Today we’d like to introduce you to Leslie Cove
Hi Leslie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My career has been a story of following my curiosity and letting things unfold but, it certainly has been an unpredictable journey. The last three positions I’ve held didn’t exist before I was in them, and I’ve had a great time shaping them and strategically planning where they and the team could go. It is only on looking back that you can see these golden threads that link up purpose, policy, advocacy and strategy, through time.
I got my PhD in social psychology and emerged from my education with the motivation, enthusiasm and rose-colored glasses of the new graduate. But, I had graduated in a recession, and jobs were few and far between. I got offered a role at the Government of Alberta to work on data and methodology for Child and Family Services. This was a breakthrough role for me in all the ways you don’t expect. What seemed like a boring government job came with huge opportunities to learn and develop as a leader. They had a strong management competency framework, and I was able to dive into as many internally offered courses as I wanted. It was over these first few years I started to observe, and learn, and reflect on the kind of leader I wanted to be.
In 2017, I chose to head to the United Kingdom and took a role in the National Health Service national office in London. It was again a rather straightforward role on paper but, I had the amazing good luck of joining a team that had the most talented and global bunch I have ever worked with (17 countries were represented) and they pushed me to think bigger and outside what has been done before. They helped me level up my thinking, learn how to explain my approach with more clarity, and advocate for change. I made friends on this team that I expect to have for life. As we were going through a restructure and merger and things were quiet, I asked to take a part-time yearlong equity and diversity champions course to help develop my thinking further and fill some of my down time as many of my projects were on hold. I had worked on Indigenous and women-focused policy and legislation, and I was interested in more formal training. I loved the course and felt my eyes widen and my world expand as I came to know more about equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace (and society more broadly) and understand my own privilege. This would prove to be one of two turning points for me in this year. The second was a course I took on emergency planning and management. I noticed that many of the international government roles in the United Nations and World Health Organization often asked for emergency preparedness training and as it was coming up, I volunteered to take it. It was November of 2019.
By January 2020, I was working behind the scenes on the National Health Services Covid-19 response, applying my policy and equity, diversity and inclusion training and entering a whole new world of government leadership, logistics and emergency response. By April 2020, I was the Head of Advocacy and Activism in the People Directorate at the National Health Service while continuing to work shifts on emergency response and my career had clearly moved onto a new path of strategic planning, leadership and advocacy. It was during this time that I started coaching under-represented candidates who wanted to perform better in interviews and were feeling looked over. I coached on Tuesday mornings at 7am in small groups and I was pleased when all went on to promotion. I loved it! I realized then that I wanted to keep developing managers and other leaders and I set a long-term goal to get formal training in coaching and teaching skills to leadership team so I could develop others as I developed my own leadership.
As the pandemic subsided in 2022, I moved back to Canada to start my current role at the University of Waterloo as the Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research, Commercialization and International. It was a newly created role and I relished developing an action-focused strategic plan that focused on sustainable change and set a vision of impactful transformation. I enrolled in the Wayfinder Coaching program and became an International Federation of Coaches certified coach.
In 2023, I launched my business Wild Rose House (www.wildrosehouse.com) with my business partner and sister. I coach, lead strategic workshops, consult, and provide strategic advice. I am a white woman with a disability, and I find I am at my best bridging groups who might not always speak to each other or listen to each other and then can help broaden the way for those voices to be amplified. I work with and across leadership teams to improve shared vision and communication and I continue to be a leader in my academic institution as I want to keep building my leadership and experience.
