February 4, 2026 • 35 mins
We sit down with Robert Seguin—organizational health advisor and former leader behind the global launch of Botox Cosmetic—to unpack how caring leadership can scale a brand, transform a team, and change a life.
We get candid about ego, ambition, and the discipline it takes to keep service at the center. Robert’s stories—from coaching Special Olympics to consulting oncology innovators—reveal how small acts of leadership ripple into real-world outcomes.
We also explore faith as a daily practice that sharpens judgment and fuels resilience. His most provocative challenge: stop chasing happiness and start building fulfillment. Use your God-given gifts, leverage your experiences, and multiply your impact by helping more people. That is the scoreboard that lasts—and the culture that wins.
Thanks for listening!
Click here to take the LeaderImpact Assessment and to receive the first chapter of Becoming a Leader of Impact by Braden Douglas.
Remember, impact starts with you!
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated 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, soif you have any questions,
comments, or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
us know.
(00:27):
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpact.ca oron social at LeaderImpact.
And if you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpact.com.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Robert
Seguin.
Rob is the managing partner ofThrive Partnership Group since
2003, offering global clientsorganizational health consulting
(00:49):
services ranging from culturestrategy navigation to strategic
and brand planning facilitationto high performance team
development and leadershipcoaching.
His two decades of corporateexperience primarily in the life
science industry culminated inthe leading of the global launch
of Botox Cosmetic in 2001.
(01:09):
He has released his first bookcalled Care: The Surprising Core
Leadership Principle for the21st Century.
This guidebook providesinspirational stories, best
practice processes, andpractical tools for leaders and
organizations to tap into thefull potential of their
technology through people andorganizational development and
exhibit care for theiremployees.
(01:30):
Welcome to the show, Rob.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Oh, thanks, Lisa.
Great to be with you today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
It's great to have you.
So that surprised me, BotoxCosmetic.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
Yeah, I know.
A Northern Ontario boy, andthese aren't my teeth because
they got knocked out of beinggoalie from my older brothers
and sisters.
Yeah, trapes around the worldlaunching something in the
aesthetic space is just weird.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Wow.
And when did you get well, it'sI when did you get out of that?
SPEAKER_00 (01:53):
Um we started the launch preparation in '99, and
uh I was in New York at thetime, and I got recruited to to
well, actually they told me Icould live wherever I wanted.
They said you can live whereveryou want, and uh, I'm Canadian,
my wife's Canadian, so we say,okay, well, we're gonna come
home to Toronto, and they said,great.
And I turns out Canada was thelead country for the launch.
We use it as a pilot, uh, whichturned out to be great.
(02:16):
And so we got to come home anddo the launch here and travel
all over the world.
And then that was my lastcorporate gig for the last three
years, and then in 2003, Istarted my own organizational
development practice.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
Wow.
Gee, I got half your journeyright there.
But I want to hear more.
I want to hear, we usually startwith the first question is just
hearing a little bit more aboutyour professional story and how
you got to where you are today.
I know a little bit of it, butif there's any pivotal moments
in those journeys that you canshare with us.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
Well, the first pivotal moment has to be getting
hired.
I was uh gonna work in thehigh-tech industry because I was
in Ottawa and there's a lot ofhigh-tech going on, and my
undergrad was in business, and Iwas interviewing with a digital
couple company called Digital,and they were gonna put me in a
sales position in Ottawa.
And at the last minute, theychanged their mind, said, Would
you move to Halifax?
And I don't know anybody inHalifax, I had no family.
(03:05):
I thought, well, so I kept myeyes open to see if there were
other opportunities.
The economy wasn't so great.
Well, I wrote my last exam, andone of the guys from my class
who I'd been kind of socialbuddies with said, Come on,
we'll go have a few beers.
So we had a few beers.
He had a few more than a fewbeers, and just before he kind
of passed out at the bar, heslid a business card over the to
across the bar to me from hisbrother-in-law, who is a
(03:27):
national sales manager at acompany called Smith Klein,
which was a big pharmaceuticalcompany, and he said, Call my
brother-in-law, John, he's got ajob, and maybe you can interview
for it.
Well, the next morning I woke upFriday morning and saw this
business card in my pocket, andI kind of recalled that he said
I should call him.
So being a kid who needed a jobbecause I was sick of eating
craft dinner for the last threeweeks and I couldn't pay my
rent, I was broke.
(03:48):
I called this guy John.
He goes, Well, I'm in town rightnow and I've got one more
interview slot open, so whydon't you come downtown to
Ottawa, put your suit on?
So I did, and he liked what Ihad to say.
So Monday I met with uh districtmanager, and Tuesday I was on a
plane to Toronto.
I was working not for SmithKlein, to my surprise.
I was working for Allargan,which was a iCare division that
they had just, I guess they hadbought or were in the middle of
(04:11):
transacting to for Allargan.
So yeah, I was just it was awhirlwind.
I had never flown before, and Ilost my hearing on the flight
because I my ears popped.
So I'm going to Me's, I can'thear anything.
I don't know what company I'mworking for, so I didn't get off
to a great start.
But anyway, that was pivotal.
But they thought I could sell.
Uh so I sold, because I'd soldsince I was a little kid, you
(04:31):
know, paper roots to pay forhockey and retail clothing and
all kinds of stuff.
So a little bit of gift to gab,I suppose.
And my French was horrible, butgood enough for bilingual
territory.
So yeah, I did a couple years insales, and then I had taken a
marketing undergrad, and a jobopened up for that in Toronto,
so I took that and then bouncedaround all over the place.
I ended up doing 18 of my 21years with that company.
(04:54):
I left and came back.
Another pivotal part of thatjourney was about six years into
my career, the culture had gonefrom fantastic, great learning
ground.
So many young men and women hadcome into Allergan in the
mid-80s, mid to late 80s, andgot such a tremendous grooming,
great culture, great leaders.
And then all of a sudden thingswent sideways.
They hired some people who weretalented, but just their values
(05:16):
were not my values.
And so a bunch of the youngtalent, myself and three or four
other top, top leaders, youngwomen and men left.
And then uh they unfortunately,you know, I never wished this on
anything, but one of those guysdied in a car accident, and they
found out that he was up to lotsof bad stuff.
He was having inappropriaterelationships with people at the
(05:38):
at the office, he was a drugaddict, he was encouraging
people to come into his littlegroup, and all the poop hit the
fan.
And uh after it was done, theyinvited a number of the young
people who had left to comeback.
So I came back and then theymoved me to California to do a
major launch in the U.S.
market, which was a feather inmy cap.
And then I was in the rightplace at the right time in 1999.
(05:59):
I was just happened to be at mydesk in New York at my home
office.
My boss called, said, I'm glad Icaught you.
I said, Why?
He goes, Well, you work for me.
I need you to go to Vancouver.
I said, Well, for all duerespect, Sheldon, I don't cover
Canada anymore.
Why do I need to go toVancouver?
He said, Because they want totalk to a Canadian, and you know
all the guys in California, andI don't have anybody up here who
can do that.
So you need to get on a planeSunday night, change your plans,
(06:22):
forget where you're supposed togo, you need to go to Vancouver
and meet these doctors who havethis crazy idea that you can
inject neurotoxin and get rid ofwrinkles.
They seem to be doing it, theyseem to be making a lot of
money.
We want to know what they're upto because there are a lot of
our sales for Botox, which atthe time was only indicated for
uh what they call blepherospasmand strabismus.
So strabismus is when littlekids get crooked eyes, they'd
(06:45):
rather not do surgery tostraighten them out because
they're little wee kids, right?
So they inject them with aneurotoxin to straighten them
out.
They it calms down theoveractive muscle, and the kids
can see clearly and straight.
The parents don't have to put upwith their little child having
surgery.
So that's what it was originallyused for.
But this doctor who was apediatric ophthalmologist was
married to a dermatologist.
So they're in Vancouver, andhe's looking at her before and
(07:07):
after pictures on some of theadults that she injected, and he
said, Wow, those lepasm patientswhere the lids keep flipping,
they look a lot younger.
I can use that in my practice.
So they started using it in themid-80s, and then by the time I
met them in would have been 98or 99, that they they were like
they were 25% of Canada's volumein the neurotoxin, despite the
(07:29):
fact that it was being used forall kinds of stuff.
And it was all cosmetic.
And they had like SylvesterStallone was one of their one of
their patients, and all kinds ofcelebrities that you and I would
know in common.
So I went to visit them, and asI described in the book, it was
a real lesson in leadership.
Like it wasn't the science thatwas making them successful, it
was the way they looked afterthe patient from start to finish
(07:51):
and the way they treated theiremployees.
It was remarkable.
