Bill Furlong delivered the following Last Lecture to Ivey's HBA2 graduating class on March 27, 2019.
Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today. I am delighted to be here and share with you some of my thoughts before you leave Ivey.
Perhaps some of you remember me through my alter ego, Bob Franklin. On Ivey Leadership day in September, 2017, I was the disguised protagonist in the Bob Franklin case, “London Calling”.
Back then you were only 2 weeks into your Ivey experience, so much of your journey was unknown, and at times it may have seemed like this “last lecture” might never come. But it has. And new unknowns, new challenges are calling you. These calls are irresistible, and you need to follow them. For my part, I see in each and every one of you everything that this world needs. Leadership, energy, vision and hope. Today, your potential is unbounded.
So what will your potential turn on? In my view, any “Last Lecture” would be incomplete unless it included a discussion on character, specifically the character that you will display every day as our present and future leaders.
To me character is the most powerful, differentiating and controllable leadership strength you can possess. Powerful because it leverages your skills and hard work, differentiating because surprisingly few leaders make it their focus, and controllable because you – and only you – are the creator of your character. It is your choice.
You possess but a single character. You may hear some people say that they have a work character and a family character. It’s not true. The strength of character that helps you to be patient with a supplier’s honest mistake is the same strength that helps you to be patient with your 2-year old who just spilled his grape juice in your new car. It’s who you have become, because you have practiced, to the point of habit, the virtue of patience. It’s hard to imagine being patient with your 2-year old if you are not patient when dealing with people at work.
As such your character is not only a critical element in your professional success, it forms the foundation for your well being in life. It is what makes you a better partner, parent, and citizen in our world. It is the source of flourishing across all human endeavour, in all cultures, in all times.
Your character is being formed with every action – large or small – that you take. Give up your seat on the bus or streetcar to an elderly person? Your virtues of humanity and justice grow – just a bit. Don’t give up your seat? Your virtues of humanity and justice diminish – just a bit. Repeat that behavior once a week for a year and you’ve developed a habit that is not only hard to break, but one you may not even realize is a habit. It’s who you have become. It’s why you always have to watch your character – it can change without you ever noticing – especially when your life will be as busy as your lives will be. In other words – “Who will you become while you are busy doing ‘life’?”
Because character is so critical, much of your success in your life will depend upon your capacity to observe it, develop it and turn it into the habits that allow you to grow and flourish. It is too valuable to be left to chance, yet this is most often the case. Everyone knows it is important, but are often at a loss as to what to do about it. For you to realize the full potential of your bright futures you must take the most intelligent, intentional approach possible to the formation and sustenance of your character. But how?
Well, fortunately for you, and for the rest of us, you are soon to be Ivey HBA graduates. You have something with respect to Character that your peers at other schools in Canada, the U.S or overseas, do not have. They don’t even know they don’t have it.
Hopefully you know what I’m speaking about and if not, that’s OK, because in this “Last Lecture” I have been given the opportunity to mention it one more time. I am referring to the Ivey Leadership Character Framework with its 11 dimensions of Character, with Judgment at the center. You have studied it in the Maple Leaf Foods case, and some were fortunate enough to live it in the “Leadership under Fire” course. You have heard Andy Fastow, CFO of Enron when it collapsed, share with you his terrible experience as to what happens when character is absent.
You have learned that it includes the character dimensions we all expect, like Drive, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration and Integrity. But it also includes dimensions many people, myself included, didn’t expect, like Justice, Temperance, Humanity and Humility. Humility?! Yes – humility. Humility is essential to vulnerability, and to me there is no more attractive, effective and rare leadership quality than vulnerability. For those extraordinary leaders who possess it, they will change the world in profound ways.
It is these latter, unexpected dimensions that make ALL the difference between your long-term success or failure, of whether or not you will live lives of consequence. Think of the leader with great, over-powering drive and virtually no patience. Like an F1 race car with poor brakes it will inevitably crash – it’s just a matter of when. Everyone in this room today has or possesses the capacity for great drive and as such we all will need great brakes. When all the character dimensions work together they lead you to make, and act upon, the best judgment possible, even and especially under the most difficult of circumstances. And judgment is the central, core responsibility of leadership.
Perhaps you are not aware of this, but what you have learned about Leader Character at Ivey – what it is, how it can be assessed and developed - is unique to Ivey. The Leader Character research originated here in 2010 and continues to grow and evolve through the efforts of you, your fellow students, alumni and a brilliant, world class faculty. To my knowledge it is not being taught at Queen’s, or McGill, or Stanford or Harvard. And when it is taught here at Ivey, it is by the faculty that originally created it, who understand it and who are teaching it with unmatched depth, skill and passion.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks I truly believe that your character is the most powerful, differentiating and yet controllable leadership strength you can possess. Your skills and knowledge will of course grow, but in the fullness of time will be eclipsed by your successors who are today in primary school, learning multiplication and grammar. When you eventually do recruit them, they won’t be looking for you to teach them the latest technology, because they will know it better than you. But they will have a deep hunger and need for your leadership. And you will want them for more than their skills, you will want them to possess, and aspire to develop, true strength of character.
Yet with this great gift of knowledge and awareness comes the great responsibility to care for and use your strength of character wisely and responsibly - in all aspects of your life.
And the great human flourishing that your character-infused life will represent – your capacity to stay humble while the world celebrates your success, and to be resilient and graceful while you carry the lonely burden of persistent and vexing failure – your life will be one that resonates, ripples and inspires in ways that you cannot possibly imagine. And you will, at the end of your days, be able to say - confidently and emphatically – that you lived the best life that you could.
Thank you.
Bill Furlong is a senior financial services Executive / Regulator with 25+ year track record of character, innovation and success in Canadian and International Capital Markets. He recently retired as a Commissioner at the Ontario Securities Commission. Bill is currently an Executive-in-Residence at Ivey Business School, writing, presenting and lecturing on Character Based Leadership to students and business leaders in Canada, U.S. and the U.K.