Carol Wong, BCom ‘16, MBA ‘21

BAA: Tell us about your long standing relationship with the Alberta School of Business? Followed by your career journey after graduation. 

Sure thing! I am extremely proud to be a two-time graduate of the Alberta School of Business. After completing my bachelor of commerce degree here, continuing my education with the MBA program was a natural next step. The U of A has shaped my academic and professional journey in ways that continue to resonate with me to this day.

 To be honest, I saw my career truly taking off after I graduated with my MBA. I initially entered the program with a goal of exploring a potential career path pivot — maybe even a shift in industries, away from apparel and retail. However, the incredible people I was able to connect with, the ideas we exchanged, and the design and rigor of the program itself prompted me to reflect on my values and double-down on my strengths. I ended up developing a deeper understanding of my own personal brand and what I wanted to be known for in a professional setting.

I think that taking the leap of faith to pursue my MBA set the stage for future defining moments in my career. Shortly after graduating, I took another leap, relocating from Edmonton to Vancouver to take on a strategy and operations role at Aritzia’s support office. I can confidently say that this has been one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve ever made for my career. Since joining Aritzia’s strategy and operations (internal consulting) team, I’ve been able to grow and diversify my skills through the work I do with a variety of business units and leadership teams, including people and culture (across HR, learning and development and talent acquisition), our brick-and-mortar retail business, our customer care/contact centre function (concierge) and most recently, our technology and data and analytics functions. Each new experience has allowed me to steadily build a holistic understanding of Aritzia’s business operations while actively contributing to the scaling and evolution of key departments to support the company’s growth ambitions. 

BAA: How would you describe your management style, and how has it evolved throughout your career?

I lead with a great deal of empathy and inclusivity, and that’s something that’s always been core to my management and leadership style. However, my understanding of what true empathetic leadership entails has evolved over time. Earlier in my career, I believed that it meant telling others what they wanted to hear, in an effort to avoid uncomfortable situations. I thought that by softening the message, I was being compassionate. 

Over time, I realized that leading with empathy is actually the opposite of dancing around the topic at hand or avoiding difficult conversations. Instead, it’s about creating an environment where teams can grow and thrive, even if that means delivering difficult feedback. It means being as clear and candid as possible, even when the message is tough to hear — “clear is kind.” This shift in perspective helped me move away from what I now recognize as "ruinous empathy" (thanks, Kim Scott!) where my fear of upsetting others ends up hindering everyone’s progress. Now, I work hard to balance compassion and candor, understanding that while this is very challenging, it’s ultimately more supportive and empowering in the long run. 

BAA: As a manager, how do you mentor and develop your team members to help them grow in their roles?

The first step for me is to learn what’s important to them in their unique career journey — every individual has different motivations, goals, and needs, so I seek to understand what drives them, what they’re passionate about, and what they’re looking to achieve. I also prioritize understanding their strengths, and areas that need further attention and development. This way, I can provide targeted opportunities that allow them to shine, as well as challenge them. After gaining all of this knowledge, I often like to map everything out into quadrants: 

• Quadrant 1: They’re naturally good at it, but not passionate about it
• Quadrant 2: They’re naturally good at it AND passionate about it
• Quadrant 3: It doesn’t come naturally to them, AND they aren’t passionate about it
• Quadrant 4: It doesn’t come naturally to them, but they’re passionate about it

When people are doing what they’re good at and passionate about (Quadrant 2), they perform at their best, so I work to create an environment where they can thrive in those areas.

Equally important to me is reminding my team members to balance their career ambitions with the time they require to learn and grow. Just like how every plant or flower blossoms at its own pace, each person has their own timeline for career growth. It’s important to me to foster patience and create space for learning, exploration, and experimentation throughout their career — after all, it’s a journey, not a race!  

BAA: In your work at Aritzia, how important is understanding customer behavior in shaping strategy, and how do you incorporate that into operational decisions?

At Aritzia, everything we do is in service of delivering Everyday Luxury to our customers, which means their experience, preferences and behaviors are critical to our success. Given the dynamic nature of the fashion and retail industry, our business is naturally exposed to fashion risk — the inherent uncertainty in predicting what will be popular with our customers — so every decision we make, from product assortment to marketing strategies, is carefully considered and methodically analyzed, always with the goal of meeting the evolving expectations and needs of our customers.  

This customer-centric approach is present in every aspect of our business. We continuously gather insights into customer trends, feedback and purchasing behavior. Additionally, understanding customer behavior helps us craft more personalized experiences and refine our service offerings across all physical and digital touchpoints, creating an environment where customers feel valued and engaged. Whether it's enhancing the layout of our boutiques, fine-tuning our digital products, setting up the infrastructure for our world-class distribution centres, or providing exceptional customer service, we ensure that our operational decisions are always focused on enriching the customer journey and maintaining the high standards they expect from us. Ultimately, it’s this commitment to our purpose of Everyday Luxury for every customer that has driven our business forward so successfully. 

BAA: For current BCom or MBA students aspiring to work in strategic roles, what key advice would you offer in terms of skills or experiences they should focus on?

My advice would be to develop the ability to balance high-level vision with detailed execution. It’s crucial to be able to see the bigger picture from a 30,000 foot view while also being able to dive into three foot details — this dual perspective will enable you to think like an executive and deliver with the precision and expertise of a subject matter expert. 

Another essential aspect of strategy is decision-making and trade-offs. In strategic roles, you’ll often face situations where there is no perfect solution, and the key is to make smart and informed decisions that are best for the business. It’s important that you learn to be OK with a degree of uncertainty, and learn to be comfortable with making trade-offs — as long as you can bring all stakeholders on board and ensure they’re all aligned. Strong communication and relationship-building skills will help with this. 

On that note, I would recommend gaining hands-on practical experience, whether through internships, simulations, projects, case studies, you name it, that will allow you to try out your skills in real-world scenarios. These types of experiences will allow you to learn the ins and outs of a business (or business case), understand the challenges at a deeper level, exercise your adaptability, and refine your decision-making abilities. 

BAA: What do you enjoy doing in your free time when you're not working? Are there any hobbies or passions that help you unwind?

A perfect restful day off for me would consist of hanging out with my dogs (I have a 10 year old pug chihuahua mix and a seven year old German shepherd husky mix), spending time doing something creative (whether that’s playing a couple of my favourite pieces on the piano and/or something arts and crafts related — I love a good DIY), trying a new recipe (I also love cooking), and finally, tackling a puzzle with my husband (the more complex, the better — 1,000+ pieces preferred).