And uh it was so it impressed meso much that when we came back
to do the launch, my boss said,So we're gonna tell a
pharmaceutical company that wehave to be customer friendly.
I don't know that that's gonnago over so big.
Uh but we designed the launch tobe to try a certain model in
Canada and we let the Americansdo their own thing.
(08:12):
And turned out our model wasactually very successful
following their their code ofleadership.
Care for the patient, make themhave a great experience, like a
top quality experience, treatyour staff really well, and the
world will beat a path to yourdoor.
And they were right, the numbersproved they were right, and then
now it's a four billion dollardrug every year, year after
year.
So they they were doingsomething right.
(08:34):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
Wow.
When I look at your path, andyou know, you I'm gonna go right
back to having beers with yourbuddy, and he slides across the
card.
Um, and you made a comment beingat the right place at the right
time.
Your whole your whole journeysounds like just the I I feel
like do you ever look back, juststep back and sort of look at
the whole journey of your lifeand go, it's exactly crazy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
Yeah.
This is crazy, it makes no sensewhatsoever.
I'll tell you the other thingthat doesn't make any sense is
the negative part of it.
So you're probably wondering howI I had the best job in the
industry.
Everybody was like so jealous.
I'm flying all over the world,meeting really interesting
people.
I'm on the Chandlysée in inParis, France for three weeks in
a row.
And I'm going up and down theChandly telling plastic surgeons
who think they're God that theydon't know what they're doing
(09:15):
when it comes to running thebusiness side of their practice,
and they're listening to me andthey're making changes.
And I'm thinking, how did I gethere?
Uh so the reason that all of asudden I lost that great job was
I ended up having a verydifficult boss that was put in
above the guy who actuallysponsored the whole launch.
So they replaced him, theybrought this fellow up, and we
(09:36):
had known each other, and I knewwe weren't compatible, we had
different values in life.
He was really smart, he had alot of skills, but just 180
degrees different in terms ofour fiber.
So it didn't take long for me torealize that God was trying to
tell me I need you to gosomewhere else and do something
else.
I know you're having fun, butfun is over.
I went, oh darn.
And I resisted it.
(09:56):
My ego pushed back.
My coach was trying to be gentleand finally just almost
literally grabbed me by thecollar one day, and he said,
Robert, you need to listen tome.
This is not a matter of if, butwhen.
You know that this you've nowheard confirmed through people
that you know in common thathe's coming after you and he's
gonna get you.
And you have to decide how youwant to leave, not whether
(10:18):
you're going to leave.
And do you want to leavehonoring your values, or do you
want to succumb to get in themuck muck with him?
And he may he really got a holdof me at the right time and
straightened me out and said,Look, let's put a plan together
with God's help to put yourtalent and skills someplace
where it can be well used.
It's just not here.
(10:38):
You have to get over that factand stop fighting it.
And so to George's credit, hegot to me at the right time,
coached me, and I came to therealization after he gave me all
this homework that you knowcoaches give you.
Like, when do you lose track oftime?
And what trying to find my coretalent.
And it's funny, I tell the storyin the book I just wrote.
I had been on a 10-hour flightback and forth to the UK and
(10:59):
Europe, and I came back, and Istill didn't have my homework
done.
I had to come up with thispurpose statement.
And uh my son was havingbreakfast one morning and he was
about eight years old, and hewas struggling with a math
equation.
I'm pretty good at math, so Isaid, Well, bring it over here.
I think I see the problem inyour formula.
So as I was fixing his formula,he took my homework and he wrote
down human gardener at thebottom of this long paragraph of
(11:21):
stuff that I had written.
And I thought, wow, that's it.
That's that's what I've beentrying to figure out for like
days and long flights trying tofigure out what my purpose is.
And this eight-year-old kidwrites down human gardener in a
scroll, you know, sloppypenmanship, and I go, Oh, smart
little guy, he figured this out.
It took me like three days, andI never even got close.
So I took it into George thatmorning, my coach, and I
(11:43):
explained to him, he goes, Yeah,that's it.
That's what I thought you weresince I met you, and yet you
thought yourself as a strategistand a sales and marketing guy.
But they were both right.
Like once I really thought aboutit, Lisa, I realized that God's
gift to me was to I just loveseeing people get to their best
selves.
I coached lots of kids, um,coached Special Olympics now for
(12:06):
the last 10 years, uh, coach alot of people in their business
and sometimes in their personallives.
And it's it's my it's it's whatit's what stirs my heart.
And so I feel so blessed that umpeople like George came along
when they did, and my wife, myson, some other people grabbed
me by the collar, so to speak,and said, You're not in the
(12:26):
right lane here.
God wants you to go somewhereelse, so come on over here.
And it was just, yeah.
So I've been blessed now.
I've been doing I've been doingthis sort of uh organizational
health, if you want to call it,uh for more than 20 years now.
It's so it's so easy to veryrewarding.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Yeah, it's so easy to um ignore that when somebody
says get in your lane, like andand and multiple people come at
you and you're like, No, I Iknow better.
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:54):
But people are, yeah, I know that about you.
Or they confirm it, and it it'sa good feeling if you you know,
once you start to look for it,it's a really good feeling.
SPEAKER_00 (13:03):
But until you recognize it, yeah, and I think
God had sent me some signals,had he sent me some signal men
and women, and I just refused tolisten.
So he I suppose he hit mebetween the eyes with a two by
four and gave me this veryobtuse boss where I was so
misaligned.
And listen, I'm not saying hewasn't a good leader in his own
way, but he wasn't for me.
(13:23):
Um to be able to, yeah, and andfor me to be able to land here.
And then about ten years into myown practice, I was coaching
sports with a gentleman that youmight know, Steve Clements, uh,
who is a big part of LeaderImpact in Ontario.
And uh Steve and his dad wererunning national sports at the
time, and they want a littleoutside counsel, so I came in
(13:45):
and did a little work with them,and I got to know Steve really
well.
And Steve was on his ownspiritual path, and he said,
Hey, why don't you come andcheck out Leader Impact with me?
I know you you have that as partof your life, and maybe you'd
like to join a sort of afraternal opportunity.
I said, Sure, I'll try that.
So I went to one of those LeaderImpact breakfasts with Steve,
and I really liked, I wascraving for an opportunity to
(14:06):
engage in that kind ofconversation with people who
were also seeking uh harmonybetween their work life and
their their spiritual and homelife.
And uh it's been a huge blessingto me.
Uh now run my own Leader Impactgroup remotely.
Everybody went remote in duringCOVID.
Well, we actually did a remotegroup just before COVID, and
then it kicked in and everybodywent crazy because it it turned
(14:28):
out to be the best thing becausewe had nothing else to do but
get on the computer and talk toeach other.
So and it's it's been sorewarding, not only personally,
for me to have such a blessingin that in my in my life every
week, but it's so cool to haveother men that I know from
various walks of life, and halfthe people are people I
recruited into the group who Iwould say at least half of them
(14:52):
have really very littlespiritual un underpinning.
Or I was blessed to be raised ina very spiritual family.
Four or five of the folks that Iintroduced to Leader Impact
either had none or very little,but they were curious and they
wanted, they could see that theyneeded something in their life a
little different.
And to watch their growth, likethe other day, we were praying
for somebody at the end of aLeader Impact group, and one of
(15:14):
the guys said, you know, I gottajust share that the first time
you guys prayed, I I felt reallyuncomfortable.
But I kind of let it go becauseit's not my group, and I was
invited, but he said, now I lookforward to it.
Now I I bring prayers to thegroup, and I know that our group
has a heck of a track record.
We've had four or five people gointo remission.
You know, one one in myneighborhood, uh friend of ours,
(15:37):
Lou, who was diagnosed withpretty aggressive cancer, in
addition to his Parkinson's.
And his wife told us after weprayed for him, like, they can't
find Lou's cancer, like it justdisappeared.
And we had somebody in our groupjust recently who's struggling
with a pre pre, it's a precursorto a bone cancer, and or uh
yeah, blood cancer.
And same thing, his white bloodcells just took off in the right
(16:00):
direction.
He feels great.
Uh, we had a heart transplantguy in our that we prayed for.
We had a young guy with a braintumor we prayed for that came
out the other side.
Like Lisa, it's unbelievable.
So this guy who's a skeptic,he's a scientist, he's came from
the life science industry likeme, said, you know, when I first
started with this group, Ithought you guys are all a
little weird.
Uh you know, and not it's anhonest reaction, right?
(16:21):
But it's so heartening to me,because I had the same reaction
when I went with Steve in myfirst leader impact group.
I was really comfortable withthe group prayer thing, but as
it's gone down now and it's 10years, it's such a big part of
our bond as fellow Christians orseekers, I would say, that we do
this together.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
Yeah.
