A conversation with Doug Murphy, HBA ’85, former CEO of Corus Entertainment and Guest Lecturer, Strategy at Ivey Business School, on leadership, culture, and navigating change.
Every Ivey case ends with a decision. After pages of financial analysis, ardent discussion and debate, students ultimately consider the same question: What would you do?
Usually, the protagonist exists only in the case. But what if they were sitting beside you?
That was the idea behind Navigating Change: Lessons from CEOs on Managing Strategic Transformation, a new course launched at Ivey by alumnus Doug Murphy, HBA ‘85, and Dean Julian Birkinshaw. Every week, students analyze a case based on a real strategic decision made by a CEO. Then, halfway through class, the story takes an unexpected turn. The leader who actually made the decision walks to the front of the room and shares their perspective.
I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to sit down with Doug Murphy. Indeed, our 45-minute conversation felt like a mini “Lesson from a CEO.”
Bringing the Case to Life
Murphy designed the course around a simple insight: the powerful human story behind business decisions. “It’s one thing to read about a case and imagine,” he told me. “It’s another to have the person who lived the experience sitting right there in the room.” In the first 80 minutes, students dissect the case as usual, debating the strategic choices facing the company. After a short break, the executive takes the floor. Over the semester, leaders such as BMO CEO Darryl White, Harry Rosen COO Ian Rosen, and former Minister of Finance Bill Morneau visited the classroom, sharing candid reflections about their careers, decisions, and lessons learned. Murphy himself was in the spotlight during the final week. For him, the goal is to bridge the gap between students and senior leadership. “The bridge from student to CEO seems unimaginable when you’re young,” Murphy said. “But it’s completely doable.” The course received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both students and guest speakers and will return next year with a mix of new and familiar faces. To me, it reflects the strength of the Ivey alumni network and its generosity in paying it forward.
Personally Navigating Change
Murphy’s own career illustrates the importance of navigating change. He initially expected to pursue a career in investment banking after graduating from Ivey. Finance was familiar territory. His father worked in the investment industry, so Bay Street appeared to be the natural next step. Instead, Murphy leaned into something far less predictable. Together with his entrepreneur friend Tim—another Ivey graduate—he launched an early bookstore restaurant-café concept.
The venture itself was ultimately sold, but the experience taught Murphy something far more valuable than the security of a traditional career path: the ability to build something from scratch. After completing his MBA at Harvard Business School, another unexpected opportunity appeared. The Walt Disney Company was hiring a role in business development. Visiting Disney’s 33rd store in Boston, Murphy immediately knew he wanted to bring The Disney Store to Canada. That instinct launched a ten-year journey with Disney...his Disney Decade.
After working in Los Angeles, Murphy moved to Tokyo at 33 years-old to lead Disney’s retail expansion in Japan. At the time, the company had 22 stores across the country. Within three years, Murphy expanded Disney’s retail footprint to 85 locations. The transition required adaptability. Murphy described his first year in Japan as one of the most difficult of his career, navigating a new language, culture, and customer environment. However, by the second year, he understood the subtleties of doing business in Japan. By the third, he said he had fallen in love with the country. He encourages new grads to grow outside of Canada, even if temporarily. “There’s a big world out there,” he said. “You learn a lot about yourself when you go live and work in a foreign market.”
Proudly Making the Big Bets
Murphy returned to Canada to join Corus Entertainment in 2003 and was appointed President and CEO in 2015. Corus oversees a vast media portfolio spanning 33 specialty television services, 15 conventional television stations, and 39 radio stations, reaching millions through television, radio, and digital channels. Its programming is familiar to many Canadians, from Global News to Top Chef Canada and even Teen Titans Go!
As CEO, Murphy oversaw one of the most transformative periods in not only Corus’s history, but Canadian broadcasting. In his first year leading Corus, he executed the $2.65 billion acquisition of Shaw Media, broadening Corus’s scale and market position. The deal expanded Corus’s portfolio to include major television brands such as Global Television, HGTV, and Food Network, increasing the company’s share of television audiences from 10% to 35%. The integration also delivered significant operational efficiencies. The company initially projected $40 to $50 million in cost synergies, but Murphy ultimately achieved more than $70 million within 15 months, far exceeding expectations.
From the corner office, Murphy describes the best leaders as skilled capital allocators and risk managers. “As an executive, you’re always allocating capital,” he explained. Companies must constantly decide how to deploy resources across dividends, debt reduction, acquisitions, or organic growth initiatives. The second responsibility is managing risk – a key concept in many Ivey cases. “Risk and investing go hand in hand.” The Shaw Media acquisition, for example, involved purchasing a company more than two and a half times the size of Corus Entertainment, a move that significantly increased the company’s debt. “But it was essential to scale and compete…that’s inorganic growth,” Murphy said. “A bet outside of the company to get bigger.”
Murphy’s time as CEO also coincided with one of the most disruptive eras in media history. Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV fundamentally transformed how audiences consume content. Traditional broadcasters suddenly faced global technology companies with enormous budgets and data advantages. To adapt, Corus launched STACKTV, a streaming bundle that allowed viewers to access a package of television channels through Amazon Prime Video. At the time, the strategy was unique. Many traditional distributors resisted partnering with streaming platforms. Murphy saw the moment as an opportunity to open up new opportunities for Corus. The decision reflected what he calls strategic agility: testing new ideas while continuing to invest in the core business. “You’re making thousands of bets every year,” he said. “Some are small. Some are transformational.”
Giving Back to the Ivey Community
Our conversation then turned to advice for students navigating the early stages of their careers; Murphy returned to a surprisingly simple principle: listening. With a smile, he shared a lesson passed down from his grandmother: “God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak.”
Communication, in Murphy’s view, is the natural partner to listening. “CEOs have to build a narrative,” he said. “What’s your vision for the business so the team can follow?” That narrative requires strong communication skills: public speaking, writing, and the ability to influence others both formally and informally. “If you’re going to be a leader,” he added, “you need to be a communicator.” Murphy’s new Ivey course reflects those same values, and it’s clear he’s proud to give back to the Ivey community.
We’re lucky as Canadians to have a strong academic system and you’re at the first part of your lives, so just keep carrying on.”
“Every choice you make is the right choice."