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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, I'm Phil Bliss, founder and CEO of Canada's podcast, Alan Cometi from Toronto.
[00:13] SPEAKER_01: Today we're going to meet Kim Habeck, who's founder and CEO of Kim Habeck HR.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Kim is a senior HR executive who, prior to starting her own business, spent over 25 years
[00:25] SPEAKER_01: with a number of large-scale organizations. She launched her own business in 2022,
[00:31] SPEAKER_01: fueled by a desire to make more of a direct impact for her clients.
[00:37] SPEAKER_01: You know, HR is an area that companies can't risk getting wrong, and Kim's focus is on supporting small,
[00:45] SPEAKER_01: the median-sized business growth. Kim is currently serves as CHRO executive in residence
[00:52] SPEAKER_01: at the Mars Discovery District, where she is supporting executives at high-growth companies
[00:59] SPEAKER_01: scaling to over 100 million in revenue. Kim, welcome to Canada's podcast.
[01:06] SPEAKER_01: It's great to meet you. And before we get too deep into a conversation,
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: that I suspect we will get really involved. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself,
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: what you do, and how you got here, basically, as an entrepreneur?
[01:25] SPEAKER_02: Sure. Thanks, Belle. So I'm Kim Habeck, and I have over 25 years experience.
[01:31] SPEAKER_02: My whole career was in human resources. Throughout my career, I worked mostly in large enterprises
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: and also led the HR team at one of the largest professional services firms in Canada.
[01:44] SPEAKER_02: I then went into startup, and I worked as the first chief people officer at one of Canada's unicorn startups,
[01:54] SPEAKER_02: which is LEG. Currently, I'm an independent HR consultant working with organizations across North America
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: and an advisor as an executive in residence at Mars Momentum, working with some of Canada's most promising startups.
[02:11] SPEAKER_01: So, I think it's pretty obvious from that intro, you're a new entrepreneur on one.
[02:21] SPEAKER_01: But you are a new entrepreneur. One major step out of like a super successful long-term career
[02:31] SPEAKER_01: into risk and mayhem.
[02:35] SPEAKER_02: I can honestly say startup is a little bit of risk and mayhem as well.
[02:43] SPEAKER_02: It's something that I've always wanted to do, and sometimes the universe speaks to you.
[02:49] SPEAKER_02: There was some stuff going on in my personal life that required me to have a little bit more flexibility.
[02:53] SPEAKER_02: And so, in needing to kind of spend more time focusing on family, the opportunity presented itself, you know, why not now?
[03:03] SPEAKER_02: Take a shot at it. Worst case scenario, I'm able to deal with this situation, which I'm hoping is going to be quite temporary.
[03:11] SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, return to this big business if that's what I wanted to do.
[03:15] SPEAKER_02: But I, you know, got bitten by the bug of entrepreneurship, and I am having a really good time.
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: Now, you're a CHR old executive in residence at Mars. So, you meet a lot of entrepreneurs.
[03:30] SPEAKER_01: For the first time, like, as an HR person, are we, kind of, different than the normal employee, if you like, in an enterprise?
[03:51] SPEAKER_01: That's why we are differently. I mean, is there a different sort of persona that you, you know, even being an HR for so long, you've seen all these personas.
[04:05] SPEAKER_01: So, you stepped out of it into entrepreneurship, and you're seeing a lot of them because you're getting to meet a lot of people in Mars.
[04:14] SPEAKER_01: You know, will we be different?
[04:18] SPEAKER_02: I think we're different. I think that there is something that is unique about somebody who is not your prerner.
[04:25] SPEAKER_02: And those are people who aren't just going to settle for what's available. They either have an idea or they have a solution, and they want to make an impact.
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: They want to make a change. And they know that they can make that change. They can leave that change.
[04:39] SPEAKER_02: It takes a whole bunch of confidence, obviously, a lot of support, and a lot of resilience.
[04:48] SPEAKER_02: So, when I think about it, and one of the questions people ask me often is, well, tell me about AI, and how is that changing the way that we're doing things in business?
[04:55] SPEAKER_02: And I would say we need to start thinking about the future, and we need to start recognizing that what God is here isn't going to get us there, from a hiring perspective, from the types of employees that we're working with, et cetera, et cetera.
[05:10] SPEAKER_02: Entrepreneurs have been doing that forever. So, they're ahead of the game. They are always trying to predict the future.
