The Modern Mentor:  Reimagining The Interconnectedness of Women in Business

Angela Brown & Fiona Gao 2020 White Paper

The voice of a mentor has since antiquity beenrecognized as the voice of a woman of experienceguiding another worthy soul along a path that theirwisdom illuminates. We often forget the term itselfcomes from Homer’s Odyssey where the goddessAthena took on the form of Mentor to counsel a paththat should be followed in life. While time and ill use has obscured the basicunderstanding that the Mentor relationship is aboutsharing the wisdom of a woman's perspective toenhance another’s journeys through life, the WCTProtégé Project has cast its vision into the past toreinvigorate the concept and is working to develop itas a powerful tool for women in the modern world. Angela Brown and her protege Fiona Gao are amongthose women in business forging a new paradigm ofthe age-old relationship for women through the WCTProtégé Project. Though both women approachedthe project with the reluctance that thoroughly busyprofessionals eye any additional time commitment,the experience has been transformational andbeneficial in ways that they could not have imagined.Having come to understand the great personal andprofessional benefits of developing this relationshipbetween women in the modern workforce they feelcompelled to share their journey and hopefully leadothers to similarly fulfilling experiences. 

Introduction

Angela BrownPresident and Chief Executive Officer, Moneris

Fiona GaoMarketing & Digital LeaderWCT Toronto Board Member

01

01

02

03 - 09

10

Contents

Introduction

Overview

Key questions and answers on how to make a meaningful mentorship relationship work

Conclusion

11Authors

Through their joint exploration of the innerworkings of a successful mentor-menteerelationship they have arrived at an understanding of foundational aspects of therelationship that enhance the likelihood of success. They invite you the reader to sit downin your mind’s eye beside them at the table and listen to their own words as to what ittakes to become part of such a rewarding relationship.

02

Question 1: What brought you to the WCT Protégé Project?

I am at a stage in my career where I ammotivated to extend myself beyond my currentjob to help lift up the next generation. I wasapproached following a speaking engagementto become an executive sponsor in the WCTProtégé Project.  I have been asked to be amentor before and I wasn’t too keen on anopen-ended, unstructured engagement.  Butseveral things appealed to me about theProtégé Project.  First, it was focused on womenalready in leadership roles and second it wasvery clearly just a twelve-month commitment. And WCT provides considerable structure,setting the ground-rules for engagement,screening applicants and making the matches. So I was pleased to volunteer.

I’m a marketing professional with over 14 years ofdiverse international experience and I hadrecently relocated to Canada.  When I applied tothe Protégé Project I was working for a largemultinational technology corporation. I felt thatan executive sponsor could help me transit intothe Canadian technology community and helpme build my personal brand and influence.  As anewcomer, I was also seeking to expand mynetwork of connections with industry leaders. And I was also at a point where I was seekingstrategic guidance in advancing my career inCanada. I understand it is difficult for some women todecide to engage an executive sponsor.  There areno hard and fast rules for deciding if you areready.  The most important thing is to recognizethat, whatever your career stage, you have adeficit of knowledge or experience that anexecutive sponsor can help you fill.  You need tobe willing to show the strength to ask for thathelp.  Obviously, learning is more accessible thanever on-line and otherwise, but committing to acareer sponsorship helps to hold you accountablefor filling those gaps in a timely way.  It’s a bigstep toward personal and professional growth. And it can have a huge impact on your life. The application form for the Protégé Project isdesigned in a way that forces us to articulate cleargoals for the engagement.  In business, we’retaught to develop problem statements beforedeveloping solutions so that discipline wascertainly reflected in the application process.  Ithelped me to bring the same rigour and reflectionto this self-development and growth opportunityas I would to any business opportunity orproblem.03

Fiona:Angela:

"WCT provides considerable structure, setting the ground rules for engagement, screening applicants and making the matches."

Question 2: How did you prepare before starting the program? Were you given any information to get to know each other’s backgrounds?

I had a briefing from the project director anda copy of Fiona’s resume, and I liked that theWCT process required the candidate to shareher goals for the engagement prior to ourfirst meeting. This provided a business-oriented startingpoint. I also think that the match that WCTmade between Fiona and I was also part ofour success; we shared an interest intechnology but did not have any directoverlaps that may have limited our ability toshare.

