EW 070 – How To Build An Innovative Community Hub For Older Adults – Winning with Dr. Haidong Liang, CEO of WeSeniors

Gordon Sheppard (00:00.804)
Hi dong, welcome to the show.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (00:03.074)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity.

Gordon Sheppard (00:06.116)
Well, we are just lucky to have you here because one, look at your website. One, look at sort of your pedigree in the work that you've done at your PhD level. One, look at the dedication that you have to building community in a really progressive and unique way. mean, people, there's so many benefits to people getting a chance to learn about you, learn about your wins and what you're going to be talking about here today. Just thank you so much for being here. But you know, a lot of people haven't met you just yet. So if you had to introduce yourself.

What would you say?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (00:36.878)
Well, I will always introduce myself as I am a gerontologist. So many people don't quite understand what that means. So basically study on aging. So I'm a person who's dedicated all my career and academic life in aging. And currently I'm the CEO of We Seniors. So yeah, so I will kind of just introduce myself like that. Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (01:01.904)
Well, so this is interesting. So it's one thing to care about seniors. It's another thing to study them and dedicate your career to them. Where does this passion for gerontology come from for you?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (01:13.454)
Well, I would say, well, again, thanks to my father, probably about 26 years ago, he already pointed the direction for me. And of course, I mean, as a young kid at that time, who was just like 19, 20 years old, and I wasn't really too sure. But I think my dad is a smart guy, very wise person. So I said, well, okay, I'm gonna...

listen and then turn out to be I'm actually showing a lot of interest in that area.

Gordon Sheppard (01:46.776)
Interesting, and so take me along then. you're 19 or 20 years old and I just need the highlights along the way to build up this pedigree. So did you do sort of undergraduate work and studies and travel or what kind of things sort of added up along the way so that we can get a sense of your journey up until now?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (02:01.666)
Yeah, so my father said to me, okay, well, I mean, as you know, the stereotype about Chinese family is that like we're good at math, we're going to come here for business school, engineer, IT, computer, all that kind of stuff, right? But then my dad said, well, no, first, you're going to Manitoba. Okay, so I guess a lot of people probably will laugh about it. So I went to the University of Manitoba. I was actually the first international student for the faculty. I was studying

recreation management and community development and kinesiology so that's kind of like in my interest then I switched my well not switch but I mean I started adding the minor in aging because my father said like that's gonna be

the trend and that's going to be the population regardless, like we'll all get older, right? So when the population grows, we're going to have more seniors and there will be a lot of opportunities there. So yeah, so I did my bachelor there and then I finished my master there as well. But my master was in gerontology in

IT and then yeah, yeah and that kind of will explain why my interest in the technology later and then of course I came to Alberta, went to the University of Alberta to finish my PhD again it's in gerontology so

Gordon Sheppard (03:29.582)
Interesting, so now we have this influence of a smart dad who can see the future in a sense and says, wait a second, we're all gonna age out here and there's some inevitability at the end of that and that we all kind of know about what that looks like. You give your undergraduate, you sort of get this minor picked up, you add in that sort of technology piece that leads you to then some PhD work that you do at the University of Alberta and then you got out of there and you're loaded. You're sort of loaded up with your original thinking that you've done, all those things. What then?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (03:34.306)
Yes.

Gordon Sheppard (03:58.86)
happen next in terms of was We Seniors right away or how did that go?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (04:03.554)
Well, I was actually collecting data for my dissertation, right? I was doing like a multidisciplinary study and I need to do cross countries comparison. So I was collecting data back in China, in Edmonton, I was collecting data in like in Edmonton. So I had to pick a senior center and luckily I picked this place. yeah, I was lucky at that time, the organization offered me the opportunity to start running some

and yeah, just like I was able to help the organization.

at that time probably like just within a year bring the program from one page, a long double-sided program guide to later over a hundred pages program guide with over a hundred programs happening. I was like, okay, seems like some of my training could be utilized in the real life. So

Gordon Sheppard (05:05.506)
Interesting. so hundreds of programs means influence on hundreds or thousands of seniors in the Edmonton area. Plus I love this international perspective that you just described. You said you're gathering data from China and from here. So you've got an interesting, you know, multi-country perspective on kind of where you've arrived today.

