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Don Mills - The Three Cs - Courage, Commitment, Community |
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Don Mills:
President
and CEO of Corporate
Research Associates
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Insights from Don…
Michael (MD): What did you do to move to a leadership role?
(DM): My experience as a MBA student at Dalhousie University set the direction for me. While a student, I become a partner and owner of Atlantic Business Consultants (which is still going by the way), and that experience showed me two important things. One - how to go out and find the business on my own, and two - I did market research and really enjoyed the work. That experience gave me the confidence and direction as to what I wanted to do in business. I started out slow with a full-time job and then started my own business as well. I learned the skills along the way to go out and try to develop our own business. We started to grow the business and I left the comfort of the full-time job at age 29 years and went for it.
(MD): What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of?
(DM): I really encourage developing professionals to expand their experience beyond their work and take a whole life skills point of view. With community involvement you get way more out of it than you put in. You can be really successful in business but still be a failure as a person. I believe we have a responsibility to be a contributor to the community and we need to learn that responsibility early. Being involved in the community brings balance to your life. I have always enjoyed being involved in community work because it provides a "hands-on" approach of learning by doing. That is what is so wonderful about volunteerism - you learn about life and community at the same time as you build skills that make you more valuable and successful. You gain a broader focus and better appreciation of the world around you.
By being actively involved in your community, you get more engaged in life and less consumed by your career. My advice to developing professionals is to be less agonized over the pace of your career and not to get so consumed by the career that you miss the enjoyment of the ride - get involved in your community. A second piece of advice I would offer young professionals is to never burn a bridge if you don't have to. There are times when you have to stand on principle, but you must always assess the risk of damaging long-term relationships. The connections you develop while building your career can be approached later for advice and support - always try to keep the relationship.
(MD): What about doing less of?
(DM): Be less self-absorbed. Don't take yourself so seriously - you are really not that important. People can be so aggressive to get to the next step that they miss learning about their current stage. This can cause a lot of angst and damage to them as well as to those around them. People get too focused on advancement without paying their dues - they are not prepared to wait. Life will unfold. Don't sweat the small stuff or get focused on the inconsequential.
(MD): What experience helped you the most in your career and why?
(DM): The good values that I got from parents. These provided me with the compass for my life. Get a good education - it helped me a lot and taking my Masters degree gave me the direction I needed. Finding something that I was passionate about was key ... and not just my work but my family and my community. Without passion you can't take full advantage of life. Having the passion made the work easy and fulfilling.
(MD): What was the greatest challenge moving your career forward?
(DM): People. It is always people. How to get everybody to maximize their full potential. Some people disappoint you as they are not willing to put the effort in to match their potential. Right now, I am gifted in the great people I get to work with - they are all terrific people. You can get really disappointed when you get the plan out in front of people, show them the opportunity and yet they get attached to things the way they are. You have to stick your head up and lead the change. Sometimes people accuse you of the wrong motivations and some people just don't believe you do things for the right reasons. Still, you need to take a leadership position and maintain focus on the goals you want to achieve.
(MD): What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership?
(DM): Having the courage of my convictions. This leads to confidence and the ability to weigh the risk and reward of taking an action. Passion comes in again here. Leadership is not bestowed. Even as the owner of a company you have to earn being a leader by being willing to do everything it takes to be successful. Having a vision of where you want to go and being tremendously goal-oriented keeps life measurable. When I was younger, many of my goals were income-oriented. Now my goals are more about making a difference to others and a contribution to my community and my family.
(MD): What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role?
(DM): The real surprise is that when you can get people really excited you can achieve significant outcomes. People get behind a great idea and things happen. The power of optimism is critical for leaders. When you get people all in place under the right circumstances with the right goal, people are motivated and you can accomplish so much.
(MD): What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role?
(DM): I have been able to achieve a lot of personal success which has enabled me to do things I would not have been able to do otherwise. It means I have been able to take some risks and move some important issues forward in the community. I also get to talk to a lot of young people about how they can have an impact. The greatest benefit is the access I have to a lot of people and organizations which gives you the ability to get things done than otherwise would not be possible. The importance of building a solid network cannot be over-emphasized.
(MD): What is the next achievement you want in your leadership career?
(DM): I always thought I would have a third career. Right now, I still really enjoy what I am doing and helping in transitioning the leadership in my organization. Something else is out there but I just haven't identified it yet. Maybe it's another business ...
Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Don’s comments. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Don.
Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed.
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 Corporate Research Associates (CRA) provides full service market intelligence and research. CRA works with clients to transform information to strategy, uses experience to deliver insights, and is committed to excellence and integrity. Learn more about CRA at www.cra.ca.
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To read a summary, written by Michael DeVenney, of the past 12 interviews this year - click here.