I keep coming back to the same 15 words.
“I will acknowledge my limitations and my mistakes so that I may learn from them.”
These words – simple, yet potent – come from the Ivey Pledge, a recitation every Ivey Business School graduate takes to remind them about their role and responsibility in their future careers and personal lives. And, while they hold special meaning for Ivey graduates, I cannot help reflecting on their value to the current leadership conversation on campus.
Let me say right off: President Amit Chakma has made mistakes as the leader of the university. He knows this fact better than any ally or opponent could ever claim to defend or decry.
Last week, he stood before the university Senate and apologized for those mistakes.
For the president and his family, I am sure this was a difficult and uncomfortable moment, but also exactly the right thing to do. He did what great leaders do – he acknowledged his limitations and mistakes so he may learn from them.
I am not here to re-litigate his confessed transgressions. Rather, I want to talk about how the institution has the potential to be stronger now.
In this moment, the university can find great opportunity.
Imagine, an organization at this time of mutual reflection able to emerge stronger, more united and more focused on what needs to be done to live up to its full potential. I see just that opportunity here today. And so does the president.
At that same meeting last week, President Chakma opened up a larger conversation, one about how the university needs to create its future, fueled by lessons of the recent past. The president set down an aggressive campaign to recommit to the campus. This is exactly how you want a leader to respond. It reminds me of the many ‘learn and grow’ lessons I have experienced in my career.
But President Chakma – or any leader, for that matter – cannot move forward alone. Great leaders need active, engaged partners. Not lemmings, mind you, as nobody is being asked to strap on blinders to obscure obvious disagreements – quite the opposite, in fact. Partners are expected to be aware, open and honest about issues, just as leaders are to be receptive and honest in return.
Strong organizations – be they corporate boards, elected bodies or universities – operate at their best when they embrace a vibrant, creative opposition. Leaders should not fear being questioned, in fact, they should embrace the challenge.
President Chakma has promised to do just that.
Now is the time for members of the university community to pull together.
President Chakma has listened and learned during the crisis. The whole university has the potential to be strengthened, if only they begin pulling in the same direction, listening to one another and acting in the collegial manner that is the long standing culture of Western.
We have seen the president acknowledge his limitations and mistakes so that he may learn from them. The rest of the university should join him in that journey. Western will be stronger as a result.
Carol Stephenson
Former dean of the Ivey Business School