Leadership in Focus: Carol Wilding
By Elisa Birnbaum
May 3, 2010
This month in our Leadership in Focus series, we feature Carol Wilding, president and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade. Prior to being appointed to her current position in 2007, Carol forged strong ties in the nonprofit sector as president of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation, and president and CEO of Foster Parents Plan Canada (now Plan Canada). With a continued commitment to the sector, Wilding holds the title of director on the boards of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Toronto City Summit Alliance and is member of the advisory board for the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation.
CharityVillage™: Considering your experience in the nonprofit sector, what would you say are the main challenges it faces today?
Carol Wilding:
Certainly one is the unprecedented economic situation from which everyone is trying to recover and adjust to. I think that applies to the nonprofit sector, too. I'm now more involved in the nonprofit sector on a voluntary basis and I see there's a challenge around what they're offering to their donors and their stakeholders. They have to always ask, "what's my relevance, how do I engage my donors, how do I make sure I'm still relevant in terms of staying engaged to those key relationships." I can only speak to the nonprofits I'm involved with and they've been hit in terms of their revenue and donations; its tough time for everyone. It's reality for everyone.
The other challenge is that when you're in the nonprofit sector, everything is about relationships and building strong relationships. It's critical, and certainly so in business, too. When you go through difficult times, people want to make sure that they stay close to the relationships they value, be it their employees, volunteers, or donors. And people are looking to engage in different ways now. It's changed over time. People want to engage in ways that's meaningful to them, in a way that gives them flexibility. Some of the traditional models of volunteerism, whether sitting on committees or boards, are still important but in the actual act of giving, people are looking for more meaningful ways to connect and engage with the organization they are supporting.
I saw it when I was at Foster Parents Plan and it's a growing trend. It's a challenge because it becomes very personally driven by the individual and, organizationally, it's about their capacity to really let people have a very distinctive experience and to support that. And that's not always possible. I think a number of nonprofits and charities are grappling with how to make that engagement meaningful.
Then there's the challenge of technology. Particularly when you're in a tough time, people think they can defer investments in technology because they're costly and they're concerned they'll take longer and cost more to get there. But technology is absolutely critical. When you look at something like Haiti, the way in which people gave and used their mobiles or went online to give, it's incredible. And it happened over a very quick period of time. But I think it's more indicative of a larger trend. A lot of people are only in the early stages but hopefully it's on their radar. I don't know if anybody has completely figured it out. We're into it at the Toronto Board of Trade. We're allowing more blogs and getting people to engage — setting up social networks, communities of interest for people to talk and have that experience. The question nonprofits need to ask is how can they afford the technology or how can they find partners. That may be another form of giving - finding companies to partner with them. But that's a big piece. And I think those who will do it very well will be ahead of the curve on that one. They'll get into it a lot of faster, rather than waiting for it to happen to them.
CV: What is the sector doing "right"; what can it improve upon?
CW: Generally, the sector is really hitting its stride in terms of the maturing of the sector and becoming very professional, and really making an impact, making a difference. When I personally made the decision to move into the charitable sector with Foster Parents Plan, I had a number of people look at me fairly warily and say, "Are you sure? Your background is business, you have a CA, are you sure this is what you want to do? It's a soft sector." And I just don't think there was a real understanding as to how professional it was. I think that's taken time. Look at the type of talent it attracts today. Young people are now studying [nonprofit management] in colleges and universities and they're moving into it at an early stage in their career as opposed to the latter stages. You're seeing that trend. It's fantastic and I would love to see that continue to grow.
As for what it can improve upon, technology is a big one, as I mentioned above.
CV: How are leaders in the sector faring today?
CW: I think there's a lot of talent out there and some are building great teams. The key thing is leaders with credibility, those for whom what they say and what they do align well. There's integrity. That's the hallmark of really strong leaders, because the personal piece is very intertwined with the professional piece in this sector. And there's this passion — I felt it myself — you have to really love and care about the cause you're working for. But if that doesn't come through in a genuine way, it compromises their leadership and I think teams and volunteers see through it. Those leaders who are really truly into what they do, it shows. It's that integrity piece.
CV: What are some things leaders in the nonprofit sector could learn from those in the private sector and vice versa?
CW: In the nonprofit sector you can have a great cause and people who choose to be there are very dedicated but bringing in the discipline of the private sector, whether financial, or process, is one of the things I brought from the private sector to the nonpofit sector — something I felt good about being able to marry. That's not to say it wasn't there but I really pushed it so that you're running something in a very business-like way. That is something that I think the nonprofit sector can really benefit from.
On a very general level, the piece that the nonprofit sector gives back to the private sector is that they're very value-driven. Their values stay at the forefront and they're integral to the decision-making process, from the small day-to-day to larger strategic ones. Whereas, in the private sector, the values may be there but when your back is up against the wall you're in a tough situation, people don't always utilize them to the same degree in decision making. That's something I think the private sector can learn from the nonprofit sector.
