Think Big: The Case for Canadian Leadership in a Time of Economic Disruption

Canada at a Crossroads

In 2025, Canada faces an important economic crossroads. Global trade patterns are shifting, alliances are evolving, and geopolitical uncertainties are influencing markets in new ways. For decades, Canada’s prosperity has been closely tied to its role as a “branch plant” economy, largely reliant on the U.S. for trade, investment, and growth. While this model has provided stability, it has also limited diversification.

With new global dynamics emerging, Canada has an opportunity, and a necessity, to adapt. Exports in key industries are under pressure, supply chains are being tested, and productivity growth continues to lag behind many global peers. Staying on a “business as usual” path may mean missed opportunities. What is required is a refreshed approach to leadership: one that builds on Canada’s traditional strengths while also encouraging greater agility, ambition, and boldness.

What We Learned from Uncertain Times in the Past

Periods of disruption in Canada in recent years have shown how quickly individuals, businesses, and communities can adapt when circumstances demand it, such as during COVID. New technologies were adopted at scale, ways of working evolved almost overnight, and entrepreneurs stepped forward with innovative solutions to meet pressing needs. In those moments, Canadians demonstrated the ability to mobilize talent, creativity, and resilience in ways that exceeded expectations.

Yet as stability returned, many organizations naturally shifted back to more traditional patterns of decision-making and growth. While stability has its benefits, today’s economic environment places a premium on agility and responsiveness. The lesson is clear: the capacity to act with urgency and adaptability should be seen not only as a response to disruption, but as an ongoing strength for leaders to cultivate.

Rethinking Leadership for a Disrupted Economy

Canadian leadership has long been admired for its stability, professionalism, inclusiveness, and authenticity. These values remain vital. But they must be complemented by a new emphasis on speed, ambition, and growth.

The leaders Canada needs now must be prepared to:

• Think Big – Establish bold visions and goals that go beyond incremental change. This means setting ambitious targets, pursuing new markets, and refusing to settle for ‘good enough’.
• Move with Speed – Cut through bureaucratic barriers to respond rapidly to shifting market conditions and opportunities.
• Take Calculated Risks – Balance ambition with informed risk assessment, ensuring decisions are bold but grounded.
• Mobilize Entire Workforces – Inspire and empower employees at all levels to contribute ideas, adopt new technologies, and drive change from within.
• Forge Strategic Partnerships – Collaborate with governments, industry peers, and global allies to unlock opportunities at scale.

For many industries, this is not a choice; it is the only way forward. Entire sectors are at risk if Canadian leaders do not embrace a more ambitious, outward-looking approach. At the same time, disruption creates opportunity. For small and medium-sized businesses, this is a once-in-a-generation chance to expand into global markets, diversify supply chains, and grow in ways previously out of reach.

The Role of Government as Enabler

Government at all levels will be central to Canada’s ability to seize this moment. Traditional approaches rooted in regulation and slow approvals will not be enough. Leadership in government must shift toward being an enabler of growth.

Key priorities include:

• Upgrading Infrastructure – Building modern, resilient supply chains that connect provinces and enable large-scale export expansion.
• Expanding Global Reach – Negotiating and operationalizing trade agreements while directly supporting businesses through matchmaking and export promotion.
• Developing Homegrown Champions – Investing in Canadian expertise and innovation to create domestic providers that can compete internationally and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.
• Encouraging Investment – Providing stability and confidence for private sector financing through public–private partnerships, direct government support, and regulatory certainty.
• Streamlining Processes – Overhauling procurement, approvals, and regulatory systems to remove unnecessary delays and unlock faster growth.

When governments step into this enabling role, they do more than support economic growth, they set the tone for a culture of urgency and ambition that can ripple across sectors.

How Schulich ExecEd Is Responding

As one of Canada’s top-ranked leadership education providers, Schulich ExecEd has long developed leaders across industries and sectors. We have emphasized enduring leadership competencies: authenticity, inclusiveness, talent development, and strategic thinking. These remain essential, but the context has shifted. Today, these skills must be applied with a new emphasis on urgency, speed, and ambition.

For these reasons, Schulich ExecEd is adapting its programs in order to enable leaders to succeed in this disrupted environment. Our approach blends traditional competencies with real-world use cases that reflect the challenges of 2025 and beyond. Participants not only learn what skills leaders need, but how to apply them in high-stakes and fast-moving contexts.

Schulich ExecEd’s evolving programs emphasize:

• Resilience and Growth Mindset – Equipping leaders to adapt to economic discontinuity with confidence and creativity.
• Mobilizing Workforces – Teaching leaders to engage employees at every level in driving innovation and accelerating technology adoption.
• Decision-Making in Complexity – Developing leaders to draw on the best advice, weigh risks, and make informed, ambitious decisions quickly.
• Building Culture – Creating organizational environments where accountability, engagement, and contribution are embedded in everyday work.
• Partnerships and Collaboration – Expanding leaders’ capacity to collaborate across sectors, governments, and global markets.
• Managing Change with Care – Balancing bold transformation with thoughtful attention to workforce impacts.

By anchoring these competencies in today’s disrupted context, Schulich ExecEd ensures leaders are not only prepared to manage change, but to drive it.

Thinking Big: The Way Forward for Canada

The lesson from challenging times in the past and today’s global realignment is clear: Canada is capable of rapid, ambitious transformation when the moment demands it. But we cannot afford to wait for crisis. We must make urgency a permanent part of how we lead.

Leadership development has never been more critical. At Schulich ExecEd, our mission is not to invent new competencies, but to reposition and contextualize them for Canada’s current challenges. Leaders who “think big” and act boldly will be the ones who secure Canada’s place in the global economy.

The future belongs to nations that adapt quickly, build ambitiously, and act with confidence. Canada must be one of them, and that will depend on the leaders we cultivate today.