Connected Intelligence with Sonia Sennik

In this episode, we chat with Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival. Cameron shapes the vision and strategy of one of Canada's premier cultural brands, responsible for presenting the world's largest public film festival every September. A champion of diverse voices and bold storytelling, he's been the guiding force in transforming TIFF into a global hub known for groundbreaking international premieres to Oscar-bound favourites.With an eye for brilliance and a heart for storytelling, Cameron Bailey talks to us today about the evolution of technology in film, creating magical moments with an audience, and how important it is to remember that the audience…is us.We recorded this episode in Varda at TIFF Lightbox, an inspiring setting to reflect on the past, present, and future of film.

In this episode, we get Professor Janice Stein's view on key events from 2024 - from global unrest to the reshaping of politics, the intersection of emerging technology and policy, Taylor Swift (of course) and Janice's beloved Toronto blue jays (keep listening for why!). Janice is a legendary Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Janice is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada; among her many distinctions.

What is the impact of ambiguity in the workplace?Professors Laura and Jan Doering from University of Toronto help answer this question from their recently published research, co-authored with Professor András Tilcsik. Laura Doering is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and is cross-appointed in the Department of Sociology. Jan Doering is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. As an economic sociologist, Laura examines how interactions and social psychological processes shape outcomes for households, organizations, and markets. Jan's research is situated in two areas: social control and conflict in urban neighbourhoods and individual experiences and responses in relation to discrimination. We speak to Laura and Jan about ambiguous incidents in the workplace, uncertainty, and blind spots. We learn about their unique collaboration: in research, marriage, and life. 

How do you future proof yourself in a world of technology that is rapidly changing? Iliana Oris Valiente is an accomplished corporate executive, innovation and emerging tech pioneer, startup investor, respected board member, published author, and sought-after global public speaker. With a clear vision and unwavering determination, she is a thought leader on a mission to build a future humans want to live in. Iliana is currently the Managing Director and Innovation Lead at Accenture Canada. Iliana is widely recognized for her trailblazing contributions to the blockchain industry, having advised corporations, government leaders, regulators, and startups as a translator between the web2 and web3 worlds. Her expertise and perspective have expanded, now encompassing overall technology and societal trends, particularly emphasizing the future of work, life, and human-centred approaches. As a published author and frequent speaker at global conferences, Iliana has been featured in various media outlets, including television, radio, and print. Additionally, she's an active board member at Sunnybrook Hospital, CPA Ontario, and DIACC and mentors startups through incubators such as CDL. Through Iliana's unique life experiences and contributions, she has developed an ability to see the bigger picture and drive toward meaningful outcomes. We talked to Iliana about her digital twin, the future of work and what it's like to be a sequoia tree or an air plant.

What opportunities lie on the other side of taking risks and embracing changes in your career? Ava Yaskiel is a Senior Strategic Advisor to the public and private sectors focusing on business planning, strategy and structure. She was the G7/G20 Deputy Minister of Finance & Associate Deputy Minister of Finance for Canada until 2021. Ava has held various roles over her 30-year career as a lawyer at Norton Rose & Fulbright where she was Partner, Global Head of Corporate, M&A and Securities. Ava also spent six years at the Ontario Securities Commission holding a variety of positions in Senior Legal Counsel (Acting Director) of the Office of the General Counsel, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, related party transactions and related policy matters. We talk about Ava's one-of-a-kind career journey, her experience working on boards, the importance of having a vision for your life, and her time spent representing Canada as Deputy Minister of Finance.

How do you revitalize a company as it bounces back from a low point? Yousry Bissada is President and Chief Executive Officer of Home Capital Group. Yousry has more than 30 years of financial services experience focused on the mortgage industry. He is a CPA, GCA and Accredited Mortgage Professional. Prior to joining Home Capital, Yousry served as President and CEO of Kanetix Ltd., an insurance and financial products digital platform. He has held many senior executive roles across the financial services and fintech industry in Canada. He was named CFO of FirstLine Trust Company in 1989, which was later acquired by CIBC. In 1999, he was named SVP of Real Estate Secured Lending Products at TD Canada Trust, overseeing one of Canada's largest mortgage businesses. We talk to Yousry about how to lead through a crisis, how to live your company values, and the importance of teamwork.

This episode features two thought leaders – Professors Maja Djikic & Tiziana Casciaro. Maja is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Tiziana is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and the Marcel Desautels Chair in Integrative Thinking at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. This conversation is a blend of the thought leadership between Maja and Tiziana. We discuss Maja's recently published book “The Possible Self: A Leader's Guide to Personal Development” and integrate this with elements of “Power, for All: How it Really Works and Why It Is Everyone's Business”, a book Tiziana co-authored in 2021. This insightful discussion focuses on self development, its impact on relationships, the balance of power, and how interconnected each of these elements are in your work, and your life.

