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RUTH RAPPINI: Vice-President, Organization Development; Medavie Blue Cross, Halifax

In 2004, Ruth Rappini heeded the call of the east and joined Medavie Blue Cross. In her role as vice-president of Organization Development, she has a front-seat view on the growth of the organization, not only in Atlantic Canada, but also in Ontario and Québec. “Constant growth is what makes my job interesting and challenging,” Rappini says. That growth drives change not only within the organization, but also in her role, which includes HR, strategic planning, corporate communications, change management, facilities, as well as the development of the Medavie Health Foundation.

Getting my MBA was the smartest career move I ever made. My degree is in English literature. Believe it or not, that English lit background has really helped me in business because I’m often called upon to build a case using the facts, and use language to pull an argument together. But in the beginning of my career I lacked the financial background I needed to be successful as a business leader, and that made me nervous. So I took my executive MBA, which has been a key milestone in my career. It gave me real confidence.

Don’t underestimate the value of confidence. I’ve worked in some very large companies, and I have seen fabulous people held back in their careers because they’ve been afraid to promote themselves. Looking back on my early career, I think I could have been more assertive in promoting myself and my accomplishments. It takes courage and confidence to move to the next level. But it’s worth it.

Successful leaders bring focus to their organizations. Clarity and concentration can really help organizations and individuals see opportunities and take advantage of them. Earlier in my career, I was with a company that went from $1-to-$2-billion in sales to $10-billion in two years. At the time, I worked closely with the president in the area of strategic planning. Growing ten-fold in two years is exciting but also a tremendous challenge. Afterwards the president came to me and said if we didn’t have that core vision and focus, we wouldn’t have been able to handle that much growth.

I tend to draw inspiration from people with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, especially those who have overcome personal hardships, because I admire the fortitude it takes to do that. If you listen, opportunities to learn are all around you. Everyone has knowledge and experience to share and I try to learn from a lot of different people.

Someone I greatly respect once told me something I’ll never forget. He said, ‘don’t be impatient. Enjoy every stage of your career for what it is. Get as much breadth as you can and learn from it, both the positive and the negative. Then move on.’ That advice has proven invaluable.

Family experiences have had a powerful impact on my development as a leader. My father grew up in Northern Italy and was a prisoner of war during the Second World War before immigrating to Canada in 1951. His experience has instilled in me the importance of having the tenacity to keep your focus and move forward with your life, no matter what cards have been dealt to you.

I want to keep learning and taking on new challenges, especially expanding my leadership role in our community. I’m interested in taking on more board work because it’s a wonderful chance to meet and learn from interesting senior leaders who are making a difference in their communities. I have many interests that I continue to pursue including authoring and teaching at the university level.

Interviewed by Anna Stuart, vice president, Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette – Atlantic Canada’s leading recruitment and human resource consulting firm. Leader’s Insight conversations are published in each issue of Atlantic Business Magazine. Feedback: dchafe@atlanticbusinessmagazine.com

I’ve always been fascinated by the way that people use titles when they talk to, say, a politician. When people first addressed me as ‘Mr. President’, I’d look over my shoulder and say, ‘Is Bill Clinton in the room?’

You can learn a lot by watching other successful people. Workshops, seminars and literature on best practices for management all have merit, but I think learning is experiential. It often happens just by observing other people, and not necessarily your peers or those who do the same work as you.

There comes a point when you feel stale in a job. That happened to me. I thought of retiring, moving somewhere else or doing something completely different. Then, over a 24-month period, we had to hire five new vice presidents. Effectively we created an entirely new leadership team with fresh ideas, energy and perspectives. That refreshed me. So much so that I often joke that it was like getting a new job.

There is a moral authority that comes with being the president of a university. You have to use it carefully and protect it from being tarnished or squandered. As long as you use this authority appropriately, you have the edge.

Sometimes when you’re feeling tension, the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut and start moving your legs. I’m not saying walk away from a situation, but walk around until you feel calm. Then, you can come back and deal with whatever you have to deal with. When dealing with a problem, you have to consider the breadth of the past – the factors that contributed to the situation. What was happening in the economy, the country, politics, and technology? Ask yourself those questions and you have the beginnings of an answer to the issue at hand.

Leadership is a decathlon. To be a great leader, you need a breadth of skills, but you don’t necessarily have to be the best at everything. In fact, at the Olympics you can win the decathlon and never come in first.

People have great expectations of leaders. They value consultation and consideration, but they also have a deep yearning for authority and leadership. The trick is to strike the right balance. Without it, you get into trouble and people won’t want to follow you. I don’t think anyone sets out to be a mentor. That’s a little pompous. Just go about your business. Do it joyfully, mindfully and, hopefully, effectively. If that rubs off on other people, if you have an impact just by doing what you do, that’s a very positive side benefit. You have to have a synthetic intelligence to be a good leader. You have to have the capacity to pull information together from different sources in a dynamic way to understand how the whole system works. For a leader, the solution to any situation is not so much in being innovative, but in pulling together the thoughts of other smart people. If I’ve learned anything that I can pass on to the next generation of leaders, it’s this: sift out the trends from the real opportunities for change. Surround yourself with people who dream big. They make an organization great.

Perhaps the most important advice I can give is to know yourself and your weaknesses, and point them out to your colleagues. I tell everyone I hire, ‘Your first obligation in doing your job is to tell me when I’m full of @#$!.’

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