April 3, 2024 • 29 mins
Navigating the intricate dance of leadership and organizational success often feels like a high-wire act without a safety net. That's why we invited Duncan Reed, a former engineer turned leadership consultant, to share the insights he gained while transforming a startup into a thriving entity in the competitive world of electronic manufacturing services. In our candid conversation, Duncan reveals the pivotal moments and decisions that propelled not just his career but also the trajectory of Creation Technologies, emphasizing the profound role trust plays in forming a robust leadership cadre.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa Peters (00:07):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
(00:28):
us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at LeaderImpactca oron social media at LeaderImpact.
If you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at LeaderImpactcom.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Duncan Reed.
Throughout the last 25 years asan executive in the electronic
manufacturing services industry,Duncan has had the opportunity
(00:51):
to lead and be part of someamazing teams.
The EMS industry is known forits high growth and competitive
nature.
As such, Duncan learned earlyon how critical a strong
leadership team is to creating ahealthy organization.
As a principal at DR Consulting, Duncan's passion is to help
leadership teams develop healthyorganizations which are great
(01:12):
places to work and thereforeoutperform their competition.
He is also on the foundingadvisory board of the Trinity
Family Wealth Advisors.
Duncan lives with his wife AnnaMarie of 35 years in Richmond
Hill, Ontario.
Welcome to the show Duncan.
Duncan Reed (01:27):
Thank you, Lisa, it's great to be here.
Lisa Peters (01:29):
Well, it's great to be here because I'm going to
add to your intro, because Iread on LinkedIn, because that's
where I go it says you're acertified working genius.
Duncan Reed (01:39):
There you go I'm certifiable.
I guess that's what it means.
Lisa Peters (01:43):
Certifiable.
Well, it is nice to see youagain.
I know we have met at a summitearlier this year, so it is nice
to have you back.
I'm excited to hear a littlebit more about you, a little bit
about your journey.
We will begin, if that's good,with you.
Duncan Reed (02:00):
Yeah, all right.
Wow, do you want me to just goover a little bit of my journey,
like my history and the thing?
Lisa Peters (02:07):
I want to hear a little bit about your
professional journey and how yougot to where you are today.
Really, it's about thosepivotal moments or those turning
points in that journey, thatsort of propel you or move you
forward or move you back, Idon't know.
Duncan Reed (02:21):
Yeah, so the last 25 years I've been working for
well over 30.
Engineer by nature, I went toQueens way back when and got my
engineering degree and workedfor a big corporate company Prax
Air or Union Carbide at thetime and lived in Edmonton out
your way, a little past you andyeah, and grew up in that
(02:45):
industry.
My brother started a companycalled Creation Technologies
with a bunch of buddies out ofschool back in the early 90s and
they had the normal growingpains and then it took off.
Through the 90s the electronicsindustry really took form and
(03:06):
they grew pretty fast in theVancouver area and then they
opened a location in Toronto orMiss Saga in 98, I guess, and I
joined in 99.
So it was like 30 people and Ididn't know much, if anything,
about the industry.
And then it took off.
So we went from 30 people toover 400, I think, in three
(03:30):
years.
So it was crazy growth andgreat learning.
And what they did early on isthey let employees buy into the
company and if you're going totake a senior position with the
company which I did it was kindof all in.
So I took all my RSPs and Ieven borrowed some money from
him at the time and, yeah, itwent all in Wow, crazy regrets.
(03:54):
I think about three or fourmonths into it, thinking, oh my
goodness, what did I do?
Because you couldn't just leave.
It wasn't a liquid investment,so to speak, so but probably the
best decision I ever made, itjust.
The company grew.
We got some inequity partner in2007, but I started leading a
division in the Markham area and, yeah, just to give you a sense
(04:19):
of growth.
So over the 20 years we, thecompany, grew from I think it
was like 50 million in sales atthat time, but most of it was
out in on the West Coast, andthen we Organically grew, like I
said for the, for the nextthree or four years and by the
time I Left the company in 2019,it was, I think, 750 million in
(04:44):
In revenue and about 3,000people.
So and it's still going strongtoday.
Great bunch of people stillworking that.
But it was.
There was a lot of pivotalmoments in there, as you can
imagine.
Yeah, I think some of those bigones were just realizing that
you can't do it alone and thatmight sound obvious, but having,
(05:05):
I think my epiphany was.
I remember I Kind of got intomy role because the guy I was
reporting to just said this istoo much, and he actually
swapped roles with me and it washis idea of mine and and then I
remember thinking at one pointI got a higher people that I'll
(05:26):
want them to swap roles with meand that was a pivotal change
for me.
So when you hire people thatway, obviously I listen to them
really closely and I.
A lot of those people are stillfriends and I'm doing great.
Some are still with creationand some are doing their own
thing elsewhere.
Lisa Peters (05:44):
But that was a pivotal moment for me, the
biggest one so going back to you, cashed in all your RSPs and
Borrowed money.
I can't imagine that, and wellI can't.
And I can't imagine my husbandcoming home and saying honey.
Duncan Reed (06:02):
Yeah, it was pretty good about it.
She was kind of, yeah and itwas, I mean, it was early, early
on, but it was a lot of money,yeah, and but it worked out.
And you know the people thatran the company, including my
brother, just very Conservativein nature because I think the
problem with the industry was atthat time a lot of companies
(06:25):
went kind of went for it.
So they had a big opportunityand the details around it are
you, can you, you buy a lot ofinventory to Build your
customers products, so they haveto be very financially stable
because that inventory is reallyonly good for them.
So you can imagine, if you youhave all this working capital
and if enough, a customer goesbust, you're, you're probably
(06:47):
going to go down with the shipand we never took those risks
and, yeah, it was, it was.
But it was a lot of stressfultimes for sure.
