00:00Good day and thank you to the Icons of Change International Awards for this tremendous honour.
00:05My name is Mark Razzolini and I'm the founder and principal consultant of Razzle Consulting.
00:10After more than 30 years working in people, leadership, organisational strategy and wellness,
00:15I'm particularly grateful to be recognised as an icon of change.
00:19When I think about change, I don't necessarily think first about grand gestures or a single
00:25defining moment. I think about the everyday decisions we make as leaders, how we treat
00:31people, how we build organisations, how we create opportunities for others to succeed and how we
00:37lead the systems and communities around us better than we found them. Much of my career was spent
00:43with Alberta Blue Cross where I had the privilege of growing through progressively senior leadership
00:49roles and ultimately serving as Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President. During that
00:55time, the organisation experienced tremendous growth from fewer than 400 employees to approximately
01:011,400 and from less than a billion dollars in revenue to more than 5 billion. My responsibilities
01:09extended well beyond traditional human resources, encompassing learning, organisational wellness,
01:16facilities, corporate services and innovation. But the numbers that mean the most to me are
01:22the ones that reflect people. We achieved employee engagement of 86%, retention of 91% and an employee
01:31net promoter score of 73. And one of the initiatives I'm particularly proud of was developing a wellness
01:38business from the ground up, ultimately reaching 1.8 million customers. Those accomplishments reinforce
01:46something I have believed throughout my career. Organisations are at their best when people are at their best.
01:54That belief is also what led me to my next chapter with Razzle Consulting, where I now work with
02:01organisations and leaders in the areas of HR strategy, organisational wellness, executive coaching,
02:08leadership and culture. For me, this is where the idea of sustainable development becomes very real.
02:18Sustainability isn't only about environmental responsibility or economic growth. It's also about building
02:25organisations, communities and leadership systems that can thrive over the long term. It means creating workplaces where
02:33people can contribute, develop, feel valued and remain well. It means developing leaders who understand that their
02:41responsibility extends beyond today's results to the people and systems they are shaping for tomorrow.
02:49I have also been fortunate to contribute through volunteer and community leadership,
02:54including serving as board chair policy-wise and as a board member with the Good Samaritan Society.
03:01Those experiences have reinforced my belief that meaningful change happens when people bring their
03:07expertise, their time and their leadership to something larger than themselves. The 2026 International
03:15Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development is a wonderful reminder that every one of us has the capability to contribute.
03:25We don't all have to make the same contribution. We don't all need the same platform.
03:33Sometimes impact comes through volunteering. Sometimes it comes through our profession.
03:38Sometimes it comes through mentoring one person, changing one workplace, supporting one community or simply choosing to lead differently.
03:49I believe that impact is created through those choices, repeated over time.
03:56So I accept this recognition with gratitude, not only as an acknowledgement of what has been accomplished,
04:03but as encouragement to continue doing the work.
04:06And I hope that all of us, wherever we are and whatever role we hold, we ask ourselves a simple
04:15question.
04:15What can I do with what I have to make things better for the people and communities around us?
04:23Because meaningful change doesn't belong to a select few. It belongs to all of us.
04:29Thank you again to the Icons of Change International Awards for this honour.
04:34It is a privilege to be part of this community of changemakers and I look forward to seeing what we
04:40can accomplish together.
04:42and I hope that we can make things better together.
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