BC Business
After 26 years at B.C.'s biggest company, Navin Arora shares the lessons he's learned with his long title as a Telus executive
Maybe, if you have decent lung capacity, you’d be able to say Navin Arora’s entire title in one breath. The executive VP of Telus and president of its business solutions, partner solutions and health, agriculture and consumer goods divisions has been with the telecom for over 25 years. We talked about how he handles multiple businesses and departments and how he sees B.C.’s largest company continuing to fend off the competition.
You have so many different titles. How do you balance all of them and move, essentially, from industry to industry in one role?
I think that when you have multiple businesses—which I’m fortunate to have today—it’s all about setting up a system and a way to standardize and look at the business. Oftentimes, I’ll start with questions like: What problem are we trying to solve for this business? What are our customers looking for? For each line of the business, what are our competitors doing in them and how are we better than them? How are we the same and where are we behind? When you look at the team, what are the talent levels we have and do we have the right people in the right roles? When you work back from the results you want to drive, is the accountability clear on what needs to be done and by whom? And are those people ready and prepared to achieve those results? Having that standardized approach that you can use across all the different businesses as a way to look at [employees’] performance is how I’ve been able to adapt to having multiple businesses.
Is there one sector or department of the company that you’re most drawn to? And have your interests changed at all?
Just yesterday, it was my 26th anniversary of being at Telus. Time has flown by. I’ve been on the core telecommunications side for most of that time. But in the last couple of years I have taken on health and agriculture. I would say I’m drawn to those because of the social purpose elements of those two businesses. Health care is a huge challenge for Canadians and many jurisdictions across the world. If we can improve outcomes and processes, that has a huge impact on all of us and our family members. And with Telus Agriculture, as the world’s population continues to grow, we’re not creating new land; we have to get more efficient in order to reduce waste. And we often forget the impact our core telecommunications business has—especially after COVID and how everyone shifted to working remotely on a dime. I like to link purpose to everything we do, and it’s exciting to see how clear that purpose is across the business.
You’ve talked a lot about your team. With so many people under your guidance, how would you describe your leadership style?
The simplest way to say it is work hard, play hard. I want to get up every morning and be super excited to come to work. As a leader, it’s my responsibility to create that same excitement for our team members so that they’re excited, passionate, they feel like they’re contributing. They feel like they’re personally growing and developing and getting what they want in their careers. Our most important competitive advantage is our team. If we have a highly competitive team that’s executing well and driving outcomes, that’s how we win. It gives me great satisfaction to see team members accomplish more than they thought and see them grow in their careers. At the end of the day, we’re here to drive great outcomes and great results for our customers and shareholders; I just try to work backward from those goals and have the team set up to execute.
Are there any leadership or communication tips and tricks you’ve learned over the years to keep people motivated and hungry?
Just being direct and personable with people. And asking them a lot of questions around: What does motivate you? What are you excited about? If you were 60 and looking back on your career, what would you want to be doing now to achieve those goals and outcomes? Find a match between what you personally want and what the business needs. When you create that match, great things happen. That’s what I try to do.
Rogers and Shaw are planting a lot of seeds in B.C., especially after the merger. How do you envision Telus continuing to improve, holding onto that market share and expanding it as well?
I think competition is good for everyone. It’s good for Telus because it forces us to be better and look at innovative and creative ways to be one step ahead. At the end of the day, we’re always going to have competitors. That competitive environment is going to evolve and change. And the way I look at it is, how do we always deliver what our customers want better than everybody else? It’s a big part of our culture to put our customers first. When you do that and work back from the customers, that’s how we win. It’s how we’ve been a global leader for over two decades and how we’ll continue to do that.
In all your time with Telus, what’s the one thing you’re most proud of?
That’s tough. Eight or nine years ago I was asked to lead our Telus Business Solutions organization. It was a tough time back then—the Alberta economy was hit hard in the oil and gas downturn. There was a lot of technology disruption in business. We were not geographically diverse enough, nor were we diverse enough from a segment standpoint to be able to absorb a lot of those shocks. Building the turnaround plan for that business, bringing in amazing key members that wanted to be part of that turnaround and building a plan and a strategy to expand geographically across different segments and actually turning that business around—three years later, we were the only global B2B telecommunications company that was actually growing. That was a huge accomplishment for the team.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Hobby
I love to travel and try new foods—I have to pay for it in the gym once I return.
Pet peeve
People fighting internally. We’re one team—let’s direct that energy toward beating the competition.
Recent TV / podcast binge
Yellowstone.
Guilty pleasure
A great tequila or scotch; an Aero Mint chocolate bar (but not all together!).
First job
Woodward’s Department Store—I sold men’s suits.
Most memorable concert
Spending time with my daughter at Taylor Swift in Vancouver—what a great show.
If I had a superpower, it would be
To be in any part of the world in a flash. It would be great for my global portfolio as I love interacting with people face to face—you learn so much more and make better decisions.
Favourite place in B.C.
Emerald Lake. So peaceful and beautiful. I love the lodge there.
Last book I read
The Sound of the Future, about the future of AI-powered voice technology. It’s a Wall Street Journal bestseller written by my friend and colleague Tobias Dengel.