Professor Mary Crossan, MBA ’85, PhD ’91, and Assistant Professor Lucas Monzani research the importance of leader character.
Although Mary Crossan and Lucas Monzani have very different backgrounds, they joined forces, along with Professor Gerard Seijts, to carry out groundbreaking research that seeks to define and elevate leader character and commitment as pillars of leadership excellence.
Crossan grew up in London, Ont. and went to Western University because it had the best volleyball team in the country. Despite many opportunities to make her life elsewhere, she says there’s always been something that kept her coming back.
Today she holds the Paul MacPherson Chair in Strategic Leadership and is a Distinguished University Professor — a title that recognizes excellence in teaching, research, and service over a substantial career at Western.
Monzani was born in Argentina where he became a licensed clinical psychologist before travelling the world and earning his PhD in Psychology of Human Resources from the University of Valencia. Today, he is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour.
Why Ivey?
Crossan: Ivey has this synergistic relationship between teaching, research, and practice that you don’t find at other business schools. It allows you to take on some of the biggest challenges society faces.
Monzani: Mary was my mentor for my postdoctoral work. I had the opportunity to see the type of work I could do here at Ivey and I really loved it.
Are leaders born or made?
Crossan: Leadership is a combination of character, competence, and commitment, so not only can you develop it, we know how to develop it.
Monzani: There are a number of studies with identical twins. They found that only 30 per cent of leadership emergence can be explained by genetic factors — all the rest is culture. So, everyone has the potential to be a leader, but not everyone will become one. Leadership is a habit of being.
If you could have dinner with any leader, past or present, who would it be and why?
Crossan: Nelson Mandela. His 27 years of incarceration seemed to strengthen his character rather than weaken it.
Monzani: Julius Caesar. He is a fantastic example of the corruption of power.
Is there one pitfall leaders must avoid in order to achieve success?
Crossan: Any dimension of leader character operates like a vice when not supported by the other dimensions of character.
Monzani: Hubris. We have known this for 3,000 years but it is still prevalent.
Name two books all leaders should read.
Crossan: Friendly Fire: The Accidental Shootdown of U.S. Black Hawks over Northern Iraq by Scott Snook and The Quantum and the Lotus: A Journey to the Frontiers Where Science and Buddhism Meet by Matthieu Ricard and Trinh Xuan Thuan
Monzani: Animal Farm by George Orwell and Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work by Alex Rosenblat
If you were not an academic, what would you be?
Crossan: If there was something I loved more, I would have done it.
Monzani: A United Nations (UN) consultant. I was an intern with the UN in 2008. The values it stands for are a worthy pursuit.
Photo: Nation Wong
Art Direction: Greg Salmela, Aegis
