Those who can help must help

In light of the COVID-19 emergency, we’ve temporarily suspended our regularly scheduled series of conversations with Canadian CEOs. But we’re not going away. Instead, we’re going to pivot to the health emergency itself. We’re going to explore the impact on companies and workers across the country. And we’re going to find out how business leaders are responding to crisis.

At a time when Canadians are relying on phone and digital communication like never before, Rogers President and CEO Joe Natale discusses what they are doing to keep the country connected.  And he explains why Rogers is focused on helping Food Banks, Women’s Shelters, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transcript

Goldy Hyder:
I’m Goldy Hyder of the Business Council of Canada. You’re listening to a special edition of Speaking of Business. For the past few weeks we’ve been talking with business leaders across the country to learn how they’re responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. And if you’re like me, you’ve been finding new ways to connect with friends, family, and coworkers as we all try and keep our physical distance from one another and adjust to the new working from home environment. Suddenly, video calls and online meetings are essential to keeping in touch. This week, my daughters have started school online, as well. And Canadians are consuming internet bandwidth like never before. My guest today is seeing firsthand how these changes are playing out. Joe Natale is president and CEO of Rogers Communications. Joe, welcome to Speaking of Business.

Joe Natale:
Hi Goldy, thank you for doing this and I think this is a great series, a good opportunity to lend a voice to what’s happening right now in our world.

Goldy Hyder:
Well look, before we jump in, in terms of lending a voice to what is happening in our world, let me just ask, how are you? And how is this impacting you and your family personally?

Joe Natale:
I am well. My family is well. We have three grown daughters still in university, but grown daughters. And they’re all home. I was saying to my wife recently, we haven’t had all three girls home for an appreciable period of time in about five years. So it’s been fun in many ways, but also getting used to a new way of being at home and everyone has their responsibilities with online school or meetings they’re a part of or things that are going on. So it’s fascinating creating a new normal, but we’re blessed to have everyone healthy and in a good place.

Goldy Hyder:
Joe, you and I are living in the same movie, my friend. I have those three daughters that you do. We’ve talked about this before. They’re all home for the first time in guess what? In about five years. So I know exactly how you’re feeling as a father to be able to look around and know that your family is well and in your eyesight at all times.

Joe Natale:
Are you sounding smarter, Goldy with them or are you losing more debates than you’re winning?

Goldy Hyder:
I never won before Joe so my expectations were pretty low.

Joe Natale:
Well we can commiserate on that point, as well then.

Goldy Hyder:
You bet. Well, look, in all seriousness, we’re lucky as you said, we’re blessed to be together. We’re blessed to be able to function and make the best of a bad situation. Many Canadians are going through that perhaps in not such a great situation. And you’re seeing it really on the front lines in terms of the strain that this is likely causing on communication system and the importance of our networks and the realization that people have that this is as essential of a service if there ever was one. How are you finding things in terms of the impact on your business, and particularly your customers?

Joe Natale:
Oh, I think there’s no question that more than ever before, Canadians are relying on us. Canadians are relying on our connectivity and our networks. Canadians are relying on our news capability in terms of bringing insights and bringing facts to the table. And this will be a real test of the investments we’ve made and the capability that we have overall. Use is up dramatically. It’s amazing. People are video conferencing and working from home, kids are online learning, families are connecting with their loved ones over FaceTime or video conferencing. There’s never been a kind of more critical time to take advantage of the connectivity that we have. Connections have always mattered to us as a society. And I think more than ever what we’re hearing from customers is they appreciate it now more than ever. And our teams are working around the clock to keep that lifeline active and it’s not just Canadians in the home.

Joe Natale:
You think about EMS and healthcare workers and really providing the connectivity that matters more to them now more than ever. As they’re missing loved ones and doing incredible work every single day under the most trying circumstances, to small businesses that are trying to make up for the fact that people can’t visit them in person and moving to online sales where they can, to governments that are sending SMS messages to Canadians abroad to tell them to get home or be safe or stay in touch with them, to restaurants using delivery apps to keep open and keep us all fed, to researchers collaborating around the world to find a cure. The power of communications is so, so fundamental. This issue of loneliness I think has really become a universal condition right now. And connection unites us. I think it’s a fundamental part of our beings to want to be connected.