How do you overcome the feeling of "being stuck" to become your possible self? Maja Djikic is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She is a psychologist specializing in the field of personality development. Her work focuses on how self changes, and means of developing a congruent and flexible self. Her work also examines the impact of self-change on relationships. She has published more than 30 articles and book chapters in the area of personality development in journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Research in Personality, Creativity Research Journal, New Ideas in Psychology, etc. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, Salon, Slate, The Scientific American Mind, and many other media outlets. Maja's first book “The Possible Self: A Leader's Guide to Personal Development” was released on March 5, 2024. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/H_A_hNTuDOU?si=3Ge7moZIYknRp-2c

How do you transform doubt into focus and determination? Janet speaks to us about her career journey from Procter and Gamble to Staircase Ventures, being a competitive long distance runner, and maintaining focus and determination when people say “it cannot be done!” Janet Bannister is the Founder and Managing Partner of Staircase Ventures. In 2004, Janet launched Kijiji.ca and grew it to become one of the most visited websites in Canada. Before Kijii, Janet spent four years at eBay in Silicon Valley where she helped transform eBay from a Collectibles to a mainstream marketplace. She started her career as a Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble and then joined McKinsey & Co. where she was an Engagement Manager. She also founded and built a successful consulting business and was CEO at a venture-backed start-up prior to joining Real Ventures. Janet has won numerous awards and recognition including Venture Capital Journal's 2021 “Women of Influence in Private Markets”, Pitchbooks' 2021 “Female Founders & Investors to Know”, and American Bankers' 2019 “Most Influential Women in Payments”.

How can AI enable transformation in addressing population and public health challenges? This video episode brings back our recurring segment Going Viral with Dr. Rosella because the list of things we bring to work sometimes includes viruses(!) The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work, and made us all aware of the importance of public health. So, we invite epidemiologist Laura Rosella to chat about the state of global public health. In this episode, we discuss the current state of COVID-19, Dr. Rosella's new program, AI for Public Health, and robot doctors. Professor Laura Rosella is a Canadian epidemiologist and Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in the University of Toronto, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics. Laura is the Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the Population Health Analytics Lab. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars and the inaugural Stephen Family Research Chair in Community Health at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners. Laura has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of epidemiology, public health and health services research. Her work has been featured in major news outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, Reuters, CBC, CTV, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail. Laura has an incredible way of simplifying complex public health situations. Please enjoy Going Viral with Dr. Rosella – Season Six edition!

Is our future with generative AI terrifying, exciting, or fascinating? In this episode, we talk about the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, the opportunities to implement AI in healthcare delivery, and privacy in a world enabled by generative AI. Avi Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Avi is the Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute and the Schwartz-Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Avi's research focuses on the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy. Along with Ajay Agrawal and Joshua Gans, Avi is the author of the bestselling books Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence and Power and Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, we talk about the adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, the opportunities to implement AI in healthcare delivery, and privacy in a world enabled by generative AI.

This is our annual Year in Review with Professor Janice Stein where she helps us understand key global events and news stories of 2023 – from global unrest to climate change, from technological advances in artificial intelligence to the Toronto Blue Jays. Janice is a legendary Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Janice is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada; among her many distinctions. We wish our Connected Intelligence community a safe and happy holiday season and new year!

How can we reimagine everyday conversation for more connective personal and professional dialogue? Caitlin (Caity) Begg is the founder of Authentic Social and sociological researcher researching technology's effect on conversation. She founded Authentic Social in 2016 after writing her undergraduate Harvard sociology honors thesis on how digital communication affects relationships and social interaction. Caity presents her sociological research around the United States and Europe at a variety of academic and industry conferences. In parallel, she is conducting ongoing independent sociological research, with a focus on technology's effect on conversation and sociotechnical systems. Within these contexts, further areas of focus include: the effect of asynchronous communication and hypercommunication on daily interactions, artificial intelligence and human interaction, and more. We chat with Caity about Authentic Social, the hyperactive digital world we live in, responsible AI, and how we can incorporate more intention in our daily conversations.

It's been one year since the launch of chatGPT - how has regulation and policy evolved since then? And where does it need to go? Recently appointed a Schmidt Futures AI2050 Senior Fellow, Professor Gillian Hadfield is a scholar of law and economics with a focus on the intersection of legal system design and the governance of AI. She is currently spending her time in an area of urgent importance for humanity: innovative design for legal and regulatory systems for AI and other complex global technologies; computational models of human normative systems; and working with machine learning researchers to build machine learning systems that understand and respond to human norms. She is the director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society, professor of law and of strategic management at the University of Toronto. Professor Hadfield was a Senior Policy Advisor for OpenAI, and is an advisor to courts, governments and several organizations and technology companies engaged in innovating new ways to make law and policy smarter, more accessible, and more responsive to technology and artificial intelligence. We chat with Gillian about how she frames the two different challenges at hand with AI: conventional risks and frontier risks, how we build regulatory infrastructure that interfaces well with these new technologies, as well as the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork to solve these complex problems.

