Victoria CEO Sage Baker remembers well doing one of her first big financial deals in the "man's world" of high-tech business.
"I was the only female and I was much younger than everyone else in the boardroom. One of the gentlemen – a lawyer I hadn't met face to face yet – sat down and looked at me and said, 'Are you going to take notes and get coffee?'"
A six-foot-one former high school basketball captain, Baker stood up, shook his hand and identified herself as the Sage he had been dealing with from afar. The lawyer, clearly embarrassed, sheepishly said, "Oh, I had no idea," then offered to have his assistant provide any clerical help.
Baker, now leader of the Victoria-based Q5 Innovations, dismisses the episode with more amusement than irritation, noting that in the fast-moving world of business, "everyone is making snap judgments out of necessity."
But she still sees it as her responsibility to correct the stereotype.
"There is a requirement as a woman to be known as a brain behind what you are doing because in those male-dominated [high-tech] industries there is a reliance on young attractive girls to play more of a support role.
In fact, Baker and her company are building a business based on exploiting the shortsightedness of a marketplace that makes snap judgments about companies with innovative products to sell. She bills herself and her colleagues as "pollinators" – well-connected experts who hunt out entrepreneurs with promising products and ideas and bring them together with investors who have "patient" money. Those investors understand that there are greater financial rewards if you take the long view of a company's potential.
One such product her company of five staff is working on is Detect POL, a real-time polarization difference imaging camera, which helps to improve images capture in challenging environments such as smoke and turbid water. The "intellectual property," as she describes each of her projects or portfolios, often turns out to have applications and markets that go beyond the entrepreneur's original concept. Q5 spreads its own business risk by keeping active on a stable of about 10 projects at any one time.
"We've got a capital market system that is inherently flawed," she said. "We have investor bases that are focused purely on short-term financial metrics. I have seen it time and time again – I've done more than $3 billion in financial transactions – and a lot of times the shortcoming of that business is the short-term financial focus.
Her company's name Q5 comes from the notion that good things can happen when you look beyond the myopic modus operandi of pleasing shareholders four quarters a year to a "fifth quarter."
"We though of Q5 as that hypothetical fifth financial quarter that never actually shows up. We build the business and run the business with our eye always on that horizon. It's more strategic than the day-to-day of financially pleasing your shareholders."
Baker's rise to CEO before 40 is a long way from her humble beginnings in Greenwood, a former bustling mining centre that turned quiet after gold and copper were mined out in the early 1900s. Several kilometres from the town of 700, her parents eked an existence out of the land.
"We didn't have any electricity, so you don't watch TV. You read a lot of books. You learn how to provide for yourself and be self-sufficient.
"It taught me what I didn't want to become," she said, adding a detail that proved prescient.
"I didn't know what the corporate world was but I was sure that was what I wanted to do. Someone asked me when I was six what I wanted to do, and I said I wanted to run multiple businesses."
Baker said being raised by her "back to the land" parents made her feel different growing up, a sense amplified by her height and plain-speaking confident manner.
"When you don't fit in, you learn to adapt, you learn to evolve. And you learn to step inside circles where you don't necessarily belong."
Baker graduated with honours from Queen's University's MBA program. Since then, she's had a string of accolades and more than $3 billion in major deals forged in a succession of high-level positions with U.S. and Canadian companies.
She was a finalist for the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliances 2012 Peter Brojde Award for Canada's next generation executive leadership.
Her leadership was recognized by the Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Association, which bestowed on her the Innovative Excellence Award for business process. She is also a member of the Alliance of CEOs in the Bay Area of California
One axiom she has learned on the way is to "like the taste of your own blood." It was an initially cryptic message that she soon discovered meant biting her tongue and listening.
"There are a lot of times where people speak just to hear the sound of their own voice – they want to be seen to be smart, they want to be seen as providing the answer," she said.
"It took me a while in my career to stop doing that for the sake of proving myself [and to focus instead] on understanding.
Five Questions
What accomplishments are you most proud of?
Being involved in leading large corporate transactions has always been satisfying as there is a ton of team-based hard work and an immediate result, and through this I've been fortunate to be able to work with some amazing people.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced?
Preconceptions and assumptions – people make immediate judgments of others, over time I have had to learn that it ultimately didn't matter if these assumptions about me were inaccurate, as a leader of a large project or a company it was my responsibility to understand these and find ways to quickly and accurately adjust.
What career decisions would you make differently were you starting out today?
I try to live life being aware of the potential impact of my decisions (positive and negative), thus making it easier to live with the consequence of those choices – so even when these lessons are painful, I don't think I would change a thing as it has all been a part of my journey.
What's one business lesson you'd like to pass on to others?
Know yourself, control yourself, give yourself – self-awareness combined with execution and purpose can drive amazing results and a satisfying life path, but always remember that it is your path and no one else's. Stay true to yourself.
Is it still relevant to focus on the success and role of women in business?
We have all read the statistics that show that a diversified workplace leads to better outcomes and results. Yet, unfortunately, within most executive roles and boards of directors in the corporate world, women are still a minority. There are of course many contributing factors to this discrepancy and ultimately any role should be filled by the best person for the job; however, encouraging diversity will help increase open and collaborative workplaces for which we will all benefit.
