Guest: Brad Liski (co-founder and CEO of eco-friendly laundry brand)
As the co-founder and CEO of Tru Earth, Brad Liski has to make sure the entire operation runs smoothly. This can mean putting together a leadership team that knows how to run everything even better than he can – and putting trust in them. This is a far cry from where finance and stockbroking, which was his original field of interest. Oddly enough, Brad thinks it was him being a bad employee and wanting to set his own destiny which drew him to become an entrepreneur, leading him to co-found Tru Earth, which makes eco-friendly laundry products.
What is a “Chief People Officer”? That is Caroline Schein’s role at Odlum Brown – basically the most senior person in human resources. So why the change in title? And what does it mean? This is a conscious move away from the traditional ways of thinking of HR, from onboarding to employee experience, even after they leave the company.
Supporting families during the worst part of their lives is what drives Richard Pass in his role as CEO of Ronald McDonald House in British Columbia. This includes not only building a place for families to stay during medical appointments, but also supporting the families themselves and fundraising enough to sustain the services and support that they need.
What does a vice-president of research do? This is Steven Zicherman’s role with Odlum Brown – he studies businesses by looking at their financial filings and trying to understand how a company “ticks.” This could be from internal factors within the company but can be affected by its ecosystem and competitors, which need to be taken into account; this requires skills geared towards recognizing patterns and seeing everything with a fresh set of eyes.
As far as Scott Jacob is concerned, he has the greatest job he can have. As the CEO of Jacob Bros. Construction, he deals with ensuring that the company runs smoothly and clients get what they need, while his brother (and business partner) handles more of the safety and finance. Knowing and realizing the impact of what the company does is what drives him forward every day – he believes that doing more than average is needed to become above average.