Good.
Uh getting back, we we talked alittle bit about business, but I
want to talk about um principleof success.
You you've you know you'vetalked a lot about um your
business and how you've got towhere you are pivotal moments,
but a principle of success, whatwhat would you say is yours and
if you have a a story that canillustrate that?
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
Well, I'm gonna steal it from my friends who
volunteered to be guests on ourpodcast.
So 20 years into my business, afriend of mine from the US I'd
work with, Todd, got a hold ofme.
He said, Your 20th anniversary.
And I go, Yeah.
He goes, I go, I'm very touchedthat you remembered.
He goes, Oh, I I remember it, Ikept track.
And I said, Well, thanks.
You're gonna do anythingspecial, he said.
I said, I don't know.
I'm thinking about a few things.
(17:19):
He goes, I have an idea for you.
Why don't you interview 20 ofyour favorite leaders over the
years?
And I thought, that's abrilliant idea.
So my son, Eric, does podcastsfor prof at university.
I thought, okay, well, I evenhave a podcast guy.
So I interviewed these 20amazing people and men and
women, and at the end of thepodcast run, my last guest,
(17:39):
Paul, asked me, so what have youlearned?
And it was one of thosequestions you don't expect to
get, right?
So I heard myself talking aboutsome sort of real takeaways.
And as I shared them with him, Istarted making notes about those
things, and I thought, you know,I've always thought about
writing a book, and I go awayevery Feb March with my wife
Christine and take a bit of abreak and update our
(18:01):
intellectual property for ourpractice.
So it really hunkered down lastyear.
We ended up in Tampa area.
Um we like to go to springtraining, and all I did was
write, and she would edit.
Luckily, she's a giftedcopywriter, copy editor.
So we produced a book calledCARE, and it stands for those
four principles (18:16):
compelling vision, authentic culture, role
modeling leadership, and thenencouraging people to be the
best version of themselves.
That's what the acronym standsfor.
So we tried to write what welearned from all of our 20 some
years now being in the practice,getting to meet so many great
people, and also borrowed fromyou know the other things that
(18:37):
I've seen come across my desk ormy life in the last little
while.
So it was fun to get it outthere, you know, and to put it
together.
And now I'm getting feedbackabout the book.
It's kind of cool.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Not all of us get to write a book on our best
principle of success.
So well done on care.
Putting it down on paper.
Um I'm wondering, you know, Ithink well, we all know we learn
more from our failures andmistakes than on successes.
And um, have you had any?
Could you share just one?
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
My biggest my biggest enemy is my ego.
I'm a cup I'm a competitiveperson.
I was gifted at school.
Uh, I skipped a grade.
I was in a very loving family ofalso very smart siblings.
I had six older brothers andsisters, a couple of them
skipped grades.
They all finished first in theirclass.
That's one of those things whenyou're youngest to seven, you're
always getting compared to someone of your older siblings by
the teachers.
So I felt this very high levelof sense of success and
(19:26):
competitiveness.
And so it that that's great ifyou keep keep your eye on why
you have that those talents andcapabilities, those
inclinations.
But if you but if you're selfishabout it, you know, you can be a
bit of an asshole.
So you know Yeah, I think Ithink what I've learned the
better version of myself is whenI take those gifts and talents
(19:48):
and experiences and I uh try tomake sure that I'm uh putting
them to work for other people'sbenefit, not for my own.
But I guess like any of us,Lisa, we can sometimes get
caught up in our own.
So I have to watch like Mynickname when I worked in the US
was Sparky because I don't giveup on stuff and I'm competitive.
So sometimes I'll just runheadlog into a brick wall just
because somebody told me Icouldn't get through it.
(20:10):
So I've been my my own worstenemy sometimes, just missing
obvious signals, not listening,not paying attention to what
really matters in life, youknow, trying to be there for
other people, help other peoplegrow.
When I do that, I seem to bemuch better to myself and to
others.
So that's probably my biggestongoing battle is maintain my
(20:32):
focus on what God wants me todo, not what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:35):
Yeah.
I appreciate that you justshared my ongoing battle.
I was gonna ask you, how are youdoing?
Because I I think I still I'mdoing so well, and then I'm then
I I get my ego gets caught up,and I think all about me, me,
me.
And then I remember, but I'msupposed to be, you know,
sharing my talents and helpingother people grow.
SPEAKER_00 (20:52):
Well, and what keeps me in check, and maybe Lisa,
this is the same way for you, isI have to double down.
I have to work maybe harder thanmost to keep myself uh feet on
the ground and not let my egorun away and and things like
that, my competitiveness.
I find my spiritual practice isis not a nice to have, it's a
(21:13):
have to have if I'm gonna be mybest self.
I really have to invest in it,work at it.
So I work really hard at it.
Very involved in my church.
Leader impact has a big impacton me, it's very positive.
But it's um something I'vereally leaned into, particularly
in the last 10 or 15 years.
Um and I think when I payattention to God and what he
wants for my life, and I reallylisten to him through not direct
(21:38):
conversation, but you know, hefinds his way to communicate to
us through people andcircumstance.
And when I keep my radar on,then I find I'm in a good place.
And when I turn my radio off,he's still broadcasting, I'm
just not listening, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So yeah, I loved your comment.
Just um, you know, hearing Godcomes in so many ways.
I mean, it can come in people,it can come reading the Bible,
it can come in, you know,listening to the radio.
Like it just it can it can cometo you in so many ways and just
being open, right?
And not turned off.
SPEAKER_00 (22:10):
Yeah, and it and it's you know, when I'm really
tuned in, um I'll actually havea little laugh at myself because
I'll see something like today.
I had a conversation with aclient, it's just amazing.
They've got a drug that will putpeople with late-stage tumor
solid tumor cancer into fullremission.
(22:30):
And they showed me a patientvideo last week when I was with
them in Houston.
This was a real live video thatcame in that day from someone
who was told they were going todie, and this was their last
chance.
And they had one um infusion,and two weeks later they were
hiking through a mountain, thatmountain area stopped, recorded
the video, and sent it to themand said, You guys work so hard,
(22:50):
so I get to live.
I'm I'm in full remission, anduh I'm going to my son's
graduation and my daughter'swedding.
I just can't thank you enough.
I'm sitting there thinking, wow,I get to work with people who do
this.
And uh I think I think it was alittle poke from God to say, you
know, sometimes we don't knowthe little thing that we do that
it can result in something likethat.
(23:12):
Like I am some infinitesimallysmall decimal point of impact on
that person's outcome, but uhbut an important part because
I'm trying to help thatleadership team move a little
faster so people like that don'tdie.
And uh I had to have a littlelaugh and think that was
rewarding but also humbling tosee that and just feel his
(23:35):
emotion and think I I gotta takewhat I do seriously in a sense
and uh not miss how importantsomething that I might think is
innocuous in a conversation oneday with a leader.
Well, what's the downstreameffect, the real the far end of
that value chain?
It might be something like that,right?
So sobering, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
Yeah.
We we don't know where we are inthe story.
We don't know if we're thislittle part of someone's big
story, but we were instrumentalfor that needle to move, you
know?
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
Um so I mean you know, you'reinvolved in leader impact, and
you know we want to growpersonally, professionally, and
spiritually for increasingimpact.
I'm wondering if you're willingto share, but you kind of have
(24:15):
many shared many examples of howthe spiritual place a practical
difference in your life as aleader.
SPEAKER_00 (24:22):
I think for me, um the biggest thing that I've
noticed of late is I have a fairnumber of people now.
I don't know if the COVID wasthe onset of this.
I think it had a big impact onall of us, but particularly that
generation that was trying tofind its legs, just trying to
get into workforce, right?
And now they're three, four,five years post-COVID.
(24:44):
They're my son's cohorts.
And I'm really enjoying myengagement with them because
they're I see a bit of a returnor uh an appetite for a sense of
meaning and something that theycan that can underpin their
lives that maybe they didn'thave until they got this point
in their own journey, now thatthey're starting their families,
they're getting deep into theircareers.
(25:05):
And I see this, I just read anarticle my sister sent me today,
that there's a big resurgence inthe attendance in church in
North America from that cohortbetween 80, 18, and 30 years
old.
And I see that now in my in myday-to-day, and what they what
that generation wants is somementorship because they didn't
have necessarily theunderpinnings that Lisa you and
(25:27):
I might have got when ourparents dragged us to church and
we had all that underpinning,and hopefully some of it sunk
into our thick heads, right?
That generation doesn't havemuch of that, so they need
mentorship, and I've beenblessed that I think in my
spiritual journey, this has nowbecome something that I have to
pay attention to because I thinkthere's a need for it, and I
(25:47):
think that there's some things Ican do to help, and there's some
other people.
