
interview
HRP: Tell me about your
job now. What are your main
areas of responsibility?
LTG: I work primarily with the executive
team and the board of directors to set out
the long-term strategic direction of the
organization, and I lead the strategy man-agement
fulfillment process. I also have
corporate affairs responsibilities: HR, or-ganizational
development, internal audit,
legal services, PR and communications,
IT, facility services, customer support
services, nutrition and a handful of oth-er
areas. It sounds like a lot, but I have an
outstanding team of 11 leaders, who real-ly
are the functional heads of each of those
different service divisions. That team re-ports
to me, and I report to the president
and CEO.
HRP: What do you love
about your job?
LTG: Three things: purpose, variety and
difficulty. I think fundamentally I am very
aligned to our organization’s mission. I
feel very lucky that the work we do is mak-ing
a difference. With regard to variety,
my portfolio is very big and very diverse;
the work is so varied. In terms of the last
point, I notice that I keep taking on these
big transformational or turn-around chal-lenges.
“Thinking” work is stimulating – I
like peeling back the layers on a difficult
problem, and seeing how to bring a team
together to solve it.
■■ First job: I was a parking lot attendant at the Toronto International Centre, in the dead of winter. We’d
stand in the parking lot with these marshalling wands, directing cars, and we made $2.80 an hour.
■■ Childhood ambition: It sounds totally hokey, but it was to make other people happy. I knew that
if I could make other people laugh or smile, they just felt better.
■■ Best boss and why: Angus J. Kinnear, president and CEO of Canada 3000 Airlines. He really pushed
you to achieve things you didn’t know you were capable of, and he was an exceptional talent spotter. He
gave people opportunities to excel.
■■ Current source of inspiration: On the personal front, it’s my family: my husband and my two
boys, aged 13 and 7. On the professional side, I am really inspired by our patients, families, staff, physi-cians
and volunteers. The things we accomplish here are absolutely awesome.
■■ Best piece of advice I ever got: It was from a labour lawyer named Bill Phelps, who became
a huge mentor to me during my career. I was about to lead a process I’d never led before, and was re-ally
doubting my readiness. He said, “You have everything you need within you.” That has always stuck
with me. When a person has that inner confidence, they can do anything.
■■ Favourite music: My kids’ guitar recitals – they both play acoustic guitar and are being classically
trained. I always think they sound outstanding – I’m their most enthusiastic fan!
■■ Last book you read: The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, by Bill
Conaty and Ram Charan. It’s a must-read.
■■ How do you spend time away from work? I’m a total foodie. I spend my time cooking and
baking, hanging out at my cottage and sometimes even taking cooking lessons.
IN A NUTSHELL
HRP: What are the challenges
you experience in your job?
LTG: Time and resources. Like any oth-er
senior executive role, the demands are
very high. I am driven to deliver high re-sults,
and I put a lot of myself into my
work. That means I juggle a lot between
home and work. Time always seems to be
the thing in the shortest supply. In terms
of resources, I’ve never worked in a no-margin
or negative-margin business like
health care. We don’t have the resources
I was accustomed to in the private sector.
Illustration by Marigold88 / Photos.com
50 ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL