Michelle Amiro: Vice President and General Manager of AML COmmunications

Bluteau DeVenney and Company (BDCO): What did you do to move to a leadership role?

Michelle Amiro (MA) Once I completed my MBA I got promoted very quickly to a director role. Sometimes there's luck in circumstances and in a way I happened to be in the right place at the right time. So not only was the timing right in that sense, but also I was also very fortunate to get into the IT industry in the early nineties when it was taking off. I knew I wanted to be in a leadership role, so having success in the role I was in was important. Also establishing and identifying very early on people in the industry that had those very senior roles, getting them as mentors, and asking them questions to learn from them instead of pretending that I knew everything. Still, today, when I have a new task I go out and find the people that have actually done it and ask how they did it. Instead of trying to learn the hard way and make all the same mistakes, I find out what were the best practices and how did they implement those practices. You do always need to bring some innovation, but you also need to look at the best practices and have a learn-and-build mentality as opposed to just starting from scratch.

(BDCO): What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of?

(MA): I think it's being open to that lifelong learning. As professionals when we get to the point where we think that we know it all, have done it all, and can tackle anything, I think that's when we're really limiting ourselves. Those that I have surrounded myself with and those that I have seen achieve success, they're lifelong learners. And that doesn't just mean learning from senior people. I know I'm learning a lot from this new generation on how to manage and motivate them. I have to learn from them because, unfortunately, I'm not part of that generation. So that openness and lifelong learning is really key.

(BDCO): What about doing less of?

(MA): Starting my career in the nineties, and also being in a fast paced constantly changing industry, I've learned that to be managers and leaders in rapidly growing companies, it's a bottle neck if you're doing too much of the task yourself. You have to learn how to let go, and really manage, delegate, and empower downwards. Sometimes people might not do it exactly the way you would have done it, but it takes acceptance, patience, and training. Maybe the first time it's going to take you longer to teach someone how to do it than it would have taken you to do it yourself, but if you don't let those things go it's a bottle neck to your company's growth.

(BDCO): What experience helped you the most in your career and why?

I would say it was my first job after completing my MBA. The reason being that it was the early nineties, and at that time it was in the IT industry that you would get the most experience the fastest, and I was in the fastest growing company in the IT industry. This enabled me to face change and challenges at lightning speed. One day you may be doing sales and business development, the next day you could be doing strategy for the marketing and launching a new product, the next day you could be launching larger partnerships. You were thrown into opportunities because there weren't a lot ahead of you who had filled those roles, which provided a lot of opportunity really quickly in the industry. The other thing that happened at that time is that I had an incredible opportunity in terms of the leadership that I had in that company. The owner of the company had already accomplished those things in his career, so he would take young people who had the attitude and aptitude, and he molded them into the next leaders as opposed to being the leader himself. He was at a point in his career where he wanted to step back and create new leaders instead of being out at the forefront. So that management philosophy really accelerated things. Also, at the time the government had come out with a program in Ontario dedicated to training people. Every 25 percent companies placed into a learning budget, the government contributed 75 percent. In one year the company spent $40,000 in investing in my education from some of the top business gurus in the US. So for me it was a combination of timing, this program, and leadership buy-in that created those experiences in a very short period of time.

(BDCO): What was the greatest challenge moving your career forward?

(MA): I don't think there was anything external, but more internal - in the way of work-life balance. When the career is parachuting ahead and you're in a partnership, you have two careers to balance, and if you want to have a family all of a sudden it becomes trade-off and a challenge. Also, it was work-life balance that made me decide to come back to Nova Scotia. It was a considerable step back financially at the time for both me and my husband, but our parents were of an age that we needed to come back to manage their care. If they had been younger we might have made different choices, but we didn't feel like we had any more time at that point. It may or may not have been the right choice from a career perspective, but it was certainly was the right choice for us and our family. I haven't found I've had to sacrifice very much. How hard you work - that comes from within - it doesn't matter where you're living.

(BDCO): What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership?

(MA): One thing I've always gotten feedback on in any organization is positivity. Even when we've gone through tougher times, I had a pact with the president of our organization that we would find the good in every day. When going through a recession it's very easy to get caught up in the negative, so our goal was to find the positive every day and lead with example. Also I feel that having been through a lot of challenges, being able to keep that emotional balance and perspective has been very positive for me, and has been valued by others as well.

(BDCO): What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role?

(MA): I was with a company that was doing employee surveys in the US market and 9/11 happened, and we had some big contracts signed that weren't going to happen. Things happen that are not forecasted or planned, and those things require flexibility. I think anyone can navigate through calm waters, but it's how you get through the rough seas that counts. And I learned very early on that the key things to predict performance outcome is attitude, aptitude, and support. Carrying the right attitude and having the support both internally and externally allows you to get through all of these surprises.

(BDCO)What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role?

(MA): When I was younger, it was always the team sports I gravitated towards, so being that team leader and team coach is really rewarding because I genuinely like people. Now I'm in the retail industry and we have hundreds of staff, and many of them are putting themselves through university. When you mentor people and you see them grow and they go on in their careers and take a piece of what they learned with them, that's very fulfilling.

(BDCO): What is the next achievement you want in your leadership career?

(MA): At this stage, in terms of positions and rewards I've accomplished what I wanted. The next thing I'd like to do is increase community involvement. Now that my daughter is getting older and I am not traveling as much with work, giving back to the community is really the next tier. That's something I've always believed very strongly in.

(BDCO): What is the biggest challenge you face in achieving results in your work?

(MA): That work-life balance is always a juggling act. You have to make conscious choices. I've been very fortunate with the support I have at home.

(BDCO): What is your greatest opportunity/goal for providing value for your organization?

(MA): I always look at it from a sales and business development perspective, so the goals I set have always been around growth and profitability. They're very tangible. I do set very concrete goals and objectives. Our organization is a dealer for Rogers, so I have peer dealers and how we rank against key performance metrics is also very important. I am very driven by those performance indicators and how I want to fall within those indicators.

(BDCO): What added support or capability would help you most in delivering on your goals?

(MA): I feel it's the people you surround yourself with. Also, I never feel threatened. Whenever I go into any role, I approach it by thinking how I can work myself out of that role. I may not know what that next role is going to be, but I do know that the only way I can move on and have new opportunities and continue to be challenged is to approach it in that way. You do this by hiring people who are brighter and more energetic. That helps you accomplish your goals much easier, and you can successfully work yourself out of that role and move on, and that is a good thing. Never look at it as a negative. There's always another challenge out there.

Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Michelle's observations. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Michelle.

Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed.

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Starting as one location in Truro, Nova Scotia, AML Communications has grown to more than 30 locations from Halifax to South Western Ontario. They have been built on a commitment of providing consistent , carefree communication. AML has also had the distinction of being named one of Progress Magazine’s “Best Places to Work".

You can find out more about AML Communications at www.amlcares.com.

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