Leadership Across Borders: How CCOs Can Break Boundaries & Create Sustainable Value

The Globe and Mail named Barbara Zvan as Canada's CEO of the Year and Corporate Citizen of the Year for 2022, in recognition of her sustainable finance leadership, including at the helm of a new pension plan for Ontario’s university sector. By incorporating responsible investing and radical accountability into UPP’s approach to building long-term value for its members, Zvan is raising the bar in bringing institutional strength to complex challenges while paving collaborative pathways for innovation and growth. Zvan will examine how leaders should think about the value they create, protect, or destroy, and address the central role of communication in engaging and aligning stakeholders around sustainability strategy.

Though strategic leadership was required before the world tilted on its axis, the imperative for new forms of CCO leadership is now considerably sharper. As CCOs help to shape business strategy, purpose, culture, and brand in a highly disruptive environment with multi-stakeholder demands, it’s not surprising that Page conference surveys frequently request sessions on leadership. Based on a 15-year longitudinal study of 3200 leaders, Ron Carucci, author of To Be Honest, will share the four major findings from his research and explain how participants can incorporate these imperatives into their ever-expanding CCO roles. In this interactive micro-workshop, Carucci will help participants build skills they need to be trusted advisors, strategists, mediators, bridge-builders, coaches, and deep influencers who build trustworthy reputations for themselves and the organizations they serve.

The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, once a child immigrant to Canada from Haiti, rose through poverty and hardship to excel in journalism before making history as the first Governor General of Canada of African descent. Her life motto, "Breaking down solitudes, refers to the barriers that confine people because of age, race, origin, language, sex, or ability. Michaëlle Jean passionately believes in the necessity to mobilize a broad spectrum of humanity, forging connections and nurturing synergies that may seem unlikely but prove to be tangibly productive and rewarding. In her inspirational keynote address, she will offer her unique insights on the crucial role of CCOs in transcending borders and boundaries, crafting sustainable value within organizations, and extending that impact beyond.

Page is participating in the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) and Oxford University’s Said Business School’s global C-Suite study on how organizational leaders maximize value creation for the broadest set of stakeholders. The project will produce insights, recommendations and resources for leaders interested in driving more humanized growth. In this session, the study's leader will present overall findings and those specific to CCOs, followed by a conversation among a panel of C-Suite leaders. Attendees will then break into small groups to discuss the session’s insights and how they’ll put them into practice. *Steve Brass will be live streamed into the conference room.

This august panel of experts will delve into societal, legal and technological aspects of AI, touching upon issues that are relevant to communicators such as ethics, intellectual property, and societal change. AI holds promise and perils for all of us and communication functions are likely to experience significant transformations as it develops. A focus on current and future impacts and applications will help you build a framework for the actions you should be taking now in your organization.

What’s an unconference? It’s a format designed to maximize peer-to-peer learning. While our impressive roster of experts will inspire us in our general sessions, this part of the conference prioritizes the significant value of the wisdom Page member participants bring to the event. There are no scheduled speeches, workshops, or panels in the unconference. Instead, you, the participants, bring topic questions to explore, an “agenda” is designed on the spot, and everyone self-organizes into conversations to collaboratively explore the issues through lively conversations. Everyone is free to move between conversations throughout the unconference period. Does it sound too unstructured and chaotic? No worries! There is a “liberating structure” to make it all work. We’ve very successfully used this approach in previous Page events and judging by our past evaluations, you’ll be surprised and pleased with these fun and informative sessions.

This panel will provide a prismatic perspective on combating polarization in political discourse, including the forces of populism, and the quality and accuracy of information. Patricia Audi left her position as a corporate communicator to lead Renova BR, a Brazilian NGO focused on training aspiring politicians how to engage in effective dialogue and reduce polarizing politics in Brazil. Ken Mehlman was Campaign Manager for President Bush's successful 2004 re-election campaign. Now a partner at KKR, he focuses on public policy, geopolitics, sustainability, and commercial solutions to global challenges. Outside of work, Ken is very active in bipartisan social reform efforts. Former Editor-in-Chief for The Wall Street Journal, Matt Murray will offer his perspective from the crucial juncture of journalism, politics, and business. You will leave this session with a wealth of ideas on how to effectively navigate political polarization with integrity and positive impact.

Andrew Willis, one of Canada’s top business journalists and a former senior vice president of communications, will sit down with Susan Senecal, one of the CEOs included in his new book, Unprecedented. Together, they will examine the extraordinary leadership demands on organizations during and after the pandemic. In 30 years at the company and five as CEO, Senecal has helped position A&W at the leading edge of ESG themes such as food quality and supplier transparency. With this unique long-term perspective, she will discuss how the social reckonings of recent years have changed her own approach to leadership – and how the role of CEO is evolving with radical shifts in the business environment.

While research consistently proves that diverse organizations thrive, there are still many barriers to inclusion. This provocative conversation brings together two leaders building stronger relationships between business and underrepresented communities. Dahabo Ahmed-Omer will discuss initiatives such as BlackNorth’s CEO pledge - a public commitment by CEOs that their companies follow seven specific actions to address anti-Black racism. Michael Jacobs will showcase how the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) helps align the Indigenous business community with the global economy. This session will inspire and activate ideas to enhance your organization’s strategy and relationships with equity-deserving communities – for mutual benefit.

While many businesses talk about the importance of culture, few actually provide any sort of scaffolding upon which culture can be built and maintained. Author, Speaker and Producer Kelly Leonard says culture is an improvisational art. He will draw from his best-selling book "Yes, And," to provide a compelling and interactive session on how improvisation practices can help embed the kind of behaviors that promote an organizational culture that is fearless, caring and adaptable. He will share specific exercises and practices you can enact within your organization to demystify culture, creativity and innovation and build knowledge of how the principles of comedy can enhance your work culture.