I often get asked, “Are you going to do Wild Rose House full time?”. Right now, my answer is no. Being a strategic leader is something I am learning by being in the thick of it right now, being “in the arena” in this quickly evolving world. I love my work and it helps me to bring all my experiences and current understanding of trends, challenges and approaches to my clients. They appreciate that I am in it as much as they are. As I grow and the business grows, I may consider it but, for now, I work with clients who know I want to learn with them, and we have great relationships that show we want all parties to thrive.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to launching Wild Rose House has been a massive learning curve. I was not a “natural” entrepreneur, and I am grateful to have a business partner who is much more business and opportunity minded. We are a great balance. We did research and had to learn about websites, advertising, social media, taxes, etc. We aren’t experts in any of these things and we’ve had to learn as we went along. We are still learning! Thankfully, our clients have built slowly along with us but, this has been frustrating at times and it would have been easy to give up and say we just don’t know what we are doing! I am glad we didn’t. We were almost always able to put two heads together and ask an expert where needed and take a deep breath and give it a try. I would encourage anyone to do the same. You don’t have to have all the answers or knowledge before you start. You can learn as you grow.
More personally, I had a major health struggle in 2016 that resulted in a physical disability that I work with every day. I manage it and keep up to date on options and it has made me much more thoughtful and compassionate. I’ve had to become more patient. I think it has given me perspective that I don’t know if I would have gotten any other way. I reflect a lot on my purpose, my priorities, my health and considering stress and my energy. I work from a place of strategic passion now that focuses on practicality and results much more than perfection. As I grow, I find my experience of disability and a changing body helps me relate to others who are aging or facing a diagnosis or disability and working with them has great purpose for me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Wild Rose House?
Wild Rose House is a small startup, women-owned and led business focused on consulting and coaching. We work with organizations on equality and inclusion, policy and strategy, advocacy and advising. We value respect, inclusion, collaboration, transparency, and creativity. We like to take a simple and straightforward approach to complex topics that focuses on people and practical solutions.
We work with individuals as coaches to advance skills around leadership, resiliency, strategy, inclusion (privilege, advocacy, compassion, leadership). We work with leadership and management teams on communication, leading as a team, overcoming fear and being bold, and the practicalities of leading for change, especially when facing resistance.
We have two cofounders:
I am a passionate strategic inclusive leader, educator and coach. I bring a decade of equality and inclusion experience to my work including writing legislation, and working across the sports, culture, healthcare and child and family sectors. I’m an award-winning university professor and an experienced policy development specialist who excels at engagement, research, and working with leadership teams.
Michelle Cove is a Doctor of Optometry, partner, busy parent, and certified coach. She works with individuals to advance skills around career development and transitions (for example, life change, maternity return to work and grief). She works with both men and women to talk about work-life balance, business ownership and decision-making. She has a no nonsense, simple and straightforward approach to complex topics that focuses on people and solutions that work for you, your family and who you want to grow into.
What sets us apart is our own leadership experience and our practical approach. We don’t enter a space and hope the leadership get us! We work with clients to help them understand and communicate with each other. We are known for our engaging and effective workshops that bring people together to take on challenges and then, working with individuals behind the scenes to help them express their fears and explore their limiting beliefs so they can move past them to help organizations and businesses grow and advance.
We are very proud of the long term and open nature of our collaborations. We feel like colleagues who support and help others ‘level up’. There are so many courses on leadership, but this is about learning to be strategic, taking decisions and being effective so that potential can be achieved.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck has played a very important role in my life though I might also call it serendipity. I am not a very patient person and I struggle to wait for the stars to align and timing to be great. I tend to be action oriented and want to charge ahead but, I am learning to slow down, acknowledge timing and allow complexity to emerge. I am learning that timing and leadership go hand in hand. I have been lucky in the talent that I have met along my journey, in the teams I have worked on and in the investments made into my education along the way. I have been lucky to connect with my global network of friends who lift me up, encourage me to grow and support me. If you look at where we all are in the world and how we’ve stumbled onto each other – it is wonderful luck.
I try to meet luck with enthusiasm. It is easy to overlook an opportunity if it does not arrive the way you expected or without prestige or an obvious advantage. I have found luck comes when you follow your curiosity and then engage with enthusiasm even if you don’t see all the connections yet.
In addition, as I gain experience and have some influence, I try to also be someone else’s “lucky break”. I think often about how to expand an opportunity or offer opportunities out. It has been a great to think more broadly when you’re out and about in the world – how can you be someone’s lucky break today?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wildrosehouse.com
- Instagram: @wildrosehouse
