Radically Collaborative: An Honest Conversation About Leadership

IN CONVERSATION WITH LESLIE BRUCE, CEO, BANFF & LAKE LOUISE TOURISM AND SPEAKER AT CITYDNA AUTUMN CONFERENCE IN BRUGES: ‘LET PIGS FLY’

Written in collaboration between City Destinations Alliance and Group NAO.

Few destinations carry the weight of Banff and Lake Louise. Beyond its iconic landscapes, the region stands as a microcosm of broader challenges facing the tourism industry: balancing growth with preservation, sustaining livelihoods whilst mitigating harm, and bringing about collaboration amidst deeply rooted interests.

From 2021-2022, Banff & Lake Louise Tourism worked alongside key partners like Town of Banff and Parks Canada to create a new 10-year vision for tourism. This was done through an extensive collaborative and engaging process, designed and implemented together with Group NAO. At the heart of this balancing act is Leslie Bruce, who has spent years navigating these challenges with both determination and vulnerability. In this conversation, Leslie speaks to the urgency of systemic and legislative changes that can no longer wait, as well as the courage in forging collaborations which challenge the status quo – even when it’s uncomfortable or risky.

What did you want people to take away most from your presentation at the CityDNA conference in Bruges?

The fact that we are at a pivotal moment in our industry. We have an incredible responsibility to get things right. We have no guaranteed future. That stark reality can feel overwhelming, but I also see it as inspiring. It drives us to work harder and faster to shape the future we want. Then we also need to stop thinking in binary terms – this person versus that person, this solution versus that one. It’s about collaborating with each other in a more radical way, and that does not just mean working together nicely. It’s about challenging ourselves to work with different people and perspectives to find better solutions. Finally, this isn’t about doing things to or for people but with them. When people feel involved and connected, they’re more invested, and honestly, it makes the journey more rewarding and fun.

You mentioned radical collaboration, can you expand on what makes it different from traditional collaboration?

Radical collaboration goes beyond the surface-level niceties of working together. It’s about welcoming differing viewpoints – even those of your harshest critics – and committing to finding common ground. It’s not about avoiding friction but understanding it and working through it. In our work, that meant bringing regulators, community members, and even the harshest of critics to the table.

Was there a question during your presentation that you wished someone had asked?

I would have loved to dive deeper into the idea of “changing to stay the same.” It sounds paradoxical, but it’s true. If we want to stay the same, in other words, if we want to be able to have a visitor economy, to take our kids to the beach and have picnics in the forest, we have to change. Right now, in the industry, we’re asking individuals to make better decisions. We need policy change, full scale governmental and legislative support because private enterprise isn’t a benevolent society – it is driven by growth and profit – so we need to see change at a systemic level.

So, if you could make one legislative change, what would it be?

That’s tricky. But if I had to choose, it would be around energy – how we produce and use it. In Alberta, 40% of our energy still comes from coal. That has to change.  Now my second wish, because you are a benevolent genie, would be a visionary, systemic approach to transportation in our destination. Incremental changes like adding a bus or closing a road won’t cut it. We need to rethink the entire experience of moving people through the park, from first mile and last mile problems, having a multimodal approach like gondolas, hubs, and trains.

Banff is one of the most globally recognised destinations, but also a place with a small tight knit community and unique in the fact that nearly everyone in the community is connected to tourism. How do you balance driving systemic change whilst engaging a community that is so personally tied to tourism?

It’s a fine line. The pandemic brought this into sharp focus. Overnight, half of our population left – thousands of workers returning to their home countries or provinces… I remember coming to work on March 17th and seeing people standing on the curb with their belongings, waiting for a bus or a ride. It was devastating.

Conceptually, when we were first talking about doing a master plan in 2019 before the pandemic, we certainly hadn’t contemplated the level of community engagement that we ended up doing – we ended up having 2,000+ people involved in the process of building the tourism vision! But in the post-pandemic environment there was no other way forward than to invite everyone – our harshest critics, regulators, everyone – to the table. We needed all voices at the table to identify the friction points and build something resilient together. This is what we learned as a more “radical” way to collaborate with one another.

You worked with European consultants for the masterplan, why did you choose to bring in an external perspective, especially one from a different region?

It was about fresh eyes for a fresh start. We didn’t want someone with preconceived notions about Banff. Peter and Signe from Group NAO were so curious, open and unashamedly direct that it just resonated with us. I really believe that the challenges that we’re faced with, we see more of those challenges in Europe, than we do in North America. We’re pointed out as a special and iconic place, and it’s a fragile environment, we’re really heart and soul of our nation, in some ways like our national identity, so I really believe that we needed to be leading and innovating in a way that required a really fresh set of eyes.

You’ve carried a heavy weight of responsibility in your role. What motivates you to keep going?

I felt an immense sense of responsibility – I don’t know if I’ve still processed everything during the pandemic in Banff– and I think I did take it too personally. The reality is, it is a personal endeavour. It’s from a place of love for the place – there is no other thing that would make me work as hard as I do. This responsibility, it is personal. I don’t even live in Banff because housing is such a challenge, but I’ve had people show up on my driveway, terrified about their livelihoods. It’s impossible not to take that personally. I also have two kids, and I want to make sure there’s something left for them – and their children.

I know this is DMO speak, but my team is genuinely driven by a strong sense of purpose.  Our entire community relies on tourism – so we believe that we are not only there to generate demand, but we want to generate demand in a way that will give to the generations to come.

Do you think there should be a screening process for ensure employees are aligned with a shared purpose?

I’d like to see that from the board all the way through to marketing. After we developed our vision for Banff and Lake Louise, we took time to identify both our internal team values and our broader destination values – making sure it aligns with the local community.

If someone doesn’t share those values, it doesn’t really work out. So whilst we don’t have a formal screening process, it’s clear in our hiring process. But imagine if that approach extended to the board level or other strategic roles – now that could be a powerful way to ensure alignment across all levels.

But that’s not to say you can’t be motivated by yourself – if I’m honest, it’s also my ego that wants to make a difference. I’ve wrestled with this in my career – I carry a lot of things. I’ve spent 10 years really knowing how to navigate the politics of this small place. And sometimes it means I have to watch what I say. But I’m trying to build my confidence, and say what I believe needs to be said. I’m looking at some of my peer group, mostly men, and where their careers have taken them.  I’m happy for them if they’re happy. But it’s also frustrating because I feel as a woman at my age, I’ve always had to be extra careful or extra diligent.

To what extent does a shared value system play into the “success” of radical collaboration? Can radical collaboration still exist when values differ?

When I reflect on our experience and the turning point for us, it was finding that one thing that we all shared in common – which was nature. You don’t need all values to be the same, but you’re going to have to find one thing that anchors you or brings you all together. If you don’t have that common value – how do you rally people to work towards something?

It was really powerful for the community to understand that all of the businesses in town feel just as compelled to protect nature. They may do it for a different reason or in different ways, but they feel compelled, their business relies on nature. It’s about being able to translate that love and protection of a place into ways that resonate on all sides.