10 Questions for Ratna Omidvar

Ratna Omidvar is the founding Executive Director of the Global Diversity Exchange (GDX) at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University and is currently Director of the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH), The Environics Institute and Samara. She is Chair of Lifeline Syria, Chair Emerita of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council and Co-Chair of DiverseCity: the Greater Toronto Leadership Project. Omidvar is an internationally recognized expert, speaker and commentator on migration, diversity, integration and inclusion.

Omidvar will be a keynote speaker at the Cannexus16 National Career Development Conference in Ottawa in January. 

In one sentence, describe why career development matters.

Career development is a plan to constantly develop yourself, renew yourself, add to your competencies, take courses and seminars, and join networks to keep lifelong learning alive all the time.

Can you explain what you mean by “plan”?

It is important to have a plan A, plan B and plan C. Life never unfolds how you think it will. My own life is a testament to that – a lot of good things have happened in my life by accident, so I give a great deal of faith in happy accidents, and in always being open. I think that this is important, especially for young people today who are looking for work. When I came to Canada in the 1980s, the job requirements were far less complex; you could enter into a field of work through informal means. Entering the same field today is more difficult. A master’s degree is required to do something that we formerly needed a bachelor’s for – it has become a far more professionalized world.

Which book are you reading right now?

My time has recently become so limited because of my work with Lifeline Syria, but the book that is giving me the greatest solace right now is a book by Pico Iyer – our keynote speaker and thought leader at the launch of the Global Diversity Exchange – The Art of Stillness. I’m not a still person. I’m constantly on the go, my mind is constantly on overdrive, and I recognize that failing. I need to be able to sit back, be still, and not constantly be doing something.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was 6 or 7 years old, I really wanted to be a teacher. I was enthralled by the role of a teacher and had some wonderful model teachers who were important in forming my life; I wanted to be like them. I actually wanted to start a school for disadvantaged kids in India but my life went in a different direction. It’s very interesting that at this stage in my life, I am at a university, so in a way, I have fulfilled my childhood dream.

Name one thing you wouldn’t be able to work without?

I wouldn’t be able to work without my team. My team is just the best team in the world. I have ideas and they give these ideas legs. I know people talk about not being able to work without cellphones and iPads, these are instruments – you need people.

What activity do you usually turn to when procrastinating?

I’m a list-maker. I make lists of things I have to do at home, people I have to write letters to, and of all the things I have to get done. Some people have lists on their phones – that doesn’t give me comfort – a list to look at gives me comfort.

Which word do you overuse?

I’m incredibly driven and impatient with delays, so my team tells me I’m always saying “we need to get it done now.” I think that I overuse the urgency factor.

Who would you like to work with most?

I’m going to stick close to home and I would say I would love to work with all of the (federal government) party leaders in a non-partisan way to address the Syrian refugee crisis. We don’t have to break it down to partisan bickering, this is something we should do as a nation; so I would like to work with all three of them.

Which talent or superpower would you like to have?

I have two responses: I would love to be smarter and more intelligent. I’m very street smart, but I value people who are able to digest complex pieces of information and come at analysis in a completely different way. In the end, I think the superpower I would like to most have is time. I really would like to have more time in a day – I find time runs away – I have a family, and I wish I had more time to be with them. I wish I had more time to be an engaged Canadian; I wish I had more time to do my job better; I wish I had more time to be a better mentor to all of the people who call me.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I think it has got to be playing a role in how Canadians in Canada understand that their future prosperity is linked to the prosperity of immigrants and refugees and that one cannot succeed without the other.