Clouston Conversations | Lessons from the climb with Dolamu Asipa, MBA ’26

IVAN LANGRISH (IL): Big ideas. Candid conversations. Insights from leaders who have been there and those charting what comes next. You're listening to Clouston Conversations from Ivey Business School. 

DOLAMU ASIPA (DA): Welcome to Clouston Conversations, the annual Ivey podcast connecting current and future global business leaders. I'm Dolamu Asipa, a member of Ivey's MBA Class of 2026 and the recipient of the 2025 Ross N. Clouston MBA Award. As part of this honour, I have the privilege of hosting this year's episode and choosing our guest, and I couldn't be more excited about who's joining me today.

Our guest, an Ivey MBA graduate from 2004, currently serves as Chief Planning Officer and Head of Talent and Culture Enablement at BMO Financial Group. Her leadership spans an incredible breadth of areas from culture and inclusion to executive development, enterprise learning, organizational design and strategic employee programs. But titles only tell part of the story. She's also a civic leader, community champion, and an avid outdoor enthusiast. And now she's taking on another meaningful role as board chair of the Ivey Alumni Association.

It's my great pleasure to welcome Larissa Chaikowsky to the conversation.

LARISSA CHAIKOWSKY (LC): Thank you, Dolamu. I'm so excited to be here and have this conversation with you today.

DA: So I was thinking, why don't we start with your background? Can you tell us a little bit about how you got to your current role?

LC: Yeah, I'm going to rewind all the way back more than 40 years, if you can believe it. I was born and grew up in a very small town in rural Ontario, and so it was an environment where there wasn't a lot of organized activities, sports, things like that. The one thing that they did have in a small church basement was a Brownie troop. And if you don't know what the Brownies are, it's a group of young girls that get together and they learn all sorts of skills.
And in my brownie troop, at one point in time, they asked me to become what they called the head fairy. It was a leadership role, actually, and I was seven years old. I didn't know it was a leadership role at the time, but it was a chance to actually lead my little group of 6 or 7 young girls. I collected the weekly dues, which were $0.25 at the time, by the way, and it gave me a chance to learn what it meant to motivate other people. We always had little contests. We always had activities we needed to do. And in your little leadership role, you were the one who was supposed to organize your group.

So, yeah, I always say, you know, my career in a weird way, from a leadership point of view and perspective, started a long time ago, and it just progressed from there.

You know, I had other opportunities. I moved to Ottawa, when I was a little bit older. I got involved in a lot of student politics, had a chance to play leadership roles there, and really got a passion for it. I think the idea of finding ways to motivate other people to follow a vision and a direction is really exciting and something that just spoke to me, and so, you know, it started a long time ago. 

And then after my undergraduate degree, I had an opportunity to get into consulting, and that was a great start to a career. And, eventually, I found myself at BMO almost 20 years ago. And so really, I just took off from there. I had the opportunity. I've worked in eight different parts of BMO, had many different roles, whether it be in corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, people and culture, or even as a chief operating officer of one of our businesses.

So it's been a long and winding road, but that's really how I ended up where I am today.

DA: Yeah. That's awesome and also exciting. And so, during the your leadership journey, at what point did you then decide to go back for your MBA? And also, why did you choose to come to Ivey and what was the experience like when you were here?

LC: You know, what's really funny is I think I always knew I wanted to take an MBA. I don't know why, and I think it broke my mother's heart, who is like one of the first women to get a biochemistry degree in Canada when, in grade ten, I said I'm never taking another science course again. And I decided to just do business in every course I could take, even in high school, that had to do with, you know, business skills. It was where I found my heart and my passion. 

And so I think I just thought it was a natural progression to eventually take an MBA. My dad had one, and so he was I always say he was a corporate guy with a farmers heart. When he retired, he went back to farming. But, I just saw him, you know, and I thought, wow, you know, being in business, running a company or getting engaged and involved from a commerce perspective is something I always wanted to do.

And of course, the question on why I've or how did I know Ivey? It was there was no choice.

I mean, this was the School that I wanted to be at, primarily because I am not what I would call a traditional academic learner. Reading a book, reading theory is not what motivates me or helps me learn. The idea of the case methodology, of being able to work through business problems every single day, you know, that really appealed to me in many, many different ways.

And so there I again, I think I only applied to one MBA school. So thank goodness I got in because that would have been devastating had I not. But it was always really part of the path for me. And so it wasn't a difficult choice. I felt like it was always meant to be part of who I was.