Well, how lucky again to hear that pedigree, know, over, thanks for putting in the decades. I always get lucky on this show when the leaders put in the decades and it sounds so elegant, but there's a lot of hard work that went into making this occur and get to this moment to the point now where you are leading Wee seniors in your role. How would you describe your leadership role and the organization? Go ahead.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (05:42.828)
Well, I would say I'm very lucky thanks to the organization and the board giving me the opportunity eight years ago, yeah, when I was offered the job and I was just, actually I was already the second in charge for the organization. So I knew the organization very well and I was running the programs and everything.

So the position gave me the opportunity to really fulfill one of my dreams, is to build the WeSeniors platform.

So I think a lot of time I wanted to explain to people what WeSeniors really stands for. So WeSeniors stands for we're all seniors and we connect seniors because senior social life involves families, friends, neighbors and caregivers. So that kind of guides the organization to provide services, not just for seniors, but also for the people who are supporting them. So their social network, right? So the organization, yeah, we've been growing the WeSeniors platform and now we're

expanding from one local small senior serving organization to a much larger organization that's serving the entire greater Edmonton area.

Gordon Sheppard (07:01.08)
you are the executive director. Is that your proper title?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (07:03.118)
Well, they changed the title to CEO this year.

Gordon Sheppard (07:06.0)
Okay, so you're the CEO of this organization. arrived eight years ago, you get the reins in a sense to do this kind of thing. And I love this, we are all seniors. I mean, it really just encapsulates very quickly what your philosophy is. You can hear that very, very clearly in there. I love it. And then is there a data component to this that you're also describing to me? What's the data integration?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (07:27.81)
Well, data, so when you say data integration, you mean the data that's...

Gordon Sheppard (07:33.892)
Are you tracking? Are you sort of using it to outreach more? Are we jumping into AI? What's happening these days?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (07:38.03)
Well, data is everything. guess data is everything. like everything that we do is measurable, So like in our daily life, we're not just collecting data for the sake of collecting data, right? We're collecting data to improve the programs, to improve the services. And then also we use leveraging the data for like grant.

for partnership for pretty much everything.

Gordon Sheppard (08:08.08)
So I think what I'm hearing in here is sort of the cutting edge of what we can do for seniors in a community scenario because it's a whole cross-societal approach. It's a philosophically based approach. We've got your multi-decades of what's led up to this moment in time. You've got your board support eight years ago. You're still there eight years later. Do you know what I mean? There's something about you and your future where you're interested, engaged in what you're doing, and then simply on the expansive side, I remember in our pre-interview, you simply are growing.

all the time because of these opportunities. But this thing of, when I say cutting edge, there's a, I'm not trying to get into saying it's an app or Silicon Valley, there's something about that bundle of what everything has gone together and then your chance to be an influence. I'm sure your team is significantly important. We're gonna get into that here too. Well, this is a great way to say, okay, we know who you are, we know what the organization's about, we know what your role is, we're pretty well located. If you, this is where I jump in with my first question. If you had to describe your biggest win in the work that you do, what would that win be?

and how would you describe it?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (09:07.086)
I would say the biggest win for, well, I would describe it in two different aspects. One is for the organization, one is for myself. So the biggest win for myself is finally I have a platform that I can connect all my research training with the real life implementation, right? So that for me, I mean, a lot of the time people are talking about financial freedom and...

For a lot of people, always remember what my professor said, the reason why you should do your PhD is because you have the freedom to think. So that's the piece that I felt like the biggest win for me is that now I have the freedom to do things that will really fulfill my dream and also achieve the vision, which is we seniors. And for the organization, I think the biggest win is actually the organization is not only being recognized

as a great organization, people know where to go and take classes or whatever, but really I think the biggest win for the organization is we're converting from a service provider, kind of like a recreation center type of organization, becoming more of a solution for the government.

and we're able to, we're turning the organization more like a social enterprise and then we could discuss that more later. But really the biggest win for the organization is that we're positioning ourselves as a solution for the government. So, and for businesses and for all our partners.

