Meghan Harris-Ngae is a Partner and National Leader of PwC Canada’s Sustainability Strategy Integration and Transformation practice. She is also PwC’s Global Leader of Sustainability for Private Business. In both roles, Meghan advises executives and Boards on developing integrated and practical sustainability strategies that drive value for business and enable long-term resilience. Meghan is a global leader in sustainability and has been recognized among the top sustainability leaders in Canada by Clean50 and Clean16, for her achievements in advancing the cause of sustainability and clean capitalism in Canada. She was also the award winner for Young Women in Energy in Canada. Meghan’s leadership in sustainability was built over 22 years, starting in the energy sector before moving internationally to work with multinational organizations based in the UK on their ESG strategies.
Meghan is a named expert with the Canadian Climate Law Initiative (CCLI) and serves as a Board Member with Tree Canada. She has a degree in International Relations from the University of Calgary. She has also completed the Harvard Leadership Program and the Corporate Social Responsibility Program at the Harvard Business School (HBS).
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CXO Outlook Magazine, Meghan shared her professional trajectory, insights on diversity and inclusion, the secret mantra behind her success, her favorite quote, future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Meghan. Please tell us about your background and areas of interest.
In University I decided I wanted to make an impact and chose a degree in International Relations. I was determined that one day I would work for the United Nations. I started my career working in the energy sector, focused on government relations and corporate ethics. Early on in my career I decided to declare a deep focus on sustainability, with the vision that I wanted to have an impact on the world day to day. In a roundabout way I have been able to do that as a global sustainability leader working with both private and public companies on a global scale to develop and implement transformational sustainability strategies that drive impact for business and stakeholders.
What do you love the most about your current role?
I love working with intelligent and driven people who share similar values to me. I also love that I have been able to stay true to my overall career objective to have a positive impact.
How can disruptive technologies such as AI help organizations accelerate their climate and sustainability commitments to investors and customers?
It will be transformational—we are going to see AI accelerate the ability for companies to not only meet but exceed their sustainability commitments. We are going to see AI accelerate the decarbonization of the world.
What are your thoughts on diversity and inclusion? How important is it to have authentic conversations with leaders, professionals, and changemakers to create more acceptance across the globe?
Diversity and Inclusion is critical for the resilience of any organization, as is Equity. To me, diversity means representation across a wide range of traits, backgrounds and experiences. Inclusion for me means building a sense of belonging in any environment. Equity is about fairness and justice. I strive to be an inclusive leader—it not only matters to me personally but it’s also critical in my leadership role to attract and retain talent and to motivate and build a creative and high performing team that can collectively work to achieve sustained outcomes for our clients and for our firm. I see my role as leading by example and to do that I focus on behaviors including curiosity, humility, and empathy, which aren’t just desirable in my mind, they are critical leadership behaviors for any leader. This article depicts the type of leader I strive to be:
You were recently recognised as one of the Top 25 Sustainability Consultants and Leaders for 2024. Our readers would love to know the secret sauce behind your success.
To be honest, when I found out I was surprised and paused to reflect and was really happy. I have pursued a career that did not have a direct path. This award made me realize that staying the course, trusting my instincts and advocating for change pays off—despite practicing sustainability, which was traditionally not considered a mainstream career path. When sustainability became mainstream it was overwhelming but rewarding for all of us who started in the field before it was a field.
In your academic or work career, were there any mentors who have helped you grow along the way? What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?
I have had various formal and informal mentors in my career. I have also worked for leaders who not only let me lead but pushed me to be a leader. I have always been driven but driven to have an impact no matter what I am doing including helping clients with challenges, building and leading teams, solving complex problems and coming up with innovative ideas. The best piece of advice I received was to be authentic, stay true to my values and to treat people how I would like to be treated. That last one came from my parents around the age of five and I still abide by it.
What’s a leadership lesson that you’ve learnt that’s unique to being a female leader?
Resilience and perseverance. Stay true to who you are and your core values in how you lead. Show up as an authentic leader and care about the people coming behind you—it will pay off in spades and lift you forward.
What is your biggest stress reliever?
Spending time with my family and friends, and exercise. I am a thinker, and my brain never stops. I enjoy hanging out with my husband and our son—whatever we are doing, even watching cooking shows on the couch. On the exercise front if I don’t do it, I find the clarity of my thoughts and productivity go down. That said, I have a very hectic schedule with my role so sometimes all I need is just rest and I have learned to listen to my body when I need it.
What is your secret to striking a work-life balance?
I am not sure I have truly struck it, but I am a work in progress. I adopted work life integration for a while but that also wasn’t healthy for me because I never stopped mentally being engaged. I have become better at setting boundaries, making sure I audit my calendar and priorities to align with my core objectives, and carving non-negotiable time in my calendar weekly for family and downtime—self-care. I do not drive myself into the ground as no one benefits from that.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
Always a good question and a hard one to answer. I have always been driven with goals to be in leadership positions where I can have influence on strategy and build and mentor strong teams. In 5 years, I see myself continuing to do that. With sustainability becoming more integrated into corporate strategy and in many cases driving transformational change, I see myself in the middle of that either driving it, enabling it or operating in a leadership capacity that stretches beyond my current expertise but remains true to my values and career objectives.
One piece of advice you would like to give to aspiring professionals from your industry.
Stay focused, set goals and be team oriented. Being a sustainability professional helping solve some of the most complex and defining issues of our time requires and will require even more collaboration and partnerships than exist today. Ai and other tech can be the enablers that individually help solve but teaming will be critical across complex eco-systems to solve for some of our biggest challenges in the next 30 years.