Lessons in Leadership

By Warren Lang ’88

Photography by Nation Wong

Crescent Head Boys across four decades reflect on the value of collaboration, listening and diverse perspectives

Hussein Jaffer '04 at Toronto Western Hospital.

Anyone looking for insights about leadership might not immediately think to ask a radiology resident. But then Hussein Jaffer ’04 isn’t your typical medical practitioner.

In 2008, after completing an undergraduate degree at McGill in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Jaffer enrolled in the Master of Health Science in Health Finance and Management program at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Maryland. While there, he studied leadership with professors who were actively involved in the systemic transformations initiated by the early Obama administration. Jaffer also spent two years with Deloitte’s Health Care consulting unit in Boston, advising leadership teams in large health systems and health-care organizations. So when he returned to Canada in 2010 to begin medical school at the University of Toronto, Jaffer knew some things about leadership.

“People come from a wide variety of backgrounds, which forces you to take a step back and understand their perspective,” he says. “Empathizing with your team and really understanding the motivation behind each individual's actions helps you provide insightful leadership.”

For his residency, which will wrap up next year, Jaffer is specializing in Interventional Radiology – the use of imaging technologies to enable minimally invasive surgical procedures. Spending the bulk of his time in operating rooms has helped refine his thinking.

“As a surgeon, you work with a team that includes other physicians, nurses, technologists and an anesthesiologist,” he says. “Your job is to guide them by realizing that everybody has their own objectives for that particular surgery and patient. If you can relate to them, you can adapt as a leader and harness those perspectives in the best interest of the patient.”

Jaffer’s insights align with the ideas of two other alumni who, thanks to the double cohort when Crescent phased out Grade 13, were the only co-Head Boys in Crescent’s history: John Reucassel ’87 P’19, ’24, ’27 and Brian Lang ’87.

John Reucassel '87 is CEO of International Group Inc.

After earning degrees from Queen’s and McGill universities, Reucassel worked his way up to Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets. Meanwhile, he remained closely connected to the family business his grandfather founded in 1943, International Group Inc., the largest independent wax producer in the world. Reucassel’s closest connection to the firm was his brother and best friend, Ken Reucassel '83 P'19, who joined the company in 1993 and rose through the ranks to become CEO. The brothers often talked about working together. When life threw them an unexpected curveball, they finally did.

In November 2013, Ken was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, prompting John to speed up his plan to join the firm. From March 2014 until Ken’s death in November 2015, the brothers worked closely together to transition the leadership of the company.

“In an ideal world, I would have had 10 years to learn the business,” says Reucassel. “But life doesn’t always give you what you want. Ken and I had about 18 months working together. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about the business and the remarkable work my brother had done.”

Along with the personal and professional challenges of the transition, the firm also faced rapid consolidation within the industry, which thrust Reucassel into managing six acquisitions in four years. During those hectic years, he honed his view that leadership begins and ends with empowering people to do their part in achieving the company’s strategic and operational goals.

“My style is to treat people fairly and have a clear objective in mind,” he says. “Here's our goal and here are the people in charge of getting to that goal. What do they need to get there? Let's make sure they have it.”

Brian Lang '87 is President & CEO of Real Matters Inc.

Empowering and inspiring your team is a given for Brian Lang, who became President of Mastercard Canada in 2015, a role that he held until late June of this year, when he began as President and Chief Operating Officer of Real Matters Inc.

“A decent leader realizes that it's actually not about you, it's about the people around you,” says Lang. “I'm a guy from the camp that says culture eats strategy every day. The biggest piece is to let the employees be the ones to shape the culture.”

When he first arrived at Mastercard, Lang held 90 conversations in 90 days with key team members and used the insights he gathered to rapidly change the culture. With him at the helm, the organization became a global leader both within the enterprise and in the payments space, virtually eliminating employee turnover and reaching #9 on the Best Workplaces in Canada 2019 list. Reflecting on the leadership elements that contributed to this progress, Lang points to several of his leadership principles.

“Listening is critical,” he says. “It's really genuine. It’s taking people's points of view and filtering them in with yours, as opposed to having yours as the standard.”

Additionally, Lang points out that success flows from building a cohesive team that embraces diverse perspectives. “I don't hire people who are like me,” he says. “That’s not what we need. We need people who are really good at things that I’m not good at.” He also believes that while the ability to coach is an expectation of leaders, it’s equally important that they are coachable.

Paul Gorrie '94 at Moss Sund Architects, Toronto.

This emphasis on cohesive teams is familiar to another Head Boy who travelled a unique path after graduation: Paul Gorrie ’94. After undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture at McGill, Gorrie worked for two years building sets for the Centaur Theatre company in Montreal. He then moved back to Toronto and spent six years apprenticing as a custom cabinet maker, all while playing guitar and writing music in several bands. Then, eight years ago, he decided to return to his roots and now works at Moss Sund Architects in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood.

With creativity as a focus in his professional life and personal interests, Gorrie has ample experience with collaboration. “You have to be able to advocate for your ideas, while at the same time being incredibly receptive to other ideas and making them all work together,” he says. “You have to be a really good communicator and a really good listener, because you need to understand where people are coming from.”

Fueled by his creative experiences and several positive relationships with mentors and leaders, Gorrie has continued to refine his own thinking about leadership. “I try to give people confidence, try to remove stress, so they can be the best version of themselves,” he says.

Naveen Gupta '15 is starting medical school at Georgetown University this fall.

Though a generation younger, these insights about leadership are shared by Head Boy Naveen Gupta ’15. During his recently completed bachelor’s degree in medical science at Western University, Gupta participated in student leadership, was heavily involved in theatre, and remained active in his favourite sport, hockey. Now, he is starting medical school at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. in the fall.

“I have learned that leadership is caring about the teamwork and how individuals are working together toward the goal,” he says. “It’s focusing on the process and having the capabilities to ensure that no matter what challenges arise, the goal is still in mind.”

This perspective came into sharper focus for Gupta recently when he took on the challenge of writing and directing a student play. “Leading in an artistic context requires a delicate balance of hearing and integrating diverse perspectives while maintaining that steadfast journey toward a common goal,” he says. “It was an invigorating and invaluable experience for me.”

These five Head Boys from across four decades have had a diverse array of personal and professional experiences, yet they share a common perspective on leadership: understand people, build a cohesive team and harness the power of diverse perspectives. These themes echo an insight from John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”