Lessons from the crucible
Business cases came to life for Ivey students on Day 2 of the new Richard Ivey Building grand opening celebrations.
The School’s most influential alumni and other globally recognized leaders provided leadership lessons from the crucible of experience at a special Leadership Day on September 10.
The day included faculty-led case discussions focused on the critical moments experienced by some inspiring Ivey alumni. The discussions featured 14 cases written with the help and insights of the alumni who also co-taught each of the classes. Situations included re-evaluating your goals when an entrepreneurial vision takes hold, keeping your dream company alive during the financial crisis, or managing risk when expanding into a new market. Advisory Board members participating in the sessions included Scott Beattie, HBA ’81, MBA ’86; Bill Furlong, MBA ’87; Jon Hantho, MBA ’89; Tim Hodgson, MBA ’88; Don Johnson, MBA ’63; Jon Love, HBA ’76; Bob Luba, MBA ’67; Hugh MacDiarmid, HBA ’74; Tim MacDonald, HBA ’81, MBA ’88; Sarah Morgenstern, MBA ’93; Pierre Morrissette, MBA ’72; Michael Needham, MBA ’68; Anthony Ostler, MBA ’97 and Larry Rosen LLB/MBA ’82.
Although the subjects and businesses were disguised, the leaders later identified themselves to the students and explained the outcomes, much to the surprise and delight of students.
Preview of new Leadership book
Students were also invited to a panel session with five of the leaders featured in Good Leaders Learn: Lessons from Lifetimes of Leadership, a book that will be published later this fall by Ivey Professor Gerard Seijts.
Seijts, Executive Director of Ivey’s Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership, interviewed more than 30 senior leaders from Canada, the U.S., India and Asia about curiosity, challenging oneself, risk-taking, and other key elements of good leadership.
“It is an understatement to say that the world craves for better leadership. That's apparent from today's headlines alluding to leadership failures in business, government, science and education, sports, the military, and other sectors,” said Seijts. “This book helps readers to find out first-hand and up-close how good leaders become better leaders through learning.”
Daniel Ackerson, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, Antoni Cimolino, Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Founder and Chairman of JOYUS and former senior VP of Google, Arkadi Kuhlmann, HBA ’71, MBA ’72, LLD, Chairman and CEO of ZenBanx and former President and CEO of ING DIRECT, and Jody Wilson-Raybould (Puglaas), Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, shared the experiences that shaped them as leaders and the lessons they learned from both successes and failures.
Here are some of their key messages:
Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know
There’s a shocking story behind why Kuhlmann became CEO of Deak International early on in his career. His predecessor, Nicholas Deak, was assassinated. During a meeting following the tragic turn of events, Kuhlmann volunteered to become acting CEO, even though he admits to being ill-prepared for the role and the challenges it would bring. Even though the company was broke, he succeeded in refinancing and rebuilding the company and engaging its people on a new vision and set of values.
“Opportunities just kind of present themselves. I wasn’t afraid of what I didn’t know,” he said.
Do great work for great people
Singh Cassidy noted some people derail promising leadership careers by worrying too much about what they are doing rather than how well they are doing it.
“Sometimes people obsess about whether a job is right for them versus just putting their heads down and doing extraordinary work,” she said. “You can be great in any discipline. When people put too much regard into what the function is, they end up accomplishing nothing.”
Don’t let them see you sweat
Ackerson, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, described how one time his naval crew’s motivation wilted when they saw that their captain was panicking. That’s why he was able to keep his cool even when he was charged with leading then beleaguered General Motors through its initial public offering, which was the largest in U.S. history.
“As a leader, you can’t ever lose your composure. A leader has to be able to communicate the issues of the time, the jeopardy that they represent and a vision,” he said. “They have to in a sense define reality and what we are capable of doing to work our way out of a situation.”
Harness the power of information
Wilson-Raybould ran for her position with the platform, Building On Our Success. Her plan was to learn as much about her communities and the other leaders and how they achieved success and build on that.
“Some people hold information close because they think information is power. My view is the exact opposite – the more information you share, the easier your position becomes or your job becomes because you can build on the success of others,” she said. “Information, whether it’s good or bad, should be embraced.”
Stay positive
Cimolino stressed not to let bad times get you down and rather to embrace the learning opportunities from them.
“It’s important to appreciate when things come up short because then you know how to address them,” he said. “The bad thing about the good times is everybody is a genius and then things get overextended and bad things happen.”
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