But doing it with people thatyou care about, that you respect
, and in that kind of thing we,it was, it was.
I look back at it with fondmemories, but there is some,
yeah, there was sweat on my browfor a lot of times through it,
(07:10):
for sure.
Lisa Peters (07:11):
I guess so.
So you talked a little bitabout you swap jobs with someone
, and then you talked about youhad to hire people.
I believe you said you wouldhire people, you would swap with
.
Duncan Reed (07:23):
Yeah.
So I just remember thinking Iwould hire people with more
experience and and certainlyMore smarts than I had, and I
think it was just.
And then we got into this modewhere we started learning
together.
So I don't know, you'veprobably heard of the global
leadership summit.
We started doing that, probably, and it was because it was
inexpensive.
(07:43):
It wasn't any, you know.
It was really good, but it wasreally low cost, a great way to
get leadership training.
And again, in this industrywe're hiring a lot of people and
you know so there's lots ofdollars, lots of Actually not a
lot of customers, but you need alot of people to build product,
to help engineer it, to makesure it's it's good quality, to
(08:06):
buy them the parts that you'reUsed using to assemble the
product.
So a lot of work, people,capital in the business, and so
Having good leadership structureand a good culture was critical
to the business.
And I think the the best partabout going to the global
(08:26):
leadership summit is we wenttogether.
Right, so you'd go to these.
You know is either at it he wasusually at a church and, but we
do it once a year and then myleadership team and other
leadership teams around NorthAmerica who went to this thing
would, would, share ideas, andwe integrated a lot of this good
(08:46):
stuff, and that's actually whatI love doing now is is Helping
companies be healthy in buildingstrong leadership teams and
mostly use the table group stuffthe Patrick Lincione Stuff
that's the.
The working genius is one ofthose, so I got certified in
that, but that's a small part ofit.
So, yeah, that's what I, that'swhat I love to do now, because
it made such a difference in mycareer to be able to,
(09:09):
specifically to learn togetherand have a team that Push each
other to a whole new level andcared enough about each other to
make us, to make the team,better than the sum of the parts
.
Lisa Peters (09:21):
Yeah, I, you commented about, you know, the
global leadership summit.
You would take your team andit's good to share it with the
team and you.
You said that they were mostlyat a church, so I think my
question is more about the staff.
How were the staff acceptingGoing to a church to do it
globally?
Duncan Reed (09:42):
I think it was.
It was funny early on.
So I I'm a person of faith andI and churches can be awkward
sometimes, right, because theyput out a different persona than
maybe what you do at work.
And that's what I love aboutLeader Impact it's fairly
transparent through that.
But early on, and the goal ofthe leadership summit early on
(10:06):
was very churchy.
It isn't now it's veryappropriate to bring business
people to it.
Back then I think I rememberholding hands with people and
singing with some of theleadership teams, so you can
imagine, right, but it was a wayto get away and we had
celebrated.
We had literally, when it wasand I think, the first time we
(10:27):
had to go far enough away thatwe stayed in hotels and stuff.
It wasn't even local.
But when it got reallyestablished we would go to
somewhere close to the officeand it would be a two day thing
and after the first day we'dcome back to my house for a
barbecue and just debrief on itand we would literally say what
kind of what out of these talksdo we need to integrate in how
(10:51):
we do things?
We changed the way we did yearlyreviews.
We developed a really cool wayto.
We called it an annualpartnership discussion and still
, the best thing I've ever seenin an annual inventory of
relationship is what I'd call itwith the people that you work
with.
But yeah, a lot of that cameout of these great teachings in
(11:15):
there and a big part of this thetable group stuff, five
dysfunctions of a team andreally taking people through,
making their organization have alot of clarity around why they
exist and what they do and howthey behave.
That kind of thing is what Ilove to do now, because it makes
it better.
Lisa Peters (11:35):
All right, all right.
Well, our next question isabout your best principle of
success, If you have one and ifyou can tell us a story that
illustrates it.
Duncan Reed (11:46):
Yeah.
So I think I'd be repeatingmyself a bit, but it's again.
It's that you can't do it onyour own and having a little bit
of humility I mean I don'tthink of myself as a super
humble guy, but I think I putmyself in positions where I have
to ask for help a lot andcertainly when you do that, I
(12:08):
think people what is it?
Craig Groschelle says it reallywell.
He says people wanna follow aleader.
That's real, as opposed to onethat is on a pedestal.
Because I think when people seea leader learning, they're
gonna follow along because theywanna learn as well.
And that's been a huge part ofmy journey is to have people
(12:31):
around who have no problemsaying hey, that wasn't cool
what you did in that meeting, orthat you pushed too hard in the
circumstance, and just havepeople that I did life with as
opposed to did work with.
So I was fortunate, I think, inmost of my career, to be able
(12:55):
to have a lot of transparencybetween my work life, my family
life and my faith even and Iwouldn't ever consider myself as
a person who goes out andpreaches or anything like that.
But I think it's just Jesusjust loved the people around him
and that was really evident andI hope that's what people saw
(13:19):
me doing, see me doing so Ithink that's probably the
biggest learning.
But, boy, I have a ton ofstories where I've mocked up
royally and had a team thatpicked me up, and probably the
funniest story I could tell youis we used to probably to a
fault, pray, play practicaljokes on each other and we had
(13:41):
pretty strong relationships withour customers because we didn't
have a lot of customers but sowe had.
We were really an extension fromthese customers' companies, so
we got to know them pretty well,that they got involved in
practical jokes and I probablytook a few more of them than
others.
But I had a couple of timeswhere people did they had a
(14:02):
customer threaten the businessto me or something like some big
deals like that, and where theygot super nervous about it.
But it was just.