DA: Awesome. So were there any, like, pivotal moment in the course of your journey that shifted or shaped your trajectory in any way?

LC: Yeah. A couple of things. I, you know, and it's really funny. You earlier asked a little bit, and I want to hear about your experience too, but I think for me, I think about my time at Ivey as very pivotal from a number of reasons. And, I had another pivotal moment before when I had lived in Argentina as part of my undergrad degree that really shaped who I was. But coming to Ivey, you know, I had always been pretty disciplined and a hard worker, but nothing teaches you how to work harder then at that point in time, the first year of Ivey's MBA.

I knew it was going to be relentless. You're reading three cases a day and you're meeting with your little case team, and then you're reading three more cases, and you're going to class and... I'm not a type of person who stays up late, like, you know, 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. bedtime. But I still remember, like, in my head, sitting at a little desk with a tiny light on at midnight, getting ready for the next day and not feeling tired. And I think that's just because it was so engaging. And I always say that's pivotal to me. It taught me like the value of hard work and really created a lot of resilience along the way. 

And, you know, another pivotal thing, I don't know if it was pivotal, but it really got me much more interested in board service and board work. At the time, the Dean of the Business at Ivey was Larry Tapp. Larry Tapp had been a very successful business leader in Canada. He was, you know, almost like an icon. And he actually chose to teach a class on corporate governance. And I'd never really understood what it was. And he really brought it to life, and he got me excited about, you know, in  the future, I think I want to do that type of work. And so I would say some of the work I'm doing today in boards has to do with, you know, that class and his leadership. 

But maybe you can share a little bit of what your experience has been like?

DA: Oh yeah. I mean it's exactly like you just described. It's been amazing and it's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

So the decision to go for my MBA, I think it's just like you, like I've always, always wanted to go for my MBA. So I knew that I was going to like, move to Canada, pivot from audit to finance, and go for my MBA to do that. And for me as well, Ivey was actually the only school I applied to. Like, there was no question about it. And yeah, it's been intense. Like working with my learning teams, the professors are amazing. The last time I was in classroom was ten years ago, and so I've chosen to come back again and have the experience. It's been exactly what I wanted.

*Musical break*

DA: So I was thinking like, maybe we should go into  your career at BMO in more in detail. So, you're the Chief Learning Officer at BMO. What is your day to day? What  does it look like?

LC: I wish there was an easy answer to that. Every single day looks completely different. But at the macro level, I do a combination of things that will impact the company and our employees and our leaders every single day, while also trying to think out what does the bank need to do for the next ten years? And so it's that combination of the current moment and thinking ahead into the future.

And so a typical day, I might be in a classroom facilitating executive development programs for our leaders, I could be actually working with our legal department, thinking about some of the policy changes that are coming up from across North America on items like diversity, equity and inclusion. The next day, I could be designing a new organization, with my, you know, with my team or even, thinking through a little bit around how we can attract the best and brightest talent to BMO.

So, it's a really wide range, but most of the time I'm spending with my team. I have an incredible group of leaders that I work with every single day that bring all of these things to life. We are the architects of BMO's culture. We have an opportunity to foster that every day and we can't, I can't, do that alone. So I'm so fortunate to have this team of leaders that really understand and are professionals in their space. And I can leverage that expertise to really create this combination of impact in the moment, while thinking out ten years on, things like how AI might impact the talent of the bank and who we hire.

DA: Yeah, awesome. I can actually relate to the fact that you where so many hats in the course of your role, and that every single day is not the same. Because, coming from a audit,  you get to work with different businesses across different industries. So your day could be one minute you're working in retail or you're working in manufacturing, then the next, cosmetics or something, you know, completely different.

So I was also wondering,  what are the biggest changes that you've seen over the course of your career in the banking industry - especially in the talent and culture space? 

LC: I mean, like every industry over the last... and I've been in banking now for 18 or 19 years is the proliferation of technology. We're as much as a technology company as we are anything else now. And what has that meant from a talent and culture perspective? When I first came into banking, there were two things you wanted to be. There were two, like treasured skill sets. The first was I do credit, you know, I adjudicate credit. Or, I'm a sales person, right? I work with clients and customers every day. And that has shifted tremendously from a talent and culture perspective over the last 18 years. We look for a much wider breadth of skills now, and those are really equally valued in the organization. You know, it could be you could be in technology, in cyber.

