Behind the Growth

mobileLIVE

Not everyone makes the news. But behind every growth-driving experience, product, and transformation are experts who shaped the outcome. Behind the Growth is a podcast for digital leaders and those aspiring to become one. Each episode celebrates remarkable individuals, and our candid conversations focus on their struggles, wins, and lessons learned you won’t find anywhere else.

  1. Valerie McMurtry on Corporate Partnerships Creating Social Value

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    Valerie McMurtry on Corporate Partnerships Creating Social Value

    Valerie McMurtry, President & CEO of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, joins Mudassar Malik on Behind the Growth to discuss how purpose-driven leadership, data, and partnerships are reshaping outcomes for children and youth in care. Drawing from her experience leading Canada’s largest charity in this space, Valerie explains how aligning mission, strategy, and innovation drives measurable change.  The conversation begins with Valerie’s career journey from corporate marketing to the nonprofit sector. She shares how her upbringing shaped her focus on solving complex social issues and why she pursued work with deeper purpose. This background informs her leadership approach today, where she prioritizes long-term outcomes over short-term wins.  Valerie then outlines the foundation’s mission: improving education, employment, mental health, and stability for young people who have experienced abuse, neglect, and abandonment. She explains why these priorities matter, the scale of the challenge in Canada, and how data guides funding decisions. She also discusses redefining success based on youth feedback, broadening it beyond traditional metrics to reflect individual progress.  Finally, she highlights how the foundation has evolved from traditional philanthropy to testing new service models through social innovation and venture funding. Using examples like the TELUS Mobility for Good program, Valerie demonstrates how corporate partnerships can go beyond sponsorship to deliver real impact. She closes by urging business leaders to integrate social responsibility into their strategies, not as a side effort, but as a way to build stronger organizations and communities.  Valerie dives into topics like:  - Leaving corporate to find purpose  - The hidden scale of child welfare  - Why success metrics needed rewriting  - Taking risks with social innovation  - Building partnerships that actually work  Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    39 min
  2. Brian Shickluna on How Legacy Mindset Limits Tech Teams

    14 AOÛT

    Brian Shickluna on How Legacy Mindset Limits Tech Teams

    Brian Shickluna, Director of Software Engineering at Staples Canada, joins Mudassar Malik on Behind the Growth to unpack the leadership principles and organizational design strategies that have shaped his career. Drawing on experience from startups to large enterprises, Brian shares what it really takes to build and scale high-performing engineering teams.  The conversation begins with Brian’s reflections on his career path and how working across industries taught him the value of seeing beyond technical expertise. He explains why leaders need a breadth of perspective to guide teams effectively, especially as they move from hands-on roles to broader organizational influence.  Further diving deep into the concept of “legacy mindset,” Brian explores why outdated thinking and overcomplicated processes often hold organizations back more than their tech stacks. He challenges common assumptions about transformation and describes how simplifying workflows and clarifying roles can unlock speed and agility at scale.  Finally, Brian shares his approach to fostering a culture of experimentation, empowering teams to take ownership of their ideas, and avoiding the traps of micromanagement. He closes with practical insights on servant leadership, psychological safety, and why senior executives should prioritize structure and mindset as the foundation for sustainable growth.  Brian unpacks topics like:  - The silent risks of structural debt  - Designing orgs that outlast people  - Breaking out of micromanagement  - Protecting engineers from alert fatigue  - When structure beats great ideas  Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    28 min
  3. Naresh Babu on When Legacy Cores Become Black Boxes

    30 JUILL.

    Naresh Babu on When Legacy Cores Become Black Boxes

    Naresh Babu, AI Technology Leader and Digital Transformation Specialist at mobileLIVE, joins Mudassar Malik to unpack the tough decisions behind core banking modernization. Together, they explore how leaders can balance customer demands, operational resilience, and the rising costs of legacy systems.  Naresh shares how his early career as a COBOL developer shaped his understanding of resilience and why banks today must rethink their technology stacks to stay competitive. He highlights the primary drivers for modernization, including talent shortages, escalating OPEX, and shifting customer expectations, and contrasts how traditional and digital-first banks experience these pressures differently.  The discussion dives into the pros and cons of incremental upgrades versus full system replacements, with Naresh offering practical frameworks for assessing risk tolerance and aligning modernization strategies with organizational workflows. He also warns against relying on satellite systems that create blind spots and long-term technical debt.  Finally, Naresh examines how AI and cloud technologies are reshaping modernization efforts and why governance, KPI design, and a “customer downtime zero” mindset are critical for success.  Naresh dives into topics like:  - Rethinking customer expectations in banking  - The true costs of legacy systems  - When incremental upgrades backfire  - AI tools in modernization strategies  - The trap of satellite architectures  Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode. Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    29 min
  4. Zahid Salman on Scaling Enterprise Innovation with Purpose

