CEOs with Purpose
John Phillips, Forum Chair, MacKay CEO Forums, shares his passion about defining personal purpose, how a CEOs personal purpose often is the basis for the organizational purpose, and why this is a valuable tool for building organizational culture and finding best-fit employees.
John is a facilitator and coach who works with business leaders to develop high performance teams, create differentiated and compelling strategies, and then enrolls their organization to realize the vision. He is committed to helping executives become self-aware and understand the impact of their actions.
A disciple of motivation theory, John enables connections that engage people to achieve higher performance. He believes that when leaders encourage the right conditions, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary results. One of his strengths is seeing the possibilities and potential in everyone.
HIs early career focused on developing Information Systems, which included the creation of a Cash Forecasting System for BC Hydro. This became the prototype that launched Selkirk Financial Technologies which went on to become a four-time FAST 50 technology firm and was twice recognized as a finalist for “Best Managed Private Company”. John led VP roles for Client Services, Marketing, Product Management and Business Development. He discovered his true calling as VP, Organizational Performance when Selkirk grew from 35 to 85 people in one year.
After Selkirk was acquired by Thomson Reuters, he used the experience of founding a technology company to start the West Coast Practice of Potentials Unlimited, a Leadership Development firm. John has supported a wide range of organizations including BDC, BMO, Enerplus, Conoco Phillips and Matrix Asset Management. He chaired Take a Hike, Youth at Risk Foundation during his 10 year tenure as a director.
John has an MBA from SFU and is a certified practitioner with Insights Discovery, Black Isle’s ‘Speak with Impact’ and a graduate of Destination Coach. He is a proponent for “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” and “The Four Disciplines of Execution”. He is an advocate for “Firms of Endearment”, organizations that live the principles of Conscious Capitalism to generate profit at its best. His mantra is to ‘amplify the impact’ before, during and after an engagement.
When John is not cooking or gardening at his home in Lions Bay, he can be found skiing or mountain biking on the slopes of Whistler with his wife Carol and dog, Mack.