As you can imagine, banks are attacked thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of times a day. Having great cyber security specialists, people who understand all of the elements of risk, not just the credit risk that we may have to do, those are the things now from a talent perspective, we're looking at a much and a broader range of critical roles in the organization. Whereas before it much it used to be, to be honest, like a lot of things, much simpler. There were two big skill sets that we were developing all the time. And so now it's much broader.

And as leaders, we need to understand all of those things much more broadly. So it really has shifted where someone like myself might spend their time not just narrowly on 2 or 3 things, but a much broader range so that we can serve our clients. Who, you know, are all over North America and the world, of course, but mostly in North America, in all sorts of markets, whether you're in a big city or in a small town, and it really requires a whole new set of skills that, you know, some of which didn't even exist years ago. 

DA: Yeah, absolutely.

*Musical break*

DA: I want to move to the area of being a woman in business, in breaking barriers. So, as a woman myself, one of the things I've often wondered is like, what kind of challenges I will be facing out there in the corporate space. So I was hoping maybe you could talk a little bit about some of the biggest challenges you faced early in your career as a woman in banking.

LC: Yeah, you know, what's really interesting is I think I always say I'm one of the lucky ones. I didn't feel it a lot. Maybe because I wasn't in some of the more traditionally male dominated elements or areas of our business, like commercial banking. But here's what I will say, and I still think it exists today: we do have unconscious bias about how women present themselves and behave. 

There's no surprise for anyone probably to hear is I'm a pretty strong minded leader. That's why I'm in the role that I'm in. And as a woman, sometimes the behaviors that you demonstrate in that space, you know, are stereotyped and different words or different language might be used to describe a man who displays those behaviors, and a woman who displays those behaviors. I have, many times, been called, you know, stubborn. And I'm like, well, maybe it's that I'm persistent, persistent or persuasive. Or, that she's got sharp elbows. And I'm like, well, maybe it's that I'm not afraid to actually call out what's really happening in the room. And I think, you know, that part has existed. The old boys club from my point of view, I think it still exists in certain parts of the business, but it's not something I personally experience.

And if anything, my biggest sponsor and mentor at BMO was a male leader who took me under his wing, saw my potential very early in my career, and gave me opportunities that - to be honest - I really wasn't ready for. He trusted me. He had my back. He knew that I could do it, and he gave me the confidence to do it.

And so if anything, I've been so lucky to have really strong male role models. But I know not everybody's been as fortunate, and we still need to watch out for these biases around feminine and masculine elements of leadership, or how we describe how women behave versus how men do. We do the same things, and it's viewed still often quite differently I think in the eyes of others. And we all need to check ourselves on that.

DA: You know, it's kind of interesting because in one of our classes, with the Dean, we had CEOs come over, and one of the CEOs, and I can't remember what her title is now, but she's a woman. And we asked that question, and she said something that kind of like, stayed with me. So she was like, if you go looking for bias, you'll find it. And so that's something I have tried to take into my relationships and in my career. So, I don't try to single-handedly look for bias in my interactions, in what I do. So I just come into everything knowing that I'm skewed. So that's the mindset I bring into everything I do. So I don't try to see if I am being treated differently, or would this particular behavior be applicable if it was a man in my role rather than me?

So I just go in with like a completely objective mindset and, I don't know, maybe because of that, my interactions, my work, so far has been kind of like conflict-free and it's been working for me. 

LC: So, you're being your authentic self, and that's really important. 

DA: Exactly, exactly. 

So, I wanted to move into like, you know, you got an award: the American Banker Award. Congratulations. That's a huge recognition. And, I was wondering, what do you think your team, you and your team, have done differently to land that honour?  

LC: So actually, it's a BMO award and I'm part of that. And so, it's the American Banker Most Powerful Women in Banking Team Award. And BMO has worn it more than any other company, or any other bank in history. And it's really interesting, I think that the reason why we won it is, frankly, we hire incredible people into the bank, and we have more than 40% of our senior roles are filled by women - really smart, capable and accomplished women.

And interestingly enough, like many organizations say: 'okay, this is our goal and we're going to do it.' And they do it once. The hardest thing is actually maintaining that and constantly and continually developing really, really strong women into these leadership roles. And I think BMO has continually been recognized as an organization that produces incredible results. And we happen to have a lot of women that are behind it and driving it. And I think part of the reason why we have incredible results as an organization is for that reason.

And so the recognition, I think, is really a testament to years of focus and energy on creating opportunity for everybody. And when you do that, when you create opportunity for everybody, these are the things that happen. It's amazing that we still have to have an award for these things, to be honest. But frankly, I like the idea of us being able to promote the power of women in big roles, running big businesses, and having a huge impact not only on our own company, but on the financial services industry as a whole. And so any chance to get on our, you know, on our podium and be loud and proud about that is so important.

