McMaster University Receives $15 Mil. Donation, and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s business schools have had an active week, filled with exciting new developments. Below, we’ve laid out some of the highlights.
McMcaster University Receives $15 Million Donation For Its Commerce Program – The Globe and Mail
Paul McLean and his family have contributed $15 million CAD to McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business. Private donations will go toward revamping the school’s undergraduate commerce program. McLean’s gift will be added to the $50 million undergraduate business education building—scheduled to open in 2022.
McLean, who earned his undergraduate degree and MBA at McMaster, is the Chief Executive Officer of CWB Maxium Financial. He feels passionate that this donation will lead to a valuable and “potentially revolutionary” learning experience for those involved.
Len Waverman, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business, says:
“When you think about the way the world is changing, it is beyond hype; and with artificial intelligence, it does change the nature of work and the nature of the occupations students go into…everyone has similar ideas that our students have got to be creative, think outside of the box and be able to transform themselves.”
You can learn more about the donation here.
Doug Ford’s Fix for Toronto’s Housing Crisis is Easy: Just Build More Homes – Financial Post
The Financial Post recently highlighted the push from Doug Ford, the Ontario Premier, to build more homes in Toronto as a solution to housing shortages.
Toronto’s housing prices have doubled in the past decade, and experts are debating the best solution to re-mediate. Demand measures are controversial, as they disproportionately affect younger buyers and buyers in lower socioeconomic brackets. Ford argues that supply measures would grow the markets in a stable and maintainable way.
Just in the past five years, housing costs in Toronto have risen 60 percent, according to The Financial Post.
The Financial Post spoke with Michael Fenn, a visiting fellow at the Lawrence National Centre at Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School, on the rising costs. According to Fenn, “Keeping housing of a variety of types affordable and available is crucial to the economic success of the GTA and the country generally.”
You can read more about the Toronto housing crisis here.
30 Exceptional Educators Recognized As Canada’s Outstanding Principals – The Learning Partnership
Recipients of Canada’s Outstanding Principal Award were recently announced, and will be honored at a ceremony at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management on February 26, 2019.
Additionally, the honorees have the opportunity to attend a leadership training program at Rotman, wherein they will learn about management practices from experts in various fields. This year marks the 15th anniversary of The Learning Partnership’s Outstanding Principal Award.
Debra D. Kerby, President and CEO of The Learning Partnership, says:
“From Rankin Inlet, NU to Vancouver, BC to Richmond PEI, we are honored to recognize principals from coast to coast to coast. Principals are so important to the success of our schools and our students. They ensure our schools are dynamic, engaging places to learn, and that student are inspired every single day. These principals are enabling students to thrive in an increasingly diverse and changing world. These 30 principals are all instrumental in connecting students, educators, families and the community together, and we recognize their indispensable contributions to helping Canada continue as a global leader in education.”
The recipients were nominated by parents, faculty, and members of their community. They will join the National Academy of Canada’s Outstanding Principals, which will afford them, “… networking, mentoring and professional development opportunities to enhance their leadership skills.”
You can learn more about the awards here.
Rotman Research Promotes Personal Data Advocacy, and More – Toronto News
Canadian business schools have made valuable contributions this week. From providing life-saving researching, to creating ethical programs that will produce ethical leaders, Canada’s top schools are certainly doing their part to better their communities. We’ve laid out some of the high points below.
Western Researchers Study Overdose Antidote in High Schools – The London Free Press
Researchers from Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School and Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry recently joined forces to determine whether supplying high schools with an antidote to opioid overdose would be a cost-effective way to combat Canada’s rising problems. Naloxone prevents the physical effects of consuming toxic amounts of opioids, and having the drug in supply in schools could save lives. However, this solution to rising opioid overdoses would cost money.
The researchers evaluate the cost-effectiveness of implementing a naloxone program in schools, wherein the drug is supplied and the staff is trained in its use. Study authors Greg Zaric and Lauren Cipriano put together a spreadsheet that would allow schools to determine the cost and benefit of starting a program in their specific area.
“We think every school board should be evaluating a program like this using a tool of procedure like this to see if they really are getting the best use of their available funds…there are lots of things that we can do in schools to improve the health and safety of students,” Zaric says, “We want to make sure the portfolio of medical and health interventions that we provide to students is getting us the best possible health impact for the amount of money we’re investing.”
