Sam Thiara graduated with a business and political science degree, sent out applications, and collected 86 rejection letters. He still has them. The job he eventually took was mopping floors and emptying rubbish bins in a hospital.
From there he built a career across ICBC, the Vancouver Olympic Bid, and 22 years at SFU, where he built the student engagement program from nothing. Today he’s an Adjunct Professor at the Beedie School of Business, the founder of Ignite the Dream Coaching and Consulting, and a founding mentor with the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow program, now in its 26th year. He’s sat down for roughly 5,500 one-on-one conversations with everyone from high school students to CEOs, and he’s never charged for a single one.
In this episode we get into why leadership has nothing to do with your title, why Sam refuses to call it networking, his CARE framework, the practice of intentional pausing and anchor points, and the blank puzzle piece he’s handed out over 5,000 times around the world.
Takeaways:
- Sam Thiara has mentored thousands of students and professionals over 26 years with the
Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow program. - Leadership is a lifestyle rather than a position, and it is the people around you who determine whether you have earned the title.
- Being overlooked early in his career shaped a lasting commitment to giving anyone, from high school students to CEOs, his time and attention.
- Understanding who you are must precede deciding what you want to do, as the latter tends to materialize once the former is clear.
- Intentional pausing and non-negotiable anchor points provide direction when opportunities and setbacks arrive unexpectedly.
- Organizations frequently falter by treating people as secondary to process, overlooking the strengths individuals naturally bring.
- A single blank puzzle piece, given to more than 5,000 people worldwide, serves as a reminder that no one is meant to navigate the journey alone.
🔗 Links mentioned in this episode:
Sam’s coaching: https://www.sam-thiara.com/coaching/
Greater Vancouver Board of Trade: https://www.boardoftrade.com/
Sam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sthiara/
🎙️ The Eh List brings you founders, CEOs, and leaders from across Canada sharing the real stories behind how they got there.