How does the CEO of a skunkworks operation built in a garage in Alberta – become a globally recognized leader in agriculture, technology and innovation? Alison Sunstrum is the CEO of Conserve X, a Canadian company developing and investing in emerging technology in agriculture, and a General Partner of The51 Food and AgTech Fund, investing in outliers transforming the business of food and agriculture. Alison is a Venture Partner and LP at Builders VC, a San Francisco/Calgary venture capital fund. Alison is a Founding Partner and Fellow in the Ag Stream of CDL-Rockies, and the Manufacturing stream at CDL-Seattle. Alison's company GrowSafe won the Intel award for Innovation, Canada's Ingenious award, and the AsTech-Dow Sciences award for agricultural science innovation. In 2021, Alison was recognized as one of Canada's most influential leaders in agriculture. We speak to Alison about her early career journey and her passion for science, technology, and innovation. Alison shares with us her philosophy on continuous learning and mentorship, the importance of a first customer, and how technology founders should think about growth. A very special feature of this episode – Alison teaches us about the Internet of Livestock Things!

What did it take to become the youngest woman ever to hold the role of Chief Economist at a major Canadian financial institution? Patti Croft is regarded as one of the country's most influential business leaders and financial commentators. She has 30 years of experience on Bay Street, working at Burns Fry and Wood Gundy. In 1996, Patti was named Chief Economist of TD Canada Trust. Patti has worked with Sceptre Investment Counsel, Phillips Hager & North Investment Management and was named Chief Economist of RBC Global Asset Management in late 2008. Patti has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, commenting on Canadian financial market developments and the national economic outlook. Patti is a graduate in economics from the University of Toronto and is the proud mother of three young adults. She is also a Senior Associate member of the Ticker Club. Patti shares her unfiltered story about how she built her life and career, the trade-offs she made along the way, her best advice to prepare for the worst, and the importance of self-compassion.

Why can't large language models make us a cup of tea? Suzanne walks us through the answer to this question to illustrate the importance of developing embodied artificial intelligence. We chat about Geordie and Suzanne's working dynamic, how both robots and AI are essential to the factory of the future, how we might manufacture in outer space, and why it is critical to maintain hope and purpose in life. Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert are co-founders of Sanctuary AI - a company on a mission to create the world's first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots. Prior to Sanctuary, Geordie founded D­-Wave, the world's first quantum computing company, and was the CEO of Kindred, the world's first robotics company to use reinforcement learning in a production environment. He was named the 2011 Canadian Innovator of the Year, was listed on Foreign Policy Magazine's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2013, and won the 2014 Canadian Technology Leader award. Geordie holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of British Columbia. He is a two-time Canadian national wrestling champion and McMaster Engineering Physics graduate. Before Sanctuary, Suzanne founded Kindred. The acquisition of Kindred by Ocado in November 2020 was the third-largest exit for a robotics company in Canadian history. While at DWave, Suzanne invented and implemented MAXCAT, the world's first game ever played against a quantum computer, worked on the world's first supervised classifier run on a quantum computer, and was the first person to control the motion of a robot using a quantum computer. Suzanne holds a Ph.D. in experimental physics from the University of Birmingham. Suzanne is a published digital artist and poet, has worked as a graphic designer, and pioneered a technique for creating art using a quantum computer. >> Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/S3WLySNyDcc?si=vxmqlXscOTEqBpwD

How do you find signals for greatness in a noisy world with thousands of ideas? James Cham is a Partner at Bloomberg Beta. At the firm, he focuses on investments in data-centric and machine learning-related companies. Previously, he was a Principal at Trinity Ventures where he focused on investments in consumer services specifically ecommerce, social media, and digital media. James was a Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners where he focused on advanced web technologies and investments in consumer internet services, security, and digital media sectors along with a number of seed investments. While with Boston Consulting Group, James developed marketing strategies for entertainment and information technology companies. James received an A.B. degree in Computer Science from Harvard University, an M.B.A. from MIT's Sloan School where he was a Siebel Scholar and interned at Sun Microsystems. In this episode, we discuss how to think about organizations as technology, James's early investments in artificial intelligence, and his views on the best path towards AI regulation or “bugs as a public good”. We talk about the latest developments in large language models and the problem with anthropomorphizing AI.

How does one “get it done”? Brendan Calder is the former CEO, chair and president of CIBC Mortgages (1995-2000) and former chair of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation and the Toronto International Film Festival. Brendan created the award-winning MBA course, GettingltDone. Brendan is chair of Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking and the founding chair of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management at the Rotman School of Management. He is also a corporate director and continues to make major philanthropic contributions throughout his community. For his efforts spanning more than three decades, he has been awarded numerous honours and awards, including induction into the Canadian Mortgage Hall of Fame in 2004 and over ten excellence in teaching awards. We talk to Brendan about his transition from banking to teaching – his transition from teaching to retirement; Buddhism, motorcycles, movies, and leadership.

We welcome singer-songwriter legend, Chantal Kreviazuk (sitting at her piano!) to the podcast. Chantal is a one-of-a-kind talent - she has recorded 9 studio albums including her debut album “Under these Rocks and Stones” in 1996 and her latest “Get To You”, released in 2020. Chantal is a prolific songwriter, collaborating with global superstars like: Drake, Pitbull, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Kendrick Lamar and Pink. Her work has been recognized through numerous awards, and the Order of Canada. Outside of music Chantal dedicates her time to War Child, Artists Against Racism, and Jane Goodall Institute of Canada. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba – she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace, and her three sons - Rowan, Lucca and Salvador. Chantal talks about her creative process, the concept of fame, and how songs evolve over time. Bonus tracks at the end of the podcast chat -- of Chantal singing a handful of her incredible songs live at the piano.