So actually, you would knowAngel Morales from Leader
Impact, and so I connected Angelto a group of young men just
this week and try and encouragethem to start their no their a
new a next generation group thatis gonna be so much different
than the old guys that I'maround with now that we've been
together and we're all in our40s, 50s, and 60s.
(26:08):
These young guys are in their20s and 30s.
We're gonna let them have theirown group, but I'm so curious to
see what it's gonna look likeand how it's gonna move forward
because I know it's gonna bedifferent, but it'll be kind of
fun to compare notes with my twosons that hopefully they'll be
involved in it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
Yeah.
We have a um, so my group isprobably the 56.
No, I think I'm the oldest at56.
Uh, so 45, 50, but we have a30-year-old in our group, and
she is the youngest, and we loveher as much as she loves us,
just to give the, you know,she's actually a manager uh and
she manages people our age.
(26:41):
And, you know, that that can behard, right?
For a 56-year-old to be managedby a 30-year-old.
She's amazing.
And so hearing both sides of thestories as someone who works
with a 30-year-old or manages a30-year-old or manage, you know,
she's she's great.
But yeah, they do need theirown, you know, in their own age,
and they're growing together asleaders, but we love having
(27:04):
ours.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
Yeah.
But you know what's very umencouraging to me, Lisa, is in
the first few years where thishas gotten on my radar, the one
thing I find comes back and getsaffirmed with me is the simple
biblical truth, if you want tocall that, or principle that if
you first commit yourself towalk with God, to really do what
He wants you to do to fulfillHis purpose for your life, He'll
(27:28):
look after everything else.
Like I can't tell you thatthat's a pithy thing in our
Bible, you know, that it saysthat in the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
But when you actually live bythat principle, it has never
failed to manifest itself.
It doesn't matter if I'm uhexchanging some thinking with a
guy my age in his 60s orsomebody who's in their 20s, if
(27:48):
they actually go ahead and diveinto that end of the pool and
get wet and and say, I'm goingto live by your will for my
life.
I have yet to meet a person thatdoesn't come back to me and say,
that's the best thing I ever didfor myself and my sense of
fulfillment.
Actually, my next book is goingto be about that because I've
got some interesting storiesthat have come back to me in
(28:09):
that last five years where I'vepaid attention to this.
I think there's a there's aproblem in our society that
we've got hooked into thispursuit of happiness thing.
And I think it's wrong-headed.
You end up chasing serotonin anddopamine in your brain instead
of this sense that you get whenyou do something that's
meaningful and fulfilling.
Like you would have to say inour lifetime, who do we think
are some of the most fulfilledpeople we've ever known?
(28:30):
They're not necessarily happyevery day.
Like my mother Teresa probablywasn't happy every day waking up
with that much of pain anddisease and people suffering on
the streets of Calcutta.
But was she fulfilled?
You're darn right she was.
So if we kind of use that as anexample and think, what's a life
well lived?
It's not pursuing this falsepromise of happiness.
It's living a life that matters.
(28:51):
And I'm a bit of a math guy, soin my head I could write and
make notes, and I said,fulfillment is the F.
Our core talents are the thingsthat God gives us, experiences
are our sort of central talents,times the number of people we
help.
Like there's a bit of a formulathere, right?
And I think if you pay attentionto that, it's kind of like you
know, we have a performancereview at work every year.
(29:12):
At the end of the year, our bosssits down, did you have a good
year or not?
And blah, blah.
Imagine if you just tried to putyourself in your life
performance review.
You really put yourself in thatconversation with God at the
end, and just boom, you'rethere, and he's sitting with you
in whatever form, whether Jesusis there and Peter and Paul and
everybody else, who knows?
But let's say there's someaccountability.
(29:33):
What is the measure of yoursuccess?
Is it, were you happy?
No.
I think he's gonna say, Did youdo what I designed you to do
with the advantages and thetalents I gave you?
And I think it's gonna be oursuccess, if you want to call it
that, in a life well lived, isgonna be about fulfillment, not
happiness.
SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Yeah.
Oh, that's good.
I can't wait for fulfillmentnow.
Keep us in keep us in the loopon that.
Um, I have two last questionsfor you.
Uh at Leader Impact, we'rededicated to leavers, leaders
having a lasting impact.
So as you continue through thisamazing journey that you are on,
have you considered what youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
Yeah, that I wrestle with God.
SPEAKER_01 (30:22):
You wrestle with God every day?
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
Every day.
SPEAKER_01 (30:25):
Yeah.
I think some people think it'seasy.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:35):
No, I I I read as much as I do about it.
I I'm in a course right now withmy church, with a whole bunch of
other people.
It's kind of a formativefour-year program.
I'm taking it because it itallows me to really pursue that
wrestling with other people.
And Leader Impact does that forme too.
Um that to me is at least a thatthat's what I hope people would
(30:57):
say about me that are commentingon my spiritual life.
He never stopped wrestling withGod.
SPEAKER_01 (31:01):
Yeah.
I'm uh taking a course hearingGod.
And it is but when you saywrestle with God, it's yeah.
It's it's a good course.
So that's a great one.
I'm I'm in awe.
That was really good.
Um, my last question for you iswhat brings you the greatest
joy?
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
Uh, this one's not um hard to give you an answer.
It's hard to talk about becauseit's very uh emotional, but my
biggest joy comes from seeingpeople become the bigger version
of themselves.
Doesn't matter if it's a littlekid I'm coaching on a ball
diamond or someone who'spreparing for the end of life.
(31:43):
I I did some spiritual coachingin the hospital for a few years,
or everything in between that.
If there's something I can do,thanks to God to help them move
themselves forward in any way,that's my harvest.
Um it's nice that I there's somepeople who want to pay me to do
that so I can pay my bills.
(32:05):
But at the end of the day, Ihave my one of my first bosses,
Dave, had this great expressionwhen I was a salesman.
He said, You don't have to sellsomething every day, you just
have to think that I bring valueto somebody's practice today.
That's what you're paid to do.
Uh, because I was calling ondoctors at the time.
So I I think about Dave quite abit because I want to put my
feet on the floor and every daywhen I wake up, think yesterday
(32:26):
did I help someone be a slightlybigger version of themselves, as
God as God defines that.
That's that's kind of myscorecard, I guess, Lisa, if I
had to pin it down to something.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Wow, that's good.
That's deep.
You're a deep guy.
SPEAKER_00 (32:42):
Well, I grew up in a town called Deep River.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Is that jeez, Rob.
That is funny.
Uh and now you're in Port Hope.
SPEAKER_00 (32:52):
Yeah.
See, there's a nuclear themehere, so if the lights go out,
you could just follow me homebecause it all glow.
Uh, the little the littlenuclear plant that I grew up
next to, Chalk River, isactually where my dad was the
Reeve, and we lived in ChalkRiver.
So yeah, I don't know, thenuclear thing follows me around.
Now they're building the world'sbiggest nuclear reactor right
down the street from us.
So I guess the theme willcontinue for the rest of my
(33:12):
life.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Yeah, you're the guy that glows.
You're the guy that glows andwrestles with God.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:18):
Yeah.
Rob, I want to thank you forspending this time with me.
You have given us some greatanswers, some great, great
discussion points that I'm goingto take forward with some of my
with my Leader Impact.
Um, it's been a joy justspending this time with you.
Um I look forward to your nextbook, which is going to be on
fulfillment, so we'll look outfor that.
If people want to follow you andengage with you, maybe ask you
(33:40):
some questions, what's the bestplace to find you?
SPEAKER_00 (33:42):
Well, two places, probably the best.
LinkedIn.
You can always find me onLinkedIn uh under Thrive.
I'm also associated withBarrett, which is the group we
use for culture.
Um and then our website,thriveatwork.ca, uh, or they can
people can just goodold-fashioned call me.
The phone does ring,905-717-7852.
I'll answer.
Um, happy to engage with people.
(34:03):
You can get our book on Amazon.
It's under my name, Robert Sega,under care, C-A-R-E, all capital
letters.
And uh look for fulfillment nexttime, this time next year, if I
uh live up to my personalcommitment.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
Well, you're gonna have to get away to, I think,
Florida and have your wife copy,write your book or editor.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
Well, elbows up, we're going to Puerto Rico
instead.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
Oh, elbows up.
I love it.
Rob, thank you again for joiningus.
It has been a joy.
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
My pleasure.
Thank you, Lisa.
Take care.
SPEAKER_01 (34:29):
All right.
Well, if you're part of LeaderImpact, you can always discuss
or share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you're not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpact.ca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
Leaderimpact.ca, or if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outLeaderImpact.com or get in touch
with us by email.
