hr influencer
MEET THE HR INFLUENCERS:
Ruth Brothers, CHRL, CHRE
PERFORMANCE, LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT COACH
By Kristy Rydz
Finding a job you love getting up for
each morning can be rare. Almost
unheard of is doing it twice over the
course of one lifetime.
But that’s exactly what Ruth Brothers
has accomplished.
In what she describes as her first love af-fair,
Brothers spent more than 20 years as a
successful leader and HR vice-president –
“There isn’t anything in a human resources
department that I haven’t done,” she said
– for major companies like Shell Canada,
Nabisco Ltd., General Electric, CAE Inc.
and Teva Pharmaceuticals.
After planning to semi-retire five years
ago, she is now thriving as a full-time in-dependent
performance, leadership and
management coach working with top and
emerging talent in some of the world’s big-gest
companies.
“Who would have thought that after
having a career I was so passionate about
and that I loved so much, that I would
end up having a second career that I have
the same amount of passion for?” said
Brothers.
She told HR Professional how her di-verse
experience, in the boardroom and as
a resource for today’s talent, keeps her on
the top of her game.
What was your first HR job?
Ruth Brothers: I had some testing done
to apply for funding for school. When I
told them I wanted to be a social work-er,
they said, “Nope, not sure if that’s the
right thing. You should probably focus
on something called public relations or
personnel.” And I thought, “Personnel?
What’s that?”
I graduated with very strong math
marks and I had two job offers – one was
with Air Canada and one was with Shell
Oil, in the accounting department.
The personnel manager for Shell, who
was interviewing me, saw some talent in
me. She went to her boss and got the ap-proval
to add a person to her department.
She called me back six weeks later and
asked me to come work for her.
She was my first mentor and I cannot
tell you to this day how grateful I am for
her. She has, unfortunately, passed away,
but when I got my first vice-president
job years ago, I called her and I thanked
her. I told her, “If it hadn’t been for you, I
wouldn’t have the career I’ve had.”
Tell me about your current job. What
are your main areas of responsibility?
RB: The kind of coaching I do is helping
leaders become better leaders, and in turn,
better business people. I also work with
high-potential talent. Really progressive
organizations understand that in order to
retain their brightest and best stars, they
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