Joe Natale:
We haven’t faced something like this in a universal sense in maybe a century. I was reading about the Spanish flu from a hundred years ago and during the Spanish flu they used Boy Scouts and postal workers to go door to door and hand out leaflets and information to try and get people connected to what was going on. This is probably the first time in a century where we’ve had to universally connect and overcome this condition that we’re all facing or working through. And now we have the benefit of modern tools, 21st century tools to do these things like never before. And I think it’s fabulous.

Goldy Hyder:
It’s interesting because pre-virus, it would be safe to say, and I hope you don’t mind me saying, but people venting about their telecoms providers was like right up there with the banks. Do you see this as a turning point for the relationship between the customer and the telco companies?

Joe Natale:
Well, I think we’ve been working hard to put customers first for the last many years at Rogers and putting customers first boils down to creating a sense of trust and creating a sense of value for money. And the essential nature of the service and the capability I think now is in the forefront. And my hope is that this is an opportunity to have a different conversation, a different narrative around the importance of the services. And also for us to continue to drive a better customer experience that reinforces the value of what we’re doing.

Joe Natale:
One thing that is amazing is just the response from our frontline teams, Goldy. I mean they’re the people that really drive the success and drive the value of our organization more than ever. The work they’ve been doing is just tremendous. They’ve been out there just working hard to connect Canadians in every way possible. They’ve been running fiber in fields and parking lots to make makeshift health stations and testing sites work. They’ve been out there trying to figure out how do I get this customer connected in a way that keeps them safe and keeps us safe. So we’ve gone to essentially a self install, where our technicians are using the power of video conferencing to help the customer in the home without having to go into the home. And that’s been working very well.

Goldy Hyder:
You mentioned earlier it’s seeing the best in people. Why is this what you’re referring to by that in terms of how people are all kind of helping each other out through this?

Joe Natale:
I think so. I think more than ever we’re seeing people come together and boundaries being erased. We’re seeing people just work together to solve problems, whether they’re in business or in government or agencies or the not-for-profits or organizations just trying to figure out what are the priorities here. And there’s never been a stronger spirit of collaboration than right now. I’ve been keeping in constant touch with many different groups around our world. And I said to my team last week, if we could somehow bottle this degree of collaboration that we’re seeing inside and outside of Rogers … there’s a dividend here that’s great for society as a whole frankly.

Goldy Hyder:
Well, well said. Listeners have heard me say this before, but I’ve been saying if you want honor the lives of those who’ve died in this tragedy, make life better for those who’ve lived. And if that’s one of the things that comes out of this, I think we’ll be better off for it.

Goldy Hyder:
Now, one of the things that you’ve mentioned Joe, was that you are paying attention to the impact that the virus has had on your industry in countries that came before Canada. Just take us through what the lessons learned are in terms of what are the advantages that we’ve been able to have here in Canada versus maybe what others have had to experience abroad.

Joe Natale:
One thing that we’ve seen is Canadian networks have held up very well. We’re seeing massive spikes in demand. Used to be the peaks in our networks would be usually in the evenings just after dinner or on a Saturday and Sunday morning. Now the peaks are every morning starting first thing as people fire up their days. And our teams have worked very hard to add capacity in the moment and work on balancing the load with the capacity more than ever. And the billions of dollars of investments that we’ve made over the last many, many years are paying off. And I think that our networks are holding up very well.

Joe Natale:
We do compare notes across the globe. We do talk to our peers in every country to understand how they’re dealing with any aspect of this from network capability to relationships with different stakeholders to just how they’re managing their people in their teams through this. And there’s been a great esprit de corps coming from every corner of the globe and sharing that insight and that information.

