I often introduce myself as the individual who has the best job in Canada, because when you're responsible for leading an institution that holds the record of nature over time and has the responsibility to inspire understanding and respect for nature, for a better natural future, it doesn't get any better than that. Every single person who works at the Canadian Museum of Nature believes in that. We are an institution filled with people who are absolutely passionate about our purpose: the staff of the institution, the board, the volunteers, our research associates, our collaborators, and our partners. It is a culture of passion for our purpose.
Although we have had to change how we do what we do, such as, for example, more recently when our financial structure was no longer sustainable, given the realities of how we're funded, everybody had to see why that was important and to what end.
We believe in open, transparent communications. We open the books. Everybody sees what the budget looks like. Everybody understands what the challenges are financially. Everybody then is brought along in understanding how we are going to do things differently, because they already know why and they already believe in the why.
When you think of any institution, I call it the Ps, the Ws, and the Cs. You need people who are passionate for your purpose. Everybody has to understand the where, what, when, and why. Then you need to have people who all embrace the character attributes that make that successful.
We're an institution filled with people who are curious and who are creative. They're also incredibly collaborative, and they are collegial, but increasingly, they're courageous. We are increasingly taking on risk. What's been interesting as I get to know our colleagues in the OAG is that we openly and freely use the term “risk taking”, but it's informed risk taking, and this calms down Etienne and his colleagues.