You can read more about the cost of Naloxone programs here.
It’s Time to Pay Consumers For Their Data – The Globe and Mail
Richard Nesbitt and Brian O’Donnell, of the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services, wrote an article for The Globe and Mail that advocates giving consumers more control over how data is used. In addition to his role as CEO of the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services, Nesbitt is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
Their article specifically addresses the need for “personal data advocacy.” The co-authors believe an institution should work with people, “to gather, protect, and monetize their personal data.” According to the article, social media sites have made trillions of dollars off of user data, leaving users with none of the benefits and all of the security and privacy risks.
Brian O’Donnell and Richard Nesbitt write:
“With ownership of their data, individuals could then decide how they want their data used. For example, do they want to lock it down, sell it or donate it to a charity or research organization?”
Read more about personal data advocacy here.
What is a Sustainable MBA? – Study International News
York University’s Schulich School of Business’s sustainable MBA was ranked the third best program by Study International News. A sustainable MBA is one that puts environmental and social considerations before the bottom line. Critics claim that traditional MBA’s breed leaders who put their own profit before the welfare of their community. This view is so pervasive, that the ‘evil corporation’ has become a pop-culture trope.
The Schulich MBA is lauded as one of the best in the world when it comes to sustainability education, according to Study International News.
School’s like Schulich, however, are cultivating programs that could change this perspective. Warwick University and the University of Exeter Business School nabbed the first and second rankings. It is clear that Canada is a leader in sustainable MBA’s, with 11 Canadian schools topping the list of the Better World MBA Rankings.
Julia Christensen Hughes, University of Guelph says:
“MBA programs—the most dominant graduate degree in the world—must endeavor to develop the leaders so desperately needed. And this is where Canada can truly lead.”
You can read more about the Schulich sustainable MBAs here.
Surprising Political Divides, and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s finest business schools have seen some exciting developments this week, including new research from Rotman on the U.S. political divide. Check out some of this week’s highlights below.
Like Race and Class, Commute and Homeownership Divide Us – CityLab
Richard Florida, Professor at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and co-founder and editor of CityLab, recently wrote a piece for the publication that detailed how lifestyle and transit decisions impact America’s political divisions. The article references research performed by Florida and urban studies alum and instructor Patrick Adler. Adler’s research found that congressional districts with higher levels of homeownership were more likely to support Trump, as opposed to renters.
The political divide research also found that districts where the majority of people drive to work alone were more likely to vote for Trump, and areas where commutes were mostly via mass transit were likely to oppose his agenda. Perhaps surprisingly, commute and homeownership correlated as heavily with political stance as race and more so than education.
You can read more about Florida and Adler’s political divide research here.
‘Extraordinary’ Gift Will Help Establish Ivey Business Centre for Innovation – The London Free Press
John F. Wood, Western University Canada Ivey Business School 1964 graduate, has donated $7 million to his alma amter. The gift will go toward establishing the John F. Wood Centre for Innovation in Business Learning.
On the announcement, Mark Vandenbosch, Dean of the Ivey Business School, says:
“John’s extraordinarily generous gift will benefit students at Ivey and throughout management education for generations to come.”
For over 30 years, Wood served as president and CEO of W.C. Wood Company Limited, one of the largest manufacturers of freezers, dehumidifiers, and refrigerators in North America. Now, he has utilized the payoff from his years of work to give back to future generations of business students.
According to the London Free Press, Wood’s donation “will also be used to develop new courses and teaching programs, expand Ivey’s educational outreach to secondary school students, provide permanent administrative support for the centre, and establish a global symposium on innovation in business learning.”
You can read more about the donation here.
McMaster’s New Innovation Minor Sees Unexpectedly High Enrollment – Silhouette
This was the first year of the McMaster University Engineering School and the DeGroote School of Business joined to offer an innovation minor. McMaster faculty teamed up with The Forge, a Hamilton startup incubator, to develop the curriculum for the minor.
“The innovation minor is a nexus where academics meet startup culture,” says Monika Yazdanian, Director of The Forge. The minor has far exceeded enrollment expectations, due in part to the breadth of networking opportunities and hands-on learning embedded in the curriculum. Courses rely heavily on guest lecturers and, in their third and fourth years, students even get the opportunity to develop their own startup.