DA: Absolutely.

If you could go back, I'm wondering, and you're starting your career again, what advice would you give to your younger self?

LC: Yeah, you know, I reflect a little bit on this question and I get asked this question a lot, and it took me a long time to learn this because, again, as a young girl, you're often told you need to be humble. Don't brag, don't over inflate what you do be,  be quiet, be humble. You know the work will speak for itself. It took a while for me to learn this, but actually, and I don't know if this is a technical way to differentiate the words, but it's how I do it. There's a difference between being humble and having humility, and I wish I'd learned to have humility earlier in my career.

And what does that mean? It means, like, have confidence in what you know. You know a lot of things. Have confidence in those things. Have the courage to say when you don't know something, but also have the courage to get up to speed really, really quickly on those things you don't know. And I wish I'd learned that a little earlier.

I think in my earlier in my career, I took that humbleness piece a little too seriously. Don't shine too bright, don't be at the center of attention, don't be the person who's like, you know, puffing up your chest. But you know what? We should be proud of what we've accomplished, but with a balanced ego, recognizing what we know and what we should be focused on, what we can do, and then also recognizing where you might have opportunities still to learn and being open to doing that.

And I think it took me a little too long to learn that. But with a lot of encouragement along the way and, and frankly, mentors and peers and others who said, please stop putting yourself down. It's not funny. I used humor, and I often downplay what I do in a humorous way, and they're like, actually, it doesn't serve you well when you do that.

And so that's what I would remind myself, like, really have the confidence in what you do know.

*Musical break*

DA: So, I was thinking, you spent a lot of time giving back. And you actually mentioned this earlier when you said that you participate on boards. So, through nonprofits boards. And now as Ivey Alumni chair, what keeps you so passionate about community involvement? What makes you keep giving back?

LC: Well, first of all, I am so incredibly fortunate, and I fill my cup with gratitude every day. If you'd asked me when I was a young girl, if I thought I'd be doing what I am today, I would have said no. And so it's almost inherently just who I am. I can't imagine not giving back to the communities to make the world a better place. You know, so it's partially just ingrained in who I am. 

But funnily enough, it became clear to me, I spent ten years living in Chicago, which is, by the way, the best city from my perspective. I'm so happy to be
home in Canada, but I loved my time there. But there's actually a difference between - and I'm generalizing - but between Canadian and American culture. We're very much a societal culture here, a community culture here. In the U.S., it's a little bit more about independence. But, what's so powerful, is when I saw how many business leaders were giving their time and, frankly, also their financial resources directly into the community. And it really motivated me. It's a little bit different than here, where the government may play a bigger role in in helping. In the U.S., it's up to individual people or citizens to do that. And I saw the incredible impact that these business leaders or other leaders, entrepreneurs, whatever it might be, in giving their time, their energy, and frankly, their financial resources back into the community. It really motivated me, and I can't see myself doing anything different.

I'm like, how could I not, you know, take time to give something back to a world that's given me so much? It's like inherently in who I am. But it actually also makes me feel good. Like, what they say actually is spending time giving back to the community is one of the most powerful things you can do to actually make yourself feel good. So maybe I'm a just a tremendously selfish? It feels great, it really does. And, I love being able to have a vision, help other people, and give back to a world that's given me so much.

DA: Yeah, absolutely. And I think giving back is its own reward, you know? 

So, with the Ivey Alumni Network specifically, what do you hope to achieve? What do you want, what are your goals, what are you thinking to accomplish?

LC: So we have an alumni network of almost 35,000 people. When I heard that number when I first got, you know, really involved in this, it was staggering. I was surprised to hear that that's how many people there are. And my hope is that every single one of those 35,000 people, are engaged with this school at least once or twice a year. 

It is interesting. We get busy. We have a lot going on. It's always easy to put your time, energy, and effort into other things. But frankly, our experience with Ivey shouldn't end the day we get our degree there. It can be a lifelong, you know, not a commitment to the school, but a way to get back from the school, through the alumni network. And there's so many ways we can do it, whether it's, you know, going to an event, participating in a webcast, teaching at the school, of course, financially. But that, to me, is like at the bottom of the list, like there's so many ways to engage.