Gordon Sheppard (10:44.11)
Interesting. So it is cutting edge. Do know what mean? If we come out of a sleepy last 30, 40, 50 years, do know what mean? Which you would know well, as we observe going backwards about ways to provide opportunities for seniors, for example. And there was maybe a way it's been done before. You folks are on the, you're on sort of a, we've got, we're to hear about some of the grassroots work that you do, the programming influence, obviously that you're talking about. And this thing of now moving the mindset and we're moving from executive director to CEO. You can hear that in there. You can hear,

Also this opportunity to, not many PhDs get to actually actualize their work. And here you are saying, wait, you're on a lifelong journey here to actually pull all that hard work together and get it implemented. I mean, that's super exciting too. So the win is this opportunity now to be a solution. love, just, the elegance of that is just the solution, not only for the organization, but for yourself as well. And we'll leave that there. And let's jump into what I call the anatomy of win to have, you know, some more exploration in this.

as well and talk about the strategy, work plan, people, operations and results. And you've been nipping at this a little bit along the way. If we talk about strategy, we talk about vision, mission, values, goals and objectives, this type of thing basically. But if you to think about strategic highlights to get to this moment where you are now converting into being a solution, how would you describe the strategic highlight for this?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (12:00.62)
Well, would say the strategy is kind of like if you have the chance, mean, it's public knowledge. If people come to our website, weseniors.ca, go and check out our strategic plan and then they're going to realize the difference. Right. So our strategic plan is all about, for example, building the WeSeniors online and in-person platform. And then our second strategy is forming the strategic partnership. And the third one is actually achieving the sustainability and building that

mindset into everything that we're doing, not just the day-to-day operation, but also in partnership and like grant funding in any projects that we're doing. again, the strategy is actually switching the organization from a fully government funding, a reliant organization to a social enterprise that's able to sustain itself and still provide the support and services to

to the seniors and the larger community.

Gordon Sheppard (13:02.84)
And that's where things, that's where the puck needs to go if we're Wayne Gretzky in this situation, right? This is this idea of, you know, social enterprise meets solution, meets not getting stuck on the ups and downs, let's say of government funding over the years, but looking for a true sustainable solution at a time when, if I'm going to say without having statistics at my fingertips, when loneliness in seniors is maybe at its worst level ever with this juggernaut of boomers that are coming in and maybe didn't.

set up those networks and opportunities that you are in the middle of trying to really provide that solution. So sustainable social enterprise. And again, there are those other specifics in your strategy as well. That's really interesting to hear because so many people might be tempted to stick on the government drip along the way. But in fact, you're breaking boundaries by getting this to go forward. Wonderful. So now we've got a strategy. Anytime we have a strategy, we need a work plan. And we've heard a little bit of the work plan in place. I'm not sure where you want to pick up.

sort of the win if you wanted to pick it up eight years ago in terms of when this started, when you became the leader. Maybe you want to pick it up even sooner than that, earlier than that. Where does this sort of, where is this an idea? Is it when you started with this organization that it becomes the idea that gets us to here right now? What would you describe as the timeline for this impact?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (14:12.91)
I would say the work plan, of course, started from when I finally was hired by the organization to do the program and then started doing the projects and grants and all that kind of thing. So always I have that kind of dream is like, okay, when can I have a platform that I can fully implement the WeSeniors philosophy? And like we discussed at the beginning of the conversation, so in 2018, I was very lucky to be the executive

executive director at that time. then right away, just like, okay, so let's build it. So luckily, well, which we probably will touch the five areas. One of them is people later, but I will say at that time, I was able to restructure the organization and then hire the people who's really needed for the position. And then I think the biggest

It's kind of tied back to the strategy and the philosophy or vision of the organization is actually the most important thing that I have been building is culture. And then the organization just started moving forward and then yeah, from 2018 and then we're just growing. And then 2020 was a critical year which COVID pandemic hit the world.

And I still remember March 15, 2020, the entire city shut down. then that on March 13, we already knew it's going to shut down. But then I said to my team, we said, we're not shutting down. We're going to start offering programs. So that weekend, we already started designing online programs. So within a month, we came up with over 40.

online programs and will offer to the entire Alberta. In fact, we even have people in Germany and other countries taking our classes, right? then that becomes the, actually during pandemic, as you know, many of the organization even went down to the pipe. And, but for us, we actually, that is one of our fastest growing period. So we built the entire...

