CEO Ryan Beedie and his mother, Betty, are pictured at the Burnaby Hospital Foundation in Vancouver in 2023.Christopher Morris/Courtesy of family
If you want to understand what it takes to be a leader, just watch a mom in action. They’re masters of multitasking, managing difficult personalities and doing the bulk of the invisible labour that comes with running a family. In other words, they’re a great model for future CEOs. So, in honour of Mother’s Day, we asked 14 leaders of Canadian companies for the best advice they ever got from their moms.
Michael Katchen, CEO of Wealthsimple
My mom taught me entrepreneurship long before I knew what the word meant.
First, she taught me to try things before I felt ready. She’s a talented artist, and one of her hobbies was stone sculpting. She encouraged me to make sculptures with her, and after I’d made a few, she pushed me to build a portfolio and try selling them to galleries. I went door to door showing some truly awful figurines until one gallery finally took pity on me and bought one. Looking back, that was my first startup: Make something, hear “no” repeatedly, keep going and eventually make the first sale.
Second, she taught me resilience by example. She has faced serious health challenges in her life, but she is relentlessly tenacious. At 75, she’s still coaching founders, running a thriving psychology practice and now launching a new venture, Talk for Tech, to help companies build resilient teams. She’s shown me that entrepreneurship isn’t just about ideas or ambition – it’s about stamina, adaptability and continuing to build no matter your age or circumstances.
Sean Cohan and his mother, Delorie Rose Cohan, at his wedding in 2010.Courtesy of family
Sean Cohan, President of Bell Media
As a child, my mother counselled me, “You just do the right thing – don’t worry about anybody else.” She always modelled the importance of bringing positive energy and effort to improving our communities.
Growing up in a loving mixed-race family, which included my now-late sister with “special gifts,” we faced more than our share of slights and challenges. By proudly facing those head-on, Delorie Rose Cohan helped set a lifelong orientation among her children toward kindness, empathy, resilience and service.
Blake Hutcheson, CEO of OMERS (Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System)
My dear mom was an inspirational local volunteer actress and director in the small town of Huntsville, Ont., and a driving force behind community theatre for decades. Her advice to me when I started out in business, and particularly when I became a CEO, was this: “When on stage, stand with confidence. Hold your position. And no matter whether for that production you are a leading or supporting actor, don’t hedge or show any sign of not being proud to be in that role. If you flinch, you spoil it for the cast, for the audience and for the integrity of the production.”
Janet Bannister and her mom, Sally, at a Toronto Region Board of Trade dinner in 2023.Family photo/Supplied
Janet Bannister, managing partner of Staircase Ventures
My mom taught me to be strong, self-reliant and tough. She used to say, “If you can read, you can do anything – because you can learn what you need to know.” My mother also gave me unconditional love, which provided me with the courage to try new things. Her advice was always to trust myself and take on new challenges and adventures.
Ryan Beedie, CEO of Beedie
My mom, who turns 92 on May 11, has always been there for me, unconditionally – even when I didn’t deserve it. But that’s just who she is. She extended that same grace to my friends, too, many of whom didn’t have the same support at home or the same advantages growing up. So more than anything, she taught me compassion and empathy. They’re values I still try to live by every day.
Nancy Southern, CEO of ATCO Ltd.
Always remember where you came from. Recognize that every job – no matter how menial or how strategic – has a person behind it who deserves equal recognition. Most importantly, always be true to yourself. Kindness is always a gift that costs nothing but means so much to so many.
Sports is the best teacher of resiliency and perseverance. Practise, practise, practise.
And be prepared to do the most menial tasks regardless of your position: My mom would bring the donuts in the morning and she would always make sure the bathrooms were clean and stocked.
Marg Southern, mom of Nancy, with her husband Ron in 1988.FRED LUM/The Globe and Mail
José Boisjoli, recently retired CEO of BRP Inc.
My mom passed away last summer at 92. She always worked closely with my father on our farm and she was always saying to us, “Do what’s right for the situation. Do what’s right for the business. Do what’s right for the family. Even if you have to make a tough decision, do it.” And that’s what I’ve tried to do at BRP – I have always done what I believe at the time was right for the company.
Jérôme Pécresse, head of Rio Tinto’s global aluminum and lithium business
My mother has always encouraged me to look for the positive in every situation and to see challenges as opportunities, and she still tells me that to this day. It’s a simple idea, but it continues to shape how I lead by helping me stay optimistic, grounded and focused on solutions, even in difficult or uncertain moments.
Brian Schmidt, CEO of Tamarack Valley Energy
She taught me to just keep working at it, be tolerant and patient, and you can make your way through anything. I’m number eight of nine kids, so she had her hands full – she had to be patient.
Vittoria Bellissimo, CEO of CanREA (Canadian Renewable Energy Association)
My mom was a nurse and a professor in pediatric oncology. Her lesson to me was to understand people’s stories. I didn’t appreciate this as a youngster, because no one appreciates their mom when they’re young. But when I went to her retirement party, everyone came up to me and said, “Your mom made it possible for me to get where I was going. Your mom let me sit in the back of my classroom and nurse a baby so I could get through nursing school. Your mom let me take passes on things and catch up later when my dad died.” She just understood where everybody was coming from, and she used that to help them be successful. She’s so great.
Motherhood, in all its complexity, is finally having its pop-culture moment
Jon McKenzie, CEO of Cenovus Energy
I’d say patience. My mother was infinitely patient and never overreacted to a moment in time. She always had a willingness and the patience to allow things to develop and only inserted herself when it was absolutely necessary. But patience would be the thing that I have taken from her, that I’ve embedded in my management style. My mother was a saint.
Chris Carlsen, CEO of Birchcliff Energy
My mom was definitely a worrier – she called herself a worrywart. She was super cautious and always saying, “Be careful.” So I think I always have that lens where I may be the opposite of carefree. My kids are now teenagers, and at every stage of life, it’s a different worry. When they’re young, you don’t want them to get hurt. Now it’s like, “Don’t do something stupid.” And then, all of a sudden, they’re on their own.
Megan Leslie, CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada
I went to Ghana on a cross-cultural exchange when I was 19, and my mum and I communicated with letters. She could tell from my letters that I was going through culture shock, and she wrote me a letter that said, “I’m really proud of you for taking this adventure. And always remember that even if you fall flat on your face, you are still falling forward.” That was a signal to me that I could go home if I needed to – getting on the plane was a step forward. It has made me a lot less scared of failure.
Adam Waterous, CEO of Waterous Energy Fund
My mother raised four kids on her own. I’m the youngest. Being the child of a single parent had a very big impact on me. She had a very modest income, but despite that, she was an extremely optimistic person. Even coming from a family that didn’t have a lot, optimism has carried me a long way. When you’re an entrepreneur, if you’re not optimistic, you’ll never be successful because you encounter so many negative things. You have to be a cup-half-full person. And my mother was very optimistic.