SpaceQ recently had the opportunity to speak with Sylvain Laporte, the outgoing President of the Canadian Space Agency about why he was leaving after one term.
Not just one reason
His reasons for leaving are more nuanced than you might think, and the decision “was probably one of the most difficult conversations that took me the longest to figure out.” But with nearly four decades of serving in the military, public service and at a crown corporation, Laporte is due for a break, a change.
Laporte says he doesn’t “have a vision, I don’t have an agenda” of what he’ll do when he leaves. But when he does leave he wants “do different types of things where I’m pretty much in, in control of my of work, and who I work with, and how it happens.”
I don’t know Laporte’s age, but I suspect he’s in his mid-50’s, which he confirms as being closer to 60 than 55, and I tell him, from my perspective, that he’s still young with respect to working, which he appreciates. However, in listening to his story I come to understand that he still wants to do meaningful work, though at this point, not for too long, and importantly, on his terms, and I think to myself, he’s earned it.
Travel lag
While Laporte says “there’s not really a singular reason that says, you know I’m moving on,” there is one reason that clearly stands out from our conversation, travel. It’s not ‘the’ reason, but it certainly factors into the equation.
Why is that?
It’s not the regular travel to conferences, meetings etc.
No, what many people don’t know is that Laporte lives north of Ottawa and that nearly every week he travels to Saint-Hubert, just south of Montreal to start his work week. That’s a three hour commute, twice a week. He stays for the week, unless he’s travelling for business, and then returns home on weekends. You can do the math on the commute over time, but it’s time away from his family.
And, he’s been doing it for over five years now.
He says working at the CSA is “is probably the best job I’ve ever had in my career,” so the commute, it’s “a sacrifice you make, and I can’t complain, I have a comfortable car.”
He stresses the point that while the drive is long, it’s productive as he would “have all sorts of other conversations.”
He could have stayed
If Laporte had wanted a second term and applied, he would have “gotten some support.” So he could have stayed, and that says a lot about the job he’s done. Only one other CSA President has worked into a second mandate, and that was William “Mac” Evans.
He then explains to me a bit of the process of staying on for an additional period beyond his original five year mandate. It’s not a formality, there’s a process, a bureaucratic protocol that makes it like applying for the position all over again. So the agreed additional time is six months. It’s a fixed period, it’s immovable. He states his last day is September 9.
He elaborates further on his decision to leave and reminisces a bit.
“So I had to come to grips with making this decision myself and like I said, space, I was new to space five years ago, what I have discovered is such a fantastic sector. If I have my choice, my my next few opportunities would be related to space. I really would like to continue in this in this area, but I’d like to contribute differently. Right? And give someone else the opportunity to take the reins at the CSA and again, I said like I said earlier, I don’t want this to be my swan song. But, I took, I took the agency down a very interesting path in my, in my five years, got a lot of, of mileage out of that, some successes and some some failures, and you know at some point, it’s time for someone also to take it from where it is today and bring it to a different level.”
I ask him about what he thinks are some of the highlights of his time on the job. He doesn’t want to talk about this topic yet and he says laughingly, “what I can say quickly is that I had a lot of fun, for sure. Let’s keep that question for when I’ve put some thoughts together.”
Right now he says “my mind’s 100% on the, on the job, and zero percent on my future.” And those thoughts include how the CSA is handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
I ask him if part of his plan was to have a smooth transition for his successor?
Yes, he says.
I bring it up because in past transitions there’s been more often than not, an acting president which puts the breaks on new initiatives. That’s still not out of the question now with COVID-19, but a smooth transition is what Laporte has planned.
He says he’s sticking “around while they do the competition so that I can move the critical files forward ” and to “provide some continuity when the new president shows up.”
He said he also he wants to provide the “necessary debriefs” and “discussions so that the person doesn’t start from scratch.”
It’s just another example of his leadership approach.
No leader gets 100% support from the community, but it’s clear that under Laporte’s leadership the CSA has stabilized and regained some of the lustre it had lost.