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (16:36.75)
platform and then we formed the Alberta Seniors Alliance and now our organization is supporting eight different organizations in the Greater Edmonton area. So yeah, so we're getting there.

Gordon Sheppard (16:48.676)
Wow. Talk about impact right through and like, thank you for taking me through some of the big highlights along that timeline. I mean, you get started. What year did you start? Sorry, what was the first day of work for you and the organization?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (17:00.558)
Well, July.

Gordon Sheppard (17:03.888)
So 2011, you're there for the seven years. sort of, you you're dub, whatever, you're multiplying the programming opportunities, you're learning all the ins and outs. You finally make it to this sort of, the number two in there somewhere. You become number one and since CEO around 2018. And then we've got these moments along the way, COVID. But in fact, you expand during COVID with international highlights along the way, remarkable. You get your platform built out. So you've got this online thing now rock solid through that time. And now again, the expansiveness, you can hear your philosophy and culture then.

coming out to help influence other organizations. So then there's an alliance that's formed, these eight other organizations that you're talking about. Wow, we need about 15 hours to have this podcast, because we would go into so much detail about, but you can hear it coming from this very clear vision that you've had certainly, and then this chance to deploy it within the organization, and then the organization embracing it and getting this to be really, really good. So we've got a sense of the strategy, we've got a sense of the work plan along the way. And like you said, there's people involved in a win, right? People are critical. So how would you describe

maybe yourself and your attitude through that timeline. So let's just take it from 2018 when you take the CEO role. From 2018 on, was it easy sailing? Every day is just peachy keen? Or is it up and down? How would you describe it?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (18:16.116)
No, it's definitely tough, right? Like I always tell people, said, I'll never be really proud of myself by saying that I will have to let go people. mean, that's still the hardest thing even nowadays, right? But sometimes it's necessary. And then also I think for myself as a leader, I mean, it was a...

like steep slope, like learning curve. But for me, I think thanks to my coach, Kevin Brown. So when I first met him, what he also thanks to the president, Jay Pritchard. So at that time, they were all like just leaders during their early careers. And one thing they taught me and I finally understood like just many years ago, and then it's the culture, right? Like, so I need to build the culture and the culture is not just in the

but also through my membership, through my volunteer, through my instructors, all the people that the organization involves, it's the culture. So we really want people to come in and then to sense that culture. I think that's the highlight of my leadership. I think like that thing doesn't sound like relevant, but it's actually something that it's like many leaders ignore and becomes the biggest issues. I mean, you are a business leader.

and you're a consultant and coach. So I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about. And like the hardest part for leaders is always HR. Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (19:49.29)
HR, right, it's the people part along the way. Isn't that lucky? And isn't that lucky that you're a lifelong learner yourself? Because it's one thing to come in with skill sets in data, skill sets in senior understanding. It's another thing to bolt in that next set of skills, which is becoming a true leader. And what a wonderfully mature thing to do, to get a coach, to lean on these other senior leaders in your community, to know that you are going to grow your thing, because you knew that to realize your vision, you had to take on this next piece of bolting that together. And isn't that a great way to build out

a win as you're going forward. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Congratulations, by the way. It takes a bit of humility to sort of say, I don't know, right? And have these people in your life and you've got to, and those are not easy. Those moments you're like, yeah, I want to make it great. And then you go through fits and starts and you would have stories of ups and downs along the way too. There's other people involved in getting a win. Who would you describe as sort of the key people and you can name names or not, whatever you want, but who are some of the key players along the way that helped to get this win as well? And how would you describe their input into getting this win?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (20:22.382)
Thank you.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (20:45.078)
Well, again, I mentioned about my coach, Kevin Brown, and I mentioned about the president and then another president, Barbara Gibson. So the current president is Jay Pritchard. So I mean, thanks to them, the leaders and the board, of course.

But I will say kind of like a tie back to the work plan, tie back to the strategy is like the organization wants to become a solution for the seniors industry, right? So, and I'm kind of, I don't have a business degree. I do have some business training, but I believe that nonprofit, it's not much different from any businesses. So when people ask me similar questions before, I always tell people this, said like a believer.

or not, like if you check all the backgrounds of my managers. So like if you look at our staff list, if you check the people with the manager positions, interestingly, you will find out before they joined the team, they were all business owners.