(34:49):
Info at LeaderImpact.ca, and wewill 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.
Thank you for engaging with us,and 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 worlddedicated 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, soif you have any questions,
comments, or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
us know.
(00:27):
The best way to stay connectedin Canada is through our
newsletter at leaderimpact.ca oron social at LeaderImpact.
And if you're listening fromoutside of Canada, check out our
website at leaderimpact.com.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Robert
Seguin.
Rob is the managing partner ofThrive Partnership Group since
2003, offering global clientsorganizational health consulting
(00:49):
services ranging from culturestrategy navigation to strategic
and brand planning facilitationto high performance team
development and leadershipcoaching.
His two decades of corporateexperience primarily in the life
science industry culminated inthe leading of the global launch
of Botox Cosmetic in 2001.
(01:09):
He has released his first bookcalled Care: The Surprising Core
Leadership Principle for the21st Century.
This guidebook providesinspirational stories, best
practice processes, andpractical tools for leaders and
organizations to tap into thefull potential of their
technology through people andorganizational development and
exhibit care for theiremployees.
(01:30):
Welcome to the show, Rob.
SPEAKER_00 (01:32):
Oh, thanks, Lisa.
Great to be with you today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
It's great to have you.
So that surprised me, BotoxCosmetic.
SPEAKER_00 (01:39):
Yeah, I know.
A Northern Ontario boy, andthese aren't my teeth because
they got knocked out of beinggoalie from my older brothers
and sisters.
Yeah, trapes around the worldlaunching something in the
aesthetic space is just weird.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Wow.
And when did you get well, it'sI when did you get out of that?
SPEAKER_00 (01:53):
Um we started the launch preparation in '99, and
uh I was in New York at thetime, and I got recruited to to
well, actually they told me Icould live wherever I wanted.
They said you can live whereveryou want, and uh, I'm Canadian,
my wife's Canadian, so we say,okay, well, we're gonna come
home to Toronto, and they said,great.
And I turns out Canada was thelead country for the launch.
We use it as a pilot, uh, whichturned out to be great.
(02:16):
And so we got to come home anddo the launch here and travel
all over the world.
And then that was my lastcorporate gig for the last three
years, and then in 2003, Istarted my own organizational
development practice.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
Wow.
Gee, I got half your journeyright there.
But I want to hear more.
I want to hear, we usually startwith the first question is just
hearing a little bit more aboutyour professional story and how
you got to where you are today.
I know a little bit of it, butif there's any pivotal moments
in those journeys that you canshare with us.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
Well, the first pivotal moment has to be getting
hired.
I was uh gonna work in thehigh-tech industry because I was
in Ottawa and there's a lot ofhigh-tech going on, and my
undergrad was in business, and Iwas interviewing with a digital
couple company called Digital,and they were gonna put me in a
sales position in Ottawa.
And at the last minute, theychanged their mind, said, Would
you move to Halifax?
And I don't know anybody inHalifax, I had no family.
(03:05):
I thought, well, so I kept myeyes open to see if there were
other opportunities.
The economy wasn't so great.
Well, I wrote my last exam, andone of the guys from my class
who I'd been kind of socialbuddies with said, Come on,
we'll go have a few beers.
So we had a few beers.
He had a few more than a fewbeers, and just before he kind
of passed out at the bar, heslid a business card over the to
across the bar to me from hisbrother-in-law, who is a
(03:27):
national sales manager at acompany called Smith Klein,
which was a big pharmaceuticalcompany, and he said, Call my
brother-in-law, John, he's got ajob, and maybe you can interview
for it.
Well, the next morning I woke upFriday morning and saw this
business card in my pocket, andI kind of recalled that he said
I should call him.
So being a kid who needed a jobbecause I was sick of eating
craft dinner for the last threeweeks and I couldn't pay my
rent, I was broke.
(03:48):
I called this guy John.
He goes, Well, I'm in town rightnow and I've got one more
interview slot open, so whydon't you come downtown to
Ottawa, put your suit on?
So I did, and he liked what Ihad to say.
So Monday I met with uh districtmanager, and Tuesday I was on a
plane to Toronto.
I was working not for SmithKlein, to my surprise.
I was working for Allargan,which was a iCare division that
they had just, I guess they hadbought or were in the middle of
(04:11):
transacting to for Allargan.
So yeah, I was just it was awhirlwind.
I had never flown before, and Ilost my hearing on the flight
because I my ears popped.
So I'm going to Me's, I can'thear anything.
I don't know what company I'mworking for, so I didn't get off
to a great start.
But anyway, that was pivotal.
But they thought I could sell.
Uh so I sold, because I'd soldsince I was a little kid, you
(04:31):
know, paper roots to pay forhockey and retail clothing and
all kinds of stuff.
So a little bit of gift to gab,I suppose.
And my French was horrible, butgood enough for bilingual
territory.
So yeah, I did a couple years insales, and then I had taken a
marketing undergrad, and a jobopened up for that in Toronto,
so I took that and then bouncedaround all over the place.
I ended up doing 18 of my 21years with that company.
(04:54):
I left and came back.
Another pivotal part of thatjourney was about six years into
my career, the culture had gonefrom fantastic, great learning
ground.
So many young men and women hadcome into Allergan in the
mid-80s, mid to late 80s, andgot such a tremendous grooming,
great culture, great leaders.
And then all of a sudden thingswent sideways.
They hired some people who weretalented, but just their values
(05:16):
were not my values.
And so a bunch of the youngtalent, myself and three or four
other top, top leaders, youngwomen and men left.
And then uh they unfortunately,you know, I never wished this on
anything, but one of those guysdied in a car accident, and they
found out that he was up to lotsof bad stuff.
He was having inappropriaterelationships with people at the
(05:38):
at the office, he was a drugaddict, he was encouraging
people to come into his littlegroup, and all the poop hit the
fan.
And uh after it was done, theyinvited a number of the young
people who had left to comeback.
So I came back and then theymoved me to California to do a
major launch in the U.S.
market, which was a feather inmy cap.
And then I was in the rightplace at the right time in 1999.
(05:59):
I was just happened to be at mydesk in New York at my home
office.
My boss called, said, I'm glad Icaught you.
I said, Why?
He goes, Well, you work for me.
I need you to go to Vancouver.
I said, Well, for all duerespect, Sheldon, I don't cover
Canada anymore.
Why do I need to go toVancouver?
He said, Because they want totalk to a Canadian, and you know
all the guys in California, andI don't have anybody up here who
can do that.
So you need to get on a planeSunday night, change your plans,
(06:22):
forget where you're supposed togo, you need to go to Vancouver
and meet these doctors who havethis crazy idea that you can
inject neurotoxin and get rid ofwrinkles.
They seem to be doing it, theyseem to be making a lot of
money.
We want to know what they're upto because there are a lot of
our sales for Botox, which atthe time was only indicated for
uh what they call blepherospasmand strabismus.
So strabismus is when littlekids get crooked eyes, they'd
(06:45):
rather not do surgery tostraighten them out because
they're little wee kids, right?
So they inject them with aneurotoxin to straighten them
out.
They it calms down theoveractive muscle, and the kids
can see clearly and straight.
The parents don't have to put upwith their little child having
surgery.
So that's what it was originallyused for.
But this doctor who was apediatric ophthalmologist was
married to a dermatologist.
So they're in Vancouver, andhe's looking at her before and
(07:07):
after pictures on some of theadults that she injected, and he
said, Wow, those lepasm patientswhere the lids keep flipping,
they look a lot younger.
I can use that in my practice.
So they started using it in themid-80s, and then by the time I
met them in would have been 98or 99, that they they were like
they were 25% of Canada's volumein the neurotoxin, despite the
(07:29):
fact that it was being used forall kinds of stuff.
And it was all cosmetic.
And they had like SylvesterStallone was one of their one of
their patients, and all kinds ofcelebrities that you and I would
know in common.
So I went to visit them, and asI described in the book, it was
a real lesson in leadership.
Like it wasn't the science thatwas making them successful, it
was the way they looked afterthe patient from start to finish
(07:51):
and the way they treated theiremployees.
It was remarkable.
And uh it was so it impressed meso much that when we came back
to do the launch, my boss said,So we're gonna tell a
pharmaceutical company that wehave to be customer friendly.
I don't know that that's gonnago over so big.
Uh but we designed the launch tobe to try a certain model in
Canada and we let the Americansdo their own thing.
(08:12):
And turned out our model wasactually very successful
following their their code ofleadership.
Care for the patient, make themhave a great experience, like a
top quality experience, treatyour staff really well, and the
world will beat a path to yourdoor.
And they were right, the numbersproved they were right, and then
now it's a four billion dollardrug every year, year after
year.
