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Our core beliefs

To our clients, partners and future CPCSers: It takes shared beliefs to accomplish the deep work we do

The projects we choose, the people we hire and how we act as a team and a company are anchored on these beliefs.

Together, our beliefs form the expression DEEPER IF.

We believe in developing, nurturing and sharing our subject matter depth

We do this internally to support staff development, effective internal execution and team work, and externally to influence better decision making.

We are curious and passionate learners, always looking to develop a deeper understanding of what we’re solving and deepening our skill sets in everything we do.

We, as individuals and as a team, find ways to develop, share and use our depth to drive impact.

We believe that our solutions and advice should be evidence-based

We take pride in providing independent and honest advice backed by sharp analytical insights and careful consideration.

We seek practical, evidence-based solutions to help clients meet their objectives. We don’t bend our findings to suit a client’s agenda.

We tell it like it is.

We believe in striving for excellence

We hold ourselves, our colleagues and our partners to high standards of competence and performance.

We believe in delivering higher quality, greater innovation and more analytically rigorous work than our competitors. We do not settle for average or mediocre.

We are reflective of our shortcomings and continuously focus on improving, progressing and developing.

We believe in being pragmatic, flexible and realistic

We adopt practical approaches and simple solutions whenever possible. We design solutions that work in the real world and are tailored to our clients’ needs and perspectives. We believe in clear, concise, well-structured and accessible communications. While processes and policies are useful, we constantly challenge and improve them if they don’t create value or work for us.

We believe in maintaining an entrepreneurial culture

We encourage all CPCSers to think and act like owners and focus on creating positive impacts inside and out.

We allow ourselves to experiment and take calculated risks. We support the implementation of initiatives when people show entrepreneurial drive and commitment to see them forward.

We apply an entrepreneur’s mindset to challenges and opportunities in our day-to-day activities. This keeps us agile.

We believe in treating colleagues, clients and partners as we would want to be treated

We are fair, thoughtful and empathetic. We welcome and are mindful of people’s uniqueness and frames of reference.

We have honest and respectful conversations even when we disagree. We collaborate with clients because we value their views. We respect others’ time and life preferences, including what contributes to their work-life fullfillment.

Every day we work towards greater diversity, equity and inclusion. We strive to cultivate self-awareness and keep our biases in check.

We believe in helping infrastructure leaders make impactful decisions

Our work, analyses and recommendations seek to enable positive economic, social and environmental impacts — even if we don’t control client decisions or actions.

We pursue work that will not sit on a shelf or simply feed bureaucracy. We do not take on work that will create a net negative impact.

We believe that work should be fun and fulfilling

Fun can mean different things, but we define it as having fun tackling hard challenges with talented, driven, diverse and motivated colleagues.

We have fun satisfying our curiosity and applying our creativity to interesting problems. We have fun working in complex environments and making a difference. Fun also means getting better at what we do and building fulfilling careers.

We stay away from boring and cookie-cutter projects and unnecessary bureaucracy as much as we can. We show up because work is fun and fulfilling. We work to have an impact — not simply to get a pay cheque.

Questions or comments? Contact us at communications@cpcs.ca.