[05:16] SPEAKER_02: They're always trying to understand what the solutions are that they're going to be needed for tomorrow.
[05:21] SPEAKER_02: And so, this whole new conversation about AI and how it's changing the game, it's always been in the Entrepreneurs Heart and Spirit in the way that they think and they act.
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: What are you most excited about in your business, stepping out of corporate HR into emerging enterprise at HR?
[05:46] SPEAKER_02: So, a couple of things. I mean, first and foremost, as I work with incredible people, I get the opportunity to experience different businesses, different ways of thinking and solving problems, which enhances, I think, any professionals, you know, skills when you're learning from other genius people who are building incredible solutions in the industry.
[06:10] SPEAKER_02: So, that is a major privilege. The other thing, though, is being able to make an impact and make an impact that is fairly immediate and potentially long lasting.
[06:23] SPEAKER_02: And so, some of these companies that I am working with may not have an HR executive in house because they're either at size that it doesn't justify it, or they can't afford to have somebody on a full-time basis.
[06:37] SPEAKER_02: And so, when I'm coming in, I'm generally coming in and solving big problems and really helping them to get back on track or kind of helping them to focus on the future.
[06:48] SPEAKER_00: Stay ahead of the game with our expert tips and strategies that will help your business thrive in a digital era. Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[06:56] SPEAKER_01: Where do you see yourself in the next five years? I mean, what's your ambition?
[07:04] SPEAKER_02: I think I would have answered that question differently last year than I even would this year, to be honest.
[07:10] SPEAKER_02: I love working as part of a team. I love having a team. I love working as part of a team. I love working with a multi-disciplinary team.
[07:18] SPEAKER_02: And I think when I originally went out, I figured that I would like to build my consulting practice and eventually have people working with me and have, you know, kind of almost build my own company of like-minded people.
[07:31] SPEAKER_02: Throughout my experience in the last two years, I have been so fortunate to meet such incredible people doing similar work, whether it's in HR or other disciplines, with organizations similar to the ones that I am working with.
[07:46] SPEAKER_02: And it is a community of people. I don't feel like I'm doing this alone anymore. I really do feel like I am part of an incredible community.
[07:55] SPEAKER_02: So that need to build that team, I think is not as urgent for me because I have a team. Now that team is made up of incredible people who I've met along the way, who have been very generous with their time.
[08:10] SPEAKER_02: And we have all just helped to support each other and help each other to grow our businesses.
[08:17] SPEAKER_01: So what you see is your biggest challenge in your future as an entrepreneur.
[08:26] SPEAKER_01: You see it being that change of sort of picture from two years ago even. What's the biggest challenge you've got?
[08:36] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think that the biggest challenge is always about where is the business coming from tomorrow? What is the market doing?
[08:44] SPEAKER_02: And how is it that we're going to evolve in order to play within that market? I mean, currently there are a number of people who have decided to leave corporate to go out and to do this level of fractional work because there isn't me.
[08:58] SPEAKER_02: There are a number of enterprises and small companies who are looking for solutions that maybe they don't need on an ongoing basis.
[09:08] SPEAKER_02: I would say one of the things that was most challenging for me in going out on my own was the idea of doing sales.
[09:16] SPEAKER_02: As an HR person, we are wired as like super humble. We're here to support people. We're here to help you to drive sales.
[09:24] SPEAKER_02: And so how do you see yourself actually as doing sales? And what I found was thoughtful conversations, you know, and always learning how to add value within a discussion.
[09:36] SPEAKER_02: That's sales. You don't have to be, you know, walking around with your mother's tucker wearing your backpack and, you know, trying to try to hack it on somebody.
[09:45] SPEAKER_02: That's not the way that sales work. Sales for me is much more consultative. And so when I think about what are the greatest challenges, you know, within industry or for me personally, it's always about what is the market doing and where are we going to continue to be able to add incredible value and be very thoughtful partners, even from an external third party perspective.
[10:09] SPEAKER_01: Speaking about challenges, you know, you've been HR is not process, you know, but somewhat driven.
[10:19] SPEAKER_01: And you know, when you hit sort of unexpected challenges, if you develop a process to handle and manage them, overcome them, whatever the word you want to use.
[10:32] SPEAKER_01: If you done that.
[10:35] SPEAKER_02: So I think that that's what makes it interesting having come from very large organizations and going to a very small organization before going out on my own.
