From Where I Sit with Ben Almond

In this episode, Ben talks about what it takes to come back from a loss and to use it to make you and the people around you better than you were before.  Hope you enjoy it!Original Score Artist: Jahzzar; Track Title: Fireworks, 2012. Mixed by Adriana MacDonald

In today's episode, we meet Ruby Littlechild, National Director of Indigenous Relations for Engineering Services Canada at SNC Lavalin. She shares her story, the story of her family and their experiences both personally and professionally as a leader and as an Indigenous woman in our community. 

From Where I Sit Season 2 is here! Tune in to see what's been going on including the changes that have happened behind the scenes.

That's a wrap on From Where I Sit Season 1. In this last episode of 2020, Ben reflects on the year, highlights some favorite moments, and discusses the lessons we've learned along the way. Bring on 2021!

This week on the podcast, Ben is joined by Kate Kenny, VP, Head of Sales for the UK and Ireland, P&PS at Jacobs . We get to hear Kate's story and some advice we could all use no matter how long or short our careers are so far. This pandemic has allowed her to think critically about some pieces of “wisdom” she has received over the years. Ben and Kate discuss how now more than ever leadership is changing and how important it is that we create an environment where we can bring our whole selves to work.

Today is Remembrance Day, also known as Veterans Day if you're in the United States. It's a pretty special day for all of us. It's a day we get to take a step back and think of those that sacrificed to create the world we have a chance to live in. Last year, Ben recorded this episode that starts off by sharing his family story on how he ultimately ended up in Canada and the shaping of his family's future.

In today's episode, Ben is joined by Katus Watson, VP and Geographic Operations Manager for Puerto Rico and Florida P&PS. Earlier this summer, Katus lead the effort to establish an action plan for social injustice and equality known now as the TogetherBeyond Global Action Plan for Advancing Justice & Equality. We get to know Katus’ story, dive into what has been going on around us, and what it took personally and professionally for Katus to make such an impact across our organization. Katus is a true leader with lessons for us all. We hope you enjoy today’s episode as much as we do.

In today's episode, we have serial entrepreneur and racial equality advocate, Nicole McKinney. At the top of Nicole's vast resume, is her non-profit organization, Waking the unConscious, where their mission is to encourage and create a greater understanding of societal differences created by Privilege and Marginalization and to continuously develop innovative initiatives that create sustainable behavioural and relational changes in individuals and organizations. Ben and Nicole share an impactful conversation on anti-racism in Canada and the United States with a focus on corporate responsibility and engagement in these social issues.

Louise White, Vice President, Global Marketing, Communications, and Brand, People & Places Solutions at Jacobs joins Ben on the podcast. In this conversation, Louise and Ben share their thoughts on professional development, mentorship, reverse mentorship and staying positive through the COVID-19 lockdown.

On today’s podcast, Carmen Holschuh, Principal Technologist, Environmental Planning, Federal and Environmental Solutions at Jacobs, joins Ben virtually from Victoria, British Columbia. Not only do we get to hear Carmen’s personal story, we learn about her thoughts on resiliency, self-awareness and vulnerability. We get into a discussion on the importance of having an open mind and really listening to other’s experiences and perspectives to take on the challenge of equality head on. I hope you enjoy!

On today’s podcast, we were lucky enough to get Bob Pragada to sit down with Ben. We get to learn about Bob’s career and personal growth as he takes us through lessons that have stuck with him over time from his childhood through to where he sits now as Jacobs' President and Chief Operating Officer. Bob shares his thoughts on eliminating racism, generating equality, and learning to thrive and succeed during trying times. Hope you enjoy!

For almost 10 years, Ben's been lucky to work alongside Tom Price, SVP Global Growth, Strategy & Solutions. In this episode, we all get to learn more about Tom and his thoughts on leadership. They have an open discussion about their personal awakening as white men in leadership positions to what’s going on around us with respect to racism and what they are going to take on personally to continue the journey towards equality.

This episode is another eye opening and important conversation in Ben’s quest to learn from others and the past to help shape the future. Ben was lucky to have his friend and colleague, Ron Williams, SVP, P&PS Americas West Regional Director, join him on the podcast and provide his insights and experiences as they look at both our history and the current reality of racism. In this conversation, Ron shares stories from his life and perspective as an inspiring leader. We hope you learn as much from this conversation as we did!

