\u2018Magical\u2019 isn\u2019t the way many people would describe donning heavy workboots and touring an open-pit gold mine in northern British Columbia.<\/p>\n
But Karen MacKenzie would.<\/p>\n
This time last month, the co-founder and President of MacKintosh Canada, an Indigenous-owned international consulting company, did just that in the Tahltan Territory, an area the size of Switzerland that stretches into the Yukon.<\/p>\n
She had a job to do while there, but she also had an open mind toward the possibilities that could come from her visit and work with those involved in the mine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just gives you an inkling of the size of our country, our nations and how we can all work together to make magical things happen,\u201d Mackenzie said about the visit to the territory. \u201cAnd sometimes you don\u2019t know what (those magical things are), so if you go in with a script and something happens, you\u2019re hooped. If you go in with the intent to meet some wonderful people, acknowledge the land where you\u2019re at, you just start to take in things.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what the challenges are and \u2026 the solutions can be beyond (what\u2019s in the script). I think that world view that Indigenous people bring to business and living is very powerful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
MacKenzie, who is also co-founder of PeopleBest Canada, an artificial intelligence company that looks at what makes success happen inside people, teams and organizations, brought that world view to Brock this week during the third annual Indigenous Leader Speaker Series hosted by Brock\u2019s Office of Indigenous Engagement and the Goodman School of Business.<\/p>\n
Joined by Robyn Bourgeois, Brock\u2019s Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement, the Cree-M\u00e9tis woman shared how she incorporates traditional knowledge into the workplace. Their conversation was supported by the D.G. Willmot Foundation and is part of the D.G. Willmot Leaders Series.<\/p>\n
The idea of creating magic in business dominated their discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cMagic is all around us and we have to have our senses open to receive it and be aware of it,\u201d MacKenzie said.<\/p>\n
Some of her other teachings included:<\/p>\n