So they they were doingsomething right.
(08:34):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:34):
Wow.
When I look at your path, andyou know, you I'm gonna go right
back to having beers with yourbuddy, and he slides across the
card.
Um, and you made a comment beingat the right place at the right
time.
Your whole your whole journeysounds like just the I I feel
like do you ever look back, juststep back and sort of look at
the whole journey of your lifeand go, it's exactly crazy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:55):
Yeah.
This is crazy, it makes no sensewhatsoever.
I'll tell you the other thingthat doesn't make any sense is
the negative part of it.
So you're probably wondering howI I had the best job in the
industry.
Everybody was like so jealous.
I'm flying all over the world,meeting really interesting
people.
I'm on the Chandlysée in inParis, France for three weeks in
a row.
And I'm going up and down theChandly telling plastic surgeons
who think they're God that theydon't know what they're doing
(09:15):
when it comes to running thebusiness side of their practice,
and they're listening to me andthey're making changes.
And I'm thinking, how did I gethere?
Uh so the reason that all of asudden I lost that great job was
I ended up having a verydifficult boss that was put in
above the guy who actuallysponsored the whole launch.
So they replaced him, theybrought this fellow up, and we
(09:36):
had known each other, and I knewwe weren't compatible, we had
different values in life.
He was really smart, he had alot of skills, but just 180
degrees different in terms ofour fiber.
So it didn't take long for me torealize that God was trying to
tell me I need you to gosomewhere else and do something
else.
I know you're having fun, butfun is over.
I went, oh darn.
And I resisted it.
(09:56):
My ego pushed back.
My coach was trying to be gentleand finally just almost
literally grabbed me by thecollar one day, and he said,
Robert, you need to listen tome.
This is not a matter of if, butwhen.
You know that this you've nowheard confirmed through people
that you know in common thathe's coming after you and he's
gonna get you.
And you have to decide how youwant to leave, not whether
(10:18):
you're going to leave.
And do you want to leavehonoring your values, or do you
want to succumb to get in themuck muck with him?
And he may he really got a holdof me at the right time and
straightened me out and said,Look, let's put a plan together
with God's help to put yourtalent and skills someplace
where it can be well used.
It's just not here.
(10:38):
You have to get over that factand stop fighting it.
And so to George's credit, hegot to me at the right time,
coached me, and I came to therealization after he gave me all
this homework that you knowcoaches give you.
Like, when do you lose track oftime?
And what trying to find my coretalent.
And it's funny, I tell the storyin the book I just wrote.
I had been on a 10-hour flightback and forth to the UK and
(10:59):
Europe, and I came back, and Istill didn't have my homework
done.
I had to come up with thispurpose statement.
And uh my son was havingbreakfast one morning and he was
about eight years old, and hewas struggling with a math
equation.
I'm pretty good at math, so Isaid, Well, bring it over here.
I think I see the problem inyour formula.
So as I was fixing his formula,he took my homework and he wrote
down human gardener at thebottom of this long paragraph of
(11:21):
stuff that I had written.
And I thought, wow, that's it.
That's that's what I've beentrying to figure out for like
days and long flights trying tofigure out what my purpose is.
And this eight-year-old kidwrites down human gardener in a
scroll, you know, sloppypenmanship, and I go, Oh, smart
little guy, he figured this out.
It took me like three days, andI never even got close.
So I took it into George thatmorning, my coach, and I
(11:43):
explained to him, he goes, Yeah,that's it.
That's what I thought you weresince I met you, and yet you
thought yourself as a strategistand a sales and marketing guy.
But they were both right.
Like once I really thought aboutit, Lisa, I realized that God's
gift to me was to I just loveseeing people get to their best
selves.
I coached lots of kids, um,coached Special Olympics now for
(12:06):
the last 10 years, uh, coach alot of people in their business
and sometimes in their personallives.
And it's it's my it's it's whatit's what stirs my heart.
And so I feel so blessed that umpeople like George came along
when they did, and my wife, myson, some other people grabbed
me by the collar, so to speak,and said, You're not in the
(12:26):
right lane here.
God wants you to go somewhereelse, so come on over here.
And it was just, yeah.
So I've been blessed now.
I've been doing I've been doingthis sort of uh organizational
health, if you want to call it,uh for more than 20 years now.
It's so it's so easy to veryrewarding.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Yeah, it's so easy to um ignore that when somebody
says get in your lane, like andand and multiple people come at
you and you're like, No, I Iknow better.
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:54):
But people are, yeah, I know that about you.
Or they confirm it, and it it'sa good feeling if you you know,
once you start to look for it,it's a really good feeling.
SPEAKER_00 (13:03):
But until you recognize it, yeah, and I think
God had sent me some signals,had he sent me some signal men
and women, and I just refused tolisten.
So he I suppose he hit mebetween the eyes with a two by
four and gave me this veryobtuse boss where I was so
misaligned.
And listen, I'm not saying hewasn't a good leader in his own
way, but he wasn't for me.
(13:23):
Um to be able to, yeah, and andfor me to be able to land here.
And then about ten years into myown practice, I was coaching
sports with a gentleman that youmight know, Steve Clements, uh,
who is a big part of LeaderImpact in Ontario.
And uh Steve and his dad wererunning national sports at the
time, and they want a littleoutside counsel, so I came in
(13:45):
and did a little work with them,and I got to know Steve really
well.
And Steve was on his ownspiritual path, and he said,
Hey, why don't you come andcheck out Leader Impact with me?
I know you you have that as partof your life, and maybe you'd
like to join a sort of afraternal opportunity.
I said, Sure, I'll try that.
So I went to one of those LeaderImpact breakfasts with Steve,
and I really liked, I wascraving for an opportunity to
(14:06):
engage in that kind ofconversation with people who
were also seeking uh harmonybetween their work life and
their their spiritual and homelife.
And uh it's been a huge blessingto me.
Uh now run my own Leader Impactgroup remotely.
Everybody went remote in duringCOVID.
Well, we actually did a remotegroup just before COVID, and
then it kicked in and everybodywent crazy because it it turned
(14:28):
out to be the best thing becausewe had nothing else to do but
get on the computer and talk toeach other.
So and it's it's been sorewarding, not only personally,
for me to have such a blessingin that in my in my life every
week, but it's so cool to haveother men that I know from
various walks of life, and halfthe people are people I
recruited into the group who Iwould say at least half of them
(14:52):
have really very littlespiritual un underpinning.
Or I was blessed to be raised ina very spiritual family.
Four or five of the folks that Iintroduced to Leader Impact
either had none or very little,but they were curious and they
wanted, they could see that theyneeded something in their life a
little different.
And to watch their growth, likethe other day, we were praying
for somebody at the end of aLeader Impact group, and one of
(15:14):
the guys said, you know, I gottajust share that the first time
you guys prayed, I I felt reallyuncomfortable.
But I kind of let it go becauseit's not my group, and I was
invited, but he said, now I lookforward to it.
Now I I bring prayers to thegroup, and I know that our group
has a heck of a track record.
We've had four or five people gointo remission.
You know, one one in myneighborhood, uh friend of ours,
(15:37):
Lou, who was diagnosed withpretty aggressive cancer, in
addition to his Parkinson's.
And his wife told us after weprayed for him, like, they can't
find Lou's cancer, like it justdisappeared.
And we had somebody in our groupjust recently who's struggling
with a pre pre, it's a precursorto a bone cancer, and or uh
yeah, blood cancer.
And same thing, his white bloodcells just took off in the right
(16:00):
direction.
He feels great.
Uh, we had a heart transplantguy in our that we prayed for.
We had a young guy with a braintumor we prayed for that came
out the other side.
Like Lisa, it's unbelievable.
So this guy who's a skeptic,he's a scientist, he's came from
the life science industry likeme, said, you know, when I first
started with this group, Ithought you guys are all a
little weird.
Uh you know, and not it's anhonest reaction, right?
(16:21):
But it's so heartening to me,because I had the same reaction
when I went with Steve in myfirst leader impact group.
I was really comfortable withthe group prayer thing, but as
it's gone down now and it's 10years, it's such a big part of
our bond as fellow Christians orseekers, I would say, that we do
this together.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
Yeah.
Good.
Uh getting back, we we talked alittle bit about business, but I
want to talk about um principleof success.
You you've you know you'vetalked a lot about um your
business and how you've got towhere you are pivotal moments,
but a principle of success, whatwhat would you say is yours and
if you have a a story that canillustrate that?
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
Well, I'm gonna steal it from my friends who
volunteered to be guests on ourpodcast.
So 20 years into my business, afriend of mine from the US I'd
work with, Todd, got a hold ofme.
He said, Your 20th anniversary.
