The pace and scope of change  are unprecedented in human history.The nature of business, of work, is changing radically. Established in Ottawa, Canada, the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership Inc. is a dynamic and innovative advisory firm that enables executives to excel in managing...

The purpose of an advisory board is to help a business gain new insights and receive excellent advice from experts, typically from different fields. An advisory board is not a decision-making body. Rather, its role is to serve as a forum for exploring new corporate opportunities by stimulating...

One of my coaching clients was struggling with one of the most difficult choices a leader must make. His company was growing quickly and some of his most trusted lieutenants didn’t have the necessary skills to foster exponential growth. The choice was stark: thrive by replacing loyal colleagues...

I am often asked what is purposeful leadership, and why is it the focus of the Bonar Institute? These queries have inspired me to revise an article I published on purposeful leadership following the founding of the Institute in December 2014. Based on my work with executives and the review of some...

Issue: The breadth and depth of risks facing businesses cannot be overstated. Seismic disruptions resulting from technological innovation and the instantaneous dissemination of data and information are transforming economies. Interconnectivity results in today's crises being truly global -...

As we all struggle to come to grips with the human and economic devastation caused by the ongoing evolving COVID-19 pandemic, the most insightful leaders are identifying ways forward. They are adept at adapting their organizations' established contingency measures to the unprecedented existential...

James de Gaspé Bonar Ph.D., CEC, PCC March 29, 2020 Issue: Running a business is predicated on two things: • Making decisions • Executing the decisions made well The importance of rational, effective decision-making in a crisis cannot be overstated and the biggest impediments to making such...

Issue: The current pace of change is unparalleled in human history. This is due to exponential technological advancements coupled with the instantaneous dissemination of data and information in our interconnected world. The increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning...

Our org chart has so many vacancies that our senior people have to fill multiple roles. And, in some cases, they’re even unaware of all their managerial responsibilities! Does, this situation sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. Many organizations are reeling in the turbulence of...

The role of an executive in today's global economy is not for the faint of heart. The pace of economic, technological and social change is unparalleled in human history. Executives must also keep pace with a flood of instantaneous gathered, disseminated and analyzed data and information. Many are...

"Leadership is influence." - John C. Maxwell, New York Times Best Selling author One of my clients recently shared with me her frustration on being passed over for a promotion in her hoped-for ascent up the corporate ladder. A very capable executive, she is well-liked and would appear to have all...

During the Q & A session after a talk on Success Through Purpose & Service, I was asked to elaborate on my comments on servant leaders, specifically in business. Below is an expanded version of my response. All organizations need leaders to provide focus, purpose, strategy and...

"I hate to have to speak to you about this Paul [all names have been changed]… but I feel I have to... I can't go on like this… Sarah's bullying is too much for me". Sarah reports to Paul and is his star performer. "She often humiliates me in team meetings: 'You're dropping the ball Jake! You're...

Some of my executive clients share that they are attracted to the government by the desire to improve service to the Canadian public in a more cost-efficient way. They appreciate not being chained to quarterly results, allowing for more considered long-term goal setting. They complain, however,...

As I have previously written, organizations need to develop new ways of adapting to prosper in our complex, volatile and hyper-connected world. (See my August 27, 2017 article Surviving or Thriving? Prospering Through Purpose.) They need to foster greater corporate consciousness based on a...

As an executive coach, mentor and management consultant, I work with leaders who are required to manage complex legal and regulatory issues on a daily basis. In my experience, clients who have acquired a solid understanding of their legal responsibilities as managers - or owners – are more...

You can if you believe you can, and then others will believe you can. — Adapted from Virgil An old friend asked me recently how many of my coaching clients can tell their value story convincingly? I asked him what precisely he meant by value story. He responded that in his experience as a...

I was speaking recently with a former colleague who is between jobs. He is an experienced and highly respected senior executive who is struggling to know what to do next. He shared that he wasn't particularly happy in his previous job, and that he wants his next opportunity to have purpose and...

The current pace and scope of global change are unparalleled in human history. This dramatic upheaval is largely due to dizzying technological development that enables instantaneous global sharing of information. Moreover, the world order established after World War II is also undergoing a seismic...

If you are in a rut and feel stuck in your job, you are not alone. Research shows that up to 40% of managers and executives in the US are dissatisfied in their jobs (Pew Research, October 6, 2016). There are many reasons for this dissatisfaction ranging from stress, issues with your...

Today's volatile and complex global economy creates significant corporate risks that executives must effectively manage and resolve. The most prominent risks are financial and cyber threats. Others, though, such as leadership, strategic and succession planning and execution, team building,...

James de Gaspé Bonar Ph.D., CEC, PCC June 18, 2017 Our approach to executive coaching is based on the firm belief that each client is unique and has specific needs, challenges, opportunities and practical goals. One size doesn't fit all! In our practice we have identified the risks and benefits of...

The pace of change we are currently experiencing is unparalleled in human history. This is due in large part to exponential technological change coupled with the instantaneous dissemination of ideas and information across an increasingly connected world. (See Duleesha Kulasooriya and Maggie Wooll,...

One of my coaching clients asked me recently if a company can have a soul. This question is very common in today’s fiercely competitive business environment - witness a recent search on Google came up with over 100 million results. Based on my experience with executives and a review of the best...

