 A YEAR OF IMPACT
 I am thrilled to begin my role as chair of the WLC Advisory Council at the same time as The Vancouver Board of Trade’s Kids ‘N Crime: Economic Aspects of Development and Prevention of Criminality among Children and Youth report is being released. Done in conjunction with the Justice Institute of BC, this report is part of a long commitment that The Board and the YWCA has put on the importance of early childhood development. Here are just a couple of the powerful findings:
The report finds, for example, that money invested in a preschool child results in a much bigger return down the road than dollars put in at a later stage. “A dollar invested in early childhood yields three times as much as for school-aged children, and eight times as much for adult education,” the report states, quoting research by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman.
From pregnancy to five-years-old is identified as a crucial time period when a child can be influenced to either go on to lead a positive life, or to grow “into youths and adults who may become involved in criminal activity.” Positive intervention can include early home visitations by specially trained nurses, centre-based programs, and early detection and remedial treatment of learning disabilities.
I encourage you to read the whole report, and for a quick overview, read The Board’s press release on the report.
As women members of the business community, mothers, daughters and sponsors (see Sponsors versus Mentors article below) let's make an impact, a positive impact. We are a 2,000 member-strong group within a very engaged organization, The Vancouver Board of Trade. I look forward to your thoughts on how we can lead.
Janet Austin
CEO, YWCA of Vancouver
Chair, WLC Advisory Council
END OF SUMMER NOT ALL BAD
 For many people, the end of summer is a melancholy time as we go back to school, feel the hint of autumn in the air and see our inbox get busier. But, a recent article in The Globe and Mail shares a more positive approach. "Others, many others, don't mourn the return to routine, finding security and freedom in knowing with some precision what each day will bring. The Dalai Lama was once asked to sum up, in a word, the secret to happiness and a meaningful life. "Routines," the Tibetan monk answered without a moment’s hesitation."
If one of your goals this fall is to build your network–and as a member of the WLC/Board of Trade you are in a perfect place to do it–commit to a routine, a ritual, a habit. Go to one event a week where you can meet at least seven new people. In a year, (with a few weeks off for good behaviour) you will have connected with 350 new people. Three years later, you will have 1,000 people in your network. Will all of them be close contacts? No, but there are two important things about this network.
- You are not just connected to 1,000 new people, but you are one handshake away from their networks!
- Sometimes your weak links, people you vaguely know, are your best connections. That’s because these people are outside your close circle of friends and often open the doors to new opportunities that you would never have known about. Called The Strength of Weak Ties, it’s based on research by sociologist Mark Granovetter. This counterintuitive concept of connections is considered one of the most important sociological findings of the past 30 years and one that’s overlooked by many of us.
So, make networking at The Board a habit, part of your routine (there are over 5,500 other members) but create your own events too. If you see a wine tasting or social event, let a group of people know about it and organize an evening. Get people to bring people you don’t know. Everyone pays their own way but you are the connector. And, the end of summer won’t seem so bad after all.
Next month: How to stay connected to those 1,000 people in your network!
WATT'S WAY
 We wanted to share this story from The Province (September 8, 2010) that illustrates the leadership Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts (a WLC Advisory Council member) is taking to deal with homelessness. You can tell this woman is serious about fixing this issue, one that impacts all our communities. As women leaders you may take some of these ideas to your own communities. Here is an excerpt from the article:
Erin Barber was running out of options. After several hours trying to get a heroin addict into detox, the Surrey outreach worker had come up dry. And as night came on, emergency room staff at Surrey Memorial Hospital said the sick man had to go. "He’d gone through the worst part of withdrawal," said Barber. "If he could get into detox, he might have a chance [at recovery]. If he was released on to the street, he’d find a way to use again."
Barber scrolled through the numbers in her cellphone and decided to make one last call — to the mayor. You might not expect a desperate outreach worker to call the mayor, but in Surrey, Dianne Watts has made the city’s social issues a personal — and council — priority.
"I knew she had a very small window to get that man into detox," said Watts. "If that opportunity passed, he would be lost."
The mayor made a few calls to her contacts in Fraser Health. The man went into detox later that night. "Dianne’s a doer," said Barber, who has worked with the homeless for 11 years, first in Vancouver and now in Surrey. "I’ve never met a politician like her."
Read more and learn about the Surrey Rent Bank, a version of the microfinance Grameen Bank idea.
