Strategic Leadership Symposium - 5 and 6 June 2014

Theme: “Learning from one another”

Presented by the Canadian Forces College and Western University’s Ivey Business School

Day 1 – Thursday, 5 June 2014

0800 – 0900

  • Registration

0900 – 0920

  • Welcome Address
    • Brigadier-General Richard Giguère, Commandant, Canadian Forces College
    • Lieutenant-Colonel Ian McCulloch, Director, The Centre for National Security Studies, Canadian Forces College
    • Prof. Gerard Seijts, Executive Director, Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership (Ivey Business School - Western University)

0920 – 0950

  • Overall Context - “Defining Strategic Leadership”
    • Prof. Glenn Rowe, Paul MacPherson Chair in Strategic Leadership (Ivey Business School - Western University)

0950 – 1000

  • Group Photo (In front of Armour Heights Officers’ Mess)

1000 – 1030

  • Coffee Break at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

1030 – 1200

  • Panel 1 – Is there such a thing as strategic thinking culture?
    • Strategic leadership requires having subordinates and employees embrace the vision and the spirit of the strategic leaders. In the military, having a widely shared understanding and acceptance of greater strategic objectives is critical to success. In the business world, ensuring that all divisions or franchisees share the same vision is also critical to ensure success. How can strategic leaders successfully spread their strategic vision to all?
      • Panel Member: General Walter Natynczyk (Ret’d)
      • Panel Member: Mr. Jim Leech, Former CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
      • Moderator: Prof. Eric Ouellet, Canadian Forces College, Deputy Director Centre for National Security Studies

1200 – 1300

  • Lunch at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

1300 – 1430

  • Panel 2 – Strategic Leadership: Reframing Reality?
    • Organizational success in a business or military context is hugely dependent on how challenges are perceived then tackled by the subordinates and employees. Strategic leaders must provide sound reality checks so that difficult tasks can still be accomplished. Reframing the perception of reality from one of impending failure to an opportunity to achieve success is a key quality of strategic leadership. What are the best practices in this regard for both businesses and the military?
      • Panel Member: Lieutenant-General Andrew Leslie (Ret’d)
      • Panel Member: Mr. William Aziz, Chief Restructuring Officer, Hollinger Inc., and President, BlueTree Advisors II Inc.
      • Moderator: Prof. Gerard Seijts, Ivey Business School

1430 – 1500

  • Coffee Break at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

1500 – 1630

  • Panel 3 – Leading laterally
    • Strategic leaders, for both business and the military, must work and collaborate with a number of people outside their chain of command. Be it governmental and non-governmental agencies, military and business partners, foreign governments, or the not-for-profit sector, strategic leadership demands the capacity to effectively influence those outside one's own organizational boundaries. What have military and business strategic leaders learned in this regard and what insights can be provided for the future?
      • Panel Member: Vice Admiral Ann E. Rondeau (U.S. Navy, Ret’d)
      • Panel Member: Mr. Pat Horgan, Vice-President, Manufacturing, Development & Operations, IBM Canada
      • Moderator: Prof. Eric Ouellet, Canadian Forces College, Deputy Director Centre for National Security Studies

1800 – 2000

  • Dinner at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

Day 2 – Friday, 6 June 2014

0830 – 1000

  • Panel 4 – Strategic change and strategic leadership
    • Any substantive change to any organization, especially any significant change to the culture of such an organization, cannot happen without the decisive engagement of strategic leadership. The business world and the military have both engaged in such transformational exercises in the past and they have both discovered particular challenges in this regard. What kind of solutions have they discovered?
      • Panel Member: Lieutenant-General Michael Jeffery (Ret’d)
      • Panel Member: Mr. Wade Oosterman, President, Bell Mobility and Residential Services, and Chief Brand Officer, Bell Canada Enterprises
      • Moderator: Prof. Gerard Seijts, Ivey Business School

1000 – 1030

  • Coffee Break at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

1030 – 1200

  • Panel 5 – What can the military learn from business and vice versa?
    • The business and the military worlds do interact through procurement and various contractual arrangements. However, they do not often share their best practices, including how one exercises strategic leadership. What are the key lessons that each can learn from the other?
      • Panel Member: Lieutenant-General Fred Sutherland (Ret’d)
      • Panel Member: Mr. John Urias, Executive Vice President, Oshkosh Corporation, and President, Oshkosh Defense
      • Panel Member: Mr. John Mercer, President, John W. Mercer & Associates Inc.
      • Moderator: Prof. Glenn Rowe, Ivey Business School

1200 – 1300

  • Lunch at Armour Heights Officers’ Mess

1300 – 1430

  • Panel 6 – What are we doing to create strategic leaders?
    • Leadership seems to be both a matter of “natural” intuition and learning. When it comes to strategic leadership, organizations require already confirmed leaders to ensure organizational success. How do we produce those strategic leaders? The military and businesses have some answers to it, some are similar and some are different. Is there some common ground?
      • Panel Member: Major-General Éric Tremblay, Commander, Canadian Defence Academy
      • Panel Member: Mr. Warren Bell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Human Resources Officer OMERS
      • Moderator: Prof. Alan Okros, Canadian Forces College, Deputy Director of Academics

    1430 – 1445

    • Closing Address

Notes:

Classification of Symposium: Unclassified, Privileged Platform, Chatham House Rules.
Format: Two Speakers per Panel (Academic, Practitioner, Military, or Civilian) and One Moderator (Academic).

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