We just felt if you could havea strong working relationship
with the people and make it moreabout again doing life together
all the way around, that itwould be more enjoyable and you
(14:23):
would take the business moreseriously.
You'd own it.
A big part of how we interactedwith our customers and each
other was we wanted to feel andact like owners, and that was a
huge part of what we did.
I could tell you stories, butthey're too long, I think, but
yeah.
Lisa Peters (14:44):
As the principle of success and saying you can't do
it on your own.
As a woman, I think sometimesit's hard to ask for help
because you're seen as weak.
And then you think, what willpeople think?
And it is a struggle and as Ilisten to you I know that it
(15:04):
makes a stronger team.
Like I know all the good things, but there's this little
nagging of what will peoplethink and we read a lot of books
in Leader Impact about that andas women it's so nice to come
together and talk about that.
We're not alone.
Duncan Reed (15:19):
Yeah, and I think so.
There's obviously a differencetonight.
For obvious reasons, I can'tfully relate to that.
I just know that I've neverfollowed someone that wasn't
real about their successes andtheir failures, right, and I
think even all those books thatyou read, most of them talk
about that changing.
(15:40):
The thing that caused thechange in their life was failure
and what they did to get backon top of it.
And I was forcing, I had some.
Well, part of it and I'm notsaying I'm a champion of having
women in the workplace and allthat kind of stuff, but we just
needed the best people and itwas hard to find people.
(16:01):
So I think at one point I'dhave anywhere from six to 10
people on a leadership team at atime and more than a couple of
times half of them were women.
So which wasn't?
I don't know if that wasreflective of the workforce or
not, but it was just becausethey were the best.
I mean, it was purely out ofbeing selfish to get those
(16:23):
people on that team right.
So but I hear what you'resaying.
I think that can be a challenge.
Lisa Peters (16:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So you kind of talk a littlebit about failings and mistakes,
and obviously we know that welearn more from our failings and
mistakes than our own successes, and I was wondering if you
could share one of your greatestfailings or mistakes and what
you learned from it.
Duncan Reed (16:50):
I think it again.
There's a lot of them.
I think one of the ones thatcomes true is that it was really
in relationships with the teamin the early days was not really
(17:10):
being able to understand wherepeople were coming from and
having kind of the emotionalintelligence of reflecting on
how, if I felt a certain way andI thought I was being true to
what was right, I assumedeverybody knew that and that was
a very bad assumption.
So I was really using empathyand going through some difficult
(17:36):
discussions with people thathelped me be seen as a person
who cared, but also helped megrow as a person so I could
really understand where thosepeople were at.
So in specific situations, youknow, I'd have people that I
felt weren't performing andinstead of really being able to
(18:02):
talk to them in a way that gavethem feedback that we could talk
it through, I think I had theassumption that they knew they
weren't performing in a way.
So how did I had?
So it just created moreattention.
So I think now I'm a lot betterat just kind of entering that
kind of that what would feellike a dangerous conversation
(18:24):
and and and have it out, say itfeels this way.
How are you feeling and tryingand try and get everything on
the table and hopefully there'senough trust there that you can
work it through.
And in a lot of cases, man, thethe change in people's attitude
and their ability to perform itand my ability to work with them
(18:46):
change significantly.
So that is probably a lot ofhardships through that,
especially when you're busyright, you're in a growing
business and it's it's not likeyou get these.
You sit down at the end of theday and you relax and you think
through every littleconversation you had.
I think it's just that slowingdown and realizing how important
(19:06):
that is, particularly when youyou get into a more senior role
and you have more people thatyou're dealing with.
The other one I just just theother side of that too is
working with people that youreport to.
So I wasn't, I wasn't the ownerof the company and I wasn't the
CEO, so I had to deal with theteam of people that I was, you
(19:30):
know, running several divisionsthat reported into these people,
and it's the same thing, youknow.
Is there a good bit of trust?
Am I showing them that I careabout their, their roles and
what they have to get through,or is it, you know?
Is it all about me?
So just getting perspective anddoing that has been probably
(19:53):
the where I failed the most, butwhere I able, I think, what
I've learned through the journeyas well.
Lisa Peters (20:00):
Yeah, our group is reading Bernay Brown's Daring
Greatly and we're talking aboutvulnerability, and you can't be
vulnerable with someone unlessyou trust them.
Duncan Reed (20:11):
So I'm thinking to what I'm, what I'm reading right
now, when you say that it's youwouldn't have a team if you
didn't have trust and you wouldmean that's not, yes, not
empathizing with who you are andwhat you're going through,
right yeah pretty hard anywaysmake that connection yeah right.
Lisa Peters (20:32):
So obviously I mean you are a city chair of leader
impact.
You know that we, our groupleader impact, wants to grow per
person personally,professionally and spiritually,
for increasing impact, and I waswondering if you could share an
example of how the spiritualmakes a practical difference in
your life as a leader.
Duncan Reed (20:52):
I'm at, I think, in my journey right now it's gonna
say related to age, but I don'tthink it's related to age, I
think it's just the journey I'mon right now is it's so evident
that me, seeking to grow myrelationship with Jesus in a new
, a newer way, all the time ourchurch is going through this
(21:14):
thing called practicing the wayby John Mark Homer it's not by
him, but it's in it's it's justtalking about being an
apprentice of Jesus that'strying to do what he would do
and it it rings so right in away that you know, I think you
know I committed my life toJesus probably 45 years ago and
(21:35):
the journey I'm on now I I don'tknow, I just tell.
So I simply tell people that mypersonal experience has been
that with a relationship withJesus, my life's better, I'm a
better person through it and mylife is more full.
So that's that's wherever it is.
(21:56):
It's better than it would havebeen and I think, I think that
it's a game changer for me.
So, and how did it affect myprofessional life?
Was in a huge way because ithelped me.