TIME WELL SPENT
If you think idle chit chat at the office is a waste of time, you might be surprised by this research study. Last year, MIT Professor Alex (Sandy) Pentland’s team at the MIT Media Lab studied the social interactions between 80 employees at a Bank of America call centre. As reported in Mining Human Behavior At MIT, Forbes.com, “individuals who talked to more co-workers were getting through calls faster, felt less stressed and had the same approval ratings as their peers. Informally talking out problems and solutions, it seemed, produced better results than following the employee handbook or obeying managers’ e-mailed instructions.” As a result, Bank of America tried its own experiment. It stopped staggering employee’s coffee breaks and made sure they were scheduled to allow MORE chatter. A few months later, they told the MIT researchers that they had productivity gains worth about $15 million a year. Who would have thought, as Professor Pentland says, that “gossip improves productivity.”
SPONSORS VERSUS MENTORS
If you attended the sold out WLC event How Remarkable Women Lead featuring McKinsey’s Johanne Lavoie and Susie Cranston, you will recall their discussion on sponsors versus mentors. The difference is that mentors guide you with sage counsel but sponsors get involved with your career by being an advocate with senior executives, opening doors and getting you on to high-level projects.
Now, an update to a 2008 Catalyst survey suggests that high potential women are "overmentored and undersponsored relative to their male peers – and that they are not advancing in their organization."
As part of a long term project, Catalyst has put together Maximizing Mentoring and Securing Sponsorship, a free, eight-page downloadable resource guide consisting of two features:
- In Their Own Words: Includes links to audio and video clips in which CEOs, senior leaders, and high-potential employees relate their experiences with the challenges and successes that characterize the mentoring and sponsorship relationship. You will hear from people such as Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo Inc. and Anne Mulcahy, retired chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation.
- In Practice: Includes initiatives undertaken by Catalyst member organizations to sponsor women, as well as a discussion of the impact of these initiatives. These materials serve as models for other organizations initiating or refining sponsoring or mentoring efforts.
Whether you are an individual seeking or providing mentorship and sponsorship, or a human resource practitioner who oversees career development, mentoring, and sponsorship within organizations you will likely find this resource guide useful. Check out the guide Maximizing Mentoring and Securing Sponsorship (PDF)
WECONNECT
If your company is at least 51 per cent owned, managed and controlled by women, is a business-to-business operation (rather than business-to-consumer) and is looking for ways to expand its market by supplying goods and services to some of the world’s biggest companies or to bid on U.S. and Canadian government contracts, check out www.WEConnectCanada.org In addition to certifying your business as a woman-owned enterprise, WEConnect Canada delivers education, training, coaching and mentoring programs that are essential for Canadian women businesses to bid successfully on large contracts.
BREAKTHROUGH IN OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH
 September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month in Canada and with it comes great news about research completed in our own backyard by the Ovarian Cancer Research Program at VGH and BC Cancer Agency. The BC research team has discovered that the majority of high grade serious tumours, the most deadly form of ovarian cancer, actually arise in the fallopian tube, not the ovary. As a result, they are recommending that all surgeons doing hysterectomies and tubal ligation operations should remove the Fallopian tubes as well, to reduce the risk of cancer developing in them. "After decades of making very little progress in the prevention and treatment of ovarian cancer, it is thrilling to have this breakthrough," says Virginia Greene, president and CEO of the Business Council of British Columbia and ovarian cancer patient. "This discovery and the initiative put forward by the Ovarian Cancer Research Program of BC will positively impact the lives of many women in our province and beyond, and help prevent this deadly disease."
To learn more about the signs, symptoms, risks, and preventive factors of the disease, visit Ovarian Cancer Canada.
OTHER GOOD CAUSES
 Big Sisters Gala: Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010! Thursday, October 7, 2010, Pan Pacific Hotel, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Emceed by Steve Darling & Arran Henn and featuring the music of Soulstream.
What A Girl Wants: Canadian Liver Foundation fundraiser on Wednesday,October 6, 2010 at Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver 5:30 p.m.
Cocktails, 7 p.m. Dinner with Kathy McLaughlin as the guest speaker.
19th Hole: In support of Kids Up Front Foundation on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at the Rocky Mountaineer Station, 1755 Cottrell Street, Vancouver with MC Sophie Lui, Global TV.
ERASE YOUR DUES!
 By referring a corporate member who joins The Vancouver Board of Trade, you could save big on your membership dues. For example, if you refer a one-cardholder company who joins, you receive a $175 credit. Learn how you can save now!
YOUR FEEDBACK
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