Institute for Career Advancement Needs president-CEO Mary Prefontaine hails from the Great Northern reaches of the Canadian Rockies. There, the roots of her ever-searching, forward-thinking personal brand were nurtured. She hails from a British Columbia family line that includes big game hunters and outfitters on her mother's side and railroad men on her father's side. Opening up the vast Canadian wilderness to the world is a family tradition. Growing up amid diversity in Vancouver, she embraced a wide open view of life. "I lived in a very multicultural community and then worked in a diverse cultural environment, so I'm drawn to that. My parents were always inclusive of people uniquely different than them and it made me curious about the world and to want to go explore," says Prefontaine, who's traveled to 14 countries. "I don't remember a time when I didn't see the world as totally connected, and I often can find connection and reasons for collaboration with the most diverse of ideas, people, situations, communities." This executive, wife and mother of two says in today's hyper-connected world "the most challenging thing for us in business and for we as parents is to be discerning about what it is you want to be connected with.” That same discernment gets to the heart of what ICAN helps emerging business leaders do by helping participants find purpose and meaning in their work. "One of the things the work of ICAN assists people with is addressing their values by having them ask, What's the most important thing to me at this time in my life? It's about becoming more selective about the things that have meaning to you and making sure you're living them, connecting with them, fostering them, inviting them in and being curious about them rather than just letting the waves of social media or the demands of the every day hit you," says Prefontaine. "Our inquiry with people who go through our Defining Leadership program always begins with, Why should anyone be led by you? Why should anyone follow you? What is it you're going to inspire in others that's going to want them to give their absolute best?" She says in today's demanding environment of workplace efficiencies one needs to be the kind of leader that inspires people to do good work and still produces bottom line results. She says ICAN takes participants out of their towers and cubicles to learn alongside others in cohorts. "What you end up having is a very powerful shared experience, and it's very often a deep experience because it's self-reflective and you're with a group of peers,” she says. “You're not being taught something by a facilitator, you're actually learning from each other. This is a learning journey they begin and it never ends. If we can poise you to go out and say, 'My whole life is a learning journey,' then you will always be evolving and bring something new to the table because you're coming from that place of curiosity."

read more: Mary Prefontaine and the Institute for Career Advancement Needs: A Leader and an Organization in Alignment