In today's podcast, we are re-releasing the first episode of this podcast, A Journey Into Unconscious Bias, with a different intro and outro than the original episode. Ben shares a personal experience where he was on the receiving end of the unconscious biases of others. Over the past few months, Ben's eyes have been opened to what conscious and unconscious biases people have that are baked into our systems in society. While his experiences are markedly different than those that Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour are facing, the intent of re-sharing this podcast with a different lens than a year ago is to help us all recognize and confront the biases we all hold, unconscious or not.

In today’s podcast, Ben virtually sat down with Sharon Jean-Baptiste, Vice President, Growth and Sales US Mid-Atlantic P&PS at Jacobs. They have an open conversation where he learns from her experiences to be a better person, an ally, and a leader. They talk about racial inequality, inclusion, leadership, and being vulnerable, authentic and bold.

Over the past several weeks, Ben has been listening to and learning from the worldwide anti-Black racism movement. Ben has made a promise to not be silent. He will be an active learner and participate in driving improvement in any way that he can. In today's podcast, Ben shares the stories of his colleagues and friends to allow you to see things you might not have seen and hear things you might not have heard before. His hope is that through this storytelling and critical questioning of the behaviors and interactions in each story, you can consider for yourself how we all can be better allies.

In today's episode, Ben discusses agility and adaptability. Being agile and adapting to our environments are two game changing characteristics we should all embody to thrive while managing our way through change and times of uncertainty.

Change is our new normal. Today, Ben does a deep dive into managing change and how we can use change to drive us forward. He shares personal lessons he's learned from some major events that have happened in his life and some real world experiences we can all learn from. Hope you enjoy!

In today's episode, we welcome Ken Gilmartin, SVP, Global Operations People and Places Solutions at Jacobs. We hope you enjoy this great conversation between Ben and Ken as we learn about Ken's history, where he came from, and some of the things he's learned along his interesting career path. Ken's transparency and authenticity really shine through in today's episode. Thank you again Ken for taking the time to join From Where I Sit.

Today's episode is a throwback for some of us at Jacobs, bringing back one of Ben's favourites: Blake's Take by Blake Jeffcoat. He shares what he took from Blake's lesson and he briefs us listeners on the direction of the podcast for the next little while. Hope you enjoy!

In this episode, Ben talks about self-discipline and finding your motivation to accomplish the goals you may have whether it's personal or professional. He shares the things he's learned from some of sport's greatest and how that's helped him stay motivated during this challenging time. Hope you enjoy it!Original Score Artist: Jahzzar; Track Title: Fireworks, 2012. Mixed by Adriana MacDonald

The world may feel pretty grim today. This is the perfect time to reflect on things that seem terrible in the moment but have turned into something fantastic. In this episode, Ben walks through some life altering events including personal, present day, and historical, and what we can learn from these events in order to push forward and create a brighter future.

We're back with the second Q&A podcast. The focus of this episode is to pick Ben's brain about the engineering and construction industry. These questions are geared at getting Ben's opinion on a variety of topics like where he thinks the industry will go post pandemic, the things we could improve on as a whole, and why our Canadian leadership team is spread across the country. If you have any other questions you'd like featured, please send them to adriana.macdonald@jacobs.com. Thanks for listening!

Today's podcast is the first of a Q&A series. We have been compiling questions from our listeners and will be answering them over multiple episodes. The focus of this episode is to get to know Ben. We cover what he's watching on Netflix to what he's most proud of. If you have any other questions you'd like featured, please send them to adriana.macdonald@jacobs.com. Thanks for listening!

In today's podcast, Ben talks about the things he's learned from his dog Kona who has recently lost her sight. He shares with all of us how we can relate to Kona in impactful ways from using our other senses to being resilient with many other lessons in between.

In today's episode, Ben talks about what mentorship really means and how to create these meaningful relationships.

In today's episode, Ben records a short and sweet message on being our best selves amidst today’s current events, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today's podcast is important. With permission from a friend, Ben shares her story. There are a multitude of lessons in this story that we can learn and use to grow. Please listen carefully to the perspectives of each character and find something you can learn from them.