How do you build a Canadian organization into a globally recognizable brand? Piers Handling was CEO of TIFF from 1992 - 2018. Piers is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been awarded the Order of Ontario. He was named to France's highest cultural insignia. We talk to Piers about his vision for bringing Canadian cinema to a global audience, the similarities and differences between TIFF, Cannes, and Sundance Film Festival, his “pinch me” moments as CEO, how and when directors like Steven Spielberg have launched their films at TIFF, and the 10-year journey to build a forever home to celebrate Canadian cinema – the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

How do we embrace failure in a fast-changing world? Harvard Business School Professor, Amy Edmondson, is ranked #1 on the latest Thinkers50 ranking of the world's most influential management thinkers. Amy is the winner of Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award for being a “pioneer of psychological safety and author of The Fearless Organization, a ground-breaking blueprint on creating a fear-free culture.” Amy is also the winner of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management. Named the Most Influential International Thinker in Human Resources by HR Magazine in 2019, one of Amy's books - The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth (John Wiley & Sons, 2018) - has been translated into more than 15 languages and is consistently among Amazon's top-sellers in the human resources category. Amy's latest book Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well hits bookshelves and online stores on September 5, 2023. In this episode, we talk about organizational design and transformation, her research on psychological safety, the three type of failures: intelligent, basic, and complex, as well as self-awareness vs. systems awareness. Amy unpacks the connection between failure and regret. And we even brainstorm a new concept of a “discussability index” to evaluate team cohesion.

Are there common elements that make a great leader or CEO? Adam Bryant is an expert on executive leadership who has interviewed more than 1,000 leaders for the “Corner Office” series he created at The New York Times and for his four current leadership series on LinkedIn—with CEOs, CHROs, board directors, and prominent Black leaders. Adam is the author of four books on leadership, published by the Harvard Business Review Press – including “The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership,” and “The CEO Test: Master the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders,” the book that we discuss on this podcast. We discuss managing up and working with leaders, the trappings of expertitis, substituting the word “priority” with “outcome”, and what Adam thinks is needed most from leaders in the world today.

In a world that's changing every day, what is most important to young entrepreneurs? Karen Greve Young is the Chief Executive Officer of Futurpreneur Canada, a national organization dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 39. A graduate from both Stanford and Harvard, Karen previously held finance, management and strategy roles in San Francisco, New York and London, UK, at organizations including Bain & Company, Gap Inc. and the UK's Institute of Cancer Research. She was the Vice President, Corporate Development & Partnerships at MaRS Discovery District. Along the way, Karen co-authored a book with her mother about their shared experience through her mother's ovarian cancer journey; and joined the Board of Directors of Ovarian Cancer Canada. We talk about the role of sport in developing leadership skills, practicing gratitude, and the importance of inclusion.

How did a class clown turned award-winning comedian light up the artificial intelligence research community at the intersection of theatre and machine learning? Kory is a Senior Research Scientist with Alphabet's DeepMind and an Associate Industry Member at Mila – the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute in Montreal, Canada. He is a Lab Scientist with Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto, where he supports massively scalable science-based startup ventures. Kory also serves as a Special Advisor to the National Research Council of Canada. We talk about the importance of self-expression, the intersection of creativity and technical rigour, how many different types of laughter there are, and his vision for the future of improv. Spoiler alert - it involves robots!

In our world of 24/7 news cycles, where organizations are directly connected to their stakeholders, what role does governance play in a company's overall performance? And what does good governance look like? Richard (Rick) Powers is the National Academic Director of the Governance Essentials Program and the Directors Education Program that operates at Canada's top business schools. A recipient of numerous teaching awards, Rick's areas of expertise include corporate governance, ethics, business and corporate law and sports marketing. He also teaches in the University of Toronto's Rotman Executive MBA, OMNIUM, MBA and Executive Education Programs. He is a director of several not-for-profit organizations and is frequently sought out for comments on legal and governance issues in various media across Canada. We talk about the role of boards in crisis management and Rick shares anecdotes from the past, comments on a few stories that are in our news feeds today – and gives advice to anyone thinking about becoming a board member.