I think, out of selfishness andabout just thinking in myself I
would have blown people.
Oh, you know, just pushedpeople to the side.
Whether you know, they reportedto me or I reported to them.
(22:20):
I just write them off if, if Ididn't have understand what
Jesus did for me, right, it'sthat kind of yeah, they're a
person, what you know, what's myrole in this to do?
So I think it affectseverything I do.
Now that that sounds a littlesuper spiritual, I guess, but
and it's not meant to be thatway, because I feel like I'm an
(22:40):
infant on that journey in a lotof ways, because I'm not created
a lot of stuff, but I just wantto draw near to him yeah, I
don't know if that answers yourquestion, but no, it's great.
Lisa Peters (22:55):
You said I don't know if it's the journey or the
age, and that is a bigconversation with with, I think,
in my group, is things, thingsare shifting and and I say it's
age, I'm getting smarter, Idon't know, but it is the
journey I'm on and and thepeople I continue to surround
myself with and I make thosechoices.
(23:16):
Now, you know, maybe in the inthe past it would be a group I
had to be involved, or I meannot that I had to be involved
with, but you know it'schildren's group or a hockey
group or like you know it, youhave to be involved.
And now it's my kids are bothgone out of the house and I get
to choose you know I'm choosingmy journey, so yeah, I think we
(23:39):
might be, mike.
Duncan Reed (23:41):
I have two boys and they're both in her 20s.
One's a professional, he's anengineer too and he's doing his
thing, and the other one's justfinishing university and but I
get to hang around, not only getto hang around with them, but I
get to hang around with alltheir friends and boy, I learned
a ton from those guys becauseit's their, it's a different
world now and their, theirperspective is well, they
(24:05):
believe it's well informed.
So they get to do, you know, toput all that together.
But yeah, I, I just it's prettyfun to be able to talk to them
about how my relationship withGod has changed my life and how
it's unfortunate that both mykids have the same faith in
there and it's changing theirlife too.
Lisa Peters (24:25):
So, yeah, well done dad yeah, I don't know so far,
so good yeah, so far so good.
So I mean we know that leaderimpact is dedicated to leaders
having a lasting impact.
So, as you continue to movethrough this journey, as we just
talked about, have youconsidered what you want your
(24:46):
faith legacy to be when youleave this world?
Duncan Reed (24:50):
yeah, you know, I I was one of the questions you
threw at me and I don't I thinkit.
I just want to be able Jesus tosay, hey, well done, my good and
faithful servant, which is sofar away from where I'm at.
I just, I just want to be ableto do his work when I'm putting
a situation, to be able to do it, and I'm still learning.
(25:13):
So I I hope that I can stay onthat path and keep my eye on him
, because I always, I tellpeople all the time now it's, it
feels like there's so manydistractions.
It feels like, you know, ifyou're in the wake of a boat and
you stay focused and Jesus isin the boat, you're just staying
close to that and there's allthese distractions trying to
(25:35):
come in and I see myself andothers just getting distracted
and you leave the wake and youstart going down and for all the
right reasons, but suddenlyyou're, you're out in the waves
and it doesn't make sense.
So I just want to stay in thewake.
That's, that's kind of my goaland I hope, I hope people will
(25:57):
see my desire to do that anyways, if not not full result.
Lisa Peters (26:01):
So I hope you're a boat guy?
Duncan Reed (26:05):
I'm not.
I have a cottage and I have aboat, so I'm not the extent of
it.
I used to water ski when I wasyounger, so yeah, yeah.
Lisa Peters (26:12):
I get the analogy.
I like boats, so our lastquestion for you is what brings
you the greatest joy?
Duncan Reed (26:21):
I think, having good deep learning conversations
.
I'm not the kind of guy that'llgo to a party and talk about
the weather.
I just I'd probably be not agood party person that way, but
it's, it's just.
Even I'm like I drive my guysnuts because my my two boys nuts
because if they bring friendshome, I just get into deep
(26:42):
conversations with them and Ilove it right, and I'll talk
about work and their careers andhopefully the faith aspect I'll
come into it, but notnecessarily just it's just deep,
so otherwise it's, it's.
It's not worthy of time, right?
yeah that's what I love.
I love to be able to do thatthat's awesome when my daughter
brings friends home.
Lisa Peters (27:02):
I just pepper them with questions and I know she's
listening how do they like?
Duncan Reed (27:07):
how do they like that?
Do they like that?
I think do.
Lisa Peters (27:10):
I'm like.
I mean, I ask them, but it'sengaging right, it's, it's being
part of the conversation, it'sit's it's welcoming them into
your home.
I'm sure those, I'm sure yourboys friends love it yeah, it's
fun, you know yeah all right, sowell.
This brings us to the end ofour podcast.
(27:31):
Duncan, I want to thank you forspending the last half hour
with us that was pretty easypeasy, hey yeah, it's good all
right.
So if people are listening andthey want to engage with you and
find out more about you, howcan they find you, or what is
the best way?
Duncan Reed (27:44):
yeah, I think linkedin's the best way.
It's easy this way.
So it's fine, man linkedin,it's pretty easy and that's
Duncan.
Read double E yeah double Eawesome, well yeah all right.
Lisa Peters (27:54):
Well, I want to thank you again, duncan, for
joining us.
It has been a fabulous halfhour.
I love being here.
Duncan Reed (27:59):
I just, I just love being here, just to hear your
stories while you're doing great, so keep up a good time.
It's been a pleasure thank youall right.
Lisa Peters (28:09):
Well, if you're part of leader impact, that
brings us to the end of thispodcast.
But if you are part of leaderback, you can always discuss or
share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you are not yet part ofleader impact, I would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership.
Find our podcast page on ourwebsite at leaderimpactca and
check out our free leadershipassessment.