    16 JUILL.

    Zahid Salman on Scaling Enterprise Innovation with Purpose

    Zahid Salman, President and CEO at GreenShield, joins Imran Mian on Behind the Growth to unpack the strategy behind building Canada’s first payer-provider platform, and how a nonprofit model is enabling innovation at enterprise scale.  Zahid opens with the personal experiences that shaped his purpose-driven approach to leadership and shares how he moved from a traditional actuarial career into healthcare transformation. He breaks down GreenShield’s initial hypothesis: that Canadians would benefit from a single organization delivering both insurance and care. He further sheds light into how they moved early, acquiring eight companies in 18 months to accelerate the shift from coverage to service delivery during the pandemic.  He also discusses the internal and external complexities of that pivot, from winning the trust of plan members and advisors to unifying employees behind a new mission. Zahid also shares how GreenShield Ventures helps the organization look beyond its near-term roadmap, building IP and capabilities around where the market is heading, not just where it is today. Throughout the conversation, Zahid reflects on how identity shapes leadership, why DEI remains central to GreenShield’s strategy, and what it takes to drive real impact in underserved communities. He closes with insights on AI's potential in proactive care, the growing role of private sector in delivering public healthcare, and the discipline required to scale without losing sight of purpose. Zahid also explores:  - Diversifying with success  - Betting on a model before demand  - Gaining trust as a healthcare insurer  - Scaling impact without chasing profit  - The role of tech in unlocking M&A value  Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    25 min
  5. Janet Sherlock on Simplifying Org Complexities for Better Results

    3 JUILL.

    Janet Sherlock on Simplifying Org Complexities for Better Results

    Janet Sherlock, Founder & CEO at Org.Works, joins Mudassar Malik on Behind the Growth to challenge how most companies approach transformation, org design, AI strategy, and why their structures are often built to fail. Drawing from her executive experience and doctoral research, Janet breaks down what she calls “the hidden architecture” that shapes performance across every level of an enterprise.  The conversation starts with a critique of role bloat at the top, like Chief Digital Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief AI Officer, and how overlapping mandates erode clarity and accountability. Janet outlines how these roles are often a symptom of structural misalignment, not a solution to it. Introducing the Org.Works philosophy, “less but better,” she explains why simplicity, not complexity, is what drives resilience and execution.  From there, the episode moves into the three most common org design pitfalls, using real-world examples like Unilever’s model shift and omnichannel challenges in retail and banking. Janet shares the telltale signs of structural dysfunction—misaligned KPIs, constant pre-meetings, unclear decision ownership—and why fixing these isn’t just about new titles or reorgs but about rethinking how teams are built to collaborate.  The second half of the conversation dives into AI: not tools or talent, but structure. Janet introduces her CFD model: Center of Enablement, Federated AI and Modeling, Democratized Data. She elaborates on why governance, flexibility, and accountability matter more than hype.   Finally, she breaks down how boards are shifting from AI education to execution, and why CEOs must stop chasing ROI and start investing in long-term capabilities.  Janet explores topics like:  - When org design creates friction  - Why bloated C-suite roles backfire  - The hidden cost of transformation layers  - How structure drives AI performance  - What boards now ask about AI Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    32 min
  6. Hanni Doch on Why Big-Bang Transformations Fail

    11 JUIN

    Hanni Doch on Why Big-Bang Transformations Fail

    Hanni Doch, VP of Digital Technology, joins Mudassar Malik on Behind the Growth to explore what enterprise transformation really looks like when it's done sustainably, incrementally, and with an eye toward value—not buzzwords. With experience spanning telecom, insurance, banking, and retail, Hanni brings a grounded view into why so many digital initiatives fall short and how leaders can avoid those traps.  He opens with a sharp critique of the “big bang” approach to transformation, arguing that long, all-encompassing projects often fail to deliver value. Instead, he lays out a case for incremental change, focusing on areas where the business will feel the impact early.   From there, the conversation moves into cloud strategy. Hanni explains how many organizations “lift and shift” their workloads without actually realizing the benefits of cloud—and offers a clear, cost-effective example of how to do it right, leveraging GPU-intensive workloads and cloud-native services.  On AI, Hanni discusses how his team used generative tools to accelerate software development and testing—while maintaining a strong role for human creativity and quality. He also shares lessons from leading high-scale teams, including his approach to hiring engineers from open-source communities and developer forums rather than traditional channels.  Throughout the conversation, Hanni emphasizes the importance of aligning people, processes, and tooling around meaningful outcomes. Whether he's talking about data governance, automation, or AI adoption, his focus remains on what drives results—and what slows them down—in large, complex environments.  Hanni shares his take on:  - Why “big bang” rollouts collapse  - Cloud migrations that don’t deliver  - AI’s role in accelerating development  - When data lakes become swamps  - Rethinking how great developers are hired Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    24 min
  7. Charu Pujari on Architecting Enterprise Systems that Scale with Customers

