About Us
Core Purpose
To enable our clients lasting business success.
Core Values
C
uriosity – Embrace the fuel for contagious learning and improving.
H
appiness – Don’t take yourself (or others) too seriously, leave your ego at the door.
I
nclusivity – Be open to all people, experiences and ideas.
S
afety – Feel comfortable to disagree, or agree.
E
motional Commitment – Be driven by feelings, and a sense of responsibility. Believe in the power of culture.
L
istening – Is the core element of communication and the cornerstone of learning.
Our Culture
Bringing life to C.H.I.S.E.L., our core values.
Core Purpose
To enable our clients lasting business success.
Core Values
C
uriosity – Embrace the fuel for contagious learning and improving.
H
appiness – Don’t take yourself (or others) too seriously, leave your ego at the door.
I
nclusivity – Be open to all people, experiences and ideas.
S
afety – Feel comfortable to disagree, or agree.
E
motional Commitment – Be driven by feelings, and a sense of responsibility. Believe in the power of culture.
L
istening – Is the core element of communication and the cornerstone of learning.
Our Culture
Bringing life to C.H.I.S.E.L., our core values.
Greg Smith, CMC
Greg Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of Populii Inc., a company dedicated to building practical, self-directed culture shaping capability inside organizations.
Greg’s career spans banking, public service, high technology, manufacturing, and consulting—providing him with a rare, inside-the-system perspective on how culture, leadership, and learning actually play out at work. He began his career at TD Bank, transitioned into public service as an auditor and management trainer, and later became Director of Organization Development at Veterans Affairs. He went on to hold senior HR and performance leadership roles with Northern Telecom, Nabu Manufacturing, and Bell Northern Research.
His move into consulting included leading a U.S.-based change management firm as Managing Partner with Strada Change Management and founding GHS Enterprise, a Canadian consultancy focused on culture, learning, and organizational systems.
Throughout his career, Greg has stayed close to real work. He has taught leadership at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management and Algonquin College, worked in retail operations and installation services leadership with RONA, and served as Special Learning Advisor to Carleton University’s Accessibility Institute—deepening his commitment to inclusive and accessible cultures.
It was his experience leading merger and acquisition practices that solidified Greg’s belief that most change fails not because of strategy, but because culture is underestimated. Today, he champions Culture Shaping as the evolution of traditional change management and the most reliable path to sustainable performance.
Greg Smith, CMC
Greg Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of Populii Inc., a company dedicated to building practical, self-directed culture shaping capability inside organizations.
Greg’s career spans banking, public service, high technology, manufacturing, and consulting—providing him with a rare, inside-the-system perspective on how culture, leadership, and learning actually play out at work. He began his career at TD Bank, transitioned into public service as an auditor and management trainer, and later became Director of Organization Development at Veterans Affairs. He went on to hold senior HR and performance leadership roles with Northern Telecom, Nabu Manufacturing, and Bell Northern Research.
His move into consulting included leading a U.S.-based change management firm as Managing Partner with Strada Change Management and founding GHS Enterprise, a Canadian consultancy focused on culture, learning, and organizational systems.
Throughout his career, Greg has stayed close to real work. He has taught leadership at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management and Algonquin College, worked in retail operations and installation services leadership with RONA, and served as Special Learning Advisor to Carleton University’s Accessibility Institute—deepening his commitment to inclusive and accessible cultures.
It was his experience leading merger and acquisition practices that solidified Greg’s belief that most change fails not because of strategy, but because culture is underestimated. Today, he champions Culture Shaping as the evolution of traditional change management and the most reliable path to sustainable performance.
Mathew Burns
Mathew Burns, President and COO of Populii Inc.
previously worked with the largest bank in Canada (RBC) and with one of the largest global banks (HSBC) which showed him the power of organizational culture, both good and bad.
Successfully navigating senior leadership positions at both organizations taught him the value of culture when building a thriving team with engaged employees. He also experienced the lack of insight many corporations have into their organizational culture and how that lack of understanding can hinder change. He learned first-hand the opportunity to empower employees to build a positive culture is difficult to grasp for leaders and employees.
Having started his career in sales and marketing, he learned how an earnest value-proposition, stupendously communicated, cannot overcome a contradiction in the cultural expectation for how that value proposition is delivered.
Aligning the promises made to customers, with the promises made to employees and embedding that commitment can be a challenge without the right knowledge and guidance. Customer commitments, employee experience, learning, culture. That’s his goal, that’s what he does.
Mathew Burns
Mathew Burns, President and COO of Populii Inc. previously worked with the largest bank in Canada (RBC) and with one of the largest global banks (HSBC) which showed him the power of organizational culture, both good and bad.
Successfully navigating senior leadership positions at both organizations taught him the value of culture when building a thriving team with engaged employees. He also experienced the lack of insight many corporations have into their organizational culture and how that lack of understanding can hinder change. He learned first-hand the opportunity to empower employees to build a positive culture is difficult to grasp for leaders and employees.
Having started his career in sales and marketing, he learned how an earnest value-proposition, stupendously communicated, cannot overcome a contradiction in the cultural expectation for how that value proposition is delivered.
Aligning the promises made to customers, with the promises made to employees and embedding that commitment can be a challenge without the right knowledge and guidance. Customer commitments, employee experience, learning, culture. That’s his goal, that’s what he does.
Our Story
Background
Prior to GHS Enterprise, Greg Smith spent 5 years as an M&A Practice Leader for Watson Wyatt Worldwide based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and 10 years as Managing Partner for Strada Change Management based in Raleign, North Carolina, United States.
The insight gained through that professional experience helped Greg develop the capability to help organizations improve how they conduct themselves as a foundation to be more successful with a focus on “culture shaping” and “continuous learning”.
1984
Factors Impacting Basic Satisfaction (FIBS)
A paper based self-assessment career management tool
1986
Strada Change Management Limited Raleigh, North Carolina
1995
Watson Wyatt Worldwide - Canadian Merger & Acquisition Practice Lead
2000
GHS Enterprise. A global business consultancy
2010
Suitability Gauge (MVP) - Based on FIBS, an online tool to assess hiring fit for Job Seekers
2012
Culture Meter (MVP) - Online tool for organizations to assess employee perception of culture
2020
OrgFitech Inc - via Invest Ottawa, providing two Online tools, Culture Monitor (replaced Culture Meter) and Suitability Gauge 2.0
2022
Culture Shapers Collective, A Canadian centric business
2022
Culture Screener - An additional OrgFitech online tool for organizations to assess candidates prior to hiring consideration
2024
Culture Tag - Online tool to help organizations create a universal culture reference acronym
2025
This is the DNA of Populii
Decades of helping organizations better understand and shape a sustainable culture drove the creation of tools and identified a set of core skills for culture shaping. Populii brings that knowledge, those tools, and those skills together to directly empower organizations and individuals to shape their own culture.
Our home page features a 1-minute introduction to our approach and how we view culture. If you missed it, don’t worry. It’s so good, we included it again below. Take a look.