It’s not uncommon to see Gregg Saretsky, President and CEO of WestJet Airlines Ltd., handing out cupcakes to employees. It’s a company known for its culture of creative engagement.
Saretsky and his colleague, Ferio Pugliese, Executive Vice-President of People and Culture at WestJet, spoke with Ivey’s MBA students about how their approach to leadership and organizational culture has helped the company to thrive.
“Leading doesn’t always mean that the decisions come from the top. At WestJet, the learning for me was that a lot of the good stuff comes from the bottom. Our job is not to lead that change but to support it,” said Saretsky. “It’s a notion of servant leadership that we’re really trying to encourage in our organization. There is no job that we are not worthy of doing and no task too small that it is beneath us.”
Pugliese said WestJet’s focus on building relationships with employees is one of its competitive advantages.
“The economic engine of any organization, especially one that’s labour-intensive, is ultimately driven by its people,” he said. “That’s something leaders can never lose sight of – the tremendous power that an engaged workforce can be on productivity.”