Goldy Hyder:
Well that’s great to hear. As you said, this is a moment in which that reassurance helps people get through the situation. And one of the other things is that we’re all trying to find ways to help out in this crisis. And we’ve heard a lot about people and businesses stepping up, for example, to get much needed supplies to health care workers. But Rogers and you in particular put a focus on some vulnerable populations that may be operating under the radar. From Big Brothers and Big Sisters, women’s shelters and food banks. Tell me about your initiatives.

Joe Natale:
Let me start by saying that this starts from the foundation and the premise that none of us has the privilege of inaction. Those who can help must help. And we sat back as a team and said, “Where can we help the most right now?” And we picked a few areas that are important. And they’re areas that are really aimed at helping the most vulnerable populations in society that may be under the radar at this point in time. Everyone of us had our lives turned upside down due to this public health crisis. But for those that were already just hanging on, this is beyond devastating. And we as a company have a pantry of assets that are second to none, from devices to network connectivity to our ability to getting the word out through our media channels. Every day we reach 30 million Canadians in some way, shape, or form through different parts of our business.

Joe Natale:
So we wanted to bring this to bear and help in a way that could really make a difference. We picked a few areas to focus on as a start. One is food banks. We’ve donated a million meals to Food Banks Canada and through the power of our TV and radio assets, along with our digital and social platforms, we’ve created an awareness campaign that is reaching almost every Canadian each week. And through our customers and employees, and inspiring others to help, we’ve raised an additional half a million more meals on top of our million meal commitment. We’re going to keep pushing this. Food banks have as little as two weeks of food left on the shelves. And need is going up and not going down. And the ability to actually collect food in the normal circumstances has been completely hampered.

Joe Natale:
Big Brothers and Big Sisters is another area where we put some focus as a company. With smartphones and connectivity in collaboration with Samsung, we’re offering six months of free service and devices to the Littles in the families in crisis so they can have digital tools and they can connect with their Big Brothers or Big Sisters. Otherwise they have no ability to do that in the new world and the world we’re living in right now.

Joe Natale:
Women’s shelters is another area we put some focus. Sadly there’s an increase in domestic violence right now due to the increased isolation, stress about financial difficulties. And many women may not know if or how to leave. We’ve partnered with Women’s Shelters of Canada not only to make emergency connectivity and communications capability available to women who need them, but to get the awareness up and out there. Sheltersafe.ca is a national site for local support. We’ve worked hard to make sure that people understand what Women’s Shelters of Canada does and how to get access through all of our platforms, SportsNet Citytv, 680 News, all of our radio brands. And it’s reaching tens of millions of Canadians every week.

Joe Natale:
On top of that, there are many other organizations that we’re helping outside of our community partnerships wherever we can. Local community groups, emergency repairs and capabilities, the health care sector. And we’re doing everything in our power to leverage the things we do have that can make a difference right now.

Goldy Hyder:
Well look, it’s often said, tone is set at the top. And it’s quite clear to me that this is very important to you personally, so thank you Joe for your leadership in this regard. And Rogers doing what it’s doing in these vulnerable areas. We appreciate it. Let me ask you a question because of course, Rogers is very involved in sports and Canadians love their sports. When are we getting back to that, you think?

Joe Natale:
As soon as we possibly can. I’ll tell you, there’s nothing that brings Canadians together, whether it’s to cheer on sports or debate about it than watching sports, watching live sports. And it’s been tough. It’s been tough. We’ve been in touch with all the leagues. There are all kinds of plans being made to see what is the art of the possible depending on when things might start to happen again. And in the meanwhile we’re doing some creative things. We’re replaying the entire 24 game run of the Raptors on TV. We started a series called In Conversation where Ron MacLean is on TV having discussions with some key sports figures. Last week he had Wayne Gretzky and Hayley Wickenheiser on to have a discussion. That was really kind of a great discussion. We are having these watch parties around great moments in sports. So we’re trying to keep the magic of sports alive while we wait for the resurgence of the various seasons that are out there.