[10:46] SPEAKER_02: Everybody goes through the same problems. It's just a matter of context.
[10:50] SPEAKER_02: And so the more experience that you have solving problems in different contexts, the more tools you have in your tool chest to pull on to help solve those problems.
[11:02] SPEAKER_02: And so you see themes happening across industries, whether it's here in Canada or it's in the US, whether it's in startup or it's in small and medium sized businesses.
[11:16] SPEAKER_02: And so the same challenges come up. And so things like how big is the budget? What is the impact? How driven are they to solve this problem through people?
[11:27] SPEAKER_02: Where is the investment coming from and ultimately what a success look like that determines what the solution is.
[11:35] SPEAKER_02: But I would say it's a machination of solutions that I've used over and over again very uniquely, you know, formatted for the needs of that particular business.
[11:45] SPEAKER_02: So I can't say it's a process necessarily. It's like the tool chest.
[11:50] SPEAKER_02: It's going back to the tool chest and pulling out the things that have worked in the past in different scenarios with similar types of businesses or even in completely different businesses and thinking about how what success looks like needs to be similar to something that you've solved in the past.
[12:09] SPEAKER_02: And how can I utilize something like that for this organization?
[12:13] SPEAKER_02: The other thing that I would say, fellas, is that it's highly consultative in the sense that, you know, I can't come to any company with a solution.
[12:23] SPEAKER_02: It's an ongoing process. It's about discussions. It's about understanding and quite frankly, it's about iterating as we go often.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, you do not wish sometimes that you could have because you're loving entrepreneurship so much that you could have started it 20 years ago.
[12:45] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't think I would have had the confidence 20 years ago to do it.
[12:50] SPEAKER_02: And it really does take a lot of, you know, I continue to every single problem that I solve, whether it was within industry or out on my own.
[13:03] SPEAKER_02: You come up with something that is brand new that you've never seen before. You've never seen it in exactly this way.
[13:09] SPEAKER_02: And you're not exactly sure how you're going to solve it and then you solve it. And then you're like, wow, I solved that. That's great. I didn't know I knew how to do that.
[13:17] SPEAKER_02: And I think that it's at this stage in my life and at this stage in my career that I actually have enough confidence to know that I will be able to solve it.
[13:25] SPEAKER_02: That I've had enough of those eureka moments of, hey, look, I was able to solve that problem that I've never seen before.
[13:32] SPEAKER_02: So, you have enough years of that that you have confidence that you have enough enough tools in the tool chest to be able to pull on.
[13:40] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we have tons of entrepreneurs listening to this looking at it, whatever.
[13:48] SPEAKER_01: And you've been out as an entrepreneur and also advising, you know, emerging growth companies, if you like, for the last two or three years.
[14:02] SPEAKER_01: Is there any kind of things that you common elements that you fit during that time that, you know, that you should, you could say to the audience, you know, don't do this or do this or what, you know, you don't say, there's already blocks that you found that you didn't really know existed.
[14:28] SPEAKER_01: But you say, you're seeing some common ground basically.
[14:33] SPEAKER_02: I think there's a couple of themes that I'm staying.
[14:36] SPEAKER_02: So, particularly in hyper growth organizations, there is a certain point at time where the executive team needs to pull back.
[14:45] SPEAKER_02: They have been doing it themselves from the beginning.
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: There was very few dollars to spend.
[14:51] SPEAKER_02: Everybody there was part of the solution.
[14:53] SPEAKER_02: And then there gets to be a point where the company needs to pull out their leaders to start thinking about two and three years ahead.
[15:00] SPEAKER_02: And trusting that they have the talent beneath them who can actually lead the operations.
[15:07] SPEAKER_02: And so, very early on, my recommendation to businesses would always be, think about building your bench.
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: Think about your succession plans.
[15:16] SPEAKER_02: Think about who is going to be doing this work when you need to step up and step away to do a different level of work that you're not even thinking about today.
[15:26] SPEAKER_02: That is a very common theme.
[15:28] SPEAKER_02: And some companies, quite frankly, the leadership team or where the founder isn't able to do that.
[15:33] SPEAKER_02: And so, it's about the founder being able to acknowledge it, recognize it and say, hey, that's okay.
[15:39] SPEAKER_02: I'm going to hire someone. I'm going to hire a COL or I'm going to hire a president of the organization.