Learn more about McMaster’s innovation minor here.
Rotman Prof Talks Gender Equality and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s finest business schools have been doing their part to improve the landscapes of work environments and executive education. We’ve laid out this week’s highlights below.
Companies Find One-Stop Shopping for Executive Education – The Globe and Mail
Western University Canada’s Ivey Business School recently launched The Ivey Academy, a full-service learning and development center for executive education. This is good news for companies like Bruce Power LP, as they have been partnering with Ivey for years on leadership development education. Now, Ivey can also offer them services like corporate retreats and talent assessments.
“It would be nice to be able to [undertake executive education] with someone who knows us really well and knows a lot of our leaders really well and knows what our issues are,” says Cathy Sprague, Bruce Power LP Executive VP of Human Resources.
“We’re not the experts at everything,” Mark Vandenbosch, Dean of Ivey Business School, says in a recent interview in The Globe and Mail. “So … let’s figure out who are the people that we believe are up to the standards that we preach…so that when you put the parts together it’s more of a journey than a set of interactions.”
You can learn more about The Ivey Academy here.
Gender Equality In the Workplace: How Men Can Move the Needle – The Telegraph
Sarah Kaplan, Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy and Strategic Management Professor at University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, interviewed two executives about the role of male executives in increasing workplace diversity (specifically, gender).
Kaplan spoke to Richard Nesbitt, President and CEO of Global Risk in Financial Services and adjunct professor at Rotman, and Kevin Lobo, Chairman and CEO of Stryker Corporation, and Director on the board of Parker Hannifin. The executives agreed that creating resources for women and determining their needs in the workplace is essential to creating an inviting environment.
“It’s important to have an official women’s network with an executive sponsor,” Lobo says. “I would advise people to put a thoughtful structure behind the initiative, give it a budget and empower people to run it effectively.”
Lobo emphasized that this course of action was a game-changer for Stryker. Stryker now has a mentorship system, so that women in the company have someone to talk to about their career path.
Sarah Kaplan, Rotman School of Management professor and Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy.
“In academia,” Kaplan writes, “there’s a concept called ‘belonging uncertainty’: If you’re in an environment where you’re not sure that you belong—for example, if you’re a woman working in capital markets—you’re constantly looking for signals that you do belong.”
You can read more from Kaplan’s interviews on workplace gender equality here.
20-Years-Old, 20 Percent Down On A House. It’s Possible – The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail recently dug into the housing market, citing the story of a 20-year-old man who saved enough money to buy himself a house; a modern rarity. The man is an exception in the Canadian market, where the average price of a home is $475,000 CAD, and obtaining a mortgage is increasingly difficult. Moshe Milevsky, Finance Professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business, weighed in on Gen Y’s housing issues.
“People have to twist themselves into a pretzel to get themselves into houses,” Milevsky says. The article recommends utilizing options like the Home Buyers’ Plan, which lets buyers withdraw a certain amount from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) with 15 years to repay it.
Check out the rest of the article here.
Ivey Launches New Academy, and More – Toronto News
Toronto’s business schools have seen exciting developments this week. We’ve laid out the highlights below.
Ivey Launches Full-Service Academy to Boost Business Education – Financial Post
Western University Canada’s Ivey School of Business recently launched The Ivey Academy, which, according to News@Ivey, “blends top-ranked university-based executive education with strategic design, talent assessment and leadership coaching to create the first of its kind executive education experience in Canada.” Some features of the academy include: Instructional design and advisory services, talent assessments, and leadership coaches.
Mark Healey, Executive Director of the Ivey Academy, says:
“There’s been a gap in Canada’s learning and development market, with companies typically engaging multiple vendors to deliver competency assessments, learning modules, training content and executive coaching. Combining all aspets of learning with independent expertise across the development journey, we are able to deliver sustained behavior change, not just knowledge transfer, and stronger retention and succession pipelines for organizations.”
You can learn more about the recently launched The Ivey Academy here.
Why Likeability Gets You Hired and Promoted – The Globe and Mail
Dan Richards, Professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and author of Getting Clients, Keeping Clients, recently wrote a piece for The Globe and Mail in which he discussed what qualities employers respond to.
First, Richards listed off the more standard characteristics employers appreciate, “the demonstrated ability to produce results, a strong work ethic and being a team player,” but he went on to discuss a trait people rarely list on their resumes: likeability.