You will also find on ourwebpage chapter one of Brayden
(28:31):
Douglas's book becoming a leaderof impact.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
leaderimpactca or, if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpactcom or get in touch
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And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
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This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
(28:54):
Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
you.
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
(00:28):
us know.
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at LeaderImpactca oron social media at LeaderImpact.
If you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at LeaderImpactcom.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Duncan Reed.
Throughout the last 25 years asan executive in the electronic
manufacturing services industry,Duncan has had the opportunity
(00:51):
to lead and be part of someamazing teams.
The EMS industry is known forits high growth and competitive
nature.
As such, Duncan learned earlyon how critical a strong
leadership team is to creating ahealthy organization.
As a principal at DR Consulting, Duncan's passion is to help
leadership teams develop healthyorganizations which are great
(01:12):
places to work and thereforeoutperform their competition.
He is also on the foundingadvisory board of the Trinity
Family Wealth Advisors.
Duncan lives with his wife AnnaMarie of 35 years in Richmond
Hill, Ontario.
Welcome to the show Duncan.
Duncan Reed (01:27):
Thank you, Lisa, it's great to be here.
Lisa Peters (01:29):
Well, it's great to be here because I'm going to
add to your intro, because Iread on LinkedIn, because that's
where I go it says you're acertified working genius.
Duncan Reed (01:39):
There you go I'm certifiable.
I guess that's what it means.
Lisa Peters (01:43):
Certifiable.
Well, it is nice to see youagain.
I know we have met at a summitearlier this year, so it is nice
to have you back.
I'm excited to hear a littlebit more about you, a little bit
about your journey.
We will begin, if that's good,with you.
Duncan Reed (02:00):
Yeah, all right.
Wow, do you want me to just goover a little bit of my journey,
like my history and the thing?
Lisa Peters (02:07):
I want to hear a little bit about your
professional journey and how yougot to where you are today.
Really, it's about thosepivotal moments or those turning
points in that journey, thatsort of propel you or move you
forward or move you back, Idon't know.
Duncan Reed (02:21):
Yeah, so the last 25 years I've been working for
well over 30.
Engineer by nature, I went toQueens way back when and got my
engineering degree and workedfor a big corporate company Prax
Air or Union Carbide at thetime and lived in Edmonton out
your way, a little past you andyeah, and grew up in that
(02:45):
industry.
My brother started a companycalled Creation Technologies
with a bunch of buddies out ofschool back in the early 90s and
they had the normal growingpains and then it took off.
Through the 90s the electronicsindustry really took form and
(03:06):
they grew pretty fast in theVancouver area and then they
opened a location in Toronto orMiss Saga in 98, I guess, and I
joined in 99.
So it was like 30 people and Ididn't know much, if anything,
about the industry.
And then it took off.
So we went from 30 people toover 400, I think, in three
(03:30):
years.
So it was crazy growth andgreat learning.
And what they did early on isthey let employees buy into the
company and if you're going totake a senior position with the
company which I did it was kindof all in.
So I took all my RSPs and Ieven borrowed some money from
him at the time and, yeah, itwent all in Wow, crazy regrets.
(03:54):
I think about three or fourmonths into it, thinking, oh my
goodness, what did I do?
Because you couldn't just leave.
It wasn't a liquid investment,so to speak, so but probably the
best decision I ever made, itjust.
The company grew.
We got some inequity partner in2007, but I started leading a
division in the Markham area and, yeah, just to give you a sense
(04:19):
of growth.
So over the 20 years we, thecompany, grew from I think it
was like 50 million in sales atthat time, but most of it was
out in on the West Coast, andthen we Organically grew, like I
said for the, for the nextthree or four years and by the
time I Left the company in 2019,it was, I think, 750 million in
(04:44):
In revenue and about 3,000people.
So and it's still going strongtoday.
Great bunch of people stillworking that.
But it was.
There was a lot of pivotalmoments in there, as you can
imagine.
Yeah, I think some of those bigones were just realizing that
you can't do it alone and thatmight sound obvious, but having,
(05:05):
I think my epiphany was.
I remember I Kind of got intomy role because the guy I was
reporting to just said this istoo much, and he actually
swapped roles with me and it washis idea of mine and and then I
remember thinking at one pointI got a higher people that I'll
(05:26):
want them to swap roles with meand that was a pivotal change
for me.
So when you hire people thatway, obviously I listen to them
really closely and I.
A lot of those people are stillfriends and I'm doing great.
Some are still with creationand some are doing their own
thing elsewhere.
Lisa Peters (05:44):
But that was a pivotal moment for me, the
biggest one so going back to you, cashed in all your RSPs and
Borrowed money.
I can't imagine that, and wellI can't.
And I can't imagine my husbandcoming home and saying honey.
Duncan Reed (06:02):
Yeah, it was pretty good about it.
She was kind of, yeah and itwas, I mean, it was early, early
on, but it was a lot of money,yeah, and but it worked out.
And you know the people thatran the company, including my
brother, just very Conservativein nature because I think the
problem with the industry was atthat time a lot of companies
(06:25):
went kind of went for it.
So they had a big opportunityand the details around it are
you, can you, you buy a lot ofinventory to Build your
customers products, so they haveto be very financially stable
because that inventory is reallyonly good for them.
So you can imagine, if you youhave all this working capital
and if enough, a customer goesbust, you're, you're probably
(06:47):
going to go down with the shipand we never took those risks
and, yeah, it was, it was.
But it was a lot of stressfultimes for sure.
But doing it with people thatyou care about, that you respect
, and in that kind of thing we,it was, it was.
I look back at it with fondmemories, but there is some,
yeah, there was sweat on my browfor a lot of times through it,
(07:10):
for sure.
Lisa Peters (07:11):
I guess so.