[15:45] SPEAKER_02: And I'm going to take more of that advisory type of role or more of that technical type of role.
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: But when you think about the company becoming its own entity, so it goes from being your baby, all of your ideas to, you know, it becomes its own entity on its own.
[16:02] SPEAKER_02: And now we start thinking about what's best for the organization.
[16:06] SPEAKER_02: The most important thing is that critical moment or the executive team is able to recognize something different is needed and it's needed right now.
[16:14] SPEAKER_02: Can we do it? Do we have the capability? And if we can't, what's the solution?
[16:19] SPEAKER_02: So that's very, very common.
[16:21] SPEAKER_02: The next thing I would say is investing in people early.
[16:26] SPEAKER_02: It often takes companies a little bit too long to realize that they're not selling widgets.
[16:33] SPEAKER_02: That it's about the people who are building the widgets, or it's about the people who are actually selling the widgets, who are going to be the determining factor of whether they're going to be successful, you know, wildly successful or mildly successful.
[16:46] SPEAKER_02: And so making an investment in people early is important.
[16:50] SPEAKER_02: And thinking about HR and what HR does is, you know, brings the thoughtfulness to building culture.
[17:01] SPEAKER_02: Right now, I would say in an incredibly competitive environment, also an environment where there's low turnover, lots of people are sticking probably for a little bit too long because they're afraid to move from one role to another in an uncertain economy.
[17:17] SPEAKER_02: Employees are looking for purpose. And so being able to, you know, every organization has a purpose, but is it well articulated?
[17:25] SPEAKER_02: Are you really living it every day? Are you breathing it to your employees? Remember and understand why it is that they're there and what they're there to accomplish?
[17:34] SPEAKER_02: And those are all things that HR brings to the table.
[17:38] SPEAKER_02: So yes, you've got someone responsible for sales and yes, you've got someone responsible for recruitment. Of course, you've got someone responsible for finance.
[17:46] SPEAKER_02: But what about somebody who is ultimately thinking about where are we going to get the talent of tomorrow? How are we going to keep the talent that we have?
[17:55] SPEAKER_02: And how are we going to make this an exceptional experience where people are going to want to bring their best work? And that needs to start early.
[18:03] SPEAKER_00: Canada's podcast is your gateway to success in the world of entrepreneurship. Start listening today. Canada's podcast.com subscribe now.
[18:12] SPEAKER_01: What's the best piece of advice that you've received? You know, you keep using that one that sticks with you.
[18:22] SPEAKER_02: I would say the best piece of advice that I ever received is business is cyclical. There's going to be abs and flows.
[18:32] SPEAKER_02: And how you use your abs is going to help determine your flows. And so it's very easy to get very caught up as an entrepreneur in your busiest period focused heads down.
[18:46] SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, that busy period eventually comes to an end. And if you want to continue to be busy, then you need to be thinking about how it is that you're using some of that downtime to do more of that business development.
[18:58] SPEAKER_02: And it's finding the balance and as a brand new entrepreneur, I'm still learning.
[19:03] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for me, it's like, you know, the advice was it's not about failing. It's about how you recover.
[19:10] SPEAKER_01: That really makes a difference.
[19:14] SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's have some pretty deep stuff.
[19:20] SPEAKER_01: That's 25 minutes.
[19:23] SPEAKER_01: Let's have some rapid fire questions. Just kind of have some fun in the end here.
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: If you weren't doing what you were doing now, what would you be doing instead? Would you be in HR? Would you be in something else?
[19:37] SPEAKER_02: So the joke in my family is if I wasn't doing what I'm doing right now, then I should really be the receptionist at my orthodontist office because I've decided his office is a disaster and he needs my help.
[19:48] SPEAKER_02: And I could go in there and I can organize up for him. And my kids think this is very, very funny, but that is like my dream job.
[19:55] SPEAKER_02: Like one day to really walk away into retirement, I can't ever imagine myself being fully retired. I'm going to go work for my orthodontist.
[20:04] SPEAKER_02: Yes.
[20:04] SPEAKER_02: That's the joke. But the truth is, if I wasn't doing this, I've always done HR. I'm very passionate about HR.
[20:10] SPEAKER_02: I've been like the gift to me that is kept on giving because of the evolution of everything going on in business technology.
[20:17] SPEAKER_02: And in the markets, and I believe that I've had like multiple careers. So if I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be doing it in a much larger organization.
