September always feels like a month of new beginnings. This year, I spent a lot of it with students.
My first student-focused activity as Chancellor of Trent University took me to the Ontario Universities’ Fair. It was packed with young people and some parents, all excited about the next stage of their learning and their lives.
I loved their questions. They went beyond what to study to the university experience: the people, support, and opportunities that will surround them.
I’m especially proud that Trent is ranked #1 in Ontario for student services in Maclean’s 2026 rankings. At a time when young people are navigating so much change and uncertainty, how we support them matters.
I also returned to the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University for our annual Responsible Leadership Case Competitions.
Young people are entering a world where work and their futures are being reshaped by AI, geopolitical uncertainty, and growing inequality. We have a role to play not only in helping them develop the knowledge and capabilities they will need, but also in giving them hope for the future.
A student brought that home for me. She told me she had participated in many case competitions, but this one felt different. She saw industry leaders as judges, a leading business hosting the reception, and the business school dean and faculty engaged.
Then she said something that really touched me: “It shows me that your generation cares deeply about us. It makes me more hopeful about the future.”
What a reminder of what contribution can look like:
Sharing our experience, networks, and wisdom.
Helping young people build critical thinking, judgment, and empathy.
Investing our time in them and their future.
Responsible leadership takes on even greater importance as AI rapidly changes work and our lives. Critical thinking, judgment, empathy, creativity, curiosity, and relationship-building are among the human capabilities we need to strengthen. More human, not less.
You’ll find that thread throughout this month’s newsletter:
Responsible Leadership—More Human, Not Less: My learnings from SFU and TMU. For fellow P3Aers, I hope you’ll consider bringing an event like this to your alma mater or another university or college. More details in the newsletter.
Purposeful Third Acts: Moving from “What’s next?” to “How do I begin?” and Richard Muller’s work with Wisdom Bank, which pairs experienced professionals with nonprofit and social enterprise leaders.
Keeping work human: My conversation with Brigid Pelino, Chief People and Culture Officer at Definity, about how we help graduates and others entering organizations develop the capabilities they need as AI changes work.
The power of connection: What can happen when we bring not-for-profit and education leaders together and share generously with an abundance mindset.
I ended the month at a session with Professor Yoshua Bengio, learning more about the profound risks of advanced AI. His message was also about agency: we have choices about how AI is developed, governed, and used, and we can use our voices and influence to help shape where it goes.
Responsible leadership is about preparing young people for the future, and about the choices we make today to help shape the future they inherit.
Warmly,
The Purposeful Third Act Movement
From “What's Next?” to “How Do I Begin?”
Panelists sharing their experiences during the 2nd session of APEX’s “What’s Next? From Full-Time Leadership to your Purposeful Third Act” webinar.
In May, I wrote about the first of two conversations about life after full-time leadership with the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX).
The first session went deep into “the mindset shift”: what happens to our identity when the title disappears, reimagining the possibilities offered in our third acts, and why the old idea of retirement doesn’t fit anymore.
In September, we moved to the “how.” How do I start? Where do I look? How do I use my years of experience, relationships, and wisdom in this next act?
The second session got into those practical questions, and judging by the engagement and thoughtful questions from participants, these questions are clearly on the minds of many people.
Thank you to our panelists: Marty Carr, Danielle Lacasse, and Suzy McDonald.
The “how” clearly matters.
There are so many worthwhile things you could do after full-time, full-on work. The challenge is figuring out which ones make sense for you - and how you want to use this stage of life in service of something that matters.
One thing I’ve learned from my own third act is how much defining your purpose helps.
Your purpose is your why. It is the bigger reason underneath the things you choose to do. When you know what you want your life and contribution to be in service of, choices become clearer. A board role, advising a not-for-profit leader, mentoring someone, philanthropy, using your voice, opening a door—each becomes a different expression of the same deeper purpose.
And that’s exactly the opportunity in a Purposeful Third Act: to decide, with more freedom than we may have had before, what we want this next chapter to be in service of.
And that is an extraordinary opportunity.
So I’ll leave you with the same question we left with the APEX participants: If the next 20 years could be among your most impactful, what purpose would you want those years to serve?
Richard Muller: Putting Experience and Wisdom to Work
Richard Muller has spent much of his career building things.
As an entrepreneur, management consultant, and executive, he has started businesses, navigated mergers and an acquisition, and worked in a global organization. His career did not follow a traditional corporate path—and neither does his Purposeful Third Act.
Today, Richard is Founder and Board Chair of Impact United Academy. He is also part of the team that created Wisdom Bank, which connects experienced professionals with nonprofit and social enterprise leaders looking for strategic advice.
One unique feature is that its “wisdom lenders” work in pairs. Two people bring their experience and perspectives to an engagement, sharing the work and learning from each other along the way. I’ve never seen this before, and love the concept.
There is something very Purposeful Third Act about that.
You get to put experience and judgment to work on something that matters. You meet and learn from new people. You contribute alongside someone else rather than doing it alone. And, from what Richard tells me, the wisdom lenders are having a lot of fun.