And yesterday, actually, I went to an amazing event, an Ivey alumni event in Toronto, through the Toronto Association. And it had been a bad day. Like I was exhausted, I was tired, and 3 or 4 times during the day I said to myself, I'm not going to go - nobody's going to miss me if I'm not there. But once I got there, all I said to myself is, I'm so glad I'm here. There were four generations of Ivey alumni graduates in the room. I learned things about the restaurant industry I had never known. It was hosted at a location in Toronto called the Kitchen Hub, which three Ivey alumni started and founded together.
And it was one of those opportunities where I reminded myself, gosh, I'm learning about something. I'm interacting with people I didn't know before. I have a few new connection points, and it was two hours of my time. 

It honestly like, my hope is that more of us just do that a couple times a year. That's all it takes for us to create these environments where we're sharing ideas and, you know, continuing what we started when we were in the four walls of Ivey.

DA: Yeah, absolutely. My next question was going to be: to the and students listening, how can they better engage with the community? But I think it was already answered in the question. Like, they have to just participate.

LC: Just do it. 

DA: Just do it. Exactly.

LC: Honestly, it's one of those things where I know we all get many emails from the school. We all get invited to a lot of things. Don't ignore them. Take the opportunity. Not everything will appeal to every person, but you will find those 2 or 3 things a year that you're like, wow, that would be really interesting to spend time on. Just do it. 

DA: Yeah, definitely do it. (laughter)

You're in a very high profile role, being the Chief Learning Officer at BMO. So, in your personal time, what grounds you? What are the things you do? And I can see that you enjoy mountaineering, you enjoy trekking, and cooking. So how do these hobbies, how do they influence you or help you balance your personal life?

LC: So, one of the really interesting things about me is I'm actually, on any, you know, personality test or any type of those assessments, I am actually exceptionally introverted. I don't come across that way. 

DA: No, you don't. 

LC: I know. I need a tremendous amount of alone time to recharge. I've learned that over the years. I'm not at my best when I'm tired, and I've been around people too much. And these are all activities I can do on my own. And I think that's why I sometimes have a passion for them.

First of all, you know, it allows me to just clear my mind if I'm out, you know, climbing a mountain or cooking an elaborate meal. Like, I have to focus on what I'm doing. But it's not that complicated. It's just in the moment, being able to zone in and focus there. Things I can do by myself.

I can do them with other people too. But I need to recharge. And frankly, the outside piece, like the trekking, getting close to nature, breathing fresh air, like having that reminder that there's this whole world out of there that's not like giant buildings with glass windows and steel beams is so important. And it really energizes me. And so I have to sometimes be really deliberate in setting aside that time.

I also do things like binge Netflix or read. But, yeah. I do have to find those spaces and actually like, you know, with my family, I have to remind them sometimes, okay, I just need a little time on my own. And so, that's really why I do it.

But there's, of course,  lots of lessons you learn from doing even those parts of things in your life, right?

How do you decompress? I mean, you're doing your MBA, there's no time. But when you're done, what will you do?

DA: I run. I love running.

You know, it's just like you say, like being out there in nature or...by the way, that's another thing about it. I don't enjoy going to the gym, which  can be surprising, but I like running. Like just being outdoors,  just running from one place to another. There's just something about a change in scenery, in landscape that just does it for me. It recharges and just refreshes everything for me.

LC: Well, I'm going to need advice from you because I'm about to run my first 10K. 

DA: Oh my gosh, you can do it. 

LC: It scares me.

DA: Oh no, no, no, no, no. You can do it. You can. You just have to go out and you just have to do it. You just have to. 

Oh, you can also download the 'Couch to 5K' ap. I mean it can help you and that's also an amazing thing. You can do it. I believe in you.

So I was wondering, do you find parallels between, you know, climbing a mountain and navigating your career? By the way, I know next to nothing about mountaineering. Like, I think it's amazing how you do it.

LC: So, you know, what's really interesting is there are a lot of parallels. Like in your career, you have to have a vision, you have to know really where you're going. So from a mountaineering perspective, like that's the top of the mountain, you're looking up, you know, where you have to go. But the only way you're going to get there is putting one step, one foot in front of the other every day. And those little steps - and sometimes you're going to take ten steps forward and it's going to be a bad day, and it's seven steps back - it's the same thing when you're out trekking. You know, at 18 or 19,000ft, there's some days where you can hardly breathe. You're struggling to put the one foot in front of the other. You have those days in your career too, but it's reminding yourself: I know where I'm going. I know what this is going to lead to. And if you keep your eye on that, it makes it a lot easier. 

