Become a versatile leader

Alison Tortorice, Senior Director, Legal Services at Cadillac Fairview, explains how her participation in the Ivey Executive Program (2017) pushed her to think from a cross-functional perspective and equipped her with essential tools that she continues to use in her career.

Why did you choose to attend the Ivey Executive Program (IEP)?
I was looking for a program that would help me stretch beyond a purely legal role. The Ivey Executive Program is a broad course dealing with finance, strategy, and people leadership.

Which sessions were most relevant to you personally?
The sessions on strategy and how to support the creation of innovation in a culture are the most relevant to the work I am doing, and were also the most exciting.

How has your leadership style transformed as a result of IEP?
The LEAP project was an excellent exercise in crafting and delivering a focused message. I am still using the tools we learned through that process.

What was the most challenging aspect of the program?
The program kept us thinking and engaged, but none of it was so difficult that we gave up.

How did your classmates contribute to your learning?
Having a diverse group was very important. People from different places, different disciplines, and different cultural experiences.

How did the faculty shape the learning experience?
The faculty challenged us to think in different ways. Martha Maznevski, in particular, has an amazing teaching style that leads the students to make their own new discoveries.

How is IEP different from comparable executive level programs found in the market?
IEP is really unique because it touches on a variety of topics that provide all of the information a leader needs to take their organization to the next level. Many of the other programs I looked at were too focused on just one area - finance or leadership for example. Ivey also includes extremely relevant areas such as organizational culture. The value of that well-rounded approach should not be underestimated.

For more information on the Ivey Executive Program, download the program brochure. 

About The Ivey Academy at Ivey Business School
The Ivey Academy at Ivey Business School is the home for executive Learning and Development (L&D) in Canada. It is Canada’s only full-service L&D house, blending Financial Times top-ranked university-based executive education with talent assessment, instructional design and strategy, and behaviour change sustainment. 

Rooted in Ivey Business School’s real-world leadership approach, The Ivey Academy is a place where professionals come to get better, to break old habits and establish new ones, to practice, to change, to obtain coaching and support, and to join a powerful peer network. Follow The Ivey Academy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.