The Story of An Exemplary Leader: From Immigrant to Teller to C-suite at RBC Royal Bank with Zabeen Hirji

The Freshstart Podcast

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are immigrants. Many of them are billionaires. And the companies they founded have created trillions of dollars in value for shareholders, employees, and customers alike.

There’s Google co-founder Sergey Brin, born in communist Russia. The man who could take us to Mars, Elon Musk, from South Africa. Arianna Huffington, founder of the eponymous news site, from Greece. (And the list goes on.)

There are lesser-known names, too, of course. Like Jenny Q. Ta, CEO of Sqeeqee, who’s from Vietnam. Tomas Gorny, CEO of Nextiva, from Poland. Claudia Mirza, founder of Akorbi, from Columbia.

In Canada, among the leading Greater Toronto Area employers across the public, private and non-profit sectors, only 6 per cent of executives — those at the level of vice-president or above — are immigrants, according to a 2015 survey of 92 employers conducted by Canadian HR Reporter in partnership with TRIEC.

There is hope in sight because, in this week's episode, I chat with Zabeen Hirji, Strategic Advisor - Private & Public Sector, Executive Advisor, Future of Work at Deloitte, and former Chief Human Resources Officer, RBC Royal Bank.

Zabeen shared how she grew her career from a teller to senior roles spanning Retail Banking, Operations, Credit Cards, Human Resources and then becoming the Chief Human Resources Officer of RBC Royal Bank until her retirement from the bank in 2017, how she juggled family and career, how organizations can build a future of work that works for immigrant talents, and much more.

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