Finding My Inner Millennial: A Journey of Discovery

As the leader of Edelman’s office in Calgary, Canada, one of the things I most value is the opportunity to work with smart, creative young talent. The generation that grew up with smart phones, video games and other forms of sensory overload are, by my observation, better multitaskers than those of us who learned our craft in a more linear and text-based, rather than digital and visual age. My younger colleagues are lifelong learners by nature, taking the time to browse social media for trends, to question the status quo, and to pursue physical activity. They work hard, but they also maintain diverse interests outside work. My generation is more prone to feeling overwhelmed by the challenge of juggling the overflowing email inbox, the back-to-back meetings, the kids’ extracurricular activities, and the neglected gym membership.

Communications marketing is a creative endeavor. We know that creative endeavors require open minds, curiosity, and lateral thinking. Yet, it’s all too easy in senior leadership roles to get caught in management minutia, losing sight of the need to make time for keeping our skills sharp and our ideas fresh.

Feeling myself in need of a creative reboot, I am embarking on a personal adventure for the next three and a half months. Fortunately, I work for a progressively minded company that believes in investing in its people and supporting them to “Live in Colour,” to use an Edelman phrase. I have requested and been granted a quasi-leave from the company in order to accompany my professor husband on his academic sabbatical for this winter term. With our two teenage sons in tow, we will travel to London, South Africa, Namibia and Australia, circumnavigating the globe and checking a few destinations off our long list of must-see bits of the earth.

Edelman Calgary will continue to thrive in my absence. A key leadership responsibility is to develop your top talent and give them opportunities to prove themselves, which I know that the exceptional Megan Spoore will do in Calgary as Interim GM.

My husband has research and writing to do and my sons have a term of high school to complete by distance learning. In deciding how I will occupy the family “study hours” during our time abroad, I have decided that it’s time to find my inner millennial. Freed of the day-to-day pressure of a GM job, I plan to update and sharpen my skills in leading-edge communications marketing.

I will also seek those broadening experiences that only travel can provide, including strengthening body and mind through outdoor activity. I have been fortunate enough to pull off a few “trips of a lifetime” over the years, and I’m a firm believer that nothing is as effective as travel at pulling us out of our comfort zones and forcing new ideas and shifts of perspective. I plan to visit Edelman offices in London, Johannesburg, Sydney and Melbourne, and I am keen to learn how our profession is practiced in the southern hemisphere.

You can follow my progress on Twitter, at @LStretch.

Laurie Stretch, general manager, Edelman Calgary.