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Why This Podcast?
We want to invite you to sit down with us and shoot the breeze a conversation between friends always seems like that. Somehow, we were not able to find easy-going informative unscripted conversations in many podcasts that we listened to. So we thought, why not invite you to a weekly picnic lunch with us on the banks of the Summas River or in and around Vancouver? We hope the background noises keep you intrigued and guessing.
Gifty Parker - MBA, M.Ed., CPHR, Ph.D. Candidate
Founder & CEO at PARKER HR Solutions
I am an educator and human resources (HR) professional with over 20+ years of international experience in talent acquisition, learning and development, and performance management. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with clients from varied industries, including; SAS, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Transport, Construction, Agriculture, and Hospitality.
My international experience has provided her with numerous opportunities to transform human resource challenges into opportunities for better and more efficient business services. My focus on work mostly includes supporting leaders and top executives with a unique perspective and appreciation that human capital is their organization’s greatest asset — while crafting well-defined ways to deliver returns on their talents faster.
Be Inspired In Every Conversation
Welcome to Lunch with Gifty and John, an Unusual Conversational Podcast where you can take a long slow walk with your hosts in these candid conversations between them about their working lives. Some of the topics include career management, strategy, organizational culture, change, and ‘the good, the true, and the beautiful in corporate life. Our full-time roles and professional consulting backgrounds make some of our views unique, as we draw out critical information and put it in a new light for our listeners.
Join Gifty and John weekly as we deep-dive into conversations on issues that matter most in their lives and possibly in yours.
John Ballam - M.Phil. (Applied Ethics), B.Prim. Ed., FDE
Integral Associate Coach & Organizational Development Specialist
I am an educator, coach, and organizational development professional with a 30-year track record. My career has involved working with a wide variety of organizations, schools, large corporations, NGOs, and NPOs in order to facilitate the process of learning and personal development. I have an M.Phil in Business Ethics. My particular field of interest is adult identity development and the part that individuals play in shaping organizational culture and, conversely how organizations shape individuals' lives. This all centered around the systems and practices organizations develop in order to run effectively. In the long term, what is good for people and the planet is good for business. I am committed to helping people create workplace communities that are learning to make a better living alongside earning a living.
Call it 'incidental learning:' so much of the important stuff happens on the job or in intimate encounters with bosses, friends, and lovers. There is "the topic" and the places the conversations drift off into. Lived experiences, processed in vulnerable conversations, might seem too personal. But as with all of life, what is radically unique to our own humanity is universal.
If we risk revealing who we are, we will reap the reward of finding the person we want to be. During these chats, we will share some pretty personal and vulnerable stories in the hope that you will take the risk of finding conversation partners like us with whom you can be real. Neither of us has THE ANSWER, but we have questions, beliefs, mistakes, and lessons learned that have helped us on our journey.
There is no perfect world out there, just a better one if we are willing to risk more to learn more. Tom Peters once wrote, "If you want to be an elephant, you will eat like an elephant and s---- like an elephant; that is the only way to grow as big as an elephant."
We met as new immigrants to Canada while teaching at Gastown Business College in downtown Vancouver and later worked together at Greystone College. We grew up in Africa in entirely different circumstances, except for one thing. We know that life is a grand romance. We found it very easy to have conversations about the Good, the True, and the Beautiful there always seemed to be another way to see the world and change ourselves for the better.
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Our careers have evolved as we have developed professionally. This podcast introduces our early years, the obstacles we had to overcome, and the work we both do now.
Monday Aug 29, 2022
Monday Aug 29, 2022
In this episode, Gifty describes how her organization adds unique value to its clients, and John and Gifty reflect on what they want to achieve in the next 10 years.
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Monday Sep 12, 2022
Long-lasting, beneficial change cannot effectively happen without interpersonal connectivity.
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
According to reports on Global migration’s impact and opportunity, 247 million people live outside their country of birth, and 35% of these are high-skilled migrants with tertiary education or above.
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
Tuesday Sep 20, 2022
According to reports on Global migration’s impact and opportunity, 247 million people live outside their country of birth, and 35% of these are high-skilled migrants with tertiary education or above.
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Monday Oct 03, 2022
According to Randstad Risesmart’s 2022 Work-life Coaching report, ‘’93% of employers would offer to coach to ALL employees.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Embracing change and fostering connectivity
In this conversation on Embracing change and fostering connectivity, Gifty and John reviewed the role of organizational leaders in charting the path for managers and employees, fostering connectivity through transparent and frequent communication to ensure unison.
Some philosophical thoughts shared by John include:
The faces are quick impression models of real people. Connectivity is about embracing our perceptions, sifting through our projections, and becoming curious about what more there is to this person.
These are called “lucky beans” embracing connectivity is about being attuned to the synchronicities that occur when we are the thrower together with different groups of people at work. Good fortune and luck happen when we value and explore the deep diversity of others and unearth their hidden potential.
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Friday Oct 14, 2022
Embracing change and fostering connectivity
In this conversation on Embracing change and fostering connectivity, Gifty and John reviewed the role of organizational leaders in charting the path for managers and employees, fostering connectivity through transparent and frequent communication to ensure unison.
Some philosophical thoughts shared by John include:
The faces are quick impression models of real people. Connectivity is about embracing our perceptions, sifting through our projections, and becoming curious about what more there is to this person.
These are called “lucky beans” embracing connectivity is about being attuned to the synchronicities that occur when we are the thrower together with different groups of people at work. Good fortune and luck happen when we value and explore the deep diversity of others and unearth their hidden potential.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
We see it all the time: For the rank-and-file employee, strategy is a secret potion brewed by senior executives behind boardrooms or on luxury weekend corporate retreats—Employees’ contribution is limited to implementing what the captains of the industry direct.
Join Gifty and John in their examination of how strategies are created, implemented, and executed in today’s business context.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
Wednesday Oct 26, 2022
We see it all the time: For the rank-and-file employee, strategy is a secret potion brewed by senior executives behind boardrooms or on luxury weekend corporate retreats—Employees’ contribution is limited to implementing what the captains of the industry direct.
Join Gifty and John in their examination of how strategies are created, implemented, and executed in today’s business context.