So you talked a little bitabout you swap jobs with someone
, and then you talked about youhad to hire people.
I believe you said you wouldhire people, you would swap with
.
Duncan Reed (07:23):
Yeah.
So I just remember thinking Iwould hire people with more
experience and and certainlyMore smarts than I had, and I
think it was just.
And then we got into this modewhere we started learning
together.
So I don't know, you'veprobably heard of the global
leadership summit.
We started doing that, probably, and it was because it was
inexpensive.
(07:43):
It wasn't any, you know.
It was really good, but it wasreally low cost, a great way to
get leadership training.
And again, in this industrywe're hiring a lot of people and
you know so there's lots ofdollars, lots of Actually not a
lot of customers, but you need alot of people to build product,
to help engineer it, to makesure it's it's good quality, to
(08:06):
buy them the parts that you'reUsed using to assemble the
product.
So a lot of work, people,capital in the business, and so
Having good leadership structureand a good culture was critical
to the business.
And I think the the best partabout going to the global
(08:26):
leadership summit is we wenttogether.
Right, so you'd go to these.
You know is either at it he wasusually at a church and, but we
do it once a year and then myleadership team and other
leadership teams around NorthAmerica who went to this thing
would, would, share ideas, andwe integrated a lot of this good
(08:46):
stuff, and that's actually whatI love doing now is is Helping
companies be healthy in buildingstrong leadership teams and
mostly use the table group stuffthe Patrick Lincione Stuff
that's the.
The working genius is one ofthose, so I got certified in
that, but that's a small part ofit.
So, yeah, that's what I, that'swhat I love to do now, because
it made such a difference in mycareer to be able to,
(09:09):
specifically to learn togetherand have a team that Push each
other to a whole new level andcared enough about each other to
make us, to make the team,better than the sum of the parts
.
Lisa Peters (09:21):
Yeah, I, you commented about, you know, the
global leadership summit.
You would take your team andit's good to share it with the
team and you.
You said that they were mostlyat a church, so I think my
question is more about the staff.
How were the staff acceptingGoing to a church to do it
globally?
Duncan Reed (09:42):
I think it was.
It was funny early on.
So I I'm a person of faith andI and churches can be awkward
sometimes, right, because theyput out a different persona than
maybe what you do at work.
And that's what I love aboutLeader Impact it's fairly
transparent through that.
But early on, and the goal ofthe leadership summit early on
(10:06):
was very churchy.
It isn't now it's veryappropriate to bring business
people to it.
Back then I think I rememberholding hands with people and
singing with some of theleadership teams, so you can
imagine, right, but it was a wayto get away and we had
celebrated.
We had literally, when it wasand I think, the first time we
(10:27):
had to go far enough away thatwe stayed in hotels and stuff.
It wasn't even local.
But when it got reallyestablished we would go to
somewhere close to the officeand it would be a two day thing
and after the first day we'dcome back to my house for a
barbecue and just debrief on itand we would literally say what
kind of what out of these talksdo we need to integrate in how
(10:51):
we do things?
We changed the way we did yearlyreviews.
We developed a really cool wayto.
We called it an annualpartnership discussion and still
, the best thing I've ever seenin an annual inventory of
relationship is what I'd call itwith the people that you work
with.
But yeah, a lot of that cameout of these great teachings in
(11:15):
there and a big part of this thetable group stuff, five
dysfunctions of a team andreally taking people through,
making their organization have alot of clarity around why they
exist and what they do and howthey behave.
That kind of thing is what Ilove to do now, because it makes
it better.
Lisa Peters (11:35):
All right, all right.
Well, our next question isabout your best principle of
success, If you have one and ifyou can tell us a story that
illustrates it.
Duncan Reed (11:46):
Yeah.
So I think I'd be repeatingmyself a bit, but it's again.
It's that you can't do it onyour own and having a little bit
of humility I mean I don'tthink of myself as a super
humble guy, but I think I putmyself in positions where I have
to ask for help a lot andcertainly when you do that, I
(12:08):
think people what is it?
Craig Groschelle says it reallywell.
He says people wanna follow aleader.
That's real, as opposed to onethat is on a pedestal.
Because I think when people seea leader learning, they're
gonna follow along because theywanna learn as well.
And that's been a huge part ofmy journey is to have people
(12:31):
around who have no problemsaying hey, that wasn't cool
what you did in that meeting, orthat you pushed too hard in the
circumstance, and just havepeople that I did life with as
opposed to did work with.
So I was fortunate, I think, inmost of my career, to be able
(12:55):
to have a lot of transparencybetween my work life, my family
life and my faith even and Iwouldn't ever consider myself as
a person who goes out andpreaches or anything like that.
But I think it's just Jesusjust loved the people around him
and that was really evident andI hope that's what people saw
(13:19):
me doing, see me doing so Ithink that's probably the
biggest learning.
But, boy, I have a ton ofstories where I've mocked up
royally and had a team thatpicked me up, and probably the
funniest story I could tell youis we used to probably to a
fault, pray, play practicaljokes on each other and we had
(13:41):
pretty strong relationships withour customers because we didn't
have a lot of customers but sowe had.
We were really an extension fromthese customers' companies, so
we got to know them pretty well,that they got involved in
practical jokes and I probablytook a few more of them than
others.
But I had a couple of timeswhere people did they had a
(14:02):
customer threaten the businessto me or something like some big
deals like that, and where theygot super nervous about it.
But it was just.
We just felt if you could havea strong working relationship
with the people and make it moreabout again doing life together
all the way around, that itwould be more enjoyable and you
(14:23):
would take the business moreseriously.
You'd own it.
A big part of how we interactedwith our customers and each
other was we wanted to feel andact like owners, and that was a
huge part of what we did.
I could tell you stories, butthey're too long, I think, but
yeah.
