The Leadership Standard

In this episode of The Leadership Standard podcast, host Gair Maxwell and guest Blaine Penny discuss his current focus as the CEO of Lumiio Inc.—helping patient organizations, academic research groups, and pharmaceutical companies design world-class digital health programs to accelerate outcomes that impact patient care.

Blaine’s involvement in rare disease advocacy and research began in 2008 with the tragic onset of mitochondrial disease in his then 4-year-old son, Evan. Today, Evan is a quadriplegic and is unable to talk or eat. No one knows what his future holds, but Blaine is committed to giving his son the best life possible. Motivated to help others going through similar experiences, Blaine co-founded the MitoCanada Foundation in 2009. Since then, they have raised over $4 million to advance mitochondrial medicine and are building a MitoCommunity connecting patients, scientists, clinicians, and industry.

Blaine is a one-of-a-kind personality, who has been recognized for his achievements via Avenue Calgary Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, is the recipient of 6 Guinness World Records, and is an elite ultra-marathon runner competing on the international stage.

Join us for an unforgettable conversation as we celebrate one of the most inspiring people in our world and someone who has made it his life’s work to make humanity better than he found it.

ABOUT MITOCANADA

ABOUT LUMIIO

The Leadership Standard, hosted by TEC Canada speaker and branding expert Gair Maxwell, features in-depth conversations with subject matter experts all across the business spectrum.

Featuring thought leadership and actionable insights to challenge your assumptions – and inspiring stories of business triumphs, struggles, and perseverance that provide a motivational push – every episode of The Leadership Standard is a revealing discussion about the life of business and the business of life.

This episode of The Leadership Standard podcast with host Gair Maxwell features an inspiring conversation with Toni Desrosiers—a Canadian entrepreneur who disrupted the billion-dollar plastic wrap industry by inventing the first reusable beeswax food wrap: Abeego.

Becoming the trailblazer of a global movement, Toni has been featured on Dragon’s Den (watch her pitch here!), won the 2018 TELUS Trailblazer Award, had Abeego named the Best Reusable Food Wrap by America’s Test Kitchen, named a Woman of Influence, and so much more.

Those 14 years ago, Toni Desrosiers was looking for a natural way to store her food and ended up discovering a way to disrupt the fully mature, billion-dollar industry of plastic wrap. Through extensive experimentation (and looking to lemon peels, cheese rinds, and onion skins for inspiration) she developed Abeego, the sustainable food wrap on a mission to “Keep Food Alive” by protecting it from air, light, and moisture while allowing it to breathe. The self-adhesive wrap can last over a year with proper care (hand-washed with cold water).

HEAR TONI’S INSIGHT ON:

ABOUT ABEEGO

This episode of The Leadership Standard podcast with host Gair Maxwell features an inspiring conversation with Kylie Woods, empowering voice for women in tech and Founder of Chic Geek—a welcoming non-profit organization and community for women exploring technology and entrepreneurship. Named one of Avenue Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40, Metro News’ “Calgary Heroes”, and Alberta Venture’s “Need to Know”, Kylie is an avid learner, a tenacious question-asker, and an empowering voice for women in STEM.

Where did Kylie’s goal to build gender diversity in tech stem from, you might wonder? Well, not only are there not enough women in tech, the industry is losing the ones it does have—women are 2X as likely to quit the tech industry as men. If this attrition could be reduced by even just a quarter, 220,000 women would be put back into STEM. Sitting at the intersection of retaining the current women in tech to create leadership positions and building role model opportunities to encourage the recruitment of more women, Chic Geek is creating an inclusive space where women’s careers and lives can thrive.

Throughout this episode, Kylie provides insight on:

Sitting on the advisory committee for the Chiu School of Business Dean’s Strategic Advisory Committee at the Bow Valley College, The51 Community Council, the Calgary Innovation Coalition Board, and the Women’s Economic Recovery Advisory Committee with the Status of Women, Kylie is a thought leader in the technology gender diversity space.

ABOUT CHIC GEEK

Chic Geek exists to build gender diversity in technology. Through programs, events, services, and partnerships, they create connections that help intermediate women in technology achieve thriving and meaningful careers. Learn more on the Chic Geek website here!

The Leadership Standard, hosted by TEC Canada speaker and branding expert Gair Maxwell, features in-depth conversations with subject matter experts all across the business spectrum.

Featuring thought leadership and actionable insights to challenge your assumptions – and inspiring stories of business triumphs, struggles, and perseverance that provide a motivational push – every episode of The Leadership Standard is a revealing discussion about the life of business and the business of life.

This episode of The Leadership Standard podcast with host Gair Maxwell features an inspiring conversation with Yuri Elkaim, NY Times Novelist and CEO of Healthpreneur®.

Yuri Elkaim's journey into health and business was inevitable. After dealing with a host of health issues as a teenager, he eventually lost all of his hair at 17 years old to an autoimmune condition. This, along with his passion for sports (which led him down the path of playing professional soccer in his early 20s), propelled him into the health and fitness field.

Yuri’s authentic and caring approach has allowed him to build a successful online health empire that went on to help more than 500,000 people to reach better health, while also providing him the platform to write 3 bestselling books and share his message on major media outlets like Dr. Oz and The Doctors. In 2018, he sold this health business after 13 years at the helm.

Throughout this episode, Yuri reveals more about how his journey in the health and wellness industry began, how he approaches business and strategic growth in his own business and the businesses of his clients, and his tips for both successful and aspiring entrepreneurs.

This episode of The Leadership Standard podcast with host Gair Maxwell features a candid conversation with Robin Bender, Founder of Mega Health at Work.

