Hi! My name is Josie. I bring together unlikely collaborators to imagine, inspire, and create change. My work in education and strategy is focused on achieving extraordinary outcomes for teams.

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About

me

My name is Josie Fung and I’ve never wanted to do just one thing. I like innovation, and zoology (which I studied in undergrad!), finding and refining the tastiest focaccia recipes, understanding how the brain works and building capacity in leaders...that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Like my toddler, I’m insatiably curious, though I listen more than I speak.

One of my superpowers is bringing people out of the muck – have you ever seen a hyper-zoomed in image of something and guessed what it was? Only to see the zoomed-out image and say “oh, yeah! How did I not think of that!?” Well, we tend to be zoomed into our own contexts, from CEO’s to kindergarten students, it’s how our brains work. “If only I can dig deeper into this one little thing, I’ll find the right fix!” When in fact, what you really need is someone to remind you to take a step back. When I bring people out of the muck, we discover new patterns and possibilities not yet seen.

When I pursued my career, I wanted to pull together the most rewarding and engaging facets of my life to help others be lifted up. More than all of this, I love to watch others flourish when they discover their greatest inner strengths. My work in education and strategy have convened with work around climate change, decision making, well-being and building the next generation of problem solvers.I have found many avenues to help others. I’d like to help you too.

about us

Education

I care deeply about education. Over the past 10 years, I’ve seen the impact of engaged educators who sparks students’ passion for learning.

I’ve also seen structures and practices created during the Industrial Age still present in the system today…yes really. Like an emphasis on ‘covering’ curriculum in ways that lack meaning, coherence and genuine transformation in the learner. These approaches have stuck not because they’re brilliant and support innovative teacher pedagogy or meaningful learning in the classroom, but because the system is in dire need of transformation and change.

Sustainable and systemic change doesn’t happen in one classroom or school. At I-Think I work at every level of the system to support a system of innovation for a resilient education system. I look at the grey and disconnected spaces in between to uncover new ways to learn—but most importantly—new ways to think. This takes listening, curiosity, and the desire to create opportunities for students to engage in learning and problem solving that holds meaning for them.

Education is fascinating, it gives us a chance to witness how change works at scale. Classrooms are a microcosm of society, and what we learn within them is what we will eventually bring out into the world. At I-Think, I continue to help build better problem solvers, one classroom at a time.

Education

Strategy

The same skills I’ve developed through a lifetime of curiosity led me toward a career in helping leadership teams and organizations develop strategy, processes and decision making practices that unlock new paths forward.

All businesses are built on the two pillars of people and processes. Through a strategic approach, I build an in-depth knowledge of both and leverage what I learn by breaking down the data and building stronger, smarter and more efficient processes that allow organizations to operate at their best. During this exercise, I make businesses more efficient and profitable. Most rewardingly, I help everyone involved find a little more success in their day-to-day.

Questions I've Explored

Fostering Future Economic Prosperity

Co-designing a toolkit for global competency skill development (Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship toolkit), with the Ministry of Education that has been used by over 100,000 students in grades 11 and 12.

Unlocking Strategy to Fuel Global Expansion

Repositioning a #1 Canadian health and wellness category brand to grow their business and share from $300M to $500M over the next 5 years.

Changing Lives & Communities

Working with a philanthropic organization that serves youth to refocus their strategy for maximum worldwide impact, increasing their youth engagement from 500,000 a year to 1M, as a result of a critical shift in the focus of their work.

Building Better Models for Promoting and Supporting Student Well-Being

Engaged with over 1,200 educators, parents, students and community partners across the province to guide the Ministry of Education’s strategy for supporting student well-being in schools.

My Thinking

RBC

Creativity is vital to innovation, prosperity and many remarkable possibilities. How do we foster and harness it in the classroom and beyond? Hosted by John Stackhouse and Trinh Theresa Do, hear me alongside thought leaders like president of Sheridan College Janet Morrison, Senior VP of Lululemon Tom Waller, Shopify's Brittany Forsyth, Ubisoft's Julien Laferrière, and Urban Theorist Richard Florida.

The Good Partnership

We all know strategy is important but hardly, if ever, find the time to do it properly. The inertia of our work takes over and makes it difficult to engage in the strategic planning process. In conversation with the Good Partnership's Cindy Wagman, I share why and how people can lean on the Playing to Win strategy framework for better outcome.

Youth REX

COVID-19 disrupted every industry and corner of our lives, including the ways youth-focused organizations conceive of supporting and working with young people. In conversation with Youth REX's Kathe Rogers, Cyril Cromwell and I-Think's Scholarship Recipient for the 2020 year Laurel Gain, we discuss the pivots we're seeing in youth-focused work, the ways we've adapted to unprecedented times at I-Think and the lessons we're learning.

My Thinking

Josie Fung

“I think that future Canada is a place where there's a hub of innovation, and instead of thinking about tech and innovation hubs being localized in one geography, it's a nation of creativity, it's a nation that generates all sorts of ideas that fuel the world.”