Connecting with Helle Bank J?rgensen

How have relationships influenced your professional development and leadership style?

In all ways possible. Relationships are powerful. Relationships with mentors make you think, act and do better. Relationships with peers, bosses and colleagues teach you how to be - and not to be. One of my best bosses (and I have had many) once said to me that I could learn as much, if not more, from the people I didn't approve of, as the ones I liked. I often think about that - and although I try to do what I believe is the best, I make many mistakes and I hope people learn from the good and the bad (and forgive me for the bad I do.) Relationships with family teach you about belonging, and relationships with your fellow earth travelers that you meet on your journey, teach you to respect and appreciate differences and that we all depend on each other for our happiness and our survival as good human beings.

Do you have any tips for maintaining and building strong relationships?

?Apply the golden rule with a twist - don't just do to others what you would like them to do to you, but do what they would like and see as respectful. To do that we need to be better at looking behind 'the facade,' to care and ask questions about the other person and understand what makes them happy. The best explanation I ever heard was this: "You are looking for a gift and give what you would want to get ... not what's on the wishlist of the other person." And that might be the best tip for building strong relationships - care about other people - ask what's on their wishlist.

?How have you intentionally built inclusiveness into your circles?

?That is a good question - I'm curious and often fascinated by people who are different from myself, and love to ask questions and learn about their upbringing, beliefs and dreams. I have the great gift of having grown up in a different country than where I live now and I work with people from all around the globe. That might be why I like to learn about other people and what makes them who they are... or perhaps it is the other way around. Nevertheless, I believe I can learn something from all, so I'm not sure if it is by design or simply my curiosity. We are, however, intentional by building inclusiveness into our Competent Boards faculty, although we could do a much better job.

?What community or communities are you proud to be a part of?

?All of them - as long as people genuinely care and respect each other, and want to learn from each other.

Who’s a Connector that's made a difference in your life??

?Oh my - there are so many. I have to start with Christina Liljegren who connected me to my husband ... Professor Leo Alting from the Danish Technical University who connected me to my career within sustainability over 30 years ago. My first partner at PwC who believed in my mission of having companies report trustworthy sustainability information to the market. Tess Mateo who introduced me to so many when I joined PwC US. Ian Bremmer who invited me to join some powerful networks. Joel Makover who invited me to write for GreenBiz and made many introductions, and of course Susan who I had the great pleasure to work with on a project for another connector Joyce Cacho many years ago. I have so so many more I would like to name including all of our faculty members, alumni and supporters of Competent Boards, including Torben Moger, Annette Verschuren, Paul Polman and so many more.

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, seasoned communicator and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. She is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships.

Follow Susan on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram and order her new book, The Lost Art of Connecting, also available on Kindle and Audiobook.