After a 30 year career, Sue Lee from Suncor Energy Inc., reveals The 5 Choices Every Good Leader Must Master

Sue Lee, newly retired Senior Vice- President, Human Resources, Communications and Stakehoder Relations at Suncor Energy Inc., shares her perspectives on overcoming adversity and seizing opportunity through a values- based leadership strategy.

BY CYNTHIA MOORE McGOVERN

Understanding yourself – what you are good at and what you are passionate about – is first and foremost, says Sue Lee, for making a difference in the world. Recently announcing her retirement after a fulfilling career that lasted over 30 years, Sue attests her guiding principle for leadership is about the ability to make choices.

Choose to seize opportunities to pursue your passion, grow and develop. Those opportunities are out there, no matter what your circumstances.

Choose to be open to mentors who will challenge, support and nurture you.

Choose to appreciate and savour your good fortune.

Choose to say ‘no’ when things don’t align with your values or interests.

And finally, when you find success as a leader, choose to do all you can to make a difference.

Born in 1952 and growing up Chinese in Johannesburg “on the wrong side of South Africa’s racial divide,” Sue witnessed many social injustices against citizens in her country and also faced numerous challenges herself under strict Apartheid rule. “Though we weren’t treated as poorly as some ethnic groups, we still faced many restrictions,” she says. “I needed permits to go camping or take the train to university.”

But the very chance to attend post-secondary school was also one of the key opportunities Sue seized in life, opportunities she remains grateful for and continues to believe can help anyone find their passion and achieve their dreams, despite initially challenging circumstances. Sue believes leaders and those who are fortunate to achieve their goals and find success at work, share a responsibility to “use your hard-earned influence to build a better world for those who come after you.”

Sue’s own path to a long and successful career in human resources began with the help of mentors and really took off when she developed and deployed her own personal strategy to “influence change behind the scenes.”

Sue’s very first mentors were her older brothers. They needed to work to support the family and did not finish school. However, their hard work and determination led to a very successful family business that afforded Sue the opportunity to obtain her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and psychology at Rhodes University, followed by her post graduate diploma in personnel management and organizational behavior at the Graduate School of Business Administration from the University of Witwatersrand. She began working as a secretary at a large South African retail company where her first boss pushed her out of her comfort zone through high expectations and encouragement.

She designed a leadership program for managers at the company and eventually went on to become the first woman and non-white personnel manager in the organization of 9,000 employees. “The odds were really stacked against me,” Sue recalls, “since I was initially told that no white employee would ever come to me for human resources advice.”

Yet the South Africa of her youth left a deep impression and taught her to be comfortable with challenges, adversity, complexity and ambiguity. She learned to influence without authority and to carve out a path by pursuing her passions step by step.

Choose to seize opportunities to pursue your passion, grow and develop, choose to be open to mentors who will challenge, support and nurture you. Choose to appreciate and savour your good fortune. Choose to say no when things don’t align with your values or interests. And finally, when you find success as a leader, choose to do all you can to make a difference.

It was this pursuit that led Sue to leap beyond the boundaries and restrictions of her life in South Africa, and move to Canada to start her career all over again. There were many challenges as she got used to her new home and country, yet many more opportunities, beginning with the opportunity to vote for the first time in her life, at age 29. “I felt the values were meaningful and more aligned to mine in Canada,” she says.

To kick-start her career, Sue referred back to her personal leadership strategy and the lessons she learned from her mentors: making choices that felt right for her and ensuring the talented people on her team were given the freedom to make choices – and fully contribute to team-based achievements.

Once in Canada, Sue held management positions at several organizations, including vice-president, human resources, at TransAlta Corporation for 14 years. In 1996 Sue became senior vice-president at Suncor, where she remains until her retirement scheduled for March 2012. In this leadership role, Sue has been able to expand her influence even more.

She created Suncor University to develop and grow career opportunities for employees, led the complex people integration at Suncor after its merger with Petro Canada, and as president and chair of the Suncor Energy Foundation, Sue initiated and oversaw extensive community outreach and corporate social responsibility programs.

“True leadership is reflected in what you contribute, what you give back and how you make a difference. It’s powerful and rewarding to be a contributor, striving to make things better in our families, in our businesses and in our communities.”

A true leader, and an inspiration to women everywhere, Sue Lee has succeeded in building a lasting career, and a legacy of change.