Tasha Singh is a financial advisor with Prospera Credit Union at Kelowna Mission Park. 

She is from Vancouver, where she got started selling cars. 

Tasha sat down with NowMedia to discuss what she’s learned about leadership and being in business. 

How would you define a good leader?

I would define a good leader as someone who listens, someone who doesn’t know all the answers, who’s willing to research with you and learn with you. 

Someone who’s always growing to be better, not to be the best. That they’re able to read people and understand someone and always think about how someone else will feel. 

That’s a good leader. 

Do you think that’s a common leadership style?

I think there’s a huge emphasis now on EQ versus IQ, so there’s a lot of emotional intelligence conversations happening nowadays. 

Even now for our staffing, it’s huge that people know how to read someone else emotionally. You should know if you’ve hurt someone’s feelings or if you step on a couple of toes. That’s something that’s emphasized more so in the hiring process now.

What would be your best piece of leadership advice for women?

Listen. Just listen. 

Sometimes we don’t need to dispense advice and sometimes we don’t need to tell everybody that we’re the best, because when we’re the best other people know that.

I think that people don’t slow down and listen enough. They don't actively listen. Everyone’s always looking to give an answer. 

Sometimes people just need an ear, and they need to be heard. 

What would you say was the biggest challenge for you in your career?

I think at Prospera we are really lucky. Our regional director is a female, my branch manager and assistant manager are both women, all the ladies in the front line are women. 

But I think the biggest challenge as a woman is getting other people to get past the fact that you’re a woman. I think our industry is historically known as a male’s field. 

Having one whole branch to ourselves, we laugh and tease about it, but we’re so lucky that all of us get along. When my grandmother passed and I went back to work, I literally walked into a hug. I opened the door and one of the ladies was there and she was like, ‘Hey, Tash, welcome home.’ 

It’s a really nice environment, and I think that our female leaders have a lot to do with that.