ABOUT ME - PART 2

Later in my career, I worked as a Knowledge Management Specialist for an international law firm headquartered in Calgary.

If you're wondering what a Knowledge Management Specialist actually does, the simplest explanation is this:

Law firms have an enormous amount of knowledge — legal research, precedents, documents, procedures and, perhaps most importantly, the institutional knowledge held by their people.

My job was to help make that knowledge organized, accessible and useful to the people who needed it.

I helped develop an intranet and training programs, taught lawyers how to use new and developing software (not an easy task!) and worked with both the administrative and legal sides of the organization.

But one of the most valuable parts of that job was having the opportunity to sit in meetings with senior decision-makers and what the business world calls “rainmakers” — the people responsible for bringing in major clients and major deals. It helped that I typed very quickly, and so was often seated at the very back of the big conference room table typing away - but also watching and learning.

I watched big deals come together.

And I learned something important:

Good outcomes don't happen simply because one person has the best argument.

They're built through communication. Listening. Compromise. Understanding what matters to the other side.

And sometimes, the measure of a successful meeting is simply that everyone walks away feeling they were heard — and that something worthwhile was accomplished.

That experience shaped how I approach problems today.

I'm not a career politician.

I'm a woman who has spent her life working, managing, caring for family, solving problems, listening to people and learning that good decisions rarely come from one person having all the answers.

They come from good information, thoughtful discussion, different perspectives and a willingness to find common ground.

That's the kind of Council member I want to be.

Thanks for listening!