And I go, Yeah.
He goes, I go, I'm very touchedthat you remembered.
He goes, Oh, I I remember it, Ikept track.
And I said, Well, thanks.
You're gonna do anythingspecial, he said.
I said, I don't know.
I'm thinking about a few things.
(17:19):
He goes, I have an idea for you.
Why don't you interview 20 ofyour favorite leaders over the
years?
And I thought, that's abrilliant idea.
So my son, Eric, does podcastsfor prof at university.
I thought, okay, well, I evenhave a podcast guy.
So I interviewed these 20amazing people and men and
women, and at the end of thepodcast run, my last guest,
(17:39):
Paul, asked me, so what have youlearned?
And it was one of thosequestions you don't expect to
get, right?
So I heard myself talking aboutsome sort of real takeaways.
And as I shared them with him, Istarted making notes about those
things, and I thought, you know,I've always thought about
writing a book, and I go awayevery Feb March with my wife
Christine and take a bit of abreak and update our
(18:01):
intellectual property for ourpractice.
So it really hunkered down lastyear.
We ended up in Tampa area.
Um we like to go to springtraining, and all I did was
write, and she would edit.
Luckily, she's a giftedcopywriter, copy editor.
So we produced a book calledCARE, and it stands for those
four principles (18:16):
compelling vision, authentic culture, role
modeling leadership, and thenencouraging people to be the
best version of themselves.
That's what the acronym standsfor.
So we tried to write what welearned from all of our 20 some
years now being in the practice,getting to meet so many great
people, and also borrowed fromyou know the other things that
(18:37):
I've seen come across my desk ormy life in the last little
while.
So it was fun to get it outthere, you know, and to put it
together.
And now I'm getting feedbackabout the book.
It's kind of cool.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Not all of us get to write a book on our best
principle of success.
So well done on care.
Putting it down on paper.
Um I'm wondering, you know, Ithink well, we all know we learn
more from our failures andmistakes than on successes.
And um, have you had any?
Could you share just one?
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
My biggest my biggest enemy is my ego.
I'm a cup I'm a competitiveperson.
I was gifted at school.
Uh, I skipped a grade.
I was in a very loving family ofalso very smart siblings.
I had six older brothers andsisters, a couple of them
skipped grades.
They all finished first in theirclass.
That's one of those things whenyou're youngest to seven, you're
always getting compared to someone of your older siblings by
the teachers.
So I felt this very high levelof sense of success and
(19:26):
competitiveness.
And so it that that's great ifyou keep keep your eye on why
you have that those talents andcapabilities, those
inclinations.
But if you but if you're selfishabout it, you know, you can be a
bit of an asshole.
So you know Yeah, I think Ithink what I've learned the
better version of myself is whenI take those gifts and talents
(19:48):
and experiences and I uh try tomake sure that I'm uh putting
them to work for other people'sbenefit, not for my own.
But I guess like any of us,Lisa, we can sometimes get
caught up in our own.
So I have to watch like Mynickname when I worked in the US
was Sparky because I don't giveup on stuff and I'm competitive.
So sometimes I'll just runheadlog into a brick wall just
because somebody told me Icouldn't get through it.
(20:10):
So I've been my my own worstenemy sometimes, just missing
obvious signals, not listening,not paying attention to what
really matters in life, youknow, trying to be there for
other people, help other peoplegrow.
When I do that, I seem to bemuch better to myself and to
others.
So that's probably my biggestongoing battle is maintain my
(20:32):
focus on what God wants me todo, not what I want to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:35):
Yeah.
I appreciate that you justshared my ongoing battle.
I was gonna ask you, how are youdoing?
Because I I think I still I'mdoing so well, and then I'm then
I I get my ego gets caught up,and I think all about me, me,
me.
And then I remember, but I'msupposed to be, you know,
sharing my talents and helpingother people grow.
SPEAKER_00 (20:52):
Well, and what keeps me in check, and maybe Lisa,
this is the same way for you, isI have to double down.
I have to work maybe harder thanmost to keep myself uh feet on
the ground and not let my egorun away and and things like
that, my competitiveness.
I find my spiritual practice isis not a nice to have, it's a
(21:13):
have to have if I'm gonna be mybest self.
I really have to invest in it,work at it.
So I work really hard at it.
Very involved in my church.
Leader impact has a big impacton me, it's very positive.
But it's um something I'vereally leaned into, particularly
in the last 10 or 15 years.
Um and I think when I payattention to God and what he
wants for my life, and I reallylisten to him through not direct
(21:38):
conversation, but you know, hefinds his way to communicate to
us through people andcircumstance.
And when I keep my radar on,then I find I'm in a good place.
And when I turn my radio off,he's still broadcasting, I'm
just not listening, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (21:53):
So yeah, I loved your comment.
Just um, you know, hearing Godcomes in so many ways.
I mean, it can come in people,it can come reading the Bible,
it can come in, you know,listening to the radio.
Like it just it can it can cometo you in so many ways and just
being open, right?
And not turned off.
SPEAKER_00 (22:10):
Yeah, and it and it's you know, when I'm really
tuned in, um I'll actually havea little laugh at myself because
I'll see something like today.
I had a conversation with aclient, it's just amazing.
They've got a drug that will putpeople with late-stage tumor
solid tumor cancer into fullremission.
(22:30):
And they showed me a patientvideo last week when I was with
them in Houston.
This was a real live video thatcame in that day from someone
who was told they were going todie, and this was their last
chance.
And they had one um infusion,and two weeks later they were
hiking through a mountain, thatmountain area stopped, recorded
the video, and sent it to themand said, You guys work so hard,
(22:50):
so I get to live.
I'm I'm in full remission, anduh I'm going to my son's
graduation and my daughter'swedding.
I just can't thank you enough.
I'm sitting there thinking, wow,I get to work with people who do
this.
And uh I think I think it was alittle poke from God to say, you
know, sometimes we don't knowthe little thing that we do that
it can result in something likethat.
(23:12):
Like I am some infinitesimallysmall decimal point of impact on
that person's outcome, but uhbut an important part because
I'm trying to help thatleadership team move a little
faster so people like that don'tdie.
And uh I had to have a littlelaugh and think that was
rewarding but also humbling tosee that and just feel his
(23:35):
emotion and think I I gotta takewhat I do seriously in a sense
and uh not miss how importantsomething that I might think is
innocuous in a conversation oneday with a leader.
Well, what's the downstreameffect, the real the far end of
that value chain?
It might be something like that,right?
So sobering, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:54):
Yeah.
We we don't know where we are inthe story.
We don't know if we're thislittle part of someone's big
story, but we were instrumentalfor that needle to move, you
know?
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
Um so I mean you know, you'reinvolved in leader impact, and
you know we want to growpersonally, professionally, and
spiritually for increasingimpact.
I'm wondering if you're willingto share, but you kind of have
(24:15):
many shared many examples of howthe spiritual place a practical
difference in your life as aleader.
SPEAKER_00 (24:22):
I think for me, um the biggest thing that I've
noticed of late is I have a fairnumber of people now.
I don't know if the COVID wasthe onset of this.
I think it had a big impact onall of us, but particularly that
generation that was trying tofind its legs, just trying to
get into workforce, right?
And now they're three, four,five years post-COVID.
(24:44):
They're my son's cohorts.
And I'm really enjoying myengagement with them because
they're I see a bit of a returnor uh an appetite for a sense of
meaning and something that theycan that can underpin their
lives that maybe they didn'thave until they got this point
in their own journey, now thatthey're starting their families,
they're getting deep into theircareers.
(25:05):
And I see this, I just read anarticle my sister sent me today,
that there's a big resurgence inthe attendance in church in
North America from that cohortbetween 80, 18, and 30 years
old.
And I see that now in my in myday-to-day, and what they what
that generation wants is somementorship because they didn't
have necessarily theunderpinnings that Lisa you and
(25:27):
I might have got when ourparents dragged us to church and
we had all that underpinning,and hopefully some of it sunk
into our thick heads, right?
That generation doesn't havemuch of that, so they need
mentorship, and I've beenblessed that I think in my
spiritual journey, this has nowbecome something that I have to
pay attention to because I thinkthere's a need for it, and I
(25:47):
think that there's some things Ican do to help, and there's some
other people.
So actually, you would knowAngel Morales from Leader
Impact, and so I connected Angelto a group of young men just
this week and try and encouragethem to start their no their a
new a next generation group thatis gonna be so much different
than the old guys that I'maround with now that we've been
together and we're all in our40s, 50s, and 60s.
(26:08):
These young guys are in their20s and 30s.
