What is the profile of a Canadian Leader?

After taking an August break Terresa and Tim once again pick up the Leadership for Leaders blog, this time with a focus on LinC (Leadership in Country) Research.

LinC Research exists to promote the multiplication of effective leaders in various countries with Canada being the first to be studied and researched.

Augustine and McIntosh (2010) call for more empirical data in order to better understand leadership in Canada. After analyzing the data they will suggest a course of action with the goal of providing the need leaders Henein and Morissette (2007) stated, “To secure an abundant supply of capable leaders in all sections of the economy, Canada must generate a critical leadership mass” (p.196). Augustine and McIntosh agree and are looking to ways to arrive at that critical mass.

Over the next two years LinC Research will be conducting focus groups across Canada to help build a profile of an effective leader in Canada. Note that LinC is looking at leaders in Canada as opposed to Canadian leaders as the nation is becoming more multicultural (McCarthy, 2004) and many of the leaders are from other countries and even greater numbers will be non-native Canadians in the future. As the profile or profiles are established we will be suggesting ways in which that leadership profile can be encouraged throughout the country. As the research is being conducted we welcome comments from readers of this blog as you help to stimulate the process.

Some may question why such a leadership profile would need to be developed given Canada’s long and glorious history. Shouldn’t the profile be obvious? The answer is found in the lack of agreement within the country on what makes for a model Canadian leader. In 2004 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired a series of programs called The Greatest Canadian. A two step voting process was used. First, viewers voted for the top ten candidates of their choosing in no particular order. Once the top ten were tabulated viewers were then asked at a later date to order those top ten. The results were as follows:

1. Tommy Douglas, Father of Medicare, Premier of Saskatchewan, Socialist with staunch devotion to social causes.

2. Terry Fox, Athlete, activist, humanitarian. Vision, drive, and determination

3. Pierre Trudeau, Fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada. Charismatic, intelligent, focused, goal driven, visionary

4. Sir Fredrick Banting, Medical scientist, co-discoverer of insulin, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Visionary, risk taker, intelligent

5. David Suzuki, Geneticist, environmentalist, broadcaster, activist. Focused, determined, outspoken

6. Lester Pearson, Fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada,
United Nations General Assembly President, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

7. Don Cherry, Hockey coach and commentator

8. Sir John McDonald, First Prime Minister of Canada

9. Alexander Graham Bell, Scientist, inventor, founder of the Bell Telephone Company

10. Wayne Gretzky, Hockey player, holder of numerous NHL records

While the CBC research may not be totally scientific it does offer insight into what Canadians view as important character attributes. It is now the task of future research to determine which leadership attributes are universally desired by Canadians and which are specific according to a particular leadership need in a given context.

As LinC Research begins its research phase we are intrigued by your opinions. What do you think makes for an effective Canadian leader? Let us know your thoughts.


References

Augustine, T. & McIntosh, T (2010). Leadership in Canada: Literature Review. Unpublished manuscript.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2010). The Greatest Canadian. Retrieved September, 4 2019 from http://archives.cbc.ca/for_teachers/1149/

Henein, A., Morissette F. (2007). Made in Canada leadership: Wisdom from the nation’s best and brightest on leadership practice and development. Mississauga, ON: John Wiley & Sons.

McCarthy, P (2004) Canada: A myreportslinks.com (Top ten countries of recent immigrants.). Canada: MyReportLinks.com