Stopover · Podcast
How I Did It.
The question we ask the leaders we admire.
We all know someone who built something hard, made a brave call, or led through something messy. When you finally sit down with them, the question is always the same. How!? So I sat down with them, and I asked. These are the answers.
Browse the conversations ↓The conversations
Local leaders, in their own words.
- 33Listen →The Art of Indigenous Leadership - Carey Newman.Hayalthkin’geme on Indigenous art, the Witness Blanket, and the work of reconciliation.
- 32Listen →How to Lead a Workforce of Volunteers - Christine Hewitt.Quintupled fundraising and doubled hamper distribution at Santa’s Anonymous. 400 volunteers, one staff member.
- 31Listen →Leadership as Service - Dr. Charlotte Loppie.“Two eyes seeing.” Western and Indigenous worldviews in public health and leadership.
- 30Listen →Choose People Better Than You - Major Sheldon Feener.On surrounding yourself with people better than you. From the Salvation Army’s addictions work.
- 29Listen →The Advantages of Patient Leadership - Chris Pollock.Twenty years at Mustard Seed Street Church on patient leadership and listening to the community you serve.
- 28Listen →Don’t Shout Back at the Critics - Emma-Jane Burian.Grew Our Earth Our Future from a handful of students to a 20,000-person climate rally.
- 27Listen →Black Lives Matter - A Victoria Conversation.Sharmarke Dubow, Ruth Mojeed, and Devi Mucina on race, leadership, and Victoria.
- 26Listen →Rediscovering Your Voice - Lisa Mercure.Built an Urban Indigenous Language Hub at the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, connecting 130+ Elders.
- 25Listen →Getting Started in Our Community - Amarjit Bhalla.Thirty-five years welcoming newcomers and refugees through VIRCS in Victoria.
- 24Listen →How to Make a Stick Talk - Temosen.Charles Eliott on the talking stick he carved for Nelson Mandela, and Indigenous rights work.
- 23Listen →Tenacity Beats Imposter Syndrome - Carissa Ropponen.Outstanding Leadership Award winner. Manager of Resource Development at the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre.
- 22Listen →The Entrepreneurial Leader - Devesh Bharadwaj.Pani Energy founder on entrepreneurship, clean water, and leadership learned from family.
- 21Listen →Get Things Done - Mayor Lisa Helps.52nd Mayor of Victoria on bold choices, including the call to remove the John A. Macdonald statue.
- 20Listen →Moving from Positional to Relational Leadership - Lt. Governor Janet Austin.Lt. Gov on positional vs. relational leadership. “It’s often not what you say. It’s what people see you do.”
- 19Listen →Behind the Scenes of How I Did It - Mark, Caroline, Mike, and Chandrima.Mark, Caroline, Mike, and Chandrima on how the show gets made.
- 18Listen →Improvisational Leadership - Dave Morris.Improvisation as leadership, and the destructive power of the fear of failure.
- 17Listen →The Adventure of Leadership - Julie Angus.Rowing across the Atlantic through hurricanes. Endurance as a leadership practice.
- 16Listen →The Leadership Story of Ian Chisholm.From a prairie grain farm to a leadership centre on the Isle of Skye. The work of Roy Group.
- 15Listen →Transitional Leadership - Catherine Holt.Resigned as Greater Victoria Chamber CEO in January 2020. Two months later, the world flipped.
- 14Listen →Commanding Leadership - Captain (N) Sam Sader.Commanding 6,500 at CFB Esquimalt. Military leadership in difficult times.
- 13Listen →Thriving Leadership - Kristi Revait.Scale Collective partner guiding non-profits to fiscal sustainability through consulting, coaching, and learning.
- 12Listen →Lifelong Community Building - Dan Gunn.VIATeC CEO who shepherded Victoria’s tech sector from $500M to $4B+ as the connective tissue of the community.
- 11Listen →Connecting Leadership - Emilie de Rosenroll.Founding CEO of the South Island Prosperity Partnership — an alliance of 60+ partners shaping regional economic recovery.
- 10Listen →The School of Leadership - Dr. Saul Klein.Born in Zimbabwe, now Dean of UVic’s Gustavson School. A consulting career across 60+ organizations and four continents.
- 09Listen →The Volunteer Leader - Lisa Mort-Putland.Executive Director of Volunteer Victoria since 2011, after twenty-five years in the museum and heritage sector.
- 08Listen →Power and Leadership - Police Chief Del Manak.Thirty-one years in policing. Chief of Victoria Police since 2017, and coach of 30+ youth sports teams along the way.
- 07Listen →Weathering the Storm - James McKenzie.Brought Monk Office back from a 90s ‘life or death’ moment. North America’s first ISO 9002 office products dealer.
- 06Listen →The Harmonious Leadership of Holly Wright.From Alberta oilfields to South Africa to a café in Nanoose Bay. Built SoundWave, a community choir of 80 singers.
- 05Listen →The Eventful Leadership of Kim Smythe.Greater Nanaimo Chamber CEO who built the Nanaimo Night Market and a career of Island events from his own ad agency.
- 04Listen →The Resourceful Leadership of Kim Burden.Two Chambers and a string of unlikely businesses — taxis, halfway housing, and Delvi, a warehouse launched during COVID.
- 03Listen →The Civic Leadership of Charlayne Thornton-Joe.Nineteen years on Victoria City Council, with sustained advocacy for people experiencing homelessness.
- 02Listen →The “Sewa” Leadership of Buncy Pagely.From age 17, a lifework in women’s health and minority advocacy. Mobile cancer screening for immigrant women, seniors’ pandemic support.
- 01Listen →The Philanthropic Leadership of Ian Batey.A life of personal community philanthropy in Victoria. Homelessness work, victim services, and 100 Men Who Give a Damn.
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Want to read your own leadership the way these leaders read theirs?
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