What does investment look like at the intersection of impact and VC-paced growth? Rhiannon Davies and Cathy Bennett are both the Founding and Managing Partners of Sandpiper Ventures, running one of the first venture funds in Canada investing in women-led companies at the seed stage, and among the first all-woman GP national funds in Canada. Rhiannon's business leadership spans Europe, Asia, South and North America. She built and led the $2B revenue subsidiary of GrandVision N.V. and was COO and Board Director that expanded GrandVision into 20 new markets through multiple acquisitions and organic growth, to a successful IPO that raised $1.5B and ranked in the global top 10 IPOs in 2015. With over 35 years of business leadership, Cathy's own Bennett Group of Companies grew from a small group of service businesses to operations in commercial and industrial construction, industrial manufacturing, human resource support, and more. She has served as a Member of the Newfoundland & Labrador House of Assembly serving in Cabinet as Minister of Finance, President of Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Why and how are we vulnerable to a global supply shortage of semiconductors? This episode kicks off a new recurring segment: “A Global Affair with Professor Janice Stein”. In these episodes, we will dig deep on a topic that influences society as we know it today. Whether it is public policy, geopolitical issues, or the impact of technological advances. Professor Janice Stein is a Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. She is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Janice is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada; among her many distinctions. In this episode, Janice discusses the structure of the global supply chain for semiconductor chips, the origins of geopolitical interests in Taiwan, and the urgency of developing other avenues of manufacturing semiconductors – the foundation of our digital age.

How did a trained architect become a global innovator and end up building a social entrepreneurship community? A seasoned advisor, mentor and an expert in healthcare, digital health and women's healthcare, Eve builds and invests in ventures that transform how we define, access and interact with care. As Co-Founder of Future Family, the world's first fertility company to bring together financing, technology and concierge care in a digital platform, Eve shaped the startup's vision for the future of affordable, accessible, and comprehensive fertility care. She was at the helm of strategy, partnerships and operations as the startup scaled, together raising more than $115M USD and establishing a dedicated fertility facility fund. Eve is the author of “Material Change: Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement”, a book that inspired her to launch the Material Change Institute in 2022.

How does your individual leadership style change as you evolve as a person? Maja Djikic is an Associate Professor and the Director of Self-Development Laboratory at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She is a psychologist specializing in the field of personality development. Her work focuses on how self changes, and means of developing a congruent and flexible self. Her work also examines the impact of self-change on relationships. She has published more than 30 articles and book chapters in the area of personality development in journals such as Psychological Science, Journal of Research in Personality, Creativity Research Journal, New Ideas in Psychology, etc. Her research has been featured in The New York Times, Salon, Slate, The Scientific American Mind, and many other media outlets.

Dr. Richard Norman is a researcher, lecturer, and futurist who works with people to affect change towards a more socially just, sustainable, and resilient future. His work is focused on the lived experiences of peoples who have been marginalized in our society via the “Sport, Diversity, & Race Project” for the Future of Sport Lab (FSL) in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. Richard's research is committed to approaches that can open up dialogue and discourses towards a more humane and morally driven worldview.

We talk to Minister Navdeep Bains about his family - his wife and two daughters, how to know when to step away from a job you love, and his approach to being a role model. The Honourable Navdeep Bains is the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Rogers Communications, and most recently was the Vice-Chair of Global Investment Banking for CIBC where he was responsible for strengthening all Capital Markets and Commercial Banking with a particular focus on Innovation, Sustainability, and Industrial sectors. He was one of the longest-serving federal Ministers of Innovation, Science and Industry, where he introduced the most comprehensive innovation and skills plan for Canada in over three decades. The Honourable Navdeep Bains was also the Parliamentary Secretary to former Prime Minister Paul Martin and he held the opposition critic portfolios for Public Works and Government Services, Treasury Board, International Trade, Natural Resources, and Small Business. Before entering politics, the Honourable Navdeep Bains was a distinguished visiting professor at Toronto Metropolitan University's Ted Rogers School of Management, an adjunct lecturer at the Master of Public Service program at the University of Waterloo and worked for several years in accounting and finance for the Ford Motor Company of Canada.

This episode brings back our recurring segment because the list of things we bring to work sometimes includes viruses(!) The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work, and made us all aware of the importance of public health. So, we invite epidemiologist Laura Rosella to chat about the state of global public health. In this episode, we go back in time to explore the insights learned from 2003 SARS outbreak, 2011 H1N1 outbreak, and how these lessons informed our response to COVID-19. Professor Laura Rosella is a Canadian epidemiologist and Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in the University of Toronto, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics. Laura is the Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the Population Health Analytics Lab. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars and the inaugural Stephen Family Research Chair in Community Health at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners. Laura has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of epidemiology, public health and health services research. Her work has been featured in major news outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, Reuters, CBC, CTV, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail. Laura has an incredible way of simplifying complex public health situations. We learn about the origins of Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Health Ontario, and whether or not Laura went to SARSStock. Please enjoy GOING VIRAL with Dr. Rosella – season four edition!

Phil is currently an Expert, Sustainability at McKinsey & Company where he helps solve industry's hardest decarbonization problems. Phil was the youngest-ever Director at the National Research Council of Canada where he built and led a $57M collaborative research program on Canada-made transformative technologies to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He is a Governor General Gold Medal-winning scientist, a member of the Royal Society of Canada, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is an entrepreneur and innovator having raised $2M in non-dilutive funding as a carbontech co-founder, Carbon XPRIZE Finalist (1 of 10 globally), an On Deck Climate Fellow, and a Forbes Top 30 Under 30. In the 2021 Federal Election, Phil ran for Member of Parliament representing the Green Party of Canada. His campaign was focused on bringing more science to politics and he raised the most money ever in his riding. Phil is a one-of-a-kind scientist, entrepreneur, and thinker. His passion for innovation is contagious – in this conversation he brings us into what it is like to work at McKinsey, what drives his decision-making in life and business, and his best advice for shaping your personal and professional journey.

