RBC
Joe Olivier
Director, Communication Delivery Gateway

Joe: Currently I lead a team that's responsible for the communication and delivery of initiatives within our Canadian Banking Sales and Field Operation teams. Very soon, I'm going to be moving into a new role that was offered to me – and I certainly accepted it – as a Regional Vice-President, Commercial Financial Services in BC, that I'm absolutely thrilled about, and I'll be relocating my family over the course of the summer.

My heritage and background is Status Indian. I'm Ojibway, as are my three children, my mom and my sisters, and we're from Fort William First Nation, which is adjacent to and just south of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

I've been with RBC now for 17 years. I started with the Bank in 1995, through a summer internship program, and it was through that internship program that I was offered a full time job with RBC, to return upon graduation from the University of Manitoba Asper School of Business with my Bachelor of Commerce degree. While I was in university, I was part of the Aboriginal Business Education Program, and it was through that program that I was introduced to RBC.

I've had the opportunity – the good fortune – to have worked in Winnipeg, in Ottawa, in Kitchener-Waterloo, and in Toronto – and soon to be in Vancouver. Through those moves, I've had a number of defining moments. One of them was my MBA. Another one was having a number of different sales leadership roles which led to my current role.

My mom goes by the name of Doris Sorette. She's an aboriginal artist. As I was growing up, that was our livelihood. That was how my parents made money. As a result of that, we were very closely connected to our heritage and our background. My mom reminds us quite often of her upbringing where she was raised by her grandmother, so she was raised with her brothers and her sisters, her aunts and uncles, as one family, and had a very humble upbringing. As a result, as our children grow, my three children, and my wife, we try and bring those experiences and that history to them and remind them of just how privileged they are today with some of the things that they do have as a result of some of the challenges that my mom encountered as she was growing up.

I would say I would reflect on four principles that I think about all the time. The first one is listen to your manager and the coaches around you. They have the best intentions in helping you attain your career aspirations.

Two, be declarative of your career interests. People are interested in knowing what it is that you want to do throughout the course of your career.

Three, remain humble and grounded, not only to RBC's value system, but your own, as well.

And last, but certainly not least, put in 100%-plus every single day.