So it's not like what kind of education degrees you have. It's not like, you have to have a PhD or a master or whatever. No, like I care about those. But on the other hand, I think when I'm talking to business people, it kind of saves me a lot of time. mean, like, just like they understand and then we just like get things done. And then we're always thinking about things from a return on investment aspect. Right. And we always emphasize one thing is

non-profit doesn't mean no profit. So...

Gordon Sheppard (22:26.571)
I love it. I'm completely in alignment with what you've just said. And funny enough for me, having dealt with leaders in all sectors, big enterprise, small nonprofit, leadership and the ability to lead has nothing to do with for-profit or not-for-profit. has everything to do with what you've described in your journey of like, I don't know, I'm going to get some help, I'm going to get better at it. Culture-wise, interesting to hear about that little onboarding piece you mentioned, just mentioned now with some of your key managers were business owners in the past and that slipstreams the speed to market in a sense that you're talking about for implementation.

of all your great ideas and that's why you're supporting eight organizations. That's why there's an alliance. That's why this expansiveness that really meets your true vision along the way. you talk about building culture. There's also onboarding into culture and those types of people. Now you know kind of who works well at that management level. And that takes time to dial in, but you've got it dialed in and it's not again negative on credentials. It's just saying who's the right type of person to come into this organization and be an, it sounds like an entrepreneurial ROI type of setting. And again,

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (23:21.538)
Yes.

Gordon Sheppard (23:23.533)
Yeah, that debate around for-profit, not-for-profit, I often just see it as organizations. They're either well-run or they're not well-run. I don't think there's much difference there. So right in alignment with you. So we can hear there's a board influence. There's the you. There's your dad as a key person in the background there somewhere getting this all started a little while ago. And then we've got these wonderful managers. And I'm sure that we could go on and on and on in terms of how the other people are in there. But that gives us good sense of maybe some of those key elements that have happened along the way. Good. So strategy, work plan, people.

There's operational components. If we're going to operationalize a vision, if we're going to operationalize a culture, what are some of the highlights operationally that you like to pass along for this good news story?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (24:03.022)
Well, I would say operational one thing, right? Like again, thanks to our board. When I first took over, the first thing the board and I had done was like we...

formalize everything like bylaws policies and procedures and all that kind of thing and people probably don't really quite understand why those things are so important and they're actually very important that's guiding the organization and then when it comes to the Administrative level one thing that we do is that we pretty much have procedure for almost everything

Right. And then we're doing the cross training, our onboarding process. Everything is to the first two weeks of our new staff. Like when they came to the organization, the first two weeks, pretty much they don't need to do anything about their own job. They're going to each department, their job shadowing. Right. Like, so we want people to understand is that, you're, well, you're still working in a nonprofit sector. And then the reality is that sometimes, I mean, like you all have to, we all like including myself, like I'm in every single position.

much, right? Like, so if I have to roll up my sleeve and then go and clean the toilet, I will. And then if I need to go into the kitchen and help chopping the carrots, I will.

So that's the kind of thing like we all know, okay, that's actually your job. And I need to appreciate that. Well, that's a lot of hard work and kind of thing. I think that again, goes back to that culture thing, right? So we're building that kind of culture and mutually understand each other and then we could back each other up. so now really, again, the whole operation is great. And then go back to the other thing is the staff and the team, the operations

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (25:47.58)
is guided by that ROI again. It's return on investment. So we're doing everything. So I'm just so happy when my staff started telling me backward and just say, I don't think we need to do this event.

And okay, tell me why. Well, simply it's just we don't have enough staff. And then if we do this, we're actually going to lose money. Yeah, it might sound like we have the impact, but when we take into consideration of the staff time, the cause and this and that, right. I mean, started having that kind of like mentality and culture in the organization. So the operation becomes very smooth and we and we have confidence in our team is just like, okay, if we want to do something, things are going to happen. And then

other thing I wanted to say is that because now we're running the entire Alberta Seniors Alliance as well, so one thing that we emphasize is that everything has to be...