We're gonna let them have theirown group, but I'm so curious to
see what it's gonna look likeand how it's gonna move forward
because I know it's gonna bedifferent, but it'll be kind of
fun to compare notes with my twosons that hopefully they'll be
involved in it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:21):
Yeah.
We have a um, so my group isprobably the 56.
No, I think I'm the oldest at56.
Uh, so 45, 50, but we have a30-year-old in our group, and
she is the youngest, and we loveher as much as she loves us,
just to give the, you know,she's actually a manager uh and
she manages people our age.
(26:41):
And, you know, that that can behard, right?
For a 56-year-old to be managedby a 30-year-old.
She's amazing.
And so hearing both sides of thestories as someone who works
with a 30-year-old or manages a30-year-old or manage, you know,
she's she's great.
But yeah, they do need theirown, you know, in their own age,
and they're growing together asleaders, but we love having
(27:04):
ours.
SPEAKER_00 (27:04):
Yeah.
But you know what's very umencouraging to me, Lisa, is in
the first few years where thishas gotten on my radar, the one
thing I find comes back and getsaffirmed with me is the simple
biblical truth, if you want tocall that, or principle that if
you first commit yourself towalk with God, to really do what
He wants you to do to fulfillHis purpose for your life, He'll
(27:28):
look after everything else.
Like I can't tell you thatthat's a pithy thing in our
Bible, you know, that it saysthat in the Old Testament and
the New Testament.
But when you actually live bythat principle, it has never
failed to manifest itself.
It doesn't matter if I'm uhexchanging some thinking with a
guy my age in his 60s orsomebody who's in their 20s, if
(27:48):
they actually go ahead and diveinto that end of the pool and
get wet and and say, I'm goingto live by your will for my
life.
I have yet to meet a person thatdoesn't come back to me and say,
that's the best thing I ever didfor myself and my sense of
fulfillment.
Actually, my next book is goingto be about that because I've
got some interesting storiesthat have come back to me in
(28:09):
that last five years where I'vepaid attention to this.
I think there's a there's aproblem in our society that
we've got hooked into thispursuit of happiness thing.
And I think it's wrong-headed.
You end up chasing serotonin anddopamine in your brain instead
of this sense that you get whenyou do something that's
meaningful and fulfilling.
Like you would have to say inour lifetime, who do we think
are some of the most fulfilledpeople we've ever known?
(28:30):
They're not necessarily happyevery day.
Like my mother Teresa probablywasn't happy every day waking up
with that much of pain anddisease and people suffering on
the streets of Calcutta.
But was she fulfilled?
You're darn right she was.
So if we kind of use that as anexample and think, what's a life
well lived?
It's not pursuing this falsepromise of happiness.
It's living a life that matters.
(28:51):
And I'm a bit of a math guy, soin my head I could write and
make notes, and I said,fulfillment is the F.
Our core talents are the thingsthat God gives us, experiences
are our sort of central talents,times the number of people we
help.
Like there's a bit of a formulathere, right?
And I think if you pay attentionto that, it's kind of like you
know, we have a performancereview at work every year.
(29:12):
At the end of the year, our bosssits down, did you have a good
year or not?
And blah, blah.
Imagine if you just tried to putyourself in your life
performance review.
You really put yourself in thatconversation with God at the
end, and just boom, you'rethere, and he's sitting with you
in whatever form, whether Jesusis there and Peter and Paul and
everybody else, who knows?
But let's say there's someaccountability.
(29:33):
What is the measure of yoursuccess?
Is it, were you happy?
No.
I think he's gonna say, Did youdo what I designed you to do
with the advantages and thetalents I gave you?
And I think it's gonna be oursuccess, if you want to call it
that, in a life well lived, isgonna be about fulfillment, not
happiness.
SPEAKER_01 (29:50):
Yeah.
Oh, that's good.
I can't wait for fulfillmentnow.
Keep us in keep us in the loopon that.
Um, I have two last questionsfor you.
Uh at Leader Impact, we'rededicated to leavers, leaders
having a lasting impact.
So as you continue through thisamazing journey that you are on,
have you considered what youwant your faith legacy to be
when you leave this world?
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
Yeah, that I wrestle with God.
SPEAKER_01 (30:22):
You wrestle with God every day?
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
Every day.
SPEAKER_01 (30:25):
Yeah.
I think some people think it'seasy.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:35):
No, I I I read as much as I do about it.
I I'm in a course right now withmy church, with a whole bunch of
other people.
It's kind of a formativefour-year program.
I'm taking it because it itallows me to really pursue that
wrestling with other people.
And Leader Impact does that forme too.
Um that to me is at least a thatthat's what I hope people would
(30:57):
say about me that are commentingon my spiritual life.
He never stopped wrestling withGod.
SPEAKER_01 (31:01):
Yeah.
I'm uh taking a course hearingGod.
And it is but when you saywrestle with God, it's yeah.
It's it's a good course.
So that's a great one.
I'm I'm in awe.
That was really good.
Um, my last question for you iswhat brings you the greatest
joy?
SPEAKER_00 (31:23):
Uh, this one's not um hard to give you an answer.
It's hard to talk about becauseit's very uh emotional, but my
biggest joy comes from seeingpeople become the bigger version
of themselves.
Doesn't matter if it's a littlekid I'm coaching on a ball
diamond or someone who'spreparing for the end of life.
(31:43):
I I did some spiritual coachingin the hospital for a few years,
or everything in between that.
If there's something I can do,thanks to God to help them move
themselves forward in any way,that's my harvest.
Um it's nice that I there's somepeople who want to pay me to do
that so I can pay my bills.
(32:05):
But at the end of the day, Ihave my one of my first bosses,
Dave, had this great expressionwhen I was a salesman.
He said, You don't have to sellsomething every day, you just
have to think that I bring valueto somebody's practice today.
That's what you're paid to do.
Uh, because I was calling ondoctors at the time.
So I I think about Dave quite abit because I want to put my
feet on the floor and every daywhen I wake up, think yesterday
(32:26):
did I help someone be a slightlybigger version of themselves, as
God as God defines that.
That's that's kind of myscorecard, I guess, Lisa, if I
had to pin it down to something.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Wow, that's good.
That's deep.
You're a deep guy.
SPEAKER_00 (32:42):
Well, I grew up in a town called Deep River.
SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Is that jeez, Rob.
That is funny.
Uh and now you're in Port Hope.
SPEAKER_00 (32:52):
Yeah.
See, there's a nuclear themehere, so if the lights go out,
you could just follow me homebecause it all glow.
Uh, the little the littlenuclear plant that I grew up
next to, Chalk River, isactually where my dad was the
Reeve, and we lived in ChalkRiver.
So yeah, I don't know, thenuclear thing follows me around.
Now they're building the world'sbiggest nuclear reactor right
down the street from us.
So I guess the theme willcontinue for the rest of my
(33:12):
life.
SPEAKER_01 (33:13):
Yeah, you're the guy that glows.
You're the guy that glows andwrestles with God.
SPEAKER_00 (33:18):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (33:18):
Yeah.
Rob, I want to thank you forspending this time with me.
You have given us some greatanswers, some great, great
discussion points that I'm goingto take forward with some of my
with my Leader Impact.
Um, it's been a joy justspending this time with you.
Um I look forward to your nextbook, which is going to be on
fulfillment, so we'll look outfor that.
If people want to follow you andengage with you, maybe ask you
(33:40):
some questions, what's the bestplace to find you?
SPEAKER_00 (33:42):
Well, two places, probably the best.
LinkedIn.
You can always find me onLinkedIn uh under Thrive.
I'm also associated withBarrett, which is the group we
use for culture.
Um and then our website,thriveatwork.ca, uh, or they can
people can just goodold-fashioned call me.
The phone does ring,905-717-7852.
I'll answer.
Um, happy to engage with people.
(34:03):
You can get our book on Amazon.
It's under my name, Robert Sega,under care, C-A-R-E, all capital
letters.
And uh look for fulfillment nexttime, this time next year, if I
uh live up to my personalcommitment.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
Well, you're gonna have to get away to, I think,
Florida and have your wife copy,write your book or editor.
SPEAKER_00 (34:20):
Well, elbows up, we're going to Puerto Rico
instead.
SPEAKER_01 (34:22):
Oh, elbows up.
I love it.
Rob, thank you again for joiningus.
It has been a joy.
SPEAKER_00 (34:27):
My pleasure.
Thank you, Lisa.
Take care.
SPEAKER_01 (34:29):
All right.
Well, if you're part of LeaderImpact, you can always discuss
or share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you're not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpact.ca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
Leaderimpact.ca, or if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outLeaderImpact.com or get in touch
with us by email.
(34:49):
Info at LeaderImpact.ca, and wewill 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.
Thank you for engaging with us,and remember, impact starts with
you.
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com