Copper Policy Brief: a people leader's argument, filed as a working paper

Her home page begins with a short author block under a masthead edged on the left by a rust bar. A small line reads Chief Human Resources Officer / Canada; her name follows in a large serif, then her headline about arithmetic that nobody showed. Her portrait stands at the right, narrowing beside the text on a phone rather than pushing it down.

Then comes the paper itself, on a sand-coloured panel capped by a thick rust rule. The label Leadership paper / 01 sits above the topic, Equity compensation, its date and reading time. The headline is her lead essay's title, An option grant letter should show the preference stack, and a strip marked Abstract states its case: that employees should see what their options are worth after investor preferences at several exit values, including one where they are worth nothing. A single link, Read the full paper, opens the essay.

Below the paper, a band titled Experience in figures gives three numbers with their context: 1,310 colleagues against a 2022 peak of 1,520, C$238 million of annual compensation and benefits expense, and the 93% of underwater option holders who accepted her 2024 repricing. A two-column band follows, with the word Mandate beside the heading Fields of practice, numbering her six areas from 01 to 06, from reductions planned around stopped work to French in a Montréal office whose code is written in English.

Her other two essays appear as Further reading, numbered 02 and 03 with their summaries: one against cutting junior engineers because of AI tools, the other on deciding which work stops before deciding who leaves. Her thesis, introduction and four proof points come next, then a record band with her not-for-profit directorship, her formation and a remark from the chair of her compensation committee, before a closing contact panel.

Impact holds four decisions, each with the colleague who disagreed: a chief financial officer who wanted a 22% even cut, a chief executive who wanted executives in the repricing, a sales head opposed to published ranges and a chief technology officer who argued for fewer co-op students. Each essay opens on a sand panel beneath a title edged in rust, with the body set in a reading serif and a rust drop capital.

The career page, A paper on my career scope, frames six appointments in ruled boxes headed Appointment 1 to 6 with their dates, from Kestrelford back to an IT staffing firm placing Y2K programmers in 1998. Each box records ownership, headcount, reporting line, pay expense and the reason for leaving. The readiness page, The board appointment paper, sets her contribution beside a committee matrix and her 22 available days, then pairs judgement examples with her exposure, each labelled by capacity.

Copper sets dark brown type on a warm parchment ground, with sand panels, tan rules and a deep rust accent kept for labels, numbers and links. Vivienne writes for investor directors, nominating committee chairs and engineers checking their own equity. A warm, printed-looking page reads like a statement prepared for a meeting rather than a recruiting brochure, and suits someone asking to be trusted with figures.

The composition loads two typefaces. Source Serif 4 carries her name, headlines, the abstract and the essays, so a thousand-word argument reads like print. IBM Plex Mono sets running text, labels and figures, giving exit values, percentages and dates the even rhythm of a schedule attached to a term sheet, which suits a leader whose case rests on showing the calculation.

The design suits any executive whose authority comes from a reasoned document rather than a personal story: a chief financial officer explaining a capital allocation choice, a general counsel writing about disclosure or a chief strategy officer presenting a market thesis. It suits a designer with a visual portfolio less well, because the first screen gives its room to words and figures.