Emily Scarratt is Vice Captain of the Red Roses, and may be most known as the player who secured England's 2014 World Cup win with six minutes left in the final match. Emily was the top point-scorer at the 2014 World Cup; and helped lead England to finals in the 2017 and 2022 World Cups. She captained Team Great Britain at the Rio Olympics, won a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and represented England at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Emily returned to the 15-a-side game in January 2019, joining the Loughborough Lightning and turning professional when the Rugby Football Union broke new ground by offering full-time contracts to 28 women's rugby players. Emily was a stand-out performer at the 2019 Super Series, finishing as top try-scorer and also secured a number of points as goal-kicker. Emily was named World Rugby's Women's Player of the Year in November 2019 and became the highest ever Red Roses points scorer in the 2020 Six Nations. Emily is a once in a generation talent. She carries herself with poise, humility, and humour as she leads women's rugby on an international stage. We talk to Emily about her approach to leadership on and off the pitch, her evolution into a professional rugby player, and the 2022 World Cup final. PS. Back by popular demand to debrief this epic rugby moment, friends of the podcast, Stu McReynolds (AVP, Programs & Advocacy at Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities and former pro rugby player) and David Butcher (head coach of the Queen's University Men's Rugby team).

Kristjan Vassil is the Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Tartu and an Associate Professor in Technology Studies. Kristjan has a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, and his research group focuses on qualitative assessment of the impact of IT, analysis of Big Data in e-Government and prototyping of predictive digital services. He has studied the relationship between voting advice application and political behavior, particularly voting preferences, and went on to write a book on behavioral effects of internet voting. Kristjan holds the role of Director of the Board of Tartu University Clinic (a teaching hospital), and is also Chief Scientist of CDL-Estonia. In this episode, we learn about Kristjan's research on internet voting, and how Estonia has built and sustained a digital society since 2002. Kristjan brings warmth, curiosity and his passion for Estonia to our conversation.

Mary-Kay Messier is Vice President, Global Marketing at Bauer Hockey, the company that developed the first skate with a blade attached to a boot, forever changing the game of hockey. Mary-Kay is a committed advocate for the game with the goal of making it more accessible, inclusive, diverse and focused on fun. Under Mary-Kay's leadership, her team created the internationally successful First Shift program. Through partnership with the NHL, NHLPA, and Hockey Canada, First Shift has welcomed over 30,000 new families to hockey. For the women's game, Mary-Kay is focused on advancing equity for the best women players in the world through the establishment of a sustainable professional league. This priority is grounded in her belief that when girls can dream of a career in pro hockey, hockey will grow in a more diverse way and more young girls will build self-confidence they will carry forever. MK is an advisor for the advocacy group Play like a Girl and for the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association. In 2020, Sportsnet named Mary-Kay as one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Hockey. This conversation is very special – we learn about MK's approach to leadership, life, and the importance of embracing your passions.

Erin McLeod is a professional athlete, playing soccer for top teams around the world with an incredible 2-decade career as a goalkeeper for the Canadian Women's National Team. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2019, as Erin has represented Canada at three Olympic Games. She competed in the 2008 Beijing Games and won a bronze medal in London in 2012. In 2021 at her third Olympic Games, Erin won a gold medal for Canada in Tokyo, knocking off FIFA's number 1, 5, and 7 ranked teams en route to the podium. Prior to this, McLeod was in net when the upstart Canadian U-20 team made it all the way to the 2002 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Final in Edmonton, where a record-setting 47,000+ fans came out to watch. Erin is co-founder of The Mindful Project - a company that provides structured mindfulness programs and performance training for students, athletes, and corporate professionals. Erin's interest in mindfulness began in the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics, when she began working with renowned sports psychiatrist Dr. Ceri Evans. In March 2023, Erin is kicking off her new role with Halifax City Soccer Club in Nova Scotia. Erin is also an advocate for human rights, women's empowerment, and LGBTQ+ rights. This conversation is so special – we get Erin's perspective on some of the biggest moments in the history of Canadian women's soccer - but more importantly, she speaks from her heart about her passion for sport, the importance of self-awareness, and the responsibility of being a role model for young athletes.

After a distinguished career as a test pilot, Hadfield became an astronaut in 1992. Over the course of his career, he achieved a series of Canadian firsts: he was the first Canadian to be a space mission specialist, to operate the Canadarm in orbit, to do a spacewalk and to command the International Space Station. He was also the first to record a music video in space — a cover of David Bowie's “Space Oddity” — viewed by 100s of millions of earthlings. Hadfield retired from the Canadian Astronaut Corps in July 2013. Colonel Hadfield is an advisor to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, Board Chair of the Open Lunar Foundation, and Founding Fellow of the Creative Destruction Lab Space stream. He has flown three space missions, building two space stations, performing two spacewalks, crewing the Shuttle and Soyuz and commanding the International Space Station. Colonel Hadfield is the co-creator/host of the internationally acclaimed BBC series Astronauts, and helped create/host, with actor Will Smith, the National Geographic series One Strange Rock. In addition to his decorated career as an astronaut, Chris is the author of three international bestsellers: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here, and The Darkest Dark, plus a new thriller novel, The Apollo Murders. We talk to Commander Hadfield about the importance of dreaming big, taking small steps to get there, what it feels like to do a space walk, and of course, music.

