Bio: Francois has been the president and CEO of TC Transcontinental since 2008. Francois skated for McGill from 1985 to 1988 before graduating with a science degree in agriculture. Prior to thathe played junior for St. Jean and Verdun and was a draft pick for the Boston Bruins. His former coach, Ken Tyler, described him as “a very responsible up and down winger with good speed and puck skills. He was a terrific teammate and very popular and respected in the dressing room.”
Prior to joining TC Transcontinental, François worked as General Manager of Canada Packers. He is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. He also serves on the boards of directors of CAE, The Conference Board of Canada, the Flexible Packaging Association and the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, in addition to actively supporting Portage. In this regard, in 2018, the non-profit organization paid tribute to him as a distinguished Québec business leader on the occasion of the Soirée des Grands Philanthropes. Furthermore, Francois and his brother Martin recently contributed to create The Francois and Martin Olivier Athletics Award, that provides scholarships for francophone members of the McGill’s men's hockey program.
Show notes:
Favourite time at McGill:
Team building on the trip to Czechoslovakia
Book recommendations:
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Leave No Doubt – Mike Babcock
Quote:
Believe in yourself. Having your mind in the right place and having your head down and working hard can bring you a lot of success.
Advice:
Find people that you trust. Invest in surrounding yourself with the right people. Find mentors to give yourself a sounding board. Avoid isolating yourself. Early in your career keep an open mind to new experiences before choosing your true passion. There are many paths that lead you to where you need to go. Trust in “les bonnes etoiles”
Mentors:
Mentors make you think or ask you questions that make you reflect. Got a lot of peer mentorship from the McGill Hockey team. Conversely, when you get to be a mentor for younger people, often the mentor gets as much out of relationship as the mentee.
Leadership:
The followers take the values of the leader. When choosing your team/staff, first find out if their values match the organization. He looks for humility and tries not to be blurred by the talent.
“Any organization will only attain it’s maximum potential by unlocking the potential of each an every individual. Then, if they work together, the potential is multiplied by ‘x’. My job as a leader is to create the environment where everybody can unlock their full potential.”
Resiliency:
You have to believe in yourself no matter what people say. If you feel deep down that you are doing the right thing, then you will come out of whatever slump you are in. In tough moments, don’t isolate yourself. Being resilient is much easier when people are supporting you and giving you advice.
Pressure:
Prepare and work hard. Do the things other people aren’t willing to do. This will help you deal with pressure. When you are able to stay balanced in mind and body, you can go to bed at the end of the day and say “I did everything I could today”. At that point you can disconnect yourself and reset.
Mastery:
When you’re young, mastery is a lot in the eye of what other people say. As you get older, you realize that mastery is internal to you. You feel it when you are at the right place and you have done the right thing. Sometimes you feel like you are close, but you can always do better. When you are close to it, you should take the moments to enjoy it.