And the other thing I've learned is when you get to the top, take some time to enjoy it. Often we're so exhausted when we get to the top or we accomplish our career, or that goal in our career, we don't take the time to just take a moment and say, wow, I actually did something amazing. I've accomplished what I set out to do. I'm going to celebrate that. Because, if you're like me, I'm already looking at the next mountain or the next career, you know, milestone or the next big thing I can deliver for my team and for the organization. It is really important. And I think, you know, whether I'm on the top of a mountain or I am, you know, at work, take the minute, you know, have the gratitude, celebrate the success before you start to move on to the next thing.

*Musical break*

DA: What do you think are the most important skills for students today? Who wants a thriving business?

LC: Now this is the easiest question to answer. For me, it's human skills. I will say it over and over again: in the age of AI, which I think everybody's very nervous about, of course, we all need to learn technology - it's going to help us be more efficient and impactful in our work. But it is the human skills - it is having empathy, it's understanding complex decision making, it's the ability to be agile - because the world is changing so fast around us. What you thought was true yesterday may not be true today, and frankly, we don't even know what's true anymore to begin with.

And then finally having an open learning mindset. These are the things that are going to differentiate those who can lead in an environment, like the one we are in today, versus those who don't. And if you don't have the core human skills, frankly, I hate to say it, but a robot or AI will probably come and take your job. It is one of those things where those are the elements that are going to create the great leaders. You should invest in them now.

Find the opportunities. Like, if you're just graduating, find those opportunities to test your leadership skills, to try them out. They are the things that are really going to matter in the long term. And we need more of it in the world. Frankly, today we need more empathetic leaders. We need more leaders who listen, who understand, who are really trying to make the world a better place. Those are the skills that matter most.

DA: Absolutely.

If you can leave Ivey students with one piece of advice as they build their careers, what would that be?

LC: Yeah, the piece of advice is simply saying yes. I actually got a great piece of career advice recently from a leader I admire a lot that I work with at BMO. And his advice to everybody was run towards the fire, not away from it. If someone gives you the opportunity or  taps you on the shoulder, take it. Don't let that little angel that I was talking about earlier of like 'I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not going to be successful.' stop you. Have the confidence in what you know and learn the things you don't. Take the risk, be a little bit uncomfortable, run towards that fire to say 'I'm here to help.' I'm here to be that person who's going to give the new idea to put in the time too. 

And I want to say it's not about firefighting either, because, you know, you don't want to be a leader who's known for just fixing fires. You want to be a strategic and long term thinker.

But it is really about saying, I see hard things, I'm going to do hard things, and I can do hard things. So I that would be my piece of advice, have that mentality of say yes every chance you get, if you can, to take on the new experiences and opportunities as early as you can

DA: So finally, what's next for you both professionally and personally that excites you the most about the future?

LC: So many things.

It is a dark time in the world. I put that out there. It's true. Like, there's a lot going out there that can weigh on you. It weighs on me, it weighs on my team. And so I try to really focus on the good things, like what are the things that I can focus on. And to be honest, one of the things that gets me so excited is our next generation of leaders. And, it's one of my most exciting things about getting re engaged in the Alumni Network at Ivey. I'm starting to meet these young, passionate future leaders and current leaders, frankly, at these events. They're entrepreneurs, they're starting businesses, they're changing the world, they're focused on sustainability. Like, that gets me really excited. And every opportunity I have to learn from this next generation is what gets me most excited.

And I hope that I'm going to learn from the next generation, and maybe I'll have an opportunity to give a little bit of my wisdom as well. So, you know, continuing on my journey of being in a classroom, of having the opportunities at BMO to develop our next generation of leaders, to continue to develop our current leaders, like those are the things I'm focused on that get me really excited every single day.

DA: Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and sharing your journey. This has been so insightful. Thank you so much.

LC:I've appreciated the opportunity. It's been so fun to get to know you, Dolamu. Thank you.

DA: Larissa, thank you so much for sharing your journey. Your insights remind us that great leaders don't just adapt to change, they create it. And, to everybody listening, I hope this conversation inspires you to keep pushing boundaries, building connections, and leading with authenticity. I'm Dolamu Asipa, and this has been Clouston Conversations. 

IL: This was Clouston Conversations, an Ivey podcast series inspired by the legacy of leadership of Ross N. Clouston, and made possible through the generous support of his sons, Robert Clouston, MBA, '72, and Brendan Clouston, MBA '79. Be sure to catch more episodes of Clouston Conversations on Ivey Impact or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for tuning in.