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Courtney Pratt
SPEAKER
Courtney Pratt

Top CEO and authority on ethical leadership for successful business.

Is it possible for companies to stay human and still have a bottom line? Being honest and ethical is not corporate social work. It is a business imperative in today's marketplace. Executives and managers, board directors, labour leaders and all those interested in the inner workings of corporations can tackle this paradox and be successful leaders and also have a bottom line.

As one of Canada's top CEO's Courtney Pratt knows firsthand how companies and individuals can re-imagine the business world as a place in which conscience and empathy count.

When Canadian steel manufacturer Stelco, Inc. went into bankruptcy protection in early 2004, Pratt was the man they hired to clean up the mess. With his reputation at stake, he determined that survival for Stelco meant keeping the company alive as he ethically reconciled the competing interests: 6,000 jobs, 10,000 pensions, the struggling economy of a company town, and the egos and pocketbooks of lawyers, investors, union leaders, politicians and hedge fund managers - each with a special interest to flog and no interest in compromise.

In 2008 Pratt authored the business book Into The Blast Furnance: The Forging of A CEO's Conscience. Douglas Bell, author and former features editor at Canadian Business Magazine called it "An original, dare I say, unique work of art and intellection. Part thriller, part memoir, part history, and for all that I guarantee the best damn business book you'll read this year."

ACHIEVEMENTS
Member of the Order of Canada
Honorary Doctorate from Royal Roads University
Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Region Research Alliance
Chairman of Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions
Director of Moosehead Breweries Limited
Director of 407ETR
Member of the Ontario Advisory Council of Telus.
Past Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Stelco Inc.
Past President and Chairman Noranda Inc.
Past President and Chief Executive Officer of Toronto Hydro

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Founding Chair of The Charter for Business of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards in Canada
Director of Canadian Policy Research Networks
Director Canadian Council on Learning
Director Toronto City Summit Alliance
Director and Past Chair of The Learning Partnership
Past Chair of the Board and Past Chair of the Campaign of the United Way of Greater Toronto
Past Chair of the Board of the United Way in Calgary
Past Director of Career Edge
Past Director of the Toronto Board of Trade.
Past Chair of Imagine
Past Director of the University Health Network

Speaker's Topics

  • Crisis Leadership
  • Leadership in Business: Conscience and Empathy Do Count
  • Working Together: The Role Leadership Plays
  • The Dynamic Tension Between Ideas and Solutions
  • Winning Conflict Resolutions and Negotiations
  • Integrity, Strategy, and Success
  • The Challenge of Multi-Stake Holder Organizations
  • Governance: A Burden or Competitive Advantage

Speaker Reviews

"No matter how deep the alligators, Pratt never forgot that although Stelco was not a swamp he created, it was his job to drain it - without sacrificing decency and basic human principles. Imagine in this day and age a corporate CEO who actually cared about the people whose lives would be affected, possibly ruined, by the decisions of number-crunchers who looked no further than the bottom line!"
- Richard W. Pound, Chairman, World Anti-Doping Agency

"An original, dare I say, unique work of art and intellection. Part thriller, part memoir, part history, and for all that I guarantee the best damn business book you'll read this year."
- Douglas Bell, author of Run Over and former features editor of Canadian Business

   

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Speaker's Books

Into The Blast Furnace
Into the Blast Furnace
The Forging of a CEO's Conscience
(written with Larry Gaudet)