    29 MAI

    Charu Pujari on Architecting Enterprise Systems that Scale with Customers

    Charu Pujari, Vice President of Engineering and Data Science at Loblaw Digital, joins Imran Mian on Behind the Growth to break down what it really takes to architect enterprise systems that move fast, scale reliably, and stay relentlessly focused on the customer. Opening the conversation with insights into his early shift from data science into engineering, Charu shares hard-won lessons on engineering for scale. Having learned the hard way that scale cannot be an afterthought, Charu emphasizes why performance and reliability can’t be added later, and how designing for agility up front enables real-time experimentation across digital platforms. He unpacks how his team replatformed critical systems to support modularity, faster decision-making, and direct user feedback loops. Throughout the conversation, Charu emphasizes the operational choices behind building high-performing teams: trust first, reduce blockers, and align everyone around solving real problems. He discusses how personalization in retail is no longer a feature—it’s a foundation—and why merchandising, pricing, and promotion must now adapt dynamically to individual customer needs. Drawing from his time at Loblaw leading his team through a full platform re-architecture, he explains why agility, not perfection, is the priority—and how customer feedback, not internal consensus, drives meaningful product decisions, enabling faster iteration and greater composability across digital experiences. From introducing new features in 72 hours to balancing autonomy with alignment across teams, Charu shares what it looks like to operationalize customer-centricity at scale. The episode also dives into turns to the intersection of media, loyalty, and personalization in retail. From zero-time search to AI-native interfaces, Charu offers a candid, technical, and practical view into how enterprise platforms—and the teams behind them—can move with purpose to meet customers where they are—with the right product, at the right time, at the right value.  He explores topics like:  - Engineering platforms for real-time scale  - Re-platforming to unlock team agility  - Personalization as retail infrastructure  - Building autonomy into high-performing teams  - Rethinking media as part of CX  Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    36 min
  8. Akua Mensah on Why Soft Skills Aren’t a ‘Nice to Have’ Anymore

    14 MAI

    Akua Mensah on Why Soft Skills Aren’t a ‘Nice to Have’ Anymore

    Akua Mensah, Senior Director of Process Engineering & Business Enablement at CIBC, joins host Mudassar Malik on this episode to explore the real drivers of transformation—and why soft skills aren’t just a “nice to have,” but a strategic necessity. Drawing from her work leading process design, service improvement, and enterprise change across banking and consulting, Akua brings a grounded perspective on how large organizations actually move forward. The conversation begins with how Akua’s team centres the customer’s “why” in service design, data, and Lean Six Sigma programs across the bank. She shares how transformation work must balance operational logic with human insight—and how resilience, adaptability, and diplomacy serve as the glue that holds major initiatives together.  From there, Akua shares why communication is still the top failure point in large-scale projects—impacting timelines, budgets, and trust. She explains how leaders can set the tone through clarity, active listening, and confidence built through competence. The discussion also dives into conflict resolution, creative problem solving, and the importance of coaching that goes beyond instruction to true development. The episode closes with Akua outlining the human success factors she sees as non-negotiable for the post-AGI enterprise: communication, coaching, problem-solving, meta-learning, and confidence built on real competence. For leaders navigating change, it’s a clear call to invest in what really drives outcomes—your people. Akua explores topics like: - Why poor communication still breaks projects  - Handling conflict in high-stakes teams  - Leading with customer-first design thinking  - Coaching beyond performance reviews  - Building confidence through competence  Akua's website: www.akuamensah.com Visit mobilelive.ca/podcast to learn more about each guest and read key insights for every episode.

    37 min
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À propos

Not everyone makes the news. But behind every growth-driving experience, product, and transformation are experts who shaped the outcome. Behind the Growth is a podcast for digital leaders and those aspiring to become one. Each episode celebrates remarkable individuals, and our candid conversations focus on their struggles, wins, and lessons learned you won’t find anywhere else.

Informations

  • Créateur
    mobileLIVE
  • Années d’activité
    2022 - 2025
  • Épisodes
    71
  • Classement
    Tout public
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Behind the Growth
  • Site Web de l’émission
    Behind the Growth