WELCOME FROM EVI
Dear  WLC Members,
As the in-coming chair of the WLC Advisory Council, I am proud to accept the torch from Janet Austin, CEO of the YWCA Metro Vancouver. Janet’s energy and passion are contagious and I look forward to continuing in her footsteps!
I have been involved with the WLC Advisory Council since its inception in 2007 and I am often asked, what is the WLC about? The WLC was formed to provide members with opportunities to meet, learn and be inspired by women business and community leaders. With one-third of The Vancouver Board of Trade members being women (and approximately half of new members), it is like a club within a club offering speaker events, special Private Circles with women leaders, WLC networking events and the opportunity to sit at WLC hosted tables at special events. The Advisory Council will be meeting in October to brainstorm on other initiatives to enhance opportunities to meet fellow members.
I am also pleased to welcome our new WLC Advisory Council members:
- Mary Anne Davidson, VP Human Resources, Acciona Infrastructure Canada Inc. and Director, Vancouver Board of Trade
- Maninder Dhaliwal, President, Lumiere Concepts and Vice-Chair, The Board’s Sustainability Committee
- Margaret McNeil, formerly with BC Housing and Vancouver Island Health Authority
- Jane Russell, Senior VP, TD Canada Trust
- Susan Thom, VP Corporate Communications, BC Housing
- Jen Schaeffers, Executive Director, CKNW Orphan’s Fund
I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize the many years of contribution and support from these former Advisory Council members:
Maureen Daschuk, General Manager, Field Support Services, Transmission and Distribution, BC Hydro
Vinetta Peek, CMA (Hon.) Vice President Programs & Marketing Certified Management Accountants Society of British Columbia
Bev Van Ruyven, Deputy CEO and Executive Vice President, BC Hydro
For a complete listing of this year’s Advisory Council members please visit the WLC website.
One of my goals for this year is to meet as many WLC members as possible, so please keep posted on upcoming events and I hope our paths will cross soon!
Evi Mustel
President, Mustel Group
Chair, WLC Advisory Council
THE BOARD’S NEW LEADER
 Congratulations to Iain Black who will become The Vancouver Board of Trade’s new CEO on October 3, 2011. Iain is an impressive successor to Darcy Rezac, who was synonymous with The Vancouver Board of Trade for 24 years. Iain is a dynamic personality, full of energy and has already been an advocate for business in his role as Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development in Victoria. Take the time to come to events next month and meet Iain Black in person.
TRACY REDIES: THINK DIFFERNTLY
 We are very excited that Tracy Redies, CEO, Coast Capital Savings will be the WLC’s first speaker of the fall season of The Board’s Distinguished Speaker’s Series. Tracy will be speaking about SUCCESS THROUGH MOTIVATION: How an inspired workforce helps your bottom line. A recent article in FinancialBrand.com shares just one of Tracy’s innovative ideas, “What we’re trying to do is be that WestJet/Southwest [airline] of financial services, Redies said of Coast Capital’s brand.”
That means doing things differently, and having fun doing it. Here’s one cool example: To help Coast Capital’s team of 1,900 people understand the great benefits of excellent customer service they set up a series of “guerrilla stunts.” One of them consisted of Tracy sending out an email to all employees telling them that her friend “Pat” would be visiting their 50+ branches. Then, an army of both guy “Pats” and girl “Pats” (members of an improv comedy group) “delivered goodies, tidied up and did whatever they could to help out.” It was a great example of going above and beyond. It’s the same as when the WestJet pilots come out and clean up the cabin! Wow.
Join us for lunch on Tuesday, September 20, and bring your team. You’ll get ‘buy in’ to try these things because your team will have heard some success stories first hand. This event is selling out quickly so register now. Register here.
HAVE A GREAT GEN Y EXPERIENCE
 The Board’s Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) program has a few spots available for mentors for the top post-secondary students who made it into this very coveted program. The Board’s LOT program connects final year post-secondary students with industry professionals to help develop their skills in the areas of volunteerism, networking, and leadership. The program starts October 4th so pairing up students with mentors is happening soon. Please give Austin Nairn a call at 604-640-5481: or email him at anairn@boardoftrade.com to learn more. It’s a great way to find the top talent coming out of university as well as share your expertise.
If you need more convincing, research published in Harvard Business Review shows that “executives who consistently rank in the top 20% of their companies in both performance and well-being have diverse networks…made up of high-quality relationships with people who come from several different spheres and from up and down the corporate hierarchy.” Not only do you both learn something from each other, they introduce you to their network and you introduce them to yours.
KIDS KHAN
 If you don’t know about the Khan Academy yet, you will soon (actually, now!). There is a big buzz around Salman Khan and his online teaching academy. It’s free, with over 2,400 lessons (all done by him) on a wide array of subjects presented in short blackboard-style videos with the biggest focus on math. Sal Khan has a knack for explaining things… no surprise since prior to quitting his job as a hedge fund manager to start the Khan Academy, he found time to get three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard.
Bill Gates is a fan because he knows that “Math is the killer… If you ask people why they didn’t pass the police exam or land that nursing job, ‘math is often the reason’.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made a US$1.5 million donation to this not-for-profit academy in 2010.