Impact. Learning. Joy.
Richard’s story is also a reminder that a Purposeful Third Act can be a time to experiment. To try something new. To build with others. Some ideas will take hold, others may not—and that is part of the richness of this stage. There is freedom in not having to follow a linear path. You can be curious, entrepreneurial, and open to where your experience might be useful next.
Wisdom Bank is now looking to grow its bench of wisdom lenders, including in Ontario. If this sounds like something you might enjoy contributing to, learn more about Wisdom Bank here.
Leadership and Work in an AI World: More Human, Not Less
When AI Has an Answer, How Do We Practise Responsible Leadership?
With the winners of the Responsible Leadership Challenges at SFU and TMU.
As AI becomes more embedded in how we work and make decisions, one question matters more: How do we decide what matters?
I always look forward to September. It means back to school for me.
This month, I was back with MBA and master’s students for two Responsible Leadership Challenges I sponsor: year three at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, my alma mater, and year two at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University.
The cases were different, but seeing them side by side reinforced something for me. AI can increasingly give us analysis, options, and recommendations. It cannot decide what matters.
At SFU, students had to interrogate an AI-generated recommendation for a difficult business decision. What assumptions was it making? What was it optimizing for? What new information was it providing? What might it be missing? Whose interests needed to be considered?
At TMU, students had to decide how a knowledge-based role could be redesigned with AI as a tool. Where could AI add value? Where was human judgment essential? How would people be supported to learn, adapt, and trust the change?
These are questions of responsible leadership.
And responsible leadership is not about title. It is something all of us can practise.
That word, practise, matters.
Critical thinking, discernment, empathy, and judgment are not capabilities we develop by reading about them. We build them by wrestling with difficult choices, challenging our assumptions, hearing perspectives different from our own, creating friction, and making decisions when there is no perfect answer.
That is what these case competitions create space for.
And the feedback from students tells me it is making a difference.
TMU MBA student Nicholas Moustakas reflected: “From the faculty to the alumni coaches and judges, the industry leaders and Zabeen Hirji, so many incredible people gave their time to make this experience possible. I left proud of what my team accomplished and excited to keep learning alongside my fellow students.”
Three years into this work, it remains a highlight of my Purposeful Third Act portfolio.
Learn more about this year’s Responsible Leadership Challenges at SFU’s Beedie School of Business here and TMU’s Ted Rogers School of Management here.
HR Leaders: Elevating Impact
AI Is Changing Work Fast. How Do We Keep It Human?
A Conversation with Brigid Pelino, Chief People and Culture Officer, Definity
As AI changes work, what will people need to do differently—and which human capabilities will matter more?
I explored this with Brigid Pelino, who has led through significant growth and transformation.
Brigid believes AI will supplement talent in many roles, providing better information and insights while freeing people to spend more time building relationships and applying judgment. As knowledge becomes increasingly accessible, curiosity, collaboration, creativity, systemic thinking, empathy, humility, and business acumen will matter even more.
So will what Brigid calls an “insatiable learning hunger,” including learning to ask great questions of both humans and bots. And AI fluency can no longer sit only with the technology function. It is everyone’s job.
There is a tension to address. If AI takes on work through which people traditionally developed expertise and judgment, how will they build those capabilities? What happens to entry-level roles and the apprenticeship model through which people gained experience and, over time, wisdom?
We also need to hold on to what makes work human: connecting, learning from each other, teamwork, trust, and shared purpose.
For CPOs, this is both an opportunity and a responsibility. As Brigid says, HR has moved from seeking a seat at the table to helping shape the agenda.
Perhaps her most important reminder: “The soft stuff is the hard stuff.”
As AI reshapes work, keeping humanity at the centre may be some of the hardest, and most important, work leaders do.
Builders of Inclusive Prosperity
The Power of Convening, Connecting, and Collaborating
Bringing education and not-for-profit leaders together for an evening of connection, conversation, and shared learning.
Sometimes the value of bringing people together is not knowing exactly what will come from it.
I get so much joy from connecting people and seeing the magic that can happen.
There is a lot of alignment across their missions. I see a shared commitment to unlocking human potential and building more inclusive prosperity.
The communities they serve span high school and university students, newcomers to Canada, not-for-profit leaders, and prospective entrepreneurs. Different people at different stages, all looking for pathways for success.
One common theme was how AI is changing work and learning. We underscored the importance of elevating human capabilities in an AI world and responsible AI adoption.
The feedback afterwards said a lot:
“I learned so much.”
“We do similar work, yet we had never met before.”
“People shared so generously. I left energized by new ideas and possibilities for working together.”
“We have already built a collaborative activity.”
That generosity matters. It’s an abundance mindset in action: sharing what you know and who you know, believing we can accomplish more together.
And that’s what happened. New connections were made, ideas were shared, and collaboration has already started.
Sometimes collaboration starts simply: bring people with shared interests and goals together, come with an abundance mindset, share generously, and let the magic happen.
P.S. Perhaps the delicious Indian meal had something to do with it. 😊