Duplicate both. So that, for example, when we're supporting an organization, we're helping them to build their capacity. So when we build the capacity, people will look at our thing and then they say, well, we could just use this. Yeah, sure. Take it. Right. And we are generously sharing all of that with them. then when we started doing that, all of a sudden people say, well, it's not that hard. Yeah. Well, it's hard, but because we have the system, the operation system in

It's still hard, but it's very efficient. So yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (27:25.965)
The, thank you, there's about four mic drops in there that people can just stop listening right now. And if they simply followed what you just put together for us and thank you for doing the hard work that it takes to one, at the board level, get it together and make sure that's squeaky clean, right? Because it pulls the culture through, it pulls the vision through, but gets it on the books and makes sure that everything is super clear. At the governance level, we can hear.

standard, if I say standard operating procedures, but your procedures are all rock solid on the way through, it takes time to get those down, years to get those dialed in. So like that's a lot of work to get there. The two week concept around not going right to your role, but jumping in, I mean that is, the Edmonton Oilers could learn from you. Like don't put the rookie in too quick, right? Like this idea of how do we put in and how do we get them oriented into our culture in the best way possible to appreciate the fact that

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (28:04.929)
onboard.

Gordon Sheppard (28:18.319)
we still are in a nonprofit reality and there's one day you're reminding me of a leader I walked in one day we're gonna do strategic planning and they were literally up on a ladder putting in one of those fluorescent light bulbs and then we went off to the boardroom. I'm sure that's your typical day in terms of how things go. ROI all the way along, the ability to say no, that's a mature.

You know, we think it's a for-profit thing and the not-for-profits, try and stretch themselves and people then put themselves into those 5,500 hour weeks or whatever, and they start to burn out. But now you've got a chance to not have burnout because you're taking the feedback from your staff. You're only doing things that return to the mission and the vision and the mission that you're doing along the way. Unbelievable. And then finally, there's this franchising. Like it sounds like McDonald's to a certain degree in terms of what you're doing, because you're actually building out the best practices that then you're saying, hey, come on in and you get it too.

and you're spreading the joy by having done all this work along the way. mean, this is master class type stuff that we just got here. Forget the business degree. mean, this is way more concise than the MBA that I spent my time on. I'm pretty proud of it, but it's a lot more, you know, like here's the roadmap for anybody along the way. Strategy, work plan, people, operations. Thanks for taking the time to describe those details. Finally, there's results, quantitative results and qualitative results. Quantitatively, is it people?

people served, it what numbers do you like to put out there when you talk about what the organization is achieving?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (29:39.438)
Well, to Gaur, just to prepare today's thing, I actually spent some time digging into some of the data. But then one data yesterday, last night, I mean, I know the data, but last night I just went back and I started doing a trend analysis thing based on the past so many years audited financial statements, right? And then one thing I will say, I will be, currently actually very proud of that.

is like, so the organization is around like $1.8, $1.9 million operating, right? But then of course that has increased from like eight years ago, that was probably about like 800,000 operating budget. And now it's kind of like a double for sure, right? But the thing is though, it's the percentage of the grant in the overall budget.

So many of the nonprofit organization, if you look at their public published like an audited financial statement, I would say probably at least 70, 80 % if not higher, or some of the organization probably almost like 100 % and then they're heavily relying on the membership and all that kind of thing. But when I started doing the analysis, the trend analysis last night, one thing seriously I'm proud of is that

the percentage of the grant for the entire budget is lower and lower and lower. And now it's less than 50%. And then, so that means the majority, like about half 50 % of our revenue is coming from ourselves. So we're able to generate that, right? And the membership is actually only 4.9%.

of our overall budget. So we're still charging people only $55 a year for the membership. And in the past, that is a big chunk of the money for the organization operation. And then our strategy in the past was always, well, let's add like a five bucks more, let's 10 bucks more in order to generate the money. No, right now, to be honest, we really don't need that, right? So that's one solid data I think is very important.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (31:56.726)
And then the other thing is talking about what you already heard that now we're reaching out to supporting eight different organizations. But then the data, one thing I wanted to say, technically we're benefiting over 20,000 seniors in the greater Edmonton areas. And then we're generating a lot of revenues for the community.