Jeff is the Assistant VP of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Site Lead for Creative Destruction Lab – Atlantic. Prior to his role at Dalhousie, he practiced law in Halifax at McInnes Cooper, and in Toronto with both Fasken Martineau and CIBC. He taught law at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and the University of Malawi. He has also held senior positions in the investment sector as VP and General Counsel of Halifax-based Clarke Inc. and as Executive Director of Business Management and Chief Compliance Officer with CIBC Asset Management in Toronto. Jeff is the co-founder of Seaforth Energy, Watts Wind and Katalyst Wind. Jeff has served on the Board of Directors of DSME Trenton Inc. as well as other private and TSX-listed public companies. He remains active in his community as a volunteer, dividing his time between Halifax and the beach at Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia. Jeff is kind, supportive, imaginative – but most importantly, he is an incredible community-builder. It is a pleasure to know him and even moreso to learn from him.

Sinead is a futurist and the founder of WAYE, an organization that helps prepare the next generation of business leaders for a world radically transformed by technology.Some may know her as the author of the Vogue article “I Am a Model and I Know That Artificial Intelligence Will Eventually Take My Job”. Sinead has given formal addresses to presidents, royalty, and Fortune 500 leaders on topics ranging from cybersecurity to artificial intelligence. She also gave a TEDx Talk in 2022 on the ethics of avatars and currently serves as a strategic advisor to the United Nations International Telecommunication Union on digital inclusion.Every day, over 10,000 Millennials and Gen Zs tune into Bovell's platforms to hear her take on technology and the future, as well as her future forecasts on the ethical challenges of emerging technologies. To date, she has educated over 200,000 young entrepreneurs on the future of technology.In this episode, we learn about Sinead's origin story, to her unlikely journey to the centre of emerging technologies, and her vision for the future of work – she brings an open and imaginative quality to every conversation she is in.In March 2023, Sinead is leading a keynote panel at Creative Destruction Lab's (CDL) Apprentice Summit - a virtual international symposium of emerging technology for any high school student who is interested in learning more about STEM and entrepreneurship. Learn more and register for the CDL Apprentice Summit here: https://creativedestructionlab.com/apprentice-global-summit/. 

In 2022, his sixth season as Head Coach of the Queen's Women's Rugby program, Dan Valley led the Gaels to an OUA gold medal and a silver medal at the Canadian national championship (U SPORTS). Valley was named the OUA Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading Queen's to a OUA silver medal, and a gold medal at the Canadian national championship. Prior to his time at Queen's, Valley was the Head Coach of Rugby Canada's U18 Women's 15s program, and was also a Technical Lead for Canada 7s NextGen program in Ontario. Dan Valley developed the high school program at Oakville Trafalgar High School which is regarded as one of the most successful rugby programs in Ontario, winning six provincial medals (three gold, two silver, and one bronze) since 2011. Dan is a thoughtful, methodical and passionate rugby coach. He brings his unique insights into program design, talent development, and team culture in our conversation today.

Professor Mark Kingwell joins the podcast to discuss his new book “Singular Creatures: Robots, Rights, and the Politics of Posthumanism.” We talk to Mark about everything from consciousness, boredom, happiness, and, of course, the Simpsons. Mark is a Canadian professor of philosophy and associate chair at the University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy. Mark has published dozens of books, most notably, A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism, which was awarded the Spitz Prize for political theory in 1997. In 2000, Kingwell received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, for contributions to theory and criticism. He has held visiting posts at institutions including: University of Cambridge, University of California at Berkeley, and City University of New York where he held the title of Weissman Distinguished Professor of Humanities. He weaves politics, philosophy, history, and pop culture together to make important and complex issues not only understandable but fascinating.

This episode brings back our recurring segment "Going Viral with Dr. Rosella" because the list of things we bring to work sometimes includes viruses(!) The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how and where we work, and made us all aware of the importance of public health. So, we invite epidemiologist Laura Rosella to chat about the state of global public health and its current main acts in January 2023. Laura brings her insights on the latest development in COVID-19 (the kraken), monkeypox, and her research about the importance of social connections for long-term health. Professor Laura Rosella is a Canadian epidemiologist and Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in the University of Toronto, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics. Laura is the Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the Population Health Analytics Lab. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars and the inaugural Stephen Family Research Chair in Community Health at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners. Laura has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications in the areas of epidemiology, public health and health services research. Her work has been featured in major news outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, Reuters, CBC, CTV, The National Post, and The Globe and Mail.

