Dr. Janet Morrison is a leadership and transformational change expert. As the president and vice-chancellor of Sheridan College, a post-secondary institution renowned globally for its ethos of trailblazing, she offers audiences insight into the in-demand competencies and skills needed in order to meet the demands of today’s economy.
Janet joined us for a virtual speaker visit to share what key characteristics she looks for when building her teams and how she equips her graduates to ensure their future success.
The first skill is creativity. It is the pre-cursor to innovation, entrepreneurship, and intraprenuership, Janet said. There is also evidence to support its positive cognitive impact on our brain and mental health, which puts it even higher on her list of in-demand skills because it serves multiple purposes, both personally and professionally.
While it may not be a typical skill that all professions look for, Janet ensures that it is taught across all programming at Sheridan College because, she says, it is the foundation to change and adaptability.
“Often, Sheridan gets pigeon-holed as the creative campus because we teach animation. Really creativity pervades across our programming, so we teach creative problem solving for example in our business programming, in accounting. And I often get feedback like ‘I don’t really want a creative accountant or I don’t really want a creative chemist’, but really creativity is about ideation and about exploring the world around you,” she said, “and about being a bit provocative to try and test boundaries and advance knowledge.”
Janet also believes self-awareness is another key skill for success because if you are aware of your strengths and limitations, than you can have strategies for compensating, and actually build teams whose differences make them stronger. It’s these wrap-around competencies that Janet believes builds strong leaders capable of managing change.
Watch the video below to learn more:
As an educator, thought leader, and change agent, Dr. Janet Morrison draws on her 35 years of experience leading communities in Canada and the United States to show audiences how to maximize human and organizational potential in order to meet the realities of our complex world.
Interested in learning more about Janet and what she can bring to your next event? Email us at [email protected].