Right? Like for example, we're supporting two community, two churches and two elementary schools. And instead of getting funding from the government, we're utilizing their facility and started generating revenue for those facilities, which solved a problem for us and solved a problem for them. So it all goes back to our philosophy is leveraging. Leveraging. I think that's one thing.

kind of like a go back to the beginning strategy, go back to the people, go back to the operation, go back to the work plan. The leverage piece is that like I have something you don't have, you have something I don't have. And regardless, you have bigger organization or a smaller organization. If we could leverage, not just simply talking about collaboration or partnership, I think those are all just talks. But leveraging is the biggest weapon. Like it's the best.

most effective weapon that we could use to accomplish our goals. yeah, so those are some of the data I would like to share.

Gordon Sheppard (33:28.015)
Well, so much to be proud of. Congratulations. Cause this is back to that visioning piece of like, if we say social enterprise, right? Of sort of getting it done in that way and we're moving towards being the solution, which is what I heard at the beginning, both for yourself and the organization. And then these numbers are unbelievable. again, core funding down below 50%. There are a lot of people that would love to not be fully dependent on government whims, right? As they kind of go along and you're getting it done. $55 a year. Funny enough, I don't even need to explore that.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (33:31.064)
Thank you.

Gordon Sheppard (33:57.316)
you've created an affordable price point that it sounds like you're not wavering on that meets seniors where they're at at this time. And that's that, you know, that's why it's 20,000 served in a sense. And that's why it gets to be global and get around the world. You're able to support those organizations as you're kind of going forward. So thank you so much for being thoughtful in the data. And yes, of course, you should be massively proud because you actually know the trend line and where you want that to go even more. So it'd be fun to chat with you in five years and go, hey,

How's that core funding going and what's your percentages and where did it go based on how far you're taking this? And then this ability to, I'm gonna say, even from a geography point of view, get, find a space, make and activate a space. That's a piece that we're not gonna super explore in this conversation, but that's part of what you're able to do, to leverage into a given situation. Like you said, doesn't matter what size the partner is, but because you've got these things all worked out internally, there's just so many good things to pass along.

to leverage and help each other to leverage. Again, impact. If I heard 20,000 seniors helped and then it's gonna be, you're gonna be adding by the thousands every year in terms of that multiplier. Well, congratulations on the numbers game. Those are just remarkable, remarkable numbers. It's so good to hear. Qualitatively, after all this, how's it feel?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (35:10.156)
Well, think I, well, I'm the kind of person I get bored very easily. I feel proud, I feel happy, but I don't know. mean, like a lot of time, even like sometimes when I got the award, am I happy? I'm happy. Yeah, and of course I'm proud at that moment, but then, yeah, I'm always thinking about the next, right? So really.

Yeah, no, I think we still got lots work to do. our next goal is really going into that, really becoming the solution for the government, but also becoming a solution for other sectors, right? Like going into the technology world and just solving problems for the society, I would say overall, but how to...

tap into the current trend and then be in line with all the trend and that kind of thing are very important for us. Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (36:13.358)
Boy, can you ever hear that visionary restlessness and thank goodness, know, because when we hear about the impact that you're making, but you're not even a quarter started. can, you know, I you have a lifelong opportunity here. You're in the middle of maybe best ways to do it. You would probably take this to an international conference. You know what I mean? And sort of, you know, get feedback on it and have that kind of thing where you get noticed for putting those pockets together. And isn't that a great journey to hear from the starting points all the way back to your dad? Hey.

Maybe you should try this out, right? All the way through to this moment in time. That is just super. So thank you so much for sharing this win. just need to, whenever I have great leaders like you on the show, I just always ask at the end here, if you had a couple sentences, you know, for that fellow man, woman, whoever it is that's stepping up from, I work here, but now I'm going to become the leader or someone coming into that leadership role that you came into, what are a few things, you know, just a bit of advice that you would give to a leader coming into that type of new title?

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (36:42.274)
Yeah.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (37:12.182)
I would say the first thing like you mentioned is actually you emphasize that too, is to if of course budget allowed, go and talk to a coach. Really, mean, if it's affordable, like really join a business peer group.