Goldy Hyder:
That’s a great initiative, again. And thanks for sharing that. And let me just ask a final question, Joe. As you may know, this part of our audience is a lot of MBA classes and students and future leaders in the country. I’m wondering if you could share … this is probably one of the biggest crises, if not the biggest crisis you ever had to deal with it as a CEO. What are you learning about yourself as a leader and what are you learning about leadership at a time of crisis?

Joe Natale:
Oh, I think a few things. First of all, it’s important to understand that there is no standard playbook for what’s going on right now. We can certainly draw on experiences from previous crises, but you have to go back to first principles in terms of what’s important. I’ve said very clearly to my team, principle-based, purpose based leadership matters now more than ever. We’ve said our number one priority is keeping our people safe and out of harm’s way. Our number two priority is keeping Canadians connected now that it matters more than ever. And bring everything back to those two key principles. And I said to them also, and I’d say it to MBA students, it’s times like this that really reveal character. Really reveal character. The fullness of time working through a crisis will help to build character.

Joe Natale:
But in the crisis itself, I think it reveals character. And people show up with their true selves. A few things that I think are really important right now is one is to keep a sense of calm. One of my teammates said that calm is a super power right now. And we need to act with urgency, but with calm and not emergency. And think through things with a sense of speed, but really think through them and have the tone be a calm and thoughtful one.

Joe Natale:
The next thing I’d say is, it’s really important to stay informed. Stay informed. You can quickly develop a bubble around yourself. I really have appreciated the ability to speak openly with all government officials, both on the political front and within the government administration about what’s going on. And sharing ideas and helping each other out more than ever. I felt privileged to be able to reach out to other companies and seeing what they’re up to and talking to my peers in our industry, outside our industry.

Joe Natale:
As Canada’s umbilical cord, it’s really important that we’re close to understanding what’s happening and also looking around the corner to see what’s about to happen so we can get ready for the next set of activities or the next things that may come along as we work our way through what’s happening as a whole. Next thing I’d say is that collaboration has never been at a better premium. And I think the people that are getting on well right now are the ones that are really naturally tuned to collaboration. But it’s helped actually to have everybody join the collaboration movement or mindset, transparency, direct and clear, frank honesty to what’s going on. It’s erased borders. It’s created this special and unique environment of let’s all figure this out that you want to preserve it.

Joe Natale:
Next thing I would say, Goldy, is as a leader, you have to meet people where they are versus drag them to where you are. Whether it’s customers or whether it’s our employees across the company, you have to keep a pulse of where they are through the cycle of awareness, understanding, and acceptance around what’s going on and meet them at that place. Sometimes you might feel that you’ve already thought through something, you’ve already figured it out. But you have to make sure you look behind and see that everyone is following.

Joe Natale:
The last thing I’d say is a sense of humor is really important right now. Those light moments reminding us all that we’re still human beings.

Goldy Hyder:
Yeah. It’s okay to laugh.

Joe Natale:
Yeah, it’s okay to laugh. You’re not diminishing what’s going on. If anything, you’re creating an opportunity to let people have a laugh. And I’m funny, whenever you have a really good belly laugh right now, it just helps to create a calm tone and just give people a breath when we need the most, frankly.

Goldy Hyder:
Joe, that’s a terrific place to end. Heck, if I’d only asked you one question and that was it, and that was your answer, I think we’d have a hell of a podcast, but luckily you’ve given us a lot more content and insight. A lot to ponder. I learned a lot just listening to you, particularly in that last answer. And look, let’s speak again. Thank you for what you’re doing and we appreciate your joining us today.

Joe Natale:
Thanks Goldy. All the best to you and your family, and we’ll talk soon.

Goldy Hyder:
I’ve been speaking with Joe Natale, president and CEO of Rogers communications. You can find more of our special Speaking of Business conversations about the COVID-19 crisis wherever you get your podcasts or visit our website, speakingofbiz.ca. That’s biz with a Zed. Until next time, I’m Goldy Hyder. Thanks for joining us.