2023 Women Leaders in Technology: Lou-Ann Paton

I have developed as a seasoned leader in the talent arena through a broad set of people and talent roles across the hospitality, IT consulting, software product and professional services industries. I have credentials in accounting, a master's in business administration, professional HR designation and DEI certification. All of which I apply in my life and my role as the Chief Talent Officer of Publicis Sapient in North America. I am a life-long learner and I continue to do the personal work to ensure an open mindset and incorporate my learnings to improve myself and how I lead. I am a business leader who happens to operate through the Talent / HR function. As an executive level strategist and coach with strong business acumen, I am focused on building and pursuing a vision of harmonious, engaging and resonating culture that drives the business forward. With deep change management expertise and by actively partnering with all levels of leadership we can deliver on an extraordinary experience for our people, while developing and retaining high performing talent through equity, inclusion, culture and collaboration.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

I don't think that there is one "biggest factor" in the success of any role we may take on. With a highly complex, matrixed organization, being able to make impact through influence and not just through reporting lines is a critical element of success which means partnerships as well as sponsorships are imperatives. And when something goes awry, having the humility to be able to see the role you played in the situation but also see yourself in the solution. Working through challenges and finding solutions with empathy, agility and a little patience have always been important factors of success. Along the way, personal work to educate myself, active listening, helping to bring education and awareness to my team and encourage that they extend the learning to their business stakeholders in a meaningful way are important elements of the journey.

The work we do is human work, and "empathetic leadership" is all over social media and HR consulting organizations, but it can't become the latest buzz word. Dig into what empathetic leadership means and you will find that it too is layered and sometimes complex, but it can help drive success not just in our work but in our lives if you use it!

Cognitive Empathy: the ability to understand another's perspective. Emotional Empathy: the ability to physically feel what another person feels. Empathic Concern: the ability to sense what another needs from you.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

What's kept me in professional services / the consulting industry is first and foremost it is about people and second that the industry itself has a deep desire to always be looking for what is next, leaning into the future, looking for innovative ways to drive impact for our clients and the world in a meaningful way. There is a level of pace, a sense of urgency, mixed with a lot of ambiguity that creates massive space for people to make an impact. Being in a Talent role within the consulting industry, it excites me to work on ways to bring each person's perspective, idea, skill, enthusiasm, and excitement together to propel us forward as a team, as an organization, as a society. On a personal level I have always been curious, so that drive to find the "a new and exciting way to make impact" resonates with me. It translates into a plethora of opportunities to learn as a team and leverage those learnings to make positive change. How can I help my team do work that they are passionate about to help them grow in both their personal and professional lives that also creates positive change in the world. Opening minds and shifting mindsets to encompass a broader set of perspectives that can drive inclusion and a better way forward for people – that is exciting!

What is your proudest achievement to date?

I have worked in People Strategy / Talent Leadership roles within the consulting sector for many years and I have many proud moments but the last three years we have seen an incredible amount of turmoil, fear, angst, violence and change in our society. That has impacted people and thus our organization deeply. When I reflect on this time, helping to manage a team and supporting thousands of people across NA with crisis after crisis I am very proud of the agility, the pace of learning we all took on, navigating the unknown for ourselves, each other and our people. I am amazed at how we have been able to hold it together and become both closer and stronger through our vulnerability.

As Chief Talent Officer for North America I knew I had to lead in a new way, dive deep to understand the many layers of social injustices affecting people, unpack my own biases and "re-think" everything to re-build the foundation, then help my team do the same so that they could bring that to the broader organization. I know that this journey is a long one, one that I don't believe will ever really be over but, I know that I don't want to give up. We must make systemic changes; we must improve the lived experience of all our people and we must continue to invest in a new way of operating for inclusion and equity until it becomes who we are and not what we do.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

I think that when you have a learning mindset you are always listening, listening to understand another person's context, understand a challenge someone is encountering, understand how to unlock an opportunity. When we really listen, we will find advice embedded in the everyday. These are some of the statements, conversations, snippets that have resonated with me and that I carry with me to help guide me every day…

• Listen to understand, not respond.
• Context is critical – your context, the other person's context, societal context.
• Absorb, reflect, understand your why.
• Understand that the work to improve inclusion and equity is not quiet. Disrupting the status quo is not quiet or comfortable. Nothing "game changing" ever is!
• Do not put the burden of education and raising awareness on those people who are experiencing marginalization.
• Try to meet people where they are at in their journey.
• You cannot always control the circumstance, but you can control how you react to it.
• Don't chase the numbers – the numbers will come when you change the lived experience of people. Do the work to change the experience. Focus on long term, sustained change so that means we must look at the foundations upon which our society is built – "the systems" – all the "p" words – policies, processes, programs and practices!

What does this recognition mean to you?

For me, the recognition is about the work itself – the recognition that we can make the world a better place. It makes me proud to contribute to reinforcing/elevating the importance of how we all need to participate in closing the gap on inclusion and equity (diversity will come if we are creating and reinforcing an inclusive, equitable system).

This is not the job of one person, or even a group of people, in a DEI role or a DEI team. This is about how we all must change the status quo. It's challenging but we cannot create or expect a change in the lived experience of our people without making foundational, systemic changes in our organizations and, looking at the big picture, we know organizations have the power to make significant societal change. That is why this recognition is so important – recognize the importance organizations can have in shifting our societal mindset!