Sinking deeper into the red ink, the Stratford Festival was facing dark times when Anita Gaffney, EMBA ’02, took the reins as Executive Director in 2012, with Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino.
Although Gaffney’s impressive leadership saved the Festival from a $3.4-million deficit, 11 MBA teams from across Canada were taken back to 2012 and challenged by the Stratford Festival case at the third annual East Meets West MBA Leadership Case Competition.
Hosted at Ivey February 2-4, the competition is a joint venture between Ivey’s Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership and the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. It featured two cases: one on the Stratford Festival with Gaffney, and another on the City of Calgary with Jeff Fielding, Calgary’s City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer. The City of Calgary case dealt with whether or not to implement proximity-to-rail guidelines that might limit urban development.
In round one of the case competition, mixed student teams from four different schools were challenged to balance the fiscal demands of the organization, while demonstrating good leadership qualities and teamwork. On the second day, students were reunited with their home university teams to complete round two, and prizes were awarded to the finalists. The first-place team received $1,000, and second place received $500.
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Mixed teams and a new perspective
The students shared their vision for the Stratford Festival with Gaffney and a panel of judges. After working alongside the student teams, Gaffney said she was impressed by the students’ ability to adapt into mixed teams and focus their strategies so effectively during the competition.
“Working on a team is essential to any business and a real skill to master,” she said. "I run an organization with thousands of people. I can work 24 hours a day trying to move a mountain, but if you can convince 1,000 people to move a mountain, it’s incredible what you can do!”
The foundation of leadership
After the first round of competition, Gaffney shared her strategies for the Festival, which were focused on stability and innovation. Now the internationally-recognized Festival boasts more than 500,000 ticket sales annually and an operating surplus of $800,000.
She revealed three keys to effective leadership:
- Have some humanity.
As a leader, relating to people is important, said Gaffney. You have to make the tough decisions and have the hard conversations. Showing that you really care makes those conversations much easier. You also need to understand your stakeholders. You can present a solid plan and prove its financial viability, but if you aren’t sensitive to your stakeholders’ needs, they won’t stand behind your strategy. - Be passionate.
You must have passion and energy for what you are doing and real passion cannot be fabricated, she said. It’s that passion that gets others to come along on your journey and motivates them to stand behind you in difficult times. Even if it’s the wrong strategy, if you’re passionate, you’ll get where you’re going. - Don’t stray from the path.
Have a real vision for an organization and be relentlessly committed to it. Gaffney said it’s easy to get dragged off course by others, but straying off the path confuses your team. Instead, stay on track and be clear about your priorities.
And the winners are…
First place:
Saint Mary’s University, Sobey School of Business:
Santiago Behar Gomez
Sascha Hamilton-Miller
Haley Maillet
Pallav Parikh
Advisor: Ethan Pancer
Second place:
University of Victoria, Peter B. Gustavson School of Business:
Bodie Elliott
Gozde Ozbilim
Nikheel Premsagar
Ankit Sarage
