Leading Change Recap: 3 Key Messages for Success

Hello, world! It’s been a while. That’s how it always goes when I start a new school semester, isn’t it? This post shares my Leading Change recap, which I have been meaning to share since I attended one month ago. If you follow me on social media, you would have seen me having a field day at LC2020. Keep reading to learn more about this amazing event, and for three key messages from LC2020 that will help YOU be successful in all aspects of life.

The world has been been chaotic lately. Actually, the reason I had free time to write this post during the school term is because my university is temporarily suspended and all assignment deadlines are extended…so what better time to get back on the blog than now? That said, I hope you are all safe and finding ways to cope with the stress.

Leading Change Canada: Mobilizing leaders to make positive change

In February (and coincidentally on my birthday) I attended the Leading Change Forum in Vancouver, British Columbia. In November 2019, I was selected to attend this national conference as one of 150 Youth Delegates. The focus of Leading Change is to bring together youth leaders that contribute to sustainability efforts around the country. Their mission is to activate professional leaders to accelerate positive change by building skills, forming partnerships and taking action in five priority areas: Climate Change Crisis, Sustainability as Strategy, Energy Transformation, Circular Economy and Mobilizing Capital.

If asked to describe LC2020 in one word, it would be mobilizing. I learned so much about myself and the sustainability realm, met so many great people, and left Vancouver with a newfound sense of drive and motivation. I am excited to share this Leading Change recap with all of you.

I couldn’t possibly share every detail that happened during the Forum in this post or it would go on forever. Instead, I want to share three key messages I took home from LC2020. By doing so, I hope to make the knowledge and information I obtained at LC2020 accessible to all those who could not attend, while inspiring you all to take action in your own lives.

Before we get started, as a student on a fixed budget, this opportunity would not have been possible without the support of some amazing organizations. I wanted to give a shout-out to St. Paul’s University College for granting me funding through the Student Project Fund and the Dr. Jo-Anne H. Willment Travel Scholarship, to Youth Action on Climate Change for supporting my personal development at the Forum, and to GreenHouse for helping me build my professional platform and skills to effectively represent myself at LC2020. To express my gratitude, I will continue to empower and educate my audience, making the knowledge I gained accessible to all those reading.

Without further ado, here are the three key messages I learned from attending Leading Change 2020:

1. Sustainability encompasses so many things.

While I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about sustainability, there are many aspects of this field I am not well versed in. For instance, I met an individual focused on sustainability in the field of medicine, another who studies sustainable building engineering, another who looks at sustainable natural disaster relief programs, and another who is studying AI potential for corporate sustainability. Every person I connected with had a different story. Sometimes all I could think of was, “how did they even come up with this idea?”

Leading Change is a real-world example that demonstrates how complex the realm of sustainability is. Sustainability is about more than just going zero waste, planting trees or eating plant-based. How sustainable is eating plant-based if all of your foods are coming from the other side of the world, or wrapped in toxic packaging, or promote social inequity? Sustainability is not just an environmental concept. It is a social, economic, political concept, as well. We need the integration of all these dimensions to foster true sustainability.

2. Never turn down a networking opportunity. You never know who might be a business partner down the road.

I realized how important networking is when I entered university and had to look for co-op jobs each term. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the idea, basically the saying I always think of is “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” Building your network can open new opportunities to you, opportunities with organizations you may not have access to without those connections.

A common question I get is, how do you network? Many people are intimidated by the idea, or think they are too inexperienced to do it. Spoiler: networking is easy. All you have to do is say hello. Walk up to someone, shake their hand (well, maybe not at this current moment given the global health pandemic) and ask them what they do. Boom! Networking.

“A single action, a single word, opens up endless possibilities.”

Leading Change was only one day, but the connections I made by just chatting with people will last a lifetime. All it takes is a simple hello. Here is an example of the power of a hello: during one workshop, I introduced myself to the other participants at my table. By introducing myself and getting to know my table mates, I found someone from the University of Toronto with a project focused on youth mobilization. Instant bond.

From that initial introduction, we hit it off. We had lunch together on the balcony and shared our stories. We realized how well our projects could synergize, and now we have plans to collaborate in the future. Another example: at the beginning of the day, I sat down at a random table with a group of five other Delegates. We all hit it off instantly. I went out for drinks in the evening with one of them, and we learned more about each other’s stories and aspirations.

In connection to the first point, with so many dimensions of sustainability that require integration, we need to collaborate on sustainability solutions because no one is an expert in everything. I am definitely not an expert in sustainability within the medical realm. Likewise, those I connected with who are focused on medicine were really curious about mobilizing youth and climate change communication. We all carry unique perspectives and knowledge pools. Collaborating on ideas therefore allows us to create projects that integrate everyone’s knowledge. Collaboration requires networking. All networking requires is a simple hello. A single action, a single word, opens up endless possibilities.

3. You are always learning. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The last message in my Leading Change recap: there is no such thing as a silly question. There are questions that are “better” than others, in that they promote rich, robust answers. especially when a simple question can create opportunities for your future. You can learn a lot about yourself by asking questions. You also build critical thinking skills by learning to how to ask “good” questions.

Example: The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, was present at Leading Change. Along with delivering several speeches, he spent a brief amount of time perusing the conference floor. As you can imagine, people were flocking him, asking questions, promoting their projects, slipping their cards into his hand. This is the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, which may not seem like much if you aren’t abreast in politics or environmental activism, but it’s a pretty big deal.

In your opinion, what makes a “good” question? Let me know in the comments!

Me being me, I was determined to speak to the Minister, to say I took advantage of that opportunity and gained new insight. I wanted to ask a question, but I knew it had to be “good.” It had to be specific and measurable for him to be engaged in answering; it had to be timely given how many people were trying to get his attention; it also had to be relevant to his work and the country’s priorities. I wanted to ask him something about youth engagement in governmental climate change initiatives. I knew that wording and delivery was critical to get a “good” response. Here are two ways I could have framed my question:

How can youth be involved in local climate change initiatives?
Can you suggest an approach for youth to show their local governments the valuable perspective they bring to municipal climate action initiatives, and why their involvement is crucial for comprehensive strategies?

These questions are essentially asking the same thing. The first one is much broader, less measurable and indirect. The second one asks for a specific approach, and for the Minister’s perspective on the issue. I asked the second question. I knew it was a “good” question based on the Minister’s response, “great question,” and that he actually paused to think before answering. His answer wasn’t a cookie-cutter response that he selected from a list of memorized answers. I asked a good question, and in return, I got a good response.

Leading Change Recap: Final thoughts

I learned so many things during my time at Leading Change. I wish I could share them all with you, but this post would never end if I did. Going forward, use these three messages to take advantage of opportunities you may be confronted by. To solve any problem, sustainability-related or otherwise, we must search for and identify the interacting environmental, social, economic and political dimensions. Never turn down a networking opportunity; a simple hello is all you need to change your future. Always be excited to learn, and learn to ask “good” questions to enhance your learning opportunities.

If you enjoyed this post, I encourage you to check out these personal growth posts that will prompt you to succeed in life:

I hope you enjoyed my Leading Change recap. Going forward, I hope to attend other events like Leading Change/GLOBE that allow me to hone in on my professional development. As always, thank you for reading. Until next time!