Lisa Peters (14:44):
As the principle of success and saying you can't do
it on your own.
As a woman, I think sometimesit's hard to ask for help
because you're seen as weak.
And then you think, what willpeople think?
And it is a struggle and as Ilisten to you I know that it
(15:04):
makes a stronger team.
Like I know all the good things, but there's this little
nagging of what will peoplethink and we read a lot of books
in Leader Impact about that andas women it's so nice to come
together and talk about that.
We're not alone.
Duncan Reed (15:19):
Yeah, and I think so.
There's obviously a differencetonight.
For obvious reasons, I can'tfully relate to that.
I just know that I've neverfollowed someone that wasn't
real about their successes andtheir failures, right, and I
think even all those books thatyou read, most of them talk
about that changing.
(15:40):
The thing that caused thechange in their life was failure
and what they did to get backon top of it.
And I was forcing, I had some.
Well, part of it and I'm notsaying I'm a champion of having
women in the workplace and allthat kind of stuff, but we just
needed the best people and itwas hard to find people.
(16:01):
So I think at one point I'dhave anywhere from six to 10
people on a leadership team at atime and more than a couple of
times half of them were women.
So which wasn't?
I don't know if that wasreflective of the workforce or
not, but it was just becausethey were the best.
I mean, it was purely out ofbeing selfish to get those
(16:23):
people on that team right.
So but I hear what you'resaying.
I think that can be a challenge.
Lisa Peters (16:31):
Yeah, yeah.
So you kind of talk a littlebit about failings and mistakes,
and obviously we know that welearn more from our failings and
mistakes than our own successes, and I was wondering if you
could share one of your greatestfailings or mistakes and what
you learned from it.
Duncan Reed (16:50):
I think it again.
There's a lot of them.
I think one of the ones thatcomes true is that it was really
in relationships with the teamin the early days was not really
(17:10):
being able to understand wherepeople were coming from and
having kind of the emotionalintelligence of reflecting on
how, if I felt a certain way andI thought I was being true to
what was right, I assumedeverybody knew that and that was
a very bad assumption.
So I was really using empathyand going through some difficult
(17:36):
discussions with people thathelped me be seen as a person
who cared, but also helped megrow as a person so I could
really understand where thosepeople were at.
So in specific situations, youknow, I'd have people that I
felt weren't performing andinstead of really being able to
(18:02):
talk to them in a way that gavethem feedback that we could talk
it through, I think I had theassumption that they knew they
weren't performing in a way.
So how did I had?
So it just created moreattention.
So I think now I'm a lot betterat just kind of entering that
kind of that what would feellike a dangerous conversation
(18:24):
and and and have it out, say itfeels this way.
How are you feeling and tryingand try and get everything on
the table and hopefully there'senough trust there that you can
work it through.
And in a lot of cases, man, thethe change in people's attitude
and their ability to perform itand my ability to work with them
(18:46):
change significantly.
So that is probably a lot ofhardships through that,
especially when you're busyright, you're in a growing
business and it's it's not likeyou get these.
You sit down at the end of theday and you relax and you think
through every littleconversation you had.
I think it's just that slowingdown and realizing how important
(19:06):
that is, particularly when youyou get into a more senior role
and you have more people thatyou're dealing with.
The other one I just just theother side of that too is
working with people that youreport to.
So I wasn't, I wasn't the ownerof the company and I wasn't the
CEO, so I had to deal with theteam of people that I was, you
(19:30):
know, running several divisionsthat reported into these people,
and it's the same thing, youknow.
Is there a good bit of trust?
Am I showing them that I careabout their, their roles and
what they have to get through,or is it, you know?
Is it all about me?
So just getting perspective anddoing that has been probably
(19:53):
the where I failed the most, butwhere I able, I think, what
I've learned through the journeyas well.
Lisa Peters (20:00):
Yeah, our group is reading Bernay Brown's Daring
Greatly and we're talking aboutvulnerability, and you can't be
vulnerable with someone unlessyou trust them.
Duncan Reed (20:11):
So I'm thinking to what I'm, what I'm reading right
now, when you say that it's youwouldn't have a team if you
didn't have trust and you wouldmean that's not, yes, not
empathizing with who you are andwhat you're going through,
right yeah pretty hard anywaysmake that connection yeah right.
Lisa Peters (20:32):
So obviously I mean you are a city chair of leader
impact.
You know that we, our groupleader impact, wants to grow per
person personally,professionally and spiritually,
for increasing impact, and I waswondering if you could share an
example of how the spiritualmakes a practical difference in
your life as a leader.
Duncan Reed (20:52):
I'm at, I think, in my journey right now it's gonna
say related to age, but I don'tthink it's related to age, I
think it's just the journey I'mon right now is it's so evident
that me, seeking to grow myrelationship with Jesus in a new
, a newer way, all the time ourchurch is going through this
(21:14):
thing called practicing the wayby John Mark Homer it's not by
him, but it's in it's it's justtalking about being an
apprentice of Jesus that'strying to do what he would do
and it it rings so right in away that you know, I think you
know I committed my life toJesus probably 45 years ago and
(21:35):
the journey I'm on now I I don'tknow, I just tell.
So I simply tell people that mypersonal experience has been
that with a relationship withJesus, my life's better, I'm a
better person through it and mylife is more full.
So that's that's wherever it is.
(21:56):
It's better than it would havebeen and I think, I think that
it's a game changer for me.
So, and how did it affect myprofessional life?
Was in a huge way because ithelped me.
I think, out of selfishness andabout just thinking in myself I
would have blown people.
Oh, you know, just pushedpeople to the side.
Whether you know, they reportedto me or I reported to them.
(22:20):
I just write them off if, if Ididn't have understand what
Jesus did for me, right, it'sthat kind of yeah, they're a
person, what you know, what's myrole in this to do?
