Sep 03
Last week, we started sharing the Ten Tips to Accelerate Prosperity, a series of institutional best practices in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s the second tip in this series.
2. Break out of your comfort zone
The YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Scott Haldane (now President & CEO of YMCA Canada) recognizes that along with new opportunities diverse leadership will require change. “You can’t get there without taking some risk,” he says. Now with a more diverse leadership in place, discussion at the senior management and boardroom tables has evolved as has his own leadership style. “We think differently and more creatively. We’re willing to consider new options and try new things.”
Have you broken out of your comfort zone?
Check out our previous tip here, on making diversity a strategic priority.
Sep 01
Ernst & Young has released a new report on how diversity drives innovation in the 21st century. In The New Global Mindset, report authors Rama Ramaswami and Andrea Mackiewicz investigate how diverse leadership can offer the flexibility and creativity needed for the new global economy and explain “the new rules of leadership”.
“The key thing to remember is that no matter what talent-search strategy a company adopts, it can’t maintain a competitive edge if its workforce — at all levels — doesn’t mirror and respond to societal changes. As corporations become global, they are increasingly demanding greater diversity from their partners, clients and customers; 84% of the Fortune 100 firms have implemented supplier diversity initiatives. CEOs and boards of directors must be prepared for their companies to field questions from clients on workforce diversity, including diversity in leadership, recruiting, retention, and the development and formation of teams.”
Aug 30
DiverseCity Voices is a unique initiative connecting diverse subject matter experts to journalists from newspapers, magazines, and current affairs shows on radio and television.
One recent article looks at the underrepresentation of Toronto’s Tamil community in municipal politics. Read this article featuring Voices candidate Neethan Shan here on CBC News.
Another article looks at a new volunteer-built playground for a Toronto Community Housing complex in Steeles-L’Amoreaux. Featuring Voices candidate Mitzie Hunter, the article can be found here.
Aug 27
Aneil Gokhale, a 2009 DiverseCity Fellow, and Nicole Cheung-Seekit married earlier this summer at the Ontario Science Centre in a quirky science-themed wedding covered in the Toronto Star, “My Big Fat Geek Wedding:
Couple’s love of science and all things nerdy was a winning formula for unusual wedding” . Our warmest congratulations.
Aug 26
Birinder Ahluwalia is a Toronto-based physician and Director of Imaging & President at a large Canadian medical imaging centre and one of the latest local leaders to be profiled .
A philanthropist active in Toronto’s Sikh community, Mr. Ahluwalia is the co-founder of Spinning Wheel Film Festival, a festival devoted to Sikh films. Mr. Ahluwalia was also a Top 25 Canadian Immigrant in 2009.
You can read about his story on Sulekha News and other news portals.
Aug 24
How can organizations diversify leadership? In the coming weeks, we will be sharing the Ten Tips to Accelerate Prosperity, a series of institutional best practices in the Greater Toronto Area.
1. Make Diversity A Strategic Priority
RBC’s President & CEO Gordon Nixon recognizes that his public and authentic commitment to diversity in leadership both sets the tone and creates the conditions for systemic change. And because the bank also recognizes the business case for diversity, talent management practices that embrace the principles of diversity are integral to how leaders are recruited and cultivated from within.
Check out a previous post on RBC’s diversity commitment and learn more about their Diversity Blueprint and progress reports through their website.
How has your organization made diversity a strategic priority? Share your experiences with us.
Aug 05
The Globe and Mail has started profiling business and civic leaders in the Greater Toronto Area, from the Chairman of AIC Mutual Funds to President & CEO of Right to Play International. We’d like to share two recent stories that highlight entrepreneurship in the Halton and Peel regions.
In the first article, Chetan Mathur, CEO of Next Pathway Inc. in Oakville, talks to Diane Jermyn about his leadership style and how he cultivates his inner peace. He credits his spiritual upbringing and the hard work of his parents for his resilience and inspiration.
Mr. Mathur, who was born in India, came to Canada in the early Seventies when he was eight years old. His hard-working immigrant parents inspired him always to be resilient, as they demonstrated by gamely facing the hardships of integrating into society, finding work and putting food on the table.
Raja Khanna is a “serial entrepreneur” who is now co-CEO of Glassbox Television, a multimedia company targeting 18 to 34-year-olds. In the interview, he talks about how world travel has affected his perspective.
“From a business point of view, you become more open minded and able to understand different perspectives,” he says. “Everybody’s different and they all have something valuable to offer.”
Jul 26
Share News, the largest community newspaper serving the Black and Caribbean communities in the GTA, has published an editorial on diversity in Toronto’s mayoral election and the power of newspaper editorial boards to decide who the front-runners of the race will be.
Therein lies a challenge that we face here in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Media executives can decide on whom to put the spotlight among those running for political office and in so doing skew the chances of election in favour of the chosen. These are the people who, once elected, will manage the affairs of the city that affect all of us on a daily basis.
This year’s DiverseCity Counts report, which includes a special section on diversity in media, is referenced in the article.
What do you think?
Jul 23
Photo credit: Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
Janice Fukakusa, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), has just been elected vice-chair of Ryerson’s Board of Governors. Congratulations, Janice!
Janice’s leadership journey was profiled by Lesley Taylor in the Toronto Star last year (read the article here).
We’re fortunate to have both Ryerson University and RBC as Partners in DiverseCity.
Last week, we started sharing the Ten Tips to Accelerate Prosperity, a series of institutional best practices in the Greater Toronto Area. Here’s the second tip in this series.