When thinking about the future of your business, creating strategies for employee satisfaction is one of the main pillars of growth. When leadership falls short on these demands, businesses often suffer from absenteeism, challenges with employee retention, lack of motivation, and an overall unhappy work environment.

As an NCS Certified Corporate Consultant, Robin Bender and Gair Maxwell discuss how your organization can thrive by inspiring an inside-out approach to wellness and productivity. They also discuss how businesses can create a positive work environment that encourages employees to be more engaged in their jobs and life at large. Additionally, Robin provides tips for leaders who are trying to improve employee satisfaction in the workplace.

In our latest episode of The Leadership Standard podcast, host Gair Maxwell sits down with Darrell Fox, Senior Advisor at the Terry Fox Research Institute and younger brother of Terry Fox.

It was on April 12th, 1980, that Terry dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean and proceeded to unite Canadians in a way never before, nor since, seen. When Darrell turned 17, he joined his brother Terry and his best friend Doug Alward on his Marathon of Hope in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Terry Fox would cover 5,300 kilometers (3,339 miles) over 143 days before his cancer returned and forced him to stop running.

By tuning in, listeners and viewers can expect to discover:

•The origins of Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope

•How Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope proceeded to unite Canadians

•The significance of September to Darrell Fox and the Terry Fox Research Institute

•The opportunity for future generations to make a difference

•How Darrell Fox defines the word "leadership"

•The question that every leader should be asking themselves

ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP STANDARD PODCAST

The Leadership Standard, hosted by TEC Canada speaker and branding expert Gair Maxwell, features in-depth conversations with subject matter experts all across the business spectrum.

Featuring thought leadership and actionable insights to challenge your assumptions – and inspiring stories of business triumphs, struggles, and perseverance that provide a motivational push – every episode of The Leadership Standard is a revealing discussion about the life of business and the business of life.

Leadership in the Age of Digital Transformation with Dr. Rafiq Ahmad

Dr. Rafiq Ahmad believes that smart manufacturing and production systems based on data, sensors, automation, green technologies, and AI are key to the innovation and sustainability of future industries and society.

In this episode of TEC Canada's The Leadership Standard podcast, host Gair Maxwell and Dr. Rafiq Ahmad discuss digital transformation and the challenges and opportunities that it presents.

Tune in below and discover how emerging digital tools can help your organization stay competitive and profitable—and how you as a business owner, executive, or manager can benefit the most from the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

By tuning in, listeners and viewers can expect to discover:

4:00 What is the Fourth Industrial Revolution? What does "Industry 4.0" mean?

21:43 How to invest in Industry 4.0 technology

22:55 The origins of Dr. Rafiq Ahmad's passion for improving the world

24:45 The role of additive manufacturing in the fight against COVID-19

33:40 Dr. Rafiq Ahmad's leading research in the Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing, Design and Automation (LIMDA) at the University of Alberta

40:40 The potential role of Industry 4.0 as the ‘Buy local’ mindset continues to rise with consumers

52:00 Dr. Rafiq Ahmad's advice for aspiring mechanical engineers 

How have 15,000+ CEOs boosted their organization's sales and performance? They followed the advice of MIT and Johns Hopkins researcher, Don Schmincke.

In this episode of The Leadership Standard podcast hosted by Gair Maxwell, Don Schmincke helps executives accelerate business performance and reveals how to effectively lead organizational change, develop strategy and create and manage great teams.

When Don Schmincke left academia to research how leaders impact civilization, he was not prepared for the support and response he received. The journey began when entrepreneurs, CEOs, and business owners vented frustrations with the high failure rates of management theories, experts, and programs. Unaware of their world while he was pursuing the sciences at MIT, it was while teaching at Johns Hopkins University that the ideal laboratory emerged to explore why these failures happen – and how to fix them.

Now, after working with 15,000+ CEOs, he has validated the protocols for success. Many CEOs find them "delightfully irreverent with blinding flashes beyond popular theories" and are pleased with the unexpected impact on their balance sheets.

His work has been recognized in national media such as The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He flies 200,000 miles annually keynote speaking at conferences, training CEOs in his workshops, and working with clients in every industry from the Department of Defense strategy to large and small corporations that include the healthcare, manufacturing/distribution, information/ communications, and finance/insurance sectors.

As the CEO of ESG Global Advisors Inc., TEC member Sarah Keyes, CPA, CA is a leading expert in environmental, social, and governance issues for the Canadian business community.

Cynthia Barnes is an award-winning sales influencer, keynote speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice, and the founder and CEO of both the National Association of Women Sales Professionals and the Barnes Sales Institute. From sales prospecting to closing deals, Cynthia’s tips and expertise are key for helping today’s sales professionals stay informed and get ahead.

She has spent the past two decades studying the innate strengths of women in sales and what it takes for them to reach the top 1%. She is also the creator of THRIVE: Success Strategies for Women in Sales – the first and only women-centric sales training delivered to more than 500 companies, including Toyota, Google, and Michelin – the author of Reach the Top 1%: A Strategic Game Plan for Warrior Women in Sales, and is the host of the podcast Unstoppable, with Cynthia Barnes.

Cynthia's insights and unique understanding of what it takes for women sales professionals to thrive have made her a sought-after expert on women-centric sales training and coaching, appearing in over 250 major media outlets – including the Wall Street Journal and Business Insider.

In this highly motivational and inspirational discussion with host Gair Maxwell, Cynthia reveals the mindset of the top performers and shares the practical steps that sales professionals can take to dust themselves off amidst rejection. If you’ve felt deflated by recent events or missed targets, Cynthia shares why resilience is one of the biggest advantages you can have in sales – and how you can begin harnessing its power to exceed your goals.