[20:27] SPEAKER_01: What book are you currently reading?
[20:30] SPEAKER_02: Oh, Phil. I don't have time to read books. I'm very busy. And I have to tell you if I was to speak about the books that I have read recently, they would not be that impressive to your audience.
[20:41] SPEAKER_02: Most recently I was reading the Britney Spears book. So there you go.
[20:48] SPEAKER_01: And next on the list is my first two types of reading list. So the serious type.
[20:53] SPEAKER_01: And then are you reading to get a release? You know, and usually I say, well, what podcasts are you listening to?
[21:00] SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, I think more people are listening to podcasts, you know, just kind of podcasts, but other things because there's a lot of excuse me.
[21:09] SPEAKER_01: I didn't do that.
[21:16] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, listening to podcasts, that kind of thing. That any of those you listen to or don't you have time to do that?
[21:25] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I joke, I do listen to podcasts. So I do quite a bit of reading, but most of the reading and podcasts is more on the lighter side.
[21:32] SPEAKER_02: So definitely for me that is a form of entertainment and escape. I do way too much thinking about my business and about the business of my clients throughout the day.
[21:45] SPEAKER_01: Are you a morning or a night person?
[21:48] SPEAKER_02: I am a night person.
[21:50] SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
[21:51] SPEAKER_02: I am a night person.
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: It's usually about, you know, I would say 85% morning and 15% night.
[21:59] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're, that's, that's interesting.
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: If you had to put one word to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
[22:08] SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a hard one. One word to describe myself.
[22:17] SPEAKER_02: I would say evolving.
[22:21] SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
[22:21] SPEAKER_01: That's the first time I've heard that one.
[22:24] SPEAKER_01: That's really on this on that question.
[22:29] SPEAKER_01: What's keeping you up at night?
[22:33] SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
[22:34] SPEAKER_01: After you after you're a little because I saw picture of the food and.
[22:38] SPEAKER_02: My golden judo. No, she's the key man. She's the one who helps me sleep or.
[22:46] SPEAKER_02: I'm selling myself.
[22:47] SPEAKER_02: This is the first time that I've that I am my brand.
[22:51] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[22:51] SPEAKER_02: That's terrifying.
[22:53] SPEAKER_02: Thinking about what's coming next, not having a, you know, five year road plan and a five year plan, business plan.
[23:00] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[23:01] SPEAKER_02: That's kind of terrifying.
[23:03] SPEAKER_02: And also just wanting to make an impact and making sure that the clients that I'm working with.
[23:10] SPEAKER_02: And the opportunity that I'm given that I'm really making the most of them and making the impact for my clients.
[23:19] SPEAKER_02: And one last thing that keeps me up at night don't laugh at me.
[23:23] SPEAKER_02: It's my bookkeeping.
[23:24] SPEAKER_02: Like who knew there was going to be so much paper.
[23:29] SPEAKER_02: Now my, my accounts have laughs at me, but like I'm terrible at my entries.
[23:34] SPEAKER_02: And so truly it's about figuring out that balance between, you know, you've got to sell yourself.
[23:40] SPEAKER_02: You got to do the work.
[23:41] SPEAKER_02: You got to present the work.
[23:42] SPEAKER_02: You got to build for the work.
[23:43] SPEAKER_02: You then you took reconcile the billing of the work and the expenses and all of that.
[23:48] SPEAKER_02: Who knew it was going to take up so much time that keeps me up at night.
[23:53] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's been just a lot of fun talking with it.
[23:58] SPEAKER_01: And we don't often get an HR expert.
[24:01] SPEAKER_01: So I think it's, I think it's going to be an interesting for people to listen to entrepreneurs to listen to, to get some perspectives and some good perspective in there.
[24:13] SPEAKER_01: How can people get a hold of you?
[24:14] SPEAKER_01: If they listen, they'll listen or look at this and say, I want to speak to her.
[24:19] SPEAKER_01: How can people get a hold of you?
[24:21] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so they could definitely see check me out on my website at kimtobachr.com.
[24:27] SPEAKER_02: Or shoot me a note at kimtobachr.com.
[24:33] SPEAKER_02: Bye email.
[24:34] SPEAKER_01: Kevin, thanks for coming on.
[24:36] SPEAKER_01: Cam is podcasting.
[24:37] SPEAKER_01: Great meeting. Good session.
[24:39] SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much, Phil.
