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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021 BCBUSINESS 51 Are you an inspirer or a commander? Asked about his philosophy of leader- ship, Carlson says that when he started out in the business, he was "a deal junkie–totally transactional." His approach today: "Show the path and inspire the people." As Carlson sees it, leaders have the choice to be an inspirer or a commander. "This is the mission, and you're going to do it whether you like it or not," he says of the latter, which he also describes as carrot-and-stick. "You leave leadership, and it just becomes this compliance exercise." In Carlson's experience, the commander approach doesn't work with employees who have what he calls a sense of entitlement. Nor will it fly with those who want to self-actualize: "You've got to relate to them; they've got to relate to you." Carlson prefers a leadership model from Franklin Covey Co. that he's rolling out at Anthem. "They call it inspire trust, create vision, execute strategy, and coach potential," he says. "I like that because what's implicit is inspiration. You can only get things done if people trust you." Rather than unbridled enthusi- asm, inspiration means an authen- tic passion and a commitment to getting it done, Carlson says. "And getting a psychological boost reward, a burst of joy or happiness from achieving the goal. Leaders can help people discover that. I think that individuals deep down really want to make a difference, and they get crushed." The pandemic has shone a light on good and bad leaders, Carlson maintains, adding that the same goes for team members. To help their people cope with anxiety during the pandemic, leaders have had to become more empathetic, he says. "I think the commander side's going to drift away." Employees will respond accord- ingly, Carlson predicts. "We'll have grown as a result of COVID," he says. "Empathy is key, and we have a lot more of it in our company now than we did two years ago." –N.R. Home Truths On the nonprofit side of real estate develop- ment, Catalyst president Luke Harrison has navi- gated COVID by building empathy and trust with his team. The pandemic also gave him a new perspective on hiring Luke Harrison, president of Catalyst Community Develop- ments Society, had the unenvi- able task of taking the reins in the midst of the COVID-19 pan- demic. Harrison leads a team of 15 at the Vancouver-based not-for-profit real estate devel- oper, which works with other nonprofits, community groups and municipal governments to build affordable, mixed-income rental housing. Since it launched in 2013, Catalyst has built or oper- ated 341 homes across seven projects. Under development: another 1,000-plus homes in 11 more projects. Catalyst recently welcomed tenants to its 119- unit Alder project in Vancou- ver's River District. Two other developments totalling 200 units, in Vancouver and Port Moody, will open soon. For Harrison, whose previ- ous roles include director and CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency and real estate development manager with TransLink, the pandemic has yielded some unexpected benefits. Something that was surprisingly easy… Going remote was not a hugely difficult process for us because we were focusing on develop- ment and project management. We're better being in a remote environment than we were when we worked in person. The challenges that lingered… What is hard is figuring out the informal collaboration on issues because we're not all in the same space. Where things were really hard… We do community develop- ment, and getting to know the people who live in the buildings is harder to do when you have to set up a time to be over Zoom. So that part's been a little trickier to scale into a virtual world. How you adapted… Some of the things we looked at early on were for new contractual relationships we have with suppliers that were typically managed through other parties that we employ directly. For example, if there's an issue with an electrical contractor, do we have to negotiate a new relationship directly with that electrical contractor, in order to make sure they feel comfortable that they're going to get paid and stay in this project? We had to go a few steps deeper into that supply chain to say, We're still in business; we know that this project is going to be financed. Something that was part of your leadership ethos… Recognizing what we were going through as an organiza- tion, and having direct contact with my executive team and all the staff to not pretend that everything's OK. Having very HOUSE IN ORDER Leaders should prioritize tasks rather than react in the moment, Harrison says BCBUSINESS.CA