As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape technology, business, and public services, leaders across sectors face a pivotal question: how can organizations adapt and thrive amid rapid, often unpredictable, technological change?
At the 2025 Graduate Business Conference hosted at Ivey Business School, a standout panel titled AI Resilience: How Are Leaders Adapting in a Rapidly Changing World? brought this challenge into focus. Against a backdrop of major advances in AI capabilities, evolving regulation and policy frameworks, the session offered timely insights into how leaders from industry, academia, and government are navigating the evolving dynamics in the age of AI.
Co-sponsored by Ivey’s Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab, the panel featured Salim Teja (Partner, Radical Ventures) and Stephen Reddin (Partner, McKinsey & Company), and was moderated by Romel Mostafa (Professor and Director, Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab). They explored the structural shifts reshaping AI development and the leadership mindset required to build responsible, resilient organizations and ecosystems that drive innovation, manage risk, and create long-term value.
Building a Responsible AI Ecosystems
Salim Teja, Partner at Radical Ventures and AI Industry Champion for Ivey’s Lawrence National Centre, highlighted Canada’s unique position as a global leader in AI, which was turbocharged by the 2017 Pan-Canadian AI Strategy – the world’s first national AI initiative.
At the heart of this strategy lies Canada’s “AI corridor,” a national innovation ecosystem anchored by three world-class institutions: the Vector Institute in Toronto, Amii in Edmonton, and Mila in Montreal. Toronto has emerged as a global hub in this corridor, combining academic excellence, private capital, and a vibrant ecosystem of AI start-ups.
Teja highlighted that transformative innovations are emerging across three key areas: (1) the development of AI infrastructure, (2) the integration of AI into business applications and processes, and (3) the use of AI to drive scientific breakthroughs—all of which hold the potential for profound impact. He emphasized the importance of developing AI talent and nurturing startups that integrate technological innovation with ethical and societal considerations.
Canadian firms are at the forefront of many advancements, from printing human tissue to support healing from injury and disease (Aspect Biosystems) to autonomous fleet and trucking technologies (Waabi), and AI-enabled robotics for efficient and sustainable construction solutions (Promise Robotics).
From Generative to Agentic AI
Adding a layer of strategic insight, Stephen Reddin, Partner at McKinsey & Company and a leader in its Toronto AI practice, discussed the accelerating evolution of AI from generative tools to agentic systems. While most professionals are familiar with Generative AI (e.g., Large Language models like ChatGPT), capable of producing text, images, and code, Reddin noted that we are entering the era of Agentic AI: systems that can independently make decisions and act based on defined goals.
Currently, this transformation carries profound implications for business strategy and risk management, particularly in sectors like finance, technology, and government. For example, autonomous trading systems that execute trades and manage portfolios in real time, and fraud detection systems that monitor transactions and block suspicious activity: all with minimal human oversight.
According to a 2023 McKinsey’s report The Economic Potential of Generative AI, the adoption of AI technology could contribute to $240-$460 billion in productivity gains across high tech, retail, and banking sectors—if use cases are fully implemented. While this potential could materialize over the next few decades, with widespread adoption expected between 2030 and 2060, Reddin notes that most firms have yet to develop the internal strategy and capabilities to fully capture this value. With Canada’s leverage in AI innovation, he underscores the importance of agility, noting “speed is strategy,” and organizations that can adapt, learn, and experiment with AI technologies quickly, while navigating emerging regulatory and ethical considerations, will be best positioned to lead.
AI as a Source of Competitive Advantage
The conversation also explored the implications of AI on labour markets, particularly in areas where tasks may be substituted or complemented by AI. Speakers emphasized the critical role that young leaders will play in shaping the future relationship between humans and AI.
While current applications of AI are largely focused on driving efficiency gains, Professor Mostafa noted that as competition intensifies, leveraging AI as a differentiating strategy—and using it to carve out competitive advantage—will become increasingly important. In this evolving landscape, human judgment, creativity, and emotional intelligence will remain vital, at least for the foreseeable future.
The panel served as a powerful lesson that leading in the age of AI is not just about understanding the technology, but about having the vision to think ahead, the values to lead responsibly, and the willingness to take smart risks in the face of uncertainty.