In this podcast episode, I talk with Sharon Avery the CEO of Toronto Foundation. Sharon is excited about being at the heart of philanthropy. In the show we talk about how she got into philanthropy. She tells the story of headed off to university thinking she would get into media. Instead, she became a fundraiser. She shares a powerful work experience, related to a past crush and how that experience changed her perspective on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. We joke about how following love sometimes has profound impacts on our career trajectories.

When we began to talk about having Disruptive Conversations, we discuss the challenge of getting your colleagues to work differently. Many of us have the experience of going to training or a workshop that inspires us to try new things at work. For most of us implementing these new ideas in our workplace can be a struggle. Throughout the show we talk about how her career has been peppered with challenging established norms to produce tangible outcomes.

At Toronto Foundation, her new challenge is thinking about how she can bring innovative thinking to the organization. In this episode, she shares how she has learned to that by simplifying the message, focusing on learning and limiting choices she was able to get more engagement. From the interview, you can tell that Sharon is bold with her ideas, intentional and collaborative in the way she works. In being disruptive, she likes to bring people along with her on the journey. Before bringing ideas to life, she engages in a lot of inquiry before she dives into her initiatives. For her, it is important to take the time to find ready partners.

Although she is new to her position, Sharon has an opportunity to disrupt affluence and unearth philanthropic dollars in new ways. It will be exciting to see Sharon develop in her role and I look forward to seeing how Toronto Foundations develops in the next few years.



Links in the podcast:

Toronto Foundation website: https://torontofoundation.ca/

Toronto Foundation on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TorontoFdn

Follow Sharon Avery on Twitter: https://twitter.com/s2avery