This is the fifth and final post in our series on stakeholders’ value creation in volatile times. It deals with the threats and opportunities the environment poses to economic sustainability. The Threat: Innovation, technology and resource conservation are core sustainability issues to business...

This is the fourth in a series on stakeholders’ value creation. The case of customers as stakeholders appears self-evident. Simply, a company cannot exist without customers. The purpose of every business centers on creating customer value. Forgetting that customers are the ultimate decision makers...

This post is the third in a series on stakeholders’ value creation in volatile times. As traditional and social media unfailingly reiterate, we are living in turbulent and potentially dangerous times. Traditional spheres of political and economic power are mutating rapidly. Established values are...

This post is the second in a series on Stakeholders’ Value Creation. Large publicly traded multinationals are considered by some to be the real centres of power of the global economy in the 21st century, where technology and innovation are integral to success (See James McRichie, The Individuals...

The primary goal of CEOs is to leave a meaningful legacy, something greater than themselves and the organizations they lead. They aspire to accomplish the extraordinary. Today’s legacies differ from yesterday’s. We are in the midst of a historic transition where old paradigms are giving way to new...

At the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership, we work with executives who are dealing with the demands of increasingly complex problems in a volatile and uncertain global economy. The most recent example is the immediate and dramatic global reaction to the “Brexit” result. In the past, issues...

The dynamics underlying the everyday business situations of companies in early stages of development is a particular focus of the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership. We are currently working on developing an effective and practical customized Leadership Risk Mitigation Program to help...

In our volatile, uncertain, complex and inter-connected world, the challenges facing corporate executives are often outpacing their cognitive abilities. This is undermining the sustainability of companies across North America, Europe and Asia. The need to find the right leader to navigate their...

The challenges facing today’s corporate leaders often outpace their cognitive abilities. Errors, failures and chaos are an everyday occurrence in the life of an organization – some are small, others are catastrophic such as the 2008 Wall Street debacle. Calamities occur because executives are...

Corporate governance is under increasing scrutiny. Intense competition, a shifting marketplace, increased regulatory review and activist stakeholders - these are the hallmarks of the myriad complex challenges facing today’s corporate boards. Directors are the stewards of their corporations. They...

Many believe that business leaders have the requisite competencies to manage their companies capably. Ah, but do they? At the Bonar Institute for Purposeful Leadership we see many clients struggle, some stumble, as they move into new management positions. In a recent issue of The Economist...

Today’s headlines point to an economy in a state of unusual volatility and uncertainty. The ongoing energy sector meltdown, the decline of metals, minerals and gold prices, weak aggregate demand, as well as a Chinese growth and currency crisis have all been contributing factors. The mixed global...

In my coaching practice, I encounter executives who are confronting unexpected crises, some which even threaten the ongoing sustainability of their businesses. The pressures on these leaders are great. They feel an urgency to act - quickly - to mitigate the risk to their organizations; and, longer...

In my coaching practice, I see organizations struggle because they fail to offer key executive hires the support they require to successfully integrate into their new organization, their new position, and to learn the intricacies of the corporate culture. This support is a process called executive...

In a world that is becoming ever more turbulent and complex, organizations are pervasive and dominant. The challenges facing leaders often outpace their cognitive abilities. Indeed Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal (Reframing Organizations, 2003) speak of the “curse of cluelessness” that afflicts many...

What a wonderful metaphor for the coaching experience. As the sacred practice of alchemy transforms base metal into gold, and transmutes physical consciousness into higher awareness, the experience of being coached by a master fosters the personal and organizational transformation of even the most...

"Ruthless compassion” may appear to be an oxymoron. But, if we think of it as a form of “tough love” adapted for executive coaching, it takes on real meaning. The role of an executive coach is to ask powerful questions and to provide meaningful feedback in the form of observations and assessments....

As an executive coach, I recognize the importance of work-life balance. I even offer a program to help stressed-out executives manage the tension, often dynamic but sometimes toxic, between work and personal time. Then one day, a prospective client told me pointedly: “There is no balance where I...

During a recent coaching session, an executive complained of a phenomenon in her company that is limiting revenue growth: younger employees’ poor sales skills. We explored a number of possible reasons for this ranging from inadequate hiring practices to the need for better training to improved...

In the past while, a number of my executive coaching clients have shared with me their experiences with skill shortages and ageism. Only a few years ago, the world was, some say still is, facing an unprecedented war of talent and competencies. Two critical shifts in workforce demographics were...

One of the mantras we hear most often in business is that we need to innovate in order to compete and to be viable. In scouring the best thinking on business innovation, we have discovered that innovation is not a revolution; it is evolution and execution. It is the successful implementation of...

An executive once shared with me the debilitating stress, the pain, he was experiencing in his work environment. He wondered how he could continue to lead his organization when he was feeling as badly as he did… And his deep-seated, unspoken, fear was that he couldn’t. Leadership has been...

James de Gaspé Bonar Ph.D., CEC, PCC January 23, 2015 I am often asked what is purposeful leadership, and why is it the focus of my institute? Based on my work with executives and the review of some of the best thinking on the subject, it has become clear to me that purpose is central to...