Dr. Janet Morrison

Speaking topics

Presentations listed below include in-person and virtual keynotes, as well as workshops, fireside chats, and other presentation formats.

• Flourishing vs. Floundering

  Mental health is the parallel pandemic of 2021. Mental illness or substance abuse affects 1 in 3 Canadians and costs our economy billions in hard costs and lost revenue.

  As an educator, researcher, and chief executive officer, Dr. Janet Morrison’s professional life has been singularly focused on cultivating and leveraging human potential. Her mission is to enable and empower people and organizations to achieve their goals.  All of that, however, is at risk if leaders and/or organizations fail to embrace their accountability for promoting and sustaining positive mental health. Simply: wellbeing is foundational to learning, succeeding, and thriving at work and in life.

  Drawing on 35 years of experience leading and transforming large, complex organizations, Morrison speaks passionately and compassionately about the moral and economic imperative to move people from “floundering” to “flourishing”.

• Transformative Leadership

  An organization achieves more and has greater influence when it eagerly and authentically collaborates internally and with external partners.  Simply: when people have a seat at the table, a sense of belonging, and feel valued, they perform at a higher level.

  For over 35 years, Dr. Janet Morrison has been leading large, complex learning organizations to achieve amazing and unexpected results — within and beyond the institution. Even in the face of significant challenges and constraints, she fuels a trailblazing ethos that drives transformation.

  A disciple of self-reflection and often one of very few women in a room, Morrison shares stories of success and failure in her journey to practice transformative, feminist leadership that is inclusive, authentic, and powerful.

• Fueling the New Economy

  As the world contemplates its recovery from COVID-19, the imperative to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration has never been more pressing. With increasing urgency, global leaders are warning of a looming talent crisis and heralding creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving as emerging, core competencies.  Similarly, multiple studies focused on the future of work laud cultural awareness, emotional intelligence, good judgement, and resilience as foundational to career success. The world is changing, so too must legacy approaches to training and developing talent.

  As the President and Vice-Chancellor of a large, multi-disciplinary post-secondary institution renowned globally for an ethos of trailblazing, Dr. Janet Morrison is an educator, thought leader, and change agent. She has spent 35 years leading learning communities in Canada and the United States dedicated to preparing the talent of tomorrow to meet the realities of a complex world.

• Privilege

  Unexamined privilege threatens to continue undermining expressed commitments to equity and inclusivity. Acknowledging, dissecting, and thinking critically about the unearned advantages that each of us enjoys as a function of our identity or identities is crucial to truth, reconciliation, and social innovation.

  On International Women’s Day in 2016, Dr. Janet Morrison wrote an OpEd for the Toronto Star and announced to the world that she was a survivor of gender-based violence.  Ultimately, the perpetrator was found guilty of Menacing by Stalking but the path to that outcome — all too rare in instances of sexual violence — was incredibly difficult.

  With stark candor, Morrison recounts her lived experience and reflects on the role privilege played in her survival and triumph. Leaders will learn how the experience continues to fuel her unwavering commitment to equity, inclusivity, and justice for all.