Richards cites a study, which finds that when candidates are comparable in every objective area, the more likeable one will get the job a staggering 90 percent of the time. According to The Likeability Factor, it is a skill, and can improve with attention to: “Being seen as friendly, connecting over shared interests, demonstrating empathy, and being genuine.”
You can read more from Richards’ Globe and Mail entry here.
The Top 10 Women in L&D, Serious Games and Virtual Reality – LinkedIn
Dr. Deborah Fels, Professor at the Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, was named one of the top 10 women in gaming, according to David Chadross, Ph.D. Fels has helped make strides in terms of accessibility of media and technology, including co-creating TerpTube, “a signed language mentoring management system.”
Chadross says:
“Deb runs entirely gamified courses and has done more work in the field of user experience then anyone I have met.”
The article also mentions fellow Ryerson professor, Naza Djafarova, Director of Digital Learning. Fels praises her increasing the revenue of her apartment my $3 million in just a year, spearheading the first large scale conference on serious games.
You can check out the rest of the list here.
Adam Grant’s Favorite Books, Olympic Winners, and More – Toronto News
Recent weeks have seen exciting developments and events for Toronto metro business schools. We’ve laid out some of the high points below.
17 Business Leadership Books That Have Helped MBA Students Succeed in the Business World – Business Insider
Business Insider contributor Adam Grant, perhaps the most famous business school author in the world today, just released a list of 17 books that he finds beneficial for MBA’s entering the workforce. His list includes “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers” by Ben Horowitz. Noura Sakkijha, co-founder of Mejuri and graduate of McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, was highlighted as someone who found Horowitz’s book particularly beneficial:
“I love learning through successful people’s real-life experiences and this book provides an extremely practical and honest experience about running a company, managing people, and handling tough problems.”
Grant also highlights “Power Up: How Smart Women Win in the New Economy” by entrepreneur Magdalena Yesil, who was one of the primary investors in what would become multi-billion dollar tech powerhouse SalesForce, and “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose” by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of online shoe giant Zappos. Check out the rest of Grant’s 17 favorite books here.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: “The Perfect Partnership” – News@Ivey
Olympic figure skating medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir recently spoke at Western University Canada’s Ivey School of Business, delivering the keynote address for HBA Leadership Day. In addition to providing advice on how to succeed in a competitive sport, the couple offered insight into what has made their relationship work over the past two decades.
Olympic figure skating medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the keynote speakers at the Ivey School of Business HBA Leadership Day / Photo via ivey.uwo.ca
“We always skate well when we’re on the same page both on and off the ice,” Moir says. “Having each other’s back was our biggest advantage over our competitors.” Virtue also shared the obstacles that come with being a woman in an athletic field. She indicated that as her success rose, so did the amount of scrutiny, criticism, and vulnerability she experienced.
“Every time you get to the top of a mountain, there’s another summit. You’re at one of the best—if not the best—business schools in Canada. You’ve already accomplished so much. But this is where you take off. This is the beginning of a great journey for you.” – Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue
You can read more about the skating duo and the recent Ivey HBA Leadership Day here.
Ryerson, Maple Leafs Announce New Future of Sport Lab – MetroMBA
The brand new Future of Sport Lab, was announced on Tuesday, Sep. 11, 2018 as a brand new partnership between Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Ltd. (MLSE) and Ryerson University. The school, according to a recent press release, notes, “the objective of the FSL is to be Canada’s leader in sport innovation, creating a sport business ecosystem that will connect Canadian sport properties and industry partners, entrepreneurs, faculty, and students. Together, they will support and foster innovative sport business solutions and technologies along with sport industry research, insights, and education.”
The new program will be directed by Dr. Cheri L. Bradish, the Loretta Rogers Research Chair in Sport Marketing with the Ted Rogers School of Management. In an interview, Bradish says, “Toronto is truly a world-class sport business city. The Future of Sport Lab will bring together the incredible talent that’s already here and give them a chance to collaborate and create solutions with real world impact. This will be the new home of sport innovation in Canada.”
Cheri Bradish, Director of the Future Sport Lab (back, right), with Humza Teherany, Sumit Arora, Teresa Resch, and Jennifer MacInnis / Photo via ryerson.ca
You can learn more about the Future of Sport Lab here.
