[Ambient music. Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva and Michael Hainsworth walk past artwork in a gallery space]
[Filmed: December, 2019]
>> Michael Hainsworth (voiceover): Lightspeed founder, Dax Dasilva, is a philosopher CEO.
[Dax sits in his office. Dax and Michael walk past artwork in the gallery space. Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: Leadership, culture, spirituality and nature, leveraging all the diversity in each one of those 4 pillars is sort-of the recipe for change-making.
[Dax and Michael walk past artwork in the gallery space. Employees work at their computers in the Lightspeed headquarters. Exterior of Lightspeed headquarters, a turreted stone building with cars parked on the street in front]
>> Michael (voiceover): How do you change the world for the better while building your business? How does diversity drive your company to global success?
[CIBC logo. Innovation Banking. #CIBCInnovationEconomy]
[Employees work at computers in office filled with wood beams. Dax and Michael walk past artwork in the gallery space. Dax and Michael look at colourful portraits in the gallery space. Never Apart sign]
I'm Michael Hainsworth, learning the secrets to success in the innovation economy.
[Dax and Michael walk past artwork in the gallery space. How Does Diversity Drive Global Success?]
[Dax Dasilva. CEO, Lightspeed. Dax sits in his office]
[0:30] >> Dax: When you, as a leader, believe in something and you show passion for something, that's contagious.
[Lightspeed headquarters. Employees sit at bar in Lightspeed headquarters lounge. Dax and Michael walk down the stairs]
>> Michael (voiceover): The man behind the Montreal-based point-of-sale success story believes there are 5 types of leaders.
[Handshake icon. The Affiliative Leader]
>> Dax: The affiliative leader is good at building relationships and harmonizing relationships, has great EQ.
[Handshake icon. Checkmark icon. The Democratic Leader]
>> Dax: Democratic leader is a leader that is able to build consensus and move the organization in a particular direction by getting everybody's buy-in.
[Handshake icon. Runner icon. Checkmark icon. The Pace Setting Leader]
>> Dax: A pace-setting leader makes sure that everybody is producing and is able to achieve the results that, uh, that, that we’re looking for.
[Handshake icon. Runner icon. Whistle icon. Checkmark icon. The Coaching Leader]
[1:00] >> Dax: Coaching leader is the kind of person that uses techniques of mentoring and invests in people so that they can really elevate that person.
[Handshake icon. Runner icon. Binoculars icon. Whistle icon. Checkmark icon. The Visionary Leader]
>> Dax: A visionary leader brings everybody into believing that they have a part to play in making that vision a reality.
[Dax and Michael walk past artwork in the gallery space]
>> Michael (voiceover): As for Dasilva's leadership style?
[Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: I think I’m a combination of some of these types.
[Dax and Michael stand at railing in purple room]
>> Michael (voiceover): Dasilva's leadership style is also the result of the experiences of his youth.
[Dax and Michael sit in music room]
[1:30] >> Dax: So I came out early at the age of 14 and I think it's had a good influence on, uh, understanding all of the different places that people can come from.
[Dax sits in office]
Diversity has always been —
[Employees eat together in the lunch room. Employee in headset looks at computer]
>> Dax (voiceover): — such a core part of our ethos at Lightspeed.
[Employee sits next to mug that reads “GRL PWR”]
The original team was all from the LGBTQ community —
[Employees work together at a large white table. Pan of employees working in the office]
— and as we brought more people into the, into the fold, as we expanded our team, we made sure that every single person —
[Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: — had a fair shot of doing the best work of their lives, and it's definitely a part of our DNA.
[Funk music. Sped-up overhead shot of customers at café counter]
> Michael (voiceover): As Lightspeed grew from a point-of-sale system to include —
[Café worker rings up customer at café counter]
— customer relationship management, merchant services —
[Customer pays by tapping their phone]
— and e-commerce —
[Person brings shirt to check-out at store]
— the Montreal-based start-up outgrew —
[2:00] [Dax and Michael stand at railing]
— its corporate office, so Dasilva turned it —
[Never Apart sign]
— into a cultural centre called Never Apart.
[Dax and Michael sit in the music room]
>> Dax: And the idea behind the cultural center was —
[Artwork. Dax and Michael look at artwork]
>> Dax (voiceover): — “let's use art and music to bring together —
[Dax sits in the music room]
>> Dax: — different kinds of people exhibiting in the same space —
[Dax and Michael walk through the Never Apart gallery space. Dax and Michael look at the portrait wall]
>> Dax (voiceover): — celebrating, uh, creativity in the same space and bridge division and then when we break down some of those barriers —
[Dax and Michael sit in the music room]
>> Dax: — let's never be apart.” Spirituality is as simple as knowing about the greater unity of everything and also —
[Artwork. Dax Dasilva book Age of Union: Igniting the Changemaker]
>> Dax (voiceover): — you know, the greater purpose of everything.
[Dax and Michael stand at railing of Never Apart]
Conservation, sustainability —
[Person sits at Lightspeed reception desk]
— these things have to be built into the way that we live and the way that we work.
[Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: We bootstrapped at Lightspeed for the first 7 years. When you bootstrap, uh, you have more time to really know what you stand for, to really build a set of values, uh, and build, uh, a way of operating that is uniquely your own.
[People entering and exiting Lightspeed headquarters. Employees sit in break room. Lightspeed office interior]
>> Michael (voiceover): But once you've pulled your company up by its bootstraps, when does a leader turn to external investment?
[When does a leader turn to external investment?]
[Checkmark graphic. Product market fit. Checkmark graphic. Revenue model proven. Checkmark graphic. Time for next-level growth]
>> Dax (voiceover): External investment becomes necessary when you've found that product market fit, when you've proved your revenue model and you want to really build the network that’s gonna help this project go to the next level.
[Dax sits in his office]
[3:00] >> Dax: CIBC Innovation Banking has brought to the table this belief that we can build a lot of value, not just through all of our organic efforts, but also through a very effective M and A strategy. We have the tools now to kind-of execute on that and build a bigger and more international company.
[Artwork at Lightspeed headquarters. Employees chat at Lightspeed headquarters. Employees sit in chairs by a window. Employee works at standing desk. #lightspeedHQ sign sits beside receptionist]
>> Michael (voiceover): As CIBC Innovation Banking helps Lightspeed grow at the speed of light, Dasilva remains philosophical.
[Dax and Michael sit in the music room. CEO award. 2019 Report on Business Innovator of the Year. Dax Dasilva. Lightspeed. Framed award plaque on wall. Dax sits in the music room. Never Apart centre. Michael and Dax lean on railing in centre. Dax and Michael sit in the music room]
>> Dax (voiceover): 14 years of hyper growth at Lightspeed and, kind-of, you end up having to be a philosopher in order to, uh, go through all the ups and downs, all the different parts of the journey.
[Employee looks at their computer. Employee uses mouse. Employee looks at laptop. Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: I learned the lesson of being the source of energy or modelling the energy I wanna create in an organization —
[Employees sit in break room. Michael and Dax walk through the Never Apart gallery space. Employees work at Lightspeed headquarters]
>> Dax (voiceover): — by looking at great leaders and seeing how they behave, whether you're in a crisis or whether you're in good times.
[Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: People look to you and take their cues from how you behave.
[Employees stand at coffee bar. Employee looks at computer. Dax and Michael walk through Never Apart gallery space]
>> Dax (voiceover): I think what I enjoy the most about the company is just seeing —
[Dax sits in his office]
>> Dax: — what this team has been able to accomplish as a Canadian company establishing something that's truly global.
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