Once I learned that Angela was going to be mysponsor, I did a lot of research on my own to learnas much as I could about her before our firstmeeting.  Angela is a leader in the fin-tech and paymentsindustry so her on-line profile is quite rich.  Iwanted to move beyond her Linked In profile andresume to begin to understand who she was as aprofessional, a female business leader and aperson. So I wanted to know as much as possibleabout her career journey before our firstmeeting.  I also got some guidance from theProtégé Project director to understand thethinking behind our match.

04

Fiona:

Angela:

"I wanted to  understand who she

was as a professional, a female business leader

and a person."

" I liked that our process required the candidate

to share her goals for the engagement prior to our

first meeting."

Question 3: How important is the first meeting? Are first impressions an important foundation for success in this type of relationship?

  Because Fiona had prepared so well for our introductorymeeting, I was comfortable from the outset.  Before themeeting I may have been wondering if the conversationwould fill the 90-minutes we had allocated or whetherthe kinds of things she was looking for were things Icould help with. That first meeting went by quickly, andthe topics that Fiona chose to focus on were verybusiness oriented. It helped us establish alignment andplan for our work together right away.  Fiona has brought the same level of preparation to everymeeting we’ve had since.  We never run out of things totalk about and our discussions quickly expanded frompure business subjects to the more personal aspects ofleadership.  

  That first meeting was really important.  It was about getting to know who Angela was and what herchallenges and triumphs were.  That introduction helped me to design our future meetings and ithelped me to avoid irrelevant questions. I felt it was important to move beyond our resumes quicklyand establish a foundation of mutual respect and trust. That initial meeting is key to understanding each others’ aspirations and where we are at ourrespective career junctures.  It’s where we aligned on what we both hope to get out of the relationship. And where we covered the logistical stuff – scheduling and working style.  Also because of thedemands I’m making on Angela’s time, I wanted to establish a sense of openness and fun as early aspossible.  

05

Fiona:

Angela:

Question 4: What steps did you take to create a system and environment that allowed for this particular kind of relationship to grow?

  Angela made a great recommendation that we holdour meetings in the open space of the Toronto RoyalConservatory café.  This helped us to establish that,while it was a business meeting but it was a differentkind of business meeting.  Without the trappings ofany office, we established a safe space for a freerexchange of ideas and aspirations.  It was a brilliantidea and allowed us to more quickly establish a peer-to-peer relationship.   

06

Fiona:

Angela:  I really like that spot.  It’s noisy and relaxed andreminds me of my student days.  It helped me to bemore comfortable sharing my experiences.    We allhave stories, experiences we’ve learned from thataren’t always flattering and we’re so well trained notto bring them up at the office.  So, you can’t alwaystell those stories in a corporate setting.  The outsidevenue made our conversation freer but stillpurposeful.   

Question 5: What did you hope to gain from the relationship?

  My objectives evolved over the time I worked with Angela,but I always had an objective.  It was part of the agenda ofevery meeting.  At the outset I was seeking guidance onbuilding profile and a personal brand in the NorthAmerican business environment.  When I had theopportunity to join a start-up and Angela helped me tostrategize to weigh the pros and cons between a career ina large corporation and a smaller one.  I have a long termaspiration to be a chief marketing officer so we have spenta lot of time building a strategy for that.  Then, more recently, my focus has been on managing myrelationships.  Our discussions have had more to do withhuman beings than with business challenges.  I believethat our capacity to effectively manage people can be akey differentiator for women in business, particularly inbusiness leadership.   

07

Fiona:

Angela:  Her background was interesting to me and it was clear that she was someone well on her way to seniorleadership.  I saw that I had experiences that could be relevant to her and, frankly, as a millennialexecutive with a background in marketing, she had knowledge that I could benefit from as well.   

    I found that once we established a level of trust,the advice I could give Fiona was much morefrank than I can give in a corporate context. We had higher level goals for the mentoringengagement, too.  And Fiona always had aspecific goal for each meeting.  We started outsignalling to each other what we wanted to coverin advance.  We would exchange articles thatwe’d read to get the ball rolling.  We do less ofthat now as we’ve come to know each other.  Butthere is still an objective for every discussion wehave.    

Question 6: Did your approach to these meetings differ from normal office interactions? Were there strategies that were unique to this setting?

