Free Our Turn by Kirstine; Stewart Page A

ways, women are primed to take advantage of that unorthodoxy because our mere presence as leaders is still so novel that it instantly signals a new approach—as it did for the young women I met in the halls of the CBC. The same Caliper study that profiled the gender differences in modern leadership strengths, for instance, found that women leaders are more likely to push back against established ways of doing things, because women are more likely to view them as “old rules”—stale dictates from a bygone day that are holding back progress. It also concluded that women tend to act with urgency in changing the old ways and coming up with innovative solutions, perhaps because, as I learned in my career, our credibility and future effectiveness as leaders depends on it.
    From Paragon right through to Twitter, I’ve always been less interested in what has been than what could be. My own sense of urgency comes in part from realizing that taking the right risk, with the right result, has a major impact on my personal capital. If I am going to be an effective leader, I have to be seen and trusted to lead effectively. I have so often been the newcomer, the underestimated young blonde brought in to shake things up, that if I don’tmove quickly and notch up items in the win column, I soon won’t be able to lead at all.
    And that was the story at Alliance Atlantis as well. Sure, it would have been easier to make yet another how-to gardening show, but in the end developing Holmes on Homes —despite the risks—not only produced a hit and a homegrown celebrity, it helped to invigorate the HGTV brand in Canada and bring it fame and success in the US. With a new lineup of personality-driven shows and reality-based narratives (which included creating household names like Sarah Richardson, Michael Smith and the Designer Guys), we started a trend. We weren’t buying our hits from the US, they were buying from us. And soon after, the CBC sought me out. Talk about an interesting job for someone who had embraced being a risk-taker.
    In her book Stop Playing Safe , Australian author Margie Warrell writes that the more chances people take, the less they overestimate negative consequences and the more comfortable they become with taking chances, or as she put it in an interview, “The more often we step out of our comfort zone, the more we build our tolerance for risk-taking.” I can attest to the wisdom of that.
    Slipping into Something Uncomfortable
    ON PAPER, TAKING A JOB AT the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation seemed like a mad thing to consider. At Alliance Atlantis, I was sailing a sturdy ship on a sea of high ratings and revenues. I worked with an amazing, invigorated team. Why would I leave it to become programming chief at theembattled CBC, facing challenges that pundits described as Herculean—probably one of the most thankless posts in the broadcast world. Why would I swap my comfy perch for a hot seat?
    In the fall of 2014, I moderated a panel discussion at a symposium for Women in Payments, an organization that represents females working in finance. Sitting on the stage were eight successful female CEOs and entrepreneurs describing their experiences and trading insights on how women in the workplace can get ahead. As I looked out at the room full of women who had come to hear their stories, I asked myself what it was that distinguished these women up onstage. As the discussion continued, I realized the common link that united us: at one time or another, each of us had pushed ourselves to take a position that was not only unfamiliar, but a deliberate plunge into the decidedly uncomfortable .
    Whether it was taking a job with a perpendicular learning curve or walking away from the security of a steady paycheque to strike out on one’s own, we had all of us taken a chance on a professional opportunity that cast us far out of our comfort zones. These zones are the mind states we occupy