In this episode, host Munir Haque welcomes Chris Doble, Director of the Venture Mentoring Service of Alberta (VMSA), to the show to talk about the mentorship that VMSA offers to entrepreneurs by assembling teams of experienced business leaders. Based on MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service model, the VMSA focuses on personal leadership development rather than business operations, emphasizing mentorship through coaching rather than direct advisory. Chris Doble and Munir explore how the program was adapted for Alberta's business environment and how the approach prioritizes developing entrepreneurs as leaders.

Chris highlights VMSA’s rigorous mentee selection process that ensures those chosen align with their coaching philosophy. He explains that the primarily entrepreneurial and executive mentors foster open discussions that might not be possible in a formal board setting. The conversation discusses how the program, funded by Alberta Innovates, has largely grown through referrals and has helped mentees achieve business growth, leadership clarity, and in some cases, career redirection. Munir and Chris also emphasize the importance of diversity in mentorship teams and the balance between experience and personality compatibility.

About Chris Doble:

Chris is the program director of the VMSA, Venture Mentoring Service of Alberta, an entrepreneur mentorship program that focuses on building the leadership capacity of growth stage entrepreneurs. Based on the VMS mentorship model established at MIT, the VMSA supports entrepreneurs by surrounding them with a team of experienced business leaders who provide ongoing coaching and guidance as they scale their ventures.

Prior to joining the VMSA, Chris helped out to grow the Threshold Impact Venture Mentoring Service program based out of the University of Alberta and has received mentorship and coaching training through the MIT Venture Mentoring Service Executive Immersion Program, and Roy Group's practice of coaching.

Before entering the world of mentorship, Chris worked in a variety of roles within the music industry, including as a studio manager of an audio post-production studio, in artist marketing and PR, and in co-launching a mastering studio in Toronto. He has an Honors Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa in Communications and Business Administration and is proud to be a Calgary born and raised citizen.

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Contact Munir Haque | ActionEdge Executive Development:

• Website: AEEDNow.com
• Linkedin: Action Edge Executive Development Inc.
  
  

Contact Chris Doble:

• Website: VMSAlberta.org
• LinkedIn
  
  

Podcast Production:

• Recording: PushySix Studios
• Production Assistance: Astronomic Audio

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Transcript

Chris Doble: [00:00:01] There's an analogy that we really like to use to describe VMs, which is that we don't build the race car, we train the race car driver. With the thinking that, of course we want to see success come to these start ups and come to these businesses, but for us, we really want that to flow through the growth and development of the individual. Longer term thinking being even if these ventures aren't ultimately successful, you've still built the skills and the capacity that someone could take with them to the next venture.

Munir Haque: [00:00:29] Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Boardroom 180 Podcast. I'm your host Munir Haque, an executive coach and senior board strategist. I have partnered with Action Edge Executive Development to lead their governance and political acumen division. In each episode, we meet with governance leaders and step into their boardrooms, where decisions shape the world around us.

Munir Haque: [00:00:48] Today we're excited to welcome Mr. Chris Doble. Chris is the program director of the Venture Mentoring Service of Alberta, the VMSA. It's an entrepreneur mentorship program that focuses on building the leadership capacity of growth stage entrepreneurs. Based on the VMS mentorship model established at MIT, the VMSA supports entrepreneurs by surrounding them with a team of experienced business leaders who provide ongoing coaching and guidance as they scale their ventures. Before entering the world of mentorship, Chris worked in a variety of roles within the music industry as a studio manager of an audio post-production studio, to artist marketing and PR, to co-launching a mastering studio in Toronto. He has an Honors Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa in Communications and Business Administration and is proud to be a Calgary born and raised citizen. Welcome to the show, Chris.

Chris Doble: [00:02:04] Thanks for having me, Munir.

Munir Haque: [00:02:06] I first came across you back in 2023 during Innovation Week here in Calgary. You were presenting at a session on governance. There were two other gentlemen who were presenting with you, one was talking specifically about the board of directors, another was talking about the board of advisors. You were talking about a board of consciousness, and that struck a spark in my head, because I hadn't heard of that too much before. I always kept in the back of my head that I was going to reach out to you and have you on here so we can talk a little bit about that. When I've done some of the research on board of consciousness, I think there's a variety of different roles that they fill, and I think there's maybe some different characteristics and maybe different interpretations of what they are. But I thought I'd get you on here to talk about, how do you interpret what a board of consciousness is?

Chris Doble: [00:03:02] I'm glad you came to that session, and I am glad that you reached out. Because it's led to some really good conversations, and I appreciate the opportunity to come chat about this. I always smile when we use that term 'board of consciousness'. The word that we typically use when we describe what it is we do is mentorship, but I think board of consciousness is a prettier way of describing that. But this idea of, you're here to support an individual, where you have a board of directors or a board of advisors that may end up being more focused on helping your business or helping growth or strategy of the business, the organization, board of consciousness or mentors can really be focused on the individual. How do you help them grow and develop and succeed? More in whatever way that needs to look like for them. That's the focus of our mentorship program for entrepreneurs is, how do you take a group of highly experienced business leaders, entrepreneurs, business builders and put them around an up and coming entrepreneur and get focused on how you can make them a more effective leader. I'm sure today we can dive into what that looks like.

Munir Haque: [00:04:10] We'll get into a little bit more depth, but why don't we take it back a step. You have some sort of relationship with Platform Calgary. Perhaps for some of our listeners who aren't in Calgary, who aren't familiar with Platform, why don't you give a little bit of background on that and then your relationship with them?