Bill Clinton on Leadership at LEAD 2015

There was a very strong list of speakers at LEAD 2015. The conference boasted that it was a “platform to change the world by inspiring individuals, communities, organizations and governments to choose education, collaboration and ethical leadership instead of ignorance, indifference and violence.” And with a strong list of talented, insightful, and respected professionals in a variety of sectors on the docket, we were actively challenged to think differently about leadership.

Burden. Progress.

President Clinton talked with passion and purpose about the values of expression and inclusion as imperatives for true leadership. In stark contrast to what Clinton espoused, I have seen most leaders keep information from their teams, reserving delicate data so as not to burden those who need not own the decision making process. Clinton employed a different approach altogether.

Scorecard. Well-Being.

If, as Clinton espoused, leadership is defined by how you keep score, his premise of a people-centred scorecard makes a great deal of sense. After all, even one of the most popular Presidents of the United States cannot lead forever. Leadership is a baton that must be passed. If that is true, community matters. A leadership model driven by vision, explanation, inclusion and execution creates leaders. And what Clinton’s talk underscored for me was how little the leader mattered. It is the process of empowering others that makes a great leader. But the trick seems to require little ego, or at least an ego that gets its value from the well-being of the whole, rather than the aggrandisement of the few.

Deference. Transparency. 

Clinton didn’t make me want to follow him. He made me want to be him—a leader that deserves trust because my vision is centred on others, deference because I listen first and explain with transparency, respect because my decisions are inclusive of all stakeholders, and support because I execute the entire process with authenticity and purpose. I want to be a leader whose failures are still a success because I inspire future leaders and safeguard against communication breakdown. Clinton made me more afraid of disengaging than failure. In a short hour, I think he made me a better leader.

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by Juliana Trichilo Cina
I’m an academic at heart with a love for the practical. My time at the University of Toronto and Queens University were some of the best years of my life. Today, I am deeply involved with my work, family, friends, and insatiable need to learn. While my love for tradition runs deep, as a first generation Canadian, I am eager to usher in new ways of thinking. I love communications, gardening, technology, and folk music—I was once called a bundle of contradictions and I couldn’t agree more.

I’m a daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, reader, animal lover, and wannabe comedian. I live in Toronto with my husband, son, and pet rabbit.