Debby Carreau

Change Agent

Debby Carreau MBA, CHRP CEO & Founder, Inspired HR Author of The Mentor Myth: How to Take Control of Your Own Success. Debby Carreau is the Founder & CEO of Inspired HR which was recognized this year as Canada’s Top HR Consultancy and one of Canada’s 25 TOP Human Resource Professionals. In April of this year she also launched her first book The Mentor Myth: How to Take Control of your own Success. Debby is the youngest Canadian to inducted into Canada’s Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame after being recognized for a fourth time as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for the work she does making a distinct and describable difference to the advancement of women in the workplace. Debby Carreau is a proven leader helping businesses deliver superior business results by making better decisions about human capital. As CEO & Founder of Inspired HR She helps businesses implement strategies to get the most out of their business’ most valuable resource: people. Inspired HR provides Human Resources support for over 300,000 employees in many industries including hospitality, finance, tech, oil & gas, health and wellness, construction and many others. Ms. Carreau is often asked to speak and write about 21st century workplaces, diversity and developing talent for organizations. Recent speaking events include the UAE, Australia, USA, Canada and a global event for Citibank with over 3400 participants. Debby is frequently interviewed regarding optimizing human capital, women in the workplace and the importance of diversity. Debby is a contributor for Entrepreneur Magazine and other recent media coverage includes INC Magazine, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Bloomberg Businessweek, MSNBC, and BBC. Ms. Carreau holds a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on leadership and strategy, and a professional designation in Human Resources. She is passionate about continuing education and has continued her education through Harvard, Singularity and Queens University. In addition to her own companies, Ms. Carreau currently serves on numerous boards including the Alberta Women’s Executive Network Advisory board, Young Presidents Organization and Chairs Young Presidents Organization Women and 1000 Women Rising boards. She is also a founding partner, master moderator and platform partner for Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In foundation. Debby was born in South Africa and now lives in Vancouver. She is a passionate tennis player, skier and runner.

Improving the work experience and productivity across the globe because it has such a large impact of the lives of people and the economic prosperity of our nations. I am also extremely passionate about supporting women and girls as my way of paying forward the good fortune I have experienced.

How improving the working lives of people in developing nations can transform society through giving people a leg up not a hand out.

As Canada's youngest inductee into our Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame, I often reflect back to where my journey started and how I can learn from it to help others not make the same mistakes I did. One of my mentors gave me a great piece of advice: “Great leaders recognize they can learn from anyone at anytime—from the janitor to the Chairman of the Board.” Over the course of my career I have been fortunate to have received a lot of advice and coaching — both good and bad — but I made sure to learn from it all. Through some of the gender-focused advice I was truly able to find real clarity on who I am as a leader and what I want to accomplish. Early in my management career I was counselled to cut my hair short, not wear skirts, not to cry at work, and to sell my convertible in favor of a sedan. All of this advice was given with the best of intentions to help me excel in the corporate world, but it really helped my clarify what I was and was not willing to do to succeed. I decided early on that downplaying the fact I am female is not negotiable. After many years of climbing the corporate ladder, I was promoted to a vice president role in a large corporation; I was the only female and at least a decade younger than the others. Even though the crazy hours and non-stop travel was challenging (I had a newborn and a two-year-old), I truly did love working in the corporate world and didn’t foresee another career path. However, my feelings on this changed during one of my MBA classes. Everyone was discussing next career moves and interestingly, most were moving into finance in one form or another. A lightbulb went off for me because I knew from years of working with CEOs that is often the people issues that keep them up at night and no one was focused on this area from a business perspective. I knew right there and then it was my time to lean in. Within a week, I had cashed in all of my savings and started a company focused on businesses and how they optimize their human capital. In a world where most people now spend more than 50% of their waking hours working, thinking about work, commuting or checking their iPhones, I knew creating great work environments would help more than just the bottom line; it would help families. Not only does working with people make my job worthwhile—we are really able to help women develop and thrive in their careers. In order for our society to thrive we must leverage all talent: men and women. To do this we need to lean in to work inside and outside of the home, lean in to our ambition, lean in to our core values and most importantly lean in to our dreams.

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