Today's guest on the podcast is Dex Meighan, a recent hire in the UK and Jacob's new Senior Region Security Manager. Dex has a very unique and incredibly interesting story. Ben met Dex on a trip to London to visit the Cottons Center team. In this episode, they discuss everything from work to family and play and some of the things he's learned along the way. No matter where he's gone in his career and in life, Dex has learned to become comfortable with discomfort. A huge thank you to Dex for joining us. We hope you all enjoy!

In this episode, Ben interviews Paul Griffiths, Jacobs Program Director for Metrolinx. This conversation between Ben and Paul delves deep into the inclusion and diversity journey, specifically where the transportation industry is today. Paul shares his real working experience on how to create change from within. We at Jacobs are very lucky to work with him and to have an hour of his time to share with us on From Where I Sit.

In today's episode, Ben talks about our willingness to provide feedback at work or in life and how much of an impact that has on our overall feeling of safety in the hopes of creating a safe environment both mentally, and as a side effect, physically too.

In today's podcast, Ben shares another interaction at an airport. This interaction inspired him to think about all of the assumptions we make and how they impact the interactions we have in our personal and work lives.

In this episode, Ben interviews Catherine Over, the Regional Group Manager for Western Canada. Catherine has had a unique and impressive journey to get where she is today. She shows us her thoughtful and introspective side which has led her to success over her career. We are lucky to have stolen an hour from Catherine to get her insights on career development, mentorship, and how she's become the People's Referee here at Jacobs in Canada. Hope you enjoy!

In today's podcast, Ben continues the conversation on inclusion. He addresses the barriers that get in the way of us becoming fully inclusive. In particular, he shares some personal barriers he has faced and his thoughts on how we can promote a culture that is welcoming to people who are living with disabilities by changing our mindset. This mindset is a concept by Jocko Willink, a retired US Navy Seal who now has his own podcast - one of Ben's favourites. A clip of Jocko describing his GOOD mentality is included in our podcast. The video clip from Jocko's Podcast can be found here: Jocko Motivation "GOOD" (From Jocko Podcast).

In this episode, Ben has a discussion about Safety in Design (SID) with Neil Bramhall, VP, Regional Design Lead. Jacobs has set out a mission with respect to safety in design and Neil describes how the Canadian Region is contributing to this mission.

In this episode, Ben discusses the simple but impactful importance of gratitude on your mental health. He references and describes a study done by the University of California, Berkley: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain

In this episode of the podcast, Adriana MacDonald, the Canadian People and Places Solutions Executive Intern, took over the podcast to have an open conversation with our second guest, Marietta Hannigan, SVP Chief Strategy & Communications Officer at Jacobs. Marietta provides some thoughtful insight into her career journey and gives some thoughtful advice. They discuss inclusion and diversity and how the impact that has had over time.

In today's episode, Ben discusses teamwork and how important it is to our success as a business and society as a whole.

Happy Holidays! Today is a special holiday episode where Ben reminds us all that we should always be kind especially during the holidays.

How do we go further with inclusions? How do we create that environment where we are as willing to talk about and help with those as we have become normalized to talking about eyesight challenges and the need for glasses? In this episode, Ben dives into creating an inclusive environment for everyone and highlights Jacobs' Employee Network Group - ACE.

Ben discusses managing your career and what saying yes means in that context. He shares some personal advice he's received from mentors in the past and how he's applied it throughout his career.

Ben talks about focusing on solutions and what that means as a firm, individual, and client.

A special Inclusion Week episode with the first ever guest on the channel, Adriana MacDonald. We talk about living inclusion, what we think that really means and attempt to tackle some of the nuance around it.

Today is Remembrance Day, also known as Veterans Day if you're in the United States. It's a pretty special day for all of us. It's a day we get to take a step back and think of those that sacrificed to create the world we have a chance to live in. Ben starts the episode off by sharing his family story on how he ultimately ended up in Canada and the shaping of his family's future.

Ben discusses taking time to break the connection to our insanely busy work lives and disconnecting for a little while.

In this episode, Ben talks about identity and branding. He discusses this in the context of a corporation and how having a personal brand is just as important.

We're on our way to a federal election in Canada. In this episode, Ben speaks about participation in the voting cycle, how important that is both for your community, for your work lives, and on a personal level to take advantage of that right that you've got to shape the future of your country.

In this episode, Ben speaks about inclusion and unconscious bias by sharing a recent personal experience.

Introduction to From Where I Sit with Ben Almond