Canadian HR Strategy

CANADIAN HR STRATEGY/09 For Brown — who has held a number of upper management and executive roles from diverse companies that include mak- ers of razor blades to burgers — the CEO spot was encoded into his DNA. "When I was very young, I never thought of myself as someone who could work in either the same company or the same industry for 20 or 30 years. That's just how I was built," he said. Now, in what he jestingly calls his third tax season as CEO at H&R Block Canada, it's evident that range of experience groomed him for the position. Organizations that look to hire from outside the organization are traditionally looking to fuel change. That's where Brown comes in. "I don't think the challenges are a whole lot different at a lot of companies," he said. "Walking in here, what really got me excited was how much opportunity there still was…This company was indeed one of the things that I thought it was when I came in — and what that ended up being was conservative." Changing the culture of the company by dint of leadership then becomes the CEO's first challenge and priority, Brown said, and when boards and organizations search for a viable chief, they look for someone who can bring a level of energy and passion that sets the bar and then trickles down. "We want bold thinkers that are also disciplined, that's im- portant — you can't just be bold and reckless, you have to be bold and disciplined," he said. "People here were comfortable in their ways and comfort- able in how they did things. I'm trying to create an environ- ment that (has) a higher energy level than this company prob- ably has seen in the past. For some, that's tough." But Brown is well-practised when it comes to persuading others to follow his lead. Because he's held high-level execu- tive positions in the past, he's gained the professional ma- turity and leadership capability companies want from their topmost people. "I have a particular advantage because of the wide range of experience and versatility of what I do," he said. "I have tons of people in this organization that understand taxes — I don't really need another person necessarily that un- derstands taxes. I need another person that might be a strong leader in a particular area. The learning curve on the industry and understanding the brand and the product and the company — that's fast." Perhaps most surprising is Brown laid his roots in market- ing, as opposed to a more traditional financial or strictly busi- ness background. "There's not a whole lot of people that have grown up in marketing that end up running a company," Brown said, laughing. "It's encouraging that companies today are much more will- ing to look at folks outside of maybe the typical finance or op- erations area. They'll look into marketing, they'll look into HR, and they'll find strong leaders that can run the company just as well." Rick Brown started his career at Unilever in brand management, enjoyed a stint in Germany as director of international business man- agement for Gillette, and has worked in senior management positions in the United States for Thomas J. Lipton and PepsiCo's Taco Bell, as well as Burger King. FEATURE FEATURE/Leadership RICK BROWN President and CEO of H&R Block Canada operation and demonstrate to the other members of the execu- tive team that you can add value beyond the HR-type discus- sion because that is really critical." Next it's about being prepared to accept everything and any- thing that comes with a C-suite membership. Most high-rank execs will attribute their success, in some portion, to a "right time at the right place" scenario. "In a sense, all the pieces have to fall into place, but you have to be ready for when the pieces are potentially going to fall into place. There's a bit of luck involved, but also being at the right time at the right place and being prepared," he said, adding HR professionals would do well to position themselves accordingly by dabbling in as many facets of the organization as possible. Though, to Pratt, you can take the executive out of HR but you can't take the HR out of the executive. The most impor- tant aspect of getting to the CEO's position, therefore, is to start with the individual. "Working on relationships, to me, is so critical in all of these situations," he said. "There are never any guarantees in life but it's like a lot of things — if you don't take the right steps to be considered as a serious candidate, then you won't be… In a sense, it has to start with the individual."

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