It was a huge surprise in 1987 when Roger Wolf, Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies at the University of Toronto, called to inform me that the University of Toronto had created a Distinguished Business Alumni award for graduates of their business school who had distinguished themselves in their professional lives. The award in the photo now sits on my desk.
Graduate business schools tend to feed their students into major corporations, so I was surprised that my career building the CFIB as a voice for small business should get their attention.
At the ceremony, the Chancellor of the University, John Aird, made the presentation and his signature is on the certificate.
Over the 25-year period that I led the CFIB, I kept close contact with my old alma mater and professors John Crispo and Jim Poapst. I am sure I spoke to their students at least 25 times on the invitation of professors specializing in business-government relations, a common option in the MBA curriculum. And they all served as non-paid advisors. I cherished my friendships and took great pleasure watching the school of management grow in stature.
In 1995 they received a considerable endowment from Joseph L Rotman and a new home was built and the school renamed the Rotman School of Management. Within ten years the Rotman School at the University of Toronto was ranked in the top ten business schools in North America.
It was in 1962 that I went back to the University to take my MBA, and during a second year accounting course, the professor announced that an accounting instructor at the Ryerson Polytechnic had died and could someone step forward and finish the last three weeks of his term. Well I had never even heard of Ryerson, but that is how I ended up with a teaching position in 1963 at Ryerson.
Those of us who have been blessed with higher education are always smart to keep in contact with colleges or universities. It is the job of professors to do original research and original thinking on the issues of the day. And progress in life is always about adapting and accommodating change. So, if you are not super smart, hang out with those who are. Just one new thought can change your life.