Alumni Association of Lakehead University

Profiles in Leadership: Glenn A. Miller (BSc'69, Grad.Dip. Bus.'69)

PenEquity Management Corporation

PenEquity is a Canadian company that has undertaken retail and entertainment development projects in excess of 4.2 million square feet, including Toronto Life Square, a 500,000 square-foot multi-use complex scheduled to open in the fall of 2007. The Toronto-based company was established in 1984 by its Chairman Glenn A. Miller (BSc'69, Grad.Dip.Bus. '69) who holds an MBA from the Ivey School of Business.

Success

Success to me is finding the balance between the professional and the personal life, and never losing sight of family being the highest priority. There are always times when the professional life has demanded exceptional time and effort, but success is keeping it all in perspective and being able to compartmentalize. It is also important to recognize that each of your team members needs as much of that balance as possible to be fully productive. If you have balance, you have success.

Challenges

I believe that the generic basket of required leadership skills is the same today as yesterday. What is different, in this truly global world, is the accelerated rate of change and the speed of communication. In a few decades we have gone from taking as long as years to change product lines, markets, manufacturing and production lines, and distribution to weeks, if not days. An acceptable response time, previously measured in days or weeks, has now shrunk to an expected immediate response. The challenge is how quickly and fully we embrace the new technology and then how best we control its uses and efficiency before it controls us.

Canadian Leaders

Canada is highly respected abroad, both in the public and private sectors. We have an exceptional culture and standard of living, a highly educated work force, and abundant natural resources. We embrace technology and, in fact, are on the leading edge of technology in many areas. We compete successfully on the world stage. by almost every competitive measurement tool, we have the credentials to take a leadership role in a global world. While it is not the Canadian way, we have earned the right to wave our flag more than we do.

Role of Higher Education

The key leadership skill that both higher education and experience develops is intelligence. Leaders develop intelligence over time. Higher education gave me the big skill - how to learn. But I know many individuals who figured it all out in the trenches. That being said, over the past few decades it has become more and more essential to take the university stepping stone, otherwise you end up with a disadvantage when starting your career.