A dynamic duo joins Connected Intelligence – EC and Sam are the co-CEOs of Poppy, the world's most advanced biosafety intelligence system for indoor spaces. EC and Sam talk about the unique advantages and challenges of being a Co-CEO team, building and scaling companies, life in the digital era, and the transformational technology they are building at Poppy. EC (known to some as Elizabeth Caley) has been building and leading fast-growing global technology companies over the last 20 years. Prior to starting Poppy, she was the Chief Operating Officer of Meta, an artificial intelligence company focused on accelerating science. In 2017, Meta was acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's philanthropic organization. Sam Molyneux is a scientist and entrepreneur who has focused his work on the problem of how scientific information is organized in the modern world. Inspired by the challenges he faced as a cancer genomics researcher at the University of Toronto, Sam co-founded Meta, an artificial intelligence compa​ny that is transforming how scientific knowledge is experienced and consumed.

Joshua Gans is the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategic Management at Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Joshua is a brilliant academic, an entertaining speaker, and an avid Star Wars fan. He is Chief Economist of Creative Destruction Lab, department editor (Strategy) at Management Science, and cofounder and managing director of Core Economic Research. Joshua has published numerous books on innovation, disruption, entrepreneurship, and most recently, pandemic economics. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a research affiliate at MIT, a senior academic fellow at the e61 Institute, a distinguished fellow of the Luohan Academy, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Albert Wenger (Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures) is imaginative, focused, and passionate. We talk about his book “The World After Capital” where he argues that technological progress has shifted scarcity for humanity. When we were foragers, food was scarce. During the agrarian age, it was land. Following the industrial revolution, capital became scarce. With digital technologies scarcity is shifting once more. We need to figure out how to live in The World After Capital in which the only scarcity is our attention. Union Square Ventures is a thesis-driven venture capital firm. Since 2003, the firm has invested in over 100 companies that use the power of the internet to re-shape markets, like Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Etsy, Kickstarter and Shapeways. Before joining USV, Albert was the president of del.icio.us through the company's sale to Yahoo and an angel investor. He previously founded or co-founded several companies, including a management consulting firm and an early hosted data analytics company. Albert graduated from Harvard in economics and computer science and holds a Ph.D. in Information Technology from MIT.

It's the holiday special - we bring you a few of our highlights from 2 seasons of 22 episodes in 2022! Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season. We are back in 2023 with more conversations about all the things we bring to work that aren't actually about the work.

This is a Year in Review with Professor Janice Stein, a Canadian political scientist and international relations expert. Janice helps us understand key global events and news stories of 2022 – from a reflection on Ukraine and Russia, the vaccine rollout for COVID-19, pay equality in the US soccer ecosystem, climate change, inflation, and chatGPT. We also look ahead – Janice shares her research focus areas for 2023, and the story she is most optimistic about in the year to come. We wish our Connected Intelligence community a safe and happy holiday season and new year!

Eva and Allen Lau are high-impact entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders who recently celebrated 25 years of marriage. Eva and Allen join Connected Intelligence to share their insight, advice, and fascinating stories from their decades-long marriage and business partnership. Eva Lau is a highly respected entrepreneur-turned-investor and one of the few women leading a venture fund in Canada. Allen Lau is a visionary serial entrepreneur, leader in Canada's tech community, and a unique voice on entrepreneurship, the innovation economy, and the benefits of a diverse workforce. Eva is the Founding Partner of Two Small Fish Ventures, a venture fund that invests globally in early-stage, transformative tech companies with strong network effects. Before starting Two Small Fish Ventures, she was Wattpad's Head of Community and Content. She helped nurture and scale Wattpad from its infancy to become one of the largest online communities with over 95 million monthly users around the world. Allen is the co-founder of Two Small Fish Ventures. As the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, Allen led an international team with the inspiring vision to leverage groundbreaking technology to fundamentally disrupt the entertainment industry while empowering diverse voices. In 2021, Wattpad was acquired by Naver, the South Korean internet conglomerate, in a transaction valued at more than USD $600 million.

Daniel Debow is VP of Product at Shopify. Dan's energy is contagious. He is a talented founder, leader, and an incredible bass player. Dan shares his insights from decades of his career, and makes the connection creating music in a group, and creating space for expression in the workplace. Daniel was CEO and founder of Helpful, a startup backed by Bessemer Ventures that was acquired by Shopify in 2019. Daniel was co-founder of Rypple, which was acquired by Salesforce in 2011, where he was SVP, Emerging Technologies. Prior to Rypple, Daniel was VP Marketing & Corp Dev for Workbrain, which was acquired by Infor in 2007. Daniel is an early-stage investor in over 100 technology companies including North, Layer6, Spell, Wealthsimple, Ritual, GoInstant, SkipTheDishes, Clearbanc, Kindred, Borrowell, and Clio. In 2015 he was recognized as Canada's “Angel Investor of the Year”. Daniel holds a JD/MBA (Gold Medalist) from the University of Toronto, an LLM from Stanford University and a BA (Psych) from Western University. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and a Founding Partner of the Creative Destruction Lab, Root Down Studios, and 42 Developments.