So I think it affectseverything I do.
Now that that sounds a littlesuper spiritual, I guess, but
and it's not meant to be thatway, because I feel like I'm an
(22:40):
infant on that journey in a lotof ways, because I'm not created
a lot of stuff, but I just wantto draw near to him yeah, I
don't know if that answers yourquestion, but no, it's great.
Lisa Peters (22:55):
You said I don't know if it's the journey or the
age, and that is a bigconversation with with, I think,
in my group, is things, thingsare shifting and and I say it's
age, I'm getting smarter, Idon't know, but it is the
journey I'm on and and thepeople I continue to surround
myself with and I make thosechoices.
(23:16):
Now, you know, maybe in the inthe past it would be a group I
had to be involved, or I meannot that I had to be involved
with, but you know it'schildren's group or a hockey
group or like you know it, youhave to be involved.
And now it's my kids are bothgone out of the house and I get
to choose you know I'm choosingmy journey, so yeah, I think we
(23:39):
might be, mike.
Duncan Reed (23:41):
I have two boys and they're both in her 20s.
One's a professional, he's anengineer too and he's doing his
thing, and the other one's justfinishing university and but I
get to hang around, not only getto hang around with them, but I
get to hang around with alltheir friends and boy, I learned
a ton from those guys becauseit's their, it's a different
world now and their, theirperspective is well, they
(24:05):
believe it's well informed.
So they get to do, you know, toput all that together.
But yeah, I, I just it's prettyfun to be able to talk to them
about how my relationship withGod has changed my life and how
it's unfortunate that both mykids have the same faith in
there and it's changing theirlife too.
Lisa Peters (24:25):
So, yeah, well done dad yeah, I don't know so far,
so good yeah, so far so good.
So I mean we know that leaderimpact is dedicated to leaders
having a lasting impact.
So, as you continue to movethrough this journey, as we just
talked about, have youconsidered what you want your
(24:46):
faith legacy to be when youleave this world?
Duncan Reed (24:50):
yeah, you know, I I was one of the questions you
threw at me and I don't I thinkit.
I just want to be able Jesus tosay, hey, well done, my good and
faithful servant, which is sofar away from where I'm at.
I just, I just want to be ableto do his work when I'm putting
a situation, to be able to do it, and I'm still learning.
(25:13):
So I I hope that I can stay onthat path and keep my eye on him
, because I always, I tellpeople all the time now it's, it
feels like there's so manydistractions.
It feels like, you know, ifyou're in the wake of a boat and
you stay focused and Jesus isin the boat, you're just staying
close to that and there's allthese distractions trying to
(25:35):
come in and I see myself andothers just getting distracted
and you leave the wake and youstart going down and for all the
right reasons, but suddenlyyou're, you're out in the waves
and it doesn't make sense.
So I just want to stay in thewake.
That's, that's kind of my goaland I hope, I hope people will
(25:57):
see my desire to do that anyways, if not not full result.
Lisa Peters (26:01):
So I hope you're a boat guy?
Duncan Reed (26:05):
I'm not.
I have a cottage and I have aboat, so I'm not the extent of
it.
I used to water ski when I wasyounger, so yeah, yeah.
Lisa Peters (26:12):
I get the analogy.
I like boats, so our lastquestion for you is what brings
you the greatest joy?
Duncan Reed (26:21):
I think, having good deep learning conversations
.
I'm not the kind of guy that'llgo to a party and talk about
the weather.
I just I'd probably be not agood party person that way, but
it's, it's just.
Even I'm like I drive my guysnuts because my my two boys nuts
because if they bring friendshome, I just get into deep
(26:42):
conversations with them and Ilove it right, and I'll talk
about work and their careers andhopefully the faith aspect I'll
come into it, but notnecessarily just it's just deep,
so otherwise it's, it's.
It's not worthy of time, right?
yeah that's what I love.
I love to be able to do thatthat's awesome when my daughter
brings friends home.
Lisa Peters (27:02):
I just pepper them with questions and I know she's
listening how do they like?
Duncan Reed (27:07):
how do they like that?
Do they like that?
I think do.
Lisa Peters (27:10):
I'm like.
I mean, I ask them, but it'sengaging right, it's, it's being
part of the conversation, it'sit's it's welcoming them into
your home.
I'm sure those, I'm sure yourboys friends love it yeah, it's
fun, you know yeah all right, sowell.
This brings us to the end ofour podcast.
(27:31):
Duncan, I want to thank you forspending the last half hour
with us that was pretty easypeasy, hey yeah, it's good all
right.
So if people are listening andthey want to engage with you and
find out more about you, howcan they find you, or what is
the best way?
Duncan Reed (27:44):
yeah, I think linkedin's the best way.
It's easy this way.
So it's fine, man linkedin,it's pretty easy and that's
Duncan.
Read double E yeah double Eawesome, well yeah all right.
Lisa Peters (27:54):
Well, I want to thank you again, duncan, for
joining us.
It has been a fabulous halfhour.
I love being here.
Duncan Reed (27:59):
I just, I just love being here, just to hear your
stories while you're doing great, so keep up a good time.
It's been a pleasure thank youall right.
Lisa Peters (28:09):
Well, if you're part of leader impact, that
brings us to the end of thispodcast.
But if you are part of leaderback, you can always discuss or
share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you are not yet part ofleader impact, I would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership.
Find our podcast page on ourwebsite at leaderimpactca and
check out our free leadershipassessment.
You will also find on ourwebpage chapter one of Brayden
(28:31):
Douglas's book becoming a leaderof impact.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
leaderimpactca or, if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpactcom or get in touch
with us by email info atleaderimpactca and we will
connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
(28:54):
Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
you.
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