The Cabin Path - Book Write Up
Apr 5, 2012
Based on his experiences at summer camp and his academic journey through the HBA (2008) and MBA (2011) programs at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Jay Gilbert writes in his book “The Cabin Path: Leadership Lessons Learned At Camp” about the everyday experiences at summer camp that transform counsellors and staff into strong and effective leaders.
Are Psychopaths Responsible for the Financial Crisis?
Jan 27, 2012
Are psychopaths responsible for the financial crisis? Some think it’s possible. It almost seems too easy to believe that we could end corporate corruption and excessive risk-taking if only we could root out a few “crazy” bad guys. It’s also not very likely. Ample research (and experience) has taught us that perfectly normal and decent people can do pretty objectionable, even horrible, things under the right conditions (quintessential case in point: the Stanford Prison experiments).
Leaders Who Exhibit Psychopathic Characteristics
Jan 27, 2012
It often seems that whether leaders who exhibit psychopathic characteristics are hated or loved depends less on their character than on their outcomes. Those who manage to avoid scandal are often commended for some of the same types of behaviors that are condemned in their discredited counterparts.
Strong Powerful Leaders?
Jan 27, 2012
We revere strong and powerful leaders! Their opinions are sought after, they earn steep speaking fees for telling us their stories and we often look to them to help us plumb our own collective values system. But what if different types of leaders influence us to make different choices in our lives just by setting a good or bad example?
Building Better Barrels
Jan 18, 2012
People love to assign blame when things derail in organizations. Cicero, the Roman writer, speaker, philosopher and politician, said that the causes of events always interest us more than the events themselves. Typically it is the lower-level managers in organizations that take the fall. But the search for scapegoats conceals poor leadership. And because so-called leaders take no ownership for the actions that contributed to the bad outcome the same misfortunes or tragedies are bound the happen again.
MF Global: What have we really learned?
Jan 9, 2012
On October 31st, 2011, MF Global filed for bankruptcy. For many years prior to this, MF Global had succeeded in the business of aligning buyers and sellers of futures contracts for commodities by taking a small commission along the way. But over the last decade this core business had become endangered as near zero-percent interest rates and thin commissions led to five consecutive quarterly losses. In response, MF Global’s board of directors hired a new CEO, Jon Corzine, to turn things around.
Ivey Students and Faculty Debate the Occupy Movement
Nov 30, 2011
While tensions continue to rise over Occupy movement protests, Ivey students and faculty held their own debate about the evolving protest issues and what they mean to business schools and future business leaders. The second segment of a two-part debate called “Occupy Wall Street” held yesterday at Ivey involved a panel discussion with Ivey Assistant Professors Niels Billou, Michael King, Brian Richter and Mike Valente on the Occupy movement’s relevance to business schools. The event was organized by HBA Association Environmental Directors Devon Krainer and Tasha Sangha, Ivey Political and Economic Issues Club Co-Presidents Ross Strike and James Malone, and HBA Ivey Sustainability Club Co-Founders Lucy Gao and Nicole Harvey.
Business in a Sustainable Society
Nov 6, 2011
I joined Occupy Toronto on a Friday and Saturday in late October, 2011. On Friday, I was part of a silent march that started at St. James Park, passed through Toronto’s financial district at King and Bay, and ended at old city hall. The gathering at St. James Park was relatively small with a majority of the population exhibiting behaviours that many people would stereotypically associate with a very left wing persona: some meditation, incense, a Marxist table and a number of signs calling for the abolishment of capitalism and corporate greed. My conversations with people there indicated to me that while we may have differences in how we go about expressing what the problem is (a clear reason why the media perceives the protests to be incoherent and unfocused), we all seemed to agree that the current institutionalized economic system is not working for a majority of people.
Leading Change Across Cultural Lines: The Final Blog From The 2011 LEADER Project Correspondent in Yekaterinburg, Russia
Jun 6, 2011
Our last week of teaching in Yekaterinburg was memorable to say the least, and I think that in the end I might have learned just as much as our students did; the three weeks spent living there opened my eyes to both the Russian way of doing business as well as to the numerous challenges that face the country as it heads into the future.
Leading Change Across Cultural Lines: Ivey Students Teaching Business in Yekaterinburg, Russia
May 24, 2011
A blog from Ivey students teaching business in Yekaterinburg, Russia, as a part of the 2011 LEADER Project.
Cross-Enterprise Leadership
May 4, 2011
The financial crisis and the impact it has had on the global economy, Tony Hayward’s plea to regain his social life while oil uncontrollably gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, and Toyota’s initial silence coupled with the company’s attempt to conceal a defect have been the catalyst for senior executives and boards to demonstrate stronger leadership skills. These events have placed leadership development at the forefront of public debate and business education.
Leader Project - First Tasks
May 3, 2011
The Financial Crisis and the impact it has had on the global economy, Tony Hayward’s plea to regain his social life while oil uncontrollably gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, and Toyota’s initial silence coupled with the company’s attempt to conceal a defect have been the catalyst for senior executives and boards to demonstrate stronger leadership skills.
Leaders of Good Character
Feb 8, 2011
Much of what is written, discussed and taught about leadership in business today revolves around how to lead other people and about how to lead within an organization. There is very little, however, about how to lead yourself or more specifically, how to become a leader of good character.
Feed the Circle of Life and Life Will Feed You Back
Jan 31, 2011
Guy Laliberte is the founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil. He is also a philanthropist. In 2007 he announced the launch of the One Drop Foundation to fight poverty in the world by giving everyone access to water.
Gerard Seijts takes part in The Ethical MBA discussion on The Agenda with Steve Paikin
Jan 10, 2011
2008's financial collapse signalled to many how off-course business practices had become.
Charlice Hurst discusses shareholder wealth
Dec 9, 2010
Recently, I held a discussion about what it means to maximize shareholder value with my first-year HBA students. As you might have guessed by the topic of discussion, I am a professor of organizational behavior.
Ivey Executive Program participants gear-up as firefighters
Nov 10, 2010
Ivey Executive Program participants had the once in a lifetime opportunity to gear-up as firefighters, run mock rapid rescue intervention drills, propel off a three story building and find their way in a pitch black obstacle course – all designed to highlight the importance of teamwork, communication and leadership.
Leadership on Trial: Lessons from the 2007 – 2009 Financial and Economic Crisis
Oct 25, 2010
Recent books and articles have analyzed the causes of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007 – 2009. Yet little attention has been paid to the quality of leadership in organizations that were at the epicenter of the storm, were victims of it, avoided it or even prospered from it. In the summer of 2009 a multi-disciplinary group of faculty from the Richard Ivey School of Business decided to look at the leadership dimensions of the crisis.
How BP should move forward?
Sep 13, 2010
BP CEO Tony Hayward has always had a way with words. In May 2009, less than a year before the BP-fuelled crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, Hayward addressed Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He reflected on the troubled company he had inherited as CEO.
