YPO Global Chairman Debby Carreau has never been one to stick to the slow lane. At 14, she was already behind the wheel of a racecar, testing its limits on Alberta, Canada’s tracks.

“I got the bug very early,” she tells The CEO Magazine, crediting her pilot father for her risk appetite.

That taste for speed and precision, along with the ability to make split-second decisions and trust her instincts, have served her just as well in business as they did on the track. By her early 20s, she was running a multimillion-dollar restaurant. And within a year, she became the first-ever partner of the chain.

In the 1990s, she was the youngest person in the room by decades and almost always the only woman. But excelling in spaces where women were often underrepresented became a defining theme of her career. Instead of focusing on the barriers, though, Carreau zeroed in on the solutions. And, to her, that meant putting the people at the center of everything.

“Whether I’m leading my own businesses, serving on boards or in my role with YPO, my leadership philosophy is rooted in one thing: people,” the Founder and CEO of Inspired HR and the newly launched Stack HRo says without hesitation.

“When you relentlessly focus on the client journey and employee experience, everything else – growth, innovation, performance – falls into place. It’s not just a nice-to-have; it’s a strategy.”

The people strategy

Carreau’s early years in hospitality revealed a striking gap between the number of women entering the industry and the number making it into senior roles. She noticed that while men were often promoted based on potential, women were expected to prove they could do the job elsewhere before being trusted with the opportunity.

She also witnessed a difference in approach.

“Men were putting up their hands, whereas women just worked really hard and hoped someone would notice them and tap them on the shoulder,” she explains.

Those insights helped to shape her belief that people are, indeed, the ultimate competitive advantage. In 2007, Carreau founded her own firm, Inspired HR, built on the idea that labor costs are not a burden but an opportunity.

“How we use our people to maximize our business’ potential is really important,” she stresses. “If you take care of your people and you choose the right people, everything else is going to come in line.”

A global platform

In 2011, Carreau took a step that would prove pivotal to her journey – she joined YPO, the global leadership community of chief executives, looking for the kind of peer connection she hadn’t been able to find elsewhere.

“As a female entrepreneur with two young children, I was looking for peer connections because, at the time, my friends weren’t doing what I was doing,” she explains.

“Sure, we were raising children and talking about baby milestones, but I found myself missing something I saw many of my male friends had at the time – access to mentorship and meaningful professional conversations. So when I first joined YPO, that’s what I was after. And by joining, I was able to grow my business and become a better leader.”

Over time, she’s seen YPO transform from a largely North American network of around 11,000 members to a global community of more than 37,000 across 500 chapters.

“We truly are global citizens,” Carreau says. “The more diverse we are, the more we all learn as leaders how to adapt, how to change and how to work with all kinds of people.”

For Carreau, that diversity is the foundation of the organization’s mission of lifelong learning and idea exchange.

“YPO members are so engaged because when we meet interesting and extraordinary people from around the world, we want more and more of it. You become really curious,” she says.

“We all want to be better leaders, and we want to keep learning throughout our lives. And curiosity is key to that. The more we know, the more curious we actually get.”

The next 75 years

Now as YPO’s Global Chairman during its 75th anniversary year, Carreau has her eyes on the road ahead.

“This is going to be even harder than the first 75 years because the only constant in the world today is that it’s changing faster and faster,” she acknowledges.

Her focus is on keeping YPO relevant for both emerging leaders and members who’ve been in business for decades. That means a subtle pivot back to its roots as an organization, without losing the breadth that members value.

“We have to think harder about what makes us unique,” Carreau says.

YPO rang the closing bell at NYSE on 22 August. Photo Credit: NYSE

“We know YPO is a trusted environment, and we have access to a lot of resources. So now, we are exploring the key pieces that will continue to make us relevant to the business leaders of the future. We need to deliver on our core value proposition, which is to become better leaders through lifelong learning and idea exchange.”

Carreau sees her role less as leaving a personal legacy and more as guiding a collective vision.

“I don’t have an overwhelming desire to leave a legacy that’s mine,” she explains. “We are a board of 17. We’re a community of 37,000 members. We have 4,000 member champions who volunteer to lead within YPO. And so, really, as Chairman, I’m the steward of the organization for a finite period of time.

“I want to stay true to our strategy. Consistency, transparency and communication are really important to me. And I feel so honored to be able to steward this organization for the period of time that I do, helping to make it better as we look toward the next 75 years.”

As YPO’s members navigate an increasingly complex global landscape – with their companies generating close to US$10 trillion in combined revenue – Carreau remains focused on the human element that drives real success.

“Human beings are the ones that drive business. Human beings are the ones that solve world conflicts,” she emphasizes.