee circumstances. You cannot control global pandemics. So I think business leaders are already in a mentality that we have to deal with complex decisions on a regular basis. But in the future, we need to be a lot more open in the way we're thinking and a lot more agile in our thinking. I don't mean agile of movement where we have to change. To change course to change paths every single day. You know agile thinking and our ability to like to make strategic plans quickly that can adapt on a daily basis because things will change daily.

And I think it's important that we all realize business leaders and the general population alike, is that where we are in history right now, you know, in 100, a 150 years, they're going to talk about our time in history where we were and they will not talk about it as a new economic era. They will talk about it as the transition towards. Because that's where we live right now. We are in that transition between the industrialized idea economy towards a pure innovation economy where we where we can literally change the rules of the game. You know the impossible is becoming possible in the future and this will require business leaders to rethink the entire question of how they've been doing business from day one. And that agility needs to be in the sense that if I produce shirts, I need to start thinking about how I'm going to produce a shirt in the next 20 years, and it's not going to be in a factory with people sewing. It's going to be a 3D printer with composite materials that is made to order within a that will be printed within 30 minutes of purchase online delivered via drone.

The basic rules of business won't change. We are going to create products and services. We are going to promote them. We are going to deliver them and we are going to start all over again time after time again. But the way we're going to do it is going to change drastically. It needs to change drastically. And so, the agility I'm talking about that business leaders really need to adopt is really accepting that the world that they became experts in and that they're so good at is changing beneath their feet. And by filling in the hole as the quick sand sinks you, it isn't going to get you to the top again. You really have to start exploring how your industry is going to change. Start doing five-year innovation impact reports, what's going to be happening to your sector? Where should you start investing strategically so that you're ahead of the game, you innovate and you invest for tomorrow, not for today. And this thinking will require changing the way we design our organigrams, how we structure our businesses. In my personal opinion, the very definition of what an employee will be will change drastically in in the next 30 years.

This will require us to be a little bit open and agile and breaking the rules of the standard business of today and really kind of coming back to this basic question of: what do I really want as a business leader? I want to create a project that adds value to the world. I want people to buy my product. I want employees to work with me and be happy. And I don't want to have a negative impact on the world. And so, if I can continue to do these things well, the process might change the how might change, but the what remains the same. So: rethink the how, don't worry about the what, and start to really explore the tools that are already readily at your disposition. And don't be worried that they're going to replace your job. Remember, they are tools. Tools require somebody to manipulate them in some way. It'll be different but get comfortable in that difference. Get comfortable in that change. Learn to appreciate it, learn to enjoy it. You know, we'll figure it out from there.” 

Maria Kellis (Leadership Coach): “It's a very good question, and going forward, I feel that we are shifting into a new business paradigm where business with purpose, profit with purpose, is becoming more and more important. We have seen companies that are part of what we call now the conscious business movement outperforming the S&P 500 by far. So, we can see tangibly that as we actually increase our humanity and strengthen our values and principles, then this is creating real tangible results.

There's a beautiful book, I think it's called "The Blueprint" (The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism) by Hubert Joly. He was the CEO of Best Buy, and when they hired him, the business was failing. He realized that what they were not using was the human catalog. So, he installed policies in the company to improve the lives of employees. He no longer treated them as replaceable cogs; he started treating employees and working them towards their goals – buying a house, creating a better life, having a favorite charity, whatever they wanted to do. The company was aligned in helping those employees strengthen their leadership. They found that this leadership by Hubert Joly changed the course of the company from one that was heading for bankruptcy to one of the thriving companies in America.”

Emily Nketiah (Transdev): “I feel like there's so many things. If I had to pick one, when I think about the leaders that I've had a chance to work with (that is attainable to most people, because sometimes we get into these solutions that are like it's never going to work for me) I would say having a kind of well-roundedness is very important. Because when, if everything you have is in one place, if everything you have is in one area just like banking, like, you know, mitigating diversification of your portfolio, it's diversification of your life. It's really the same thing, right? So, you have maybe great work experience, and richness. But what else do you do? Do you like puzzles? Do you have a network of friends in an area that is totally disconnected to work so that you don't have this feeling that you need to be anything?

Is there a hobby that you really like? What are the other areas in your life that you're growing, so that when something is not going well at work, you can be re-energized with something else. There was a moment when we were really, truly specialist jobs. This is what you're working on. And what I’m seeing is that people want diversification on projects, because sometimes one project is not going great, and you just don't want to touch it. So, you want to go through this other thing. We have figured it out for work, but we've sort of said this doesn't apply to my life. So, when I think about business leaders and resilience, obviously it's really important to look at other things that offer richness to your life, so that when one area is not great, you're still okay.”  

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And that’s a wrap on our Best of 2023 episode! Thank you to every single person who has listened in this past year, which I have just been informed includes listeners from 26 countries; how beautiful is that! 2023 was a hard one for many. Yet you proactively chose to show up and see and make room for those businesses and leaders trying to make a positive change. Keep on being that lighthouse, and I cannot wait to see what 2024 has in store for our Resilience Reporters. I love you all so very much, and wish you and your loved ones a very happy holiday season.