CV: What are the greatest challenges Toronto is facing, social or otherwise?
CW: There are lots of challenges. We recently released our second version of our Scorecard on Prosperity which talks about what is fantastic about Toronto. We are proud about the city's liveability. People love living here and I constantly hear people say, "While I may go to other parts of the world to raise capital or build my business, I want to live here and raise my family here." I think that makes it the envy of our city. It's a hallmark of Toronto and our great strength.
Having said that, we do have our fair share of challenges. And going into our municipal elections campaign, the challenges are much more at the forefront and fall under the microscope a lot more. Economically, if you look at where Toronto fares we're not doing as well as we should be doing in terms of creating jobs, wealth and keeping that economy going so that we could have a great liveable city or so that we can support the social services we need. It's a deterrent and you can see how that plays out in the social side of Toronto. We do see a number of residents living below the indices called LICO (Low Income Cut-Offs) and that's quite concerning.
"We speak about what's referred to as the Paris problem — where you have a very affluent core and around that there's a marginalized group of vulnerable people who don't have access to services. And outside of that, you have affluent suburbs." |
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There's a growing gap between rich and poor. We speak about what's referred to as the Paris problem — where you have a very affluent core and around that there's a marginalized group of vulnerable people who don't have access to services. And outside of that, you have affluent suburbs. That's increasingly becoming a problem in Toronto and it's concerning because it has an impact on everyone's quality of life. And it's wrong that people can't come here and have a decent living. Some of that is tied to newcomers, for sure. We need to do a better job of integrating recent immigrants because we are a diverse city and we need to get better at providing them opportunities to participate and get jobs and be productive. So that's a whole set of issues that Toronto is facing.
CV: How is the Toronto Board of Trade helping overcome those challenges?
CW: Well, we're in the municipal election year and that's very critical. The key thing is the campaign we launched last November. Vote Toronto 2010. It's a web 2.0 blog site built around the idea that we need to talk about issues, get debate and dialogue going and get people voting. The voter turnout is incredibly low for municipal elections and if people really care about the city they need to get out there and be informed when they make decisions about candidates. We want to take it from the personalities to the issues. So we launched the platform and we are almost at the end of the first one which is all about the state of the city's finances, which we know are not as stable as they should be. There's a recurring structural deficit and that's a problem. If that continues we can't provide the services for people that they've come to expect.
Now we're moving on to the next issue which is the regional economy and the next two issues will be social cohesion and civic democracy - how do people participate in the process, should there be a party system etc. Those are the kinds of conversations. The main thing is we're just out there to get the debate going so people can make informed decisions. And I think that's a big piece we're involved with right now.
The response has been great. We have almost 900 followers on Twitter who are engaged and out there. And we see candidates talking about issues and the challenges. We're forcing them to talk so the platform is serving its purpose. It's engaging people.
CV: How would you describe the general attitude in the private sector toward volunteerism and giving back?
CW: I think Toronto continues to do very well. There are generous volunteers that give of their time, talent. There's greater pressure given the economy — people are having to do more with less and that includes their time so they have less time to give. There are still great volunteers who give year after year but, of course, that puts more pressure on them. Conversely, during tough times many people dig in because they feel grateful for what they've got and they want to give back more. And that's a trend.
Some of the larger corporations use it to engage their employees and to build into their own inner culture that spirit of community, giving back. And some organizations have it woven into the fabric of who they are and they expect a lot back. So they have to step up and provide meaningful opportunities, not just tokenism. There are some great examples out there and I think a number of organizations are increasingly doing that. More and more larger organizations, in particular — because they have the capacity — are looking for opportunities across all levels.
At the Board, we have a significant volunteer network, we're member-driven. We wouldn't do what we do otherwise; we have volunteer committees, volunteer boards and volunteer resources who help us to do analysis and research. So it's critical for us to engage our members because they are people who really care about issues and want to see change happen.
More about Carol Wilding... |
First nonprofit job: Controller at Foster Parents Plan (now Plan Canada)
Education: Business degree at York, Schulich School of Business, CA
Annual budget: $15 million
Number of employees: 45
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CV: Do you have any mentors who've inspired you over the years?
CW: I'm a big believer in mentorship; it's a huge part of my life and my career. Personally, I find real value in it. I'm always looking for opportunities to mentor and give back as well. I don't do it in as structured a way as I'd like to but a lot of it comes through different environments, whether work, friends and colleagues. Sometimes it's informal but I also have trusted coaches and mentors who have known me for over 10 years, who I bounce ideas off of or talk to about certain issues. They give me great perspective and I ask them if I'm seeing certain things the right way.
And then there will be people who I work closely with, and I'll ask them for coaching and other times it's more silent and informal. I'll observe people I have the opportunity to interact with on a fairly regular basis who may not know they're mentoring me but you watch them and take it in. Both my son and daughter look for it too and play leadership roles. It becomes part of their philosophy. They know it's who I am and how I work and they learn from that.
Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is also president of Elle Communications and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.
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