  A sponsorship relationship is for a limited timeso a protégé must be mindful from the outset inunderstanding the value the relationship bringsand ensuring that she derives every bit of valuepossible.  This means digging deep into thesponsor’s experience to help solve particularbusiness challenges.  Angela’s constructiveadvice helped me to surmount a variety ofobstacles and take advantage of opportunitieswithin the large corporation I worked for.  Shehelped me see the strategic advantages of ashift into a smaller company.  And, once I hadjoined that company, she helped me to positionmyself as a team player willing to contribute to agrowing enterprise above and beyond my ownscope of work.  This kind of strategic counsel isinvaluable but the protégé must actively seek itout.   

08

Fiona:Angela:

A sponsorship relationship is for a limited timeso a protégé must be mindful in understanding the value the relationship brings and ensuring that she derives every bit of value possible.

  From my perspective the sponsorship Angela providedwas fully successful.  Over the course of the year shehelped me move from a big corporation to a start-up. She helped me strategize and identify a pathway to aCMO position.  And she generously shared with me thewealth of the experience she has gained fromeffectively leading strong teams.  She was also generouswith her personal network and helped me expand myown in the process.  I also learned things from Angela that will stay with methroughout my career.  Her strategic approach toinnovation from her position as CEO is to continually askherself where are the blind spots as she takes hercompany down a specific pathway to innovation. What’s out there that is going to catch us off guard? This way of thinking is now part of my own businessphilosophy.  I use it in my own work and in the businessdiscussions I have with our teams.       

Question 7: Looking back how do feel about the experience?

09

Fiona:

Angela:

For me this whole experience has been better than Iexpected it would be.  I care deeply about making morespace for women in technology and in leadership.  I wascautious at the outset but it has exceeded myexpectations and now our one-year relationship is intoits fifteenth month.  Fiona has been a pleasure to workwith.  I can see by the questions that she raises that sheis mentally mapping a career that will take her into aposition of senior leadership. 

"It is important to see this as a mutual relationship. 

The protégé can also bring value and should actively seek opportunities to do

so."

"Fiona is a great resource to me as digital media

professional. She has helped to educate me in the way

people expect to interact with my company's digital

presence." 

The Inflection Point

The prospects that lay on the horizon for reimagining the old paradigms are truly exciting! This is aseminal moment where visionary women are stepping forward with new ways of looking at howwe can cooperate and share our knowledge and experience without being constrained by the oldintergenerational and interdisciplinary boundaries. While our experience through the WCT project is a wonderful example, we feel the climate is ripefor many more successes because we have seen the hunger for such connections voiced in thebusiness community. We feel this will soon lead to a dramatic change for women in business sinceeach success will not stand alone, but will rather create a constellation of interconnectedness thatwill be a positive guide for women in business for generations to come.

You have both spoken about how you see the time we are living in as an “Inflection Point” where traditional norms are giving way to new ways of bringing women in business together in greater collaborative efforts. Can you tell us where you see this path leading?

Angela & Fiona:

10

  Angela Brown is President and Chief Executive Officer of Moneris. She is responsible for continuing to build Moneris’ leadership position inNorth America, strengthening its position in mobile payments, andexpanding its strategic partnerships.  Ms. Brown is an experiencedexecutive with more than 25 years in the payments industry.  

11

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Fiona Gao is a dynamic marketing and digital growth leader with over 15years of award-winning global experiences in marketing, digital growthand customer engagement across key international markets. Previouslyshe had led and scaled multiple high-growth portfolios and teams atGoogle Canada, IMAX, and Maserati in APEC and ME.     

SPECIAL THANKS TO

   The WCT Protégé ProjectWCT (Women in Communications and Technology) with the support ofCORUS, created the Protégé Project in 2014.  The Protégé Project is the firstnational, trans-industry, trans-company executive sponsorship program forwomen in Canada.  It maintains an active roster of some of the leading CEOsin business, telecommunications, broadcasting and technology who havecommitted to provide executive sponsorship opportunities to women.  

  Angela Brown is President and Chief Executive Officer of Moneris. She is responsible for continuing to build Moneris’ leadership position inNorth America, strengthening its position in mobile payments, andexpanding its strategic partnerships.  Ms. Brown is an experiencedexecutive with more than 25 years in the payments industry.   

  Lynda Leonard, Program Director, The WCT Protégé Project