University of Toronto - Dean Roger Martin Forum

Hi folks - I attended an event at UofT yesterday .. quite decently put together.

Happy to do a summary if folks have any interest. Havent seen any interest in Canadian schools and hence thought I would put it out there.

The forum for lack of a better word was hosted by University of Toronto and headlined with the presence of their Dean Roger Martin. Martin recently completed 10 years as the Dean and was reappointed for another 5 years (or so I believe)

He spoke for about 45 minutes on various topics and then entertained questions for roughly 30 minutes. The following are the salient points discussed (allowing for some leeway given my increasingly dicey memory)

• The vast improvement in the Rotman school over the last 10 years
• The creation and execution of the plan for ‘Integrative Thinking’ curriculum
• The impetus on moving the brand forward on a global basis
• The continued focus on Integrative Thinking and how far down the line he sees the evolution of the program
• The benefits of Toronto as a city and the possibilities resultant from being located in the heart of the Canadian financial capital
• The strengths of the program continue to be in Strategy and Finance

My Takeaways –

• His humility – Martin is an enormously accomplished man, both professionally and academically. He set up Monitor Consulting Canadian Operations and was a leading consultant for them for several years after doing his MBA from Harvard. In his latest avatar, he has been recognized as one of the leading thinkers in business circles for several years now and his last book has been received very well. Despite his accomplishments I found him to be carefully measured in the progress Rotman has made and needs to make.
• The progress on developing a global brand – I specifically asked this question given my long term interest in being able to move around. Martin indicated that a lot of improvements have been made in this regard but a lot more needs to be done. He did indicate that this takes a long time and that sustained investments on this front will lead rewards down the line. He mentioned recruiting trips to London and NYC as examples of what they are trying to do.
• Investments in Faculty paying off – The full time tenure track faculty numbers have grown three fold in Martin’s 10 year reign as the Dean. The quality of the faculty seems to be improving and there seems to be a real emphasis on bringing up and coming practitioners into the ranks.