Charlottetown's Chris Zhou can be forgiven for feeling a bit nervous as he stood outside Facebook and Instagram Canada's Toronto office before spending the day being mentored.
"Yeah, well, I think it's definitely nerve-racking when you're about to meet the CEO of a huge Canadian company," said Zhou, 21, who was one of 20 Canadian university students to be selected for a one-day mentorship through the CEOx1Day (CEO for one day) program. The program matches successful applicants in the third or fourth year of their university studies with a Canadian CEO at different companies.
Zhou, who is in the final year of a bachelor of health sciences degree at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., spent Monday (Feb. 24) with Garrick Tiplady, the company's managing director.
Zhou graduated from Colonel Gray High School in 2016, and he has also been a member of the prime minister's youth council. Zhou said he has always been passionate about policy and advocacy. After graduating, he is planning to hit the job market before pursuing more academic studies.
He was interested in the mentorship opportunity with Facebook because he wanted to learn more about the company's values and perspective on corporate social responsibility - two things he is looking for in a future employer.
Zhou said he also learned a lot about Tiplady's leadership style as well as how he empowers employees and strategizes about future initiatives.
He added he was impressed with Tiplady's openness about the public challenges facing the company.
"I was blown away with how candid Garrick was. He straight up said we have a lot of work to do. We need a lot of time to regain this trust, but we're willing to take on this challenge," said Zhou. "Going back to the whole values thing, this was something that was very surprising to me given what I've been hearing about Facebook in the news."
Tiplady said Zhou wasn't nervous for very long.
"My view on mentorship is the more equal it is, the better it is because we're two human beings having a conversation. And so, I think we got through that pretty quickly. It's normal," he said.
This was Tiplady's first experience with the CEOx1Day initiative. Throughout the day, he was able to give Zhou advice about finding a career after university studies.
"Look at opportunities where you can play to your passions. Secondly, really think around what's your value set and how you want to think around how your values are going to guide you throughout your career," Tiplady said.
They also talked about leadership.
"We're seeing a shift toward much more empathic leadership and empowering teams and much more of a bottoms up management style. My guidance to him was really think around the teams that you're joining because you really need to engage and love the teams that you work with. It helps bring out the best in everyone," he said.
Tiplady was impressed with how Zhou was energetic, curious and engaged in all aspects of the business.
"Quite honestly, it gives me hope. If that's the type of leaders that are coming through now, it's a good thing for all of us," he said.