And then you will realize that like you're not alone. A lot of time we just thought about, yeah, my situation is so unique. And then it's only me taking on all of this. Right. And then I think that's one from the business side. So really talk to a coach, find people like you, be their coach, and then learn from you, especially people like you, think, you interview so many people and yourself as a coach. So I think that's the...

you're the kind of person that could give people the advice and then people will really learn a lot of practical techniques to deal with this situation. And then the other thing I wanted to say is if for the organization itself, it's actually culture. Culture is the biggest thing. Actually, among all the things I have learned so far, I think for the organization itself, building a culture.

you will all of a sudden realize that like what is culture? Culture, like for example, if you come to the organization, we always call it a senior center, it's like seniors high school. So that's playful, that's fun, right? So the fun is in every part. Like, so the staff are happy, the volunteer is happy, members are happy, your board is happy. And then when you have a good mood and then you're actually dealing with things that's very important.

Right? That's dealing with things that's even in a more, I would say, in a calm way. And then you have more confidence and you will also have a much clearer mind to handle the situation rather than dealing with issues emotionally. So I think culture is pretty much everything. And then finally, I think it's from my own life thing I think I share with my peers.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (39:27.042)
Like I belong to a business training group and which is under the chair of Kevin Brown. And I constantly share that which is my own experience and it's hard, right? Like it's, I learned that in a hard way. So about three years ago, so my father passed away during COVID and

He was in the ICU for 162 days. So it's a long journey. Every day I was fighting with that. then, um, and I think one thing I realized is that I would, I'm a gerontologist. I, I faced a lot of death in my life. And then I just thought, look, I should be able to handle that. And then at the end of the day, I all of a realized, you know what? Yeah.

for all the leaders, for all the peer leaders, this is the message I wanted to share. This is... Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (40:31.434)
Make sure that when it's the right time, you get the help that you need because that in fact, if you're talking about strengthening your organization, strengthens yourself and strengthens your organization as well. mean, those, those are just sort of major, major, wonderful points that you're talking about along the way. And the thing I'll mention about, and thank you for commenting about coaches and Kevin Brown, sounds like a great connection and thank goodness again, he was part of your journey. Some people go to the entrepreneur organization as an example, the peer learning groups.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (40:42.988)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no.

Gordon Sheppard (40:59.886)
The thing that I'll mention about budgets, because you're saying sometimes you have budget and sometimes you don't. I think when you're talking the way you're talking, social enterprise, return on investment, I'm often in conversations with organizations saying, you know what, somewhere in there, in your leadership alone, you're going to have to invest tens of thousands of dollars over a period of about three to five years to maybe give them that roadmap that you've built through that. You you put that all together to build out that culture. You don't want to stay stuck on outside coaching for too long.

but you do want to have it as a resource there. And yes, I think it is sort of almost mandatory for organizations. And some numbers, depending on the size of the organization, it's in that sort of 30, $50,000 for, and it's over time. And I always say, don't spend a dollar until you find the right one, and then do it incrementally. You don't want to spend it all at once. You want to be able to incrementally grow. then funny enough for me, I always think you need all kinds of outside influence beyond coaching. I think you need HR, IT, those right people who are just rock solid in their roles that there are, it's a just in time.

reputable moment in time that allows a leader like yourself who's leading an organization to get kind of what they need going forward. And then that alone piece, funny enough, I hit it all the time. That thing of people think it's so unique. I think it's a human nature thing to think nobody understands me. But you're saying no. Reach out as a leader and make sure you form up those strong peer relationships that allow you to when something personal, super big is going on for you, like in your case, your father ailing and then

passing away, you've got a chance to go and have an outlet of sorts to get the support that you need along the way. Wow, what a rich, rich conversation. just, I could keep chatting with you all day long. This has been a great learning curve. The one that I'm going to walk away with and I'll be spreading around the world is that two week onboarding. That just blows my mind of like, wait a second, cause we just think people have to hit the ground running. No, no, no. The way you build culture, somebody gets in the door here, they go shadow everybody else for two weeks. That is just remarkable, along with so many other things.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (42:35.31)
Thank you.

Gordon Sheppard (42:53.806)
that have been remarkable here today, the clear vision and all those things. Well, you can hear me. I'm trying to go on and on, but I gotta let you go. I wanna say thank you, Hi Docs, for so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

Haidong Liang WE Seniors (43:02.958)
Well, thank you, Gore, for the opportunity. I appreciate the chance to talk to you and learn from you. Thank you.