We encourage you to look at the Khan Academy site particularly if you have a child that you will be helping with ‘head-scratching’ homework like math or chemistry. Even if you don’t spend hours after dinner on homework, you (or someone you know) could use this information. Sharing useful information with people is a great way to follow up and stay connected, so pass the weblink along.
Photo: Joe Pugliese
CAN WE DO THINGS BETTER?
 If you know someone in the school system (our Premier was minister in charge of education the last time she was in politics…) when you read about Kami Thordarson, a teacher in Los Altos, California, you will probably want to ask an educator or politician, “How can we apply this model?”;
“Initially, Thordarson thought Khan Academy would merely be a helpful supplement to her normal instruction. But it quickly become far more than that. She’s now on her way to “flipping” the way her class works. This involves replacing some of her lectures with Khan’s videos, which students can watch at home. Then, in class, they focus on working problem sets. The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids’ own time and homework is done at school. It sounds weird, Thordarson admits, but this flipping makes sense when you think about it. It’s when they’re doing homework that students are really grappling with a subject and are most likely to need someone to talk to. And now Thordarson can tell just when this grappling occurs: Khan Academy provides teachers with a dashboard application that lets her see the instant a student gets stuck.” Read the August 2011 article from Wired Magazine, How Khan Academy Is Changing the Rules of Education.
Photo: Joe Pugliese
DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS STORIES
 In the August WLC newsletter we talked about the challenges that women still have when trying to build stronger business relationships with men—that it is sometimes misconstrued as something else. The stories women shared on the WLC LinkedIn group were surprising:
“Many times I am the only female in the room and have to listen to jokes and comments that are specifically geared to the men. I have chosen to just roll with those situations.”
“…they are already uncomfortable enough that they cannot meet me for a business dinner when I am on the road, without bringing their wives along, in which case the conversation is steered away from projects and onto domestic female talk to keep the non-technical parties included.”
Tracey Young commented, “I hazard to generalize that many men still struggle with assertiveness of women in business and their socialization plays a big role in this.”
Nicole Hampton commented, “Awareness is key, I think. There is a way I can rephrase the invitation, I’m sure. There will always be quirky takes on the invitation from men, but I also think that I personally am responsible for handling these issues if I want to compete in a male-dominated field. On the surface it sounds unfair, but it is human nature.”
So how do we steer male/female human nature away from these issues rather than just having to roll with it or being personally responsible for handling these issues. Research shows that men are still fearful of sexual harassment (but, obviously not all of them from the comments that were shared!)
It would seem communication is key. Be clear in what your expectations are when you meet one-on-one in what could be deemed ‘a social situation’ (example: meeting at the bar or for dinner). “Let’s meet for a quick drink, I need to discuss xyz with you.” Or, “A dinner meeting is the only opportunity for us to have a one-on-one about x issue before tomorrow’s session, so could we meet for an early dinner. I know you have other commitments as your spouse is with you.” (Read: don’t bring your spouse to dinner.)
The dialogue is still open at our WLC LinkedIn Group. Men, what do you think?
PLEASE, NO GLOATING
 After you read this story there might just be a wee temptation (if you are a woman) to feel kind of smug. That’s because the most recent research points to women being better multi-taskers than men. In our favorite lab experiment, Dr. Candace Kaspers, PhD, author of Sexcess: The New Gender Rules at Work shares an exercise on how men and women approach tasks. “Each gender was given the same tools and tasks to complete in a three-minute time frame. Subjects had to make 50 paper copies, a pot of coffee, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and answer a phone call. When the clock began the men applied their laser focus. All of the male subjects started and waited for the 50 copies to finish, did the same with the pot of coffee, and inevitably ran out of time. The women began the copy machine, made the coffee while waiting on the copies to finish, and answered the phone while making the peanut butter and jelly sandwich!”
CONGRATULATIONS, FIONA!
 Congratulations to Fiona Douglas-Crampton who has been appointed the new CEO of the Minerva Foundation for BC Women. Fiona is an active participant in community and business events, and is a wonderful choice for the position. Fiona spent 3.5 years with The Vancouver Board of Trade as Director, Membership Marketing, and was also the executive director of the WLC, helping launch and grow the WLC initiative. The WLC looks forward to working with our alum, Fiona Douglas-Crampton and Minevra.
WOMAN IN™ TRANSPORTATION
 Speaking of The Minerva Foundation for BC Women… for the past five years it has honoured women for their leadership, excellence, philanthropy and service in a variety of industries through their “Women In™” awards. Previous categories have included philanthropy, music, sport, food and natural resources. This year, they are recognizing Women In™ Transportation. If you know a woman who is making a difference in this field, nominate her. Application forms can be found at:
http://www.theminervafoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Call-for-Nominations-WIT-2011.pdf
Nominations will close at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, September 23, 2011, with the three chosen honorees being announced in early November.
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW
 If you have some of The Board of Trade staff telephone numbers on your speed dial list or in your Outlook address book, you might want to check that you have the most updated contact numbers. Updated info can be found here.
YOUR FEEDBACK
We would love to hear from you. Send your comments, ideas for this newsletter, for speakers, for content to: info@wlcircle.com
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