An ode to a mentor
A few words to celebrate a career that inspired many others and jump started my own.
I was always lucky to have found work straight out of university. An intern with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport back in 2017, I was so excited to be wearing my suit and tie to work, pretending I was making policy and creating change as I worked on tweets or filled out a spreadsheet from my desk. I guess somewhere in between tweeting, excel and sending mail I had attracted the attention of my colleagues, at least enough to keep me on the team past my internship.
It was a colorful time, under the leadership of Zenia Wadhwani and Jennifer Proulx, two women who made me think about mentorship and human capital investment in a different way. We were the team leading Ontario’s 150th anniversary programming and truly our skies were not grey. From concerts to funding children’s photography to thought leading and so much more, ontario.ca/150 is a park bench I often sit on to reminisce on the birth of my short lived career till now. With my first gig ever coming to an end as Ontario entered 151, Zenia and Jennifer along with a few special colleagues were trying to set me up for success.
In the frenzy of the project coming to an end, no new job offer in hand I went from posting to posting, trying to find my fit until meeting a person called Anne Matthews.
Our first conversation was sunny, she seemed really cool and was looking for a digital personality to work with. We got to know each other over coffee and she told me to apply for a job at the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.
It wasn’t until a few months into my new job that I found out that I had actually done really well in all my interviews but she still wanted to see how I respond to changing circumstances. And just like that I could realize why Zenia was excited to hand me over to her when I was leaving 150.
Anne Matthews is a thought leader. A career I dream of having in public service. From adapting to SARS to directing Cabinet Office Communications, her twenty years of service for Ontario helped implement Ontario’s first ever digital team — Ontario Digital Service(ontario.ca/digital), Ontario’s Behavioural Insights Unit and transitioning the Ontario intranet from the era she joined in to the era I came around. But in all those elusive victories, perhaps her role at ServiceOntario is cherished the most.
On my first day of work to her last, Anne was always full of inspiration. She was clever at getting the work done, and found a way to do it in the most easy way. Yet, she was diligent in slowing down the pace when it mattered and creating room to breathe without seeing a need for it. Her attitude towards young public servants always made me wonder how she must have been when she joined the OPS, but I guess this Friday when I realized that she has left the Ontario Government, I found an explanation of my own.
It wouldn’t do justice to her impact in my career if I wouldn’t want share a few lessons she had started to craft in me, to those looking to grow.
- Lesson 1: Direct. Anne would like me to keep it short. She likes a clear narrative and active wordplay which results in instant engagement from your audience. As you can see this is one that’s hard to master, but I think I am getting better.
- Lesson 2: Change. Anne prefers to inspire change agents; a key leadership skill, one that is constantly crafted by my current boss, Nicole Worsley as well. Anne taught me how to persevere when the boat is rocking, allowing me to maneuver in and out of tricky situations to get to our end goals.
- Lesson 3: Influence. Anne had a unique way of teaching me this, she’d put me in situations where I would have no options but to influence behaviour with empathy and understanding in order to keep our ship sailing.
- Lesson 4: Delegate. When you come in fresh with energy and enthusiasm you want to do it all. Anne had challenged me to take lead on projects when I had no idea what delegation is about in order to teach me this important lesson. She showed me how delegation becomes easier when the leader acts as a team player creating shared accountability on success and failures.
- Lesson 5: Listen, to understand not to reply. From day one she had shared that she likes my curiosity and in time she nudged me towards listening more to help create and execute my vision on things I associate myself with increasing my apt for human centered design.
Right now, quite frankly I feel like breaking the rules of lesson one, but I like to think that Anne is always right.
Leadership and power have received cool annotations in today’s day, but when I think of Anne’s role in my life, it has an older ring to it. As modern we were when we worked together, my thoughts on her leadership may be a little back dated — ones that echo with trust, warmth and friendship.
Thank you Anne Matthews for taking an intern turned analyst and making a decent advisor out of him. You were the leader I hoped for when I left Zenia’s leadership back in 2018, and more.
Enjoy your life after public service, I’ll stay tuned on what’s next.
