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The École
des Hautes Études Commerciales and Quebecor Inc. announced
today the inauguration of the Pierre-Péladeau Chair of Leadership.
The first chair created as part of the funding campaign A World
of Projects – a joint initiative of the Université de
Montréal, the École des HEC and the École Polytechnique
– the Pierre-Péladeau Chair of Leadership will receive
a $1.5-million contribution from Quebecor Inc. over the next five
years.
The director of the HEC, Jean-Marie Toulouse, confirmed that “the
HEC has been a frontrunner in teaching and research on leadership.
The first courses in this subject were given in 1972 by Pierre Laurin,
today an HEC executive-in-residence, who will preside over the orientation
committee of the new Chair. It is to be expected that a prominent
business school should take an interest in this complex human phenomenon.
Because whether it be political, administrative, intellectual, religious
or artistic, leadership is pre-eminent in the advancement of society.”
Pierre Karl Péladeau, CEO of Quebecor Inc. added: “Leadership
is an indispensable quality in commercial success; my father brilliantly
demonstrated this during his entrepreneurial career. It is a great
honour for me to participate, on behalf of Quebecor, in the creation
of the first chair of leadership in Canada.”
Orientation
of the Chair
Through original research, the Chair will contribute to a better
understanding of the leadership phenomenon. To this effect, monographs
of leaders will be published, case studies will be written and public
conferences will be given by opinion leaders, intellectual leaders
and senior executives. Basic texts will also be published on subjects
such as the role of creativity, the imagination and emotions, the
influence of the family and education, and the impact of new technologies,
money and authority.
The Chairholder, Professor Laurent Lapierre, said that “the
ideological orientation of the Chair will emphasize promotion of
individual responsibility as a premise for the well-being of the
community as a whole.” To stimulate open debate on this issue,
academics, opinion leaders and senior executives from diverse horizons
will be invited to participate in the Chair’s activities.
Dr. Lapierre hopes that the research findings of the Chair will
be broadly disseminated via new information technologies. In addition,
media such as CD-ROM and DVD-ROM will gradually house the Pierre-Péladeau
collection on leadership.
Presided over by Mr. Pierre Laurin, executive-in-residence at the
École des HEC, the orientation committee of the Chair will
comprise the following members:
_ Mr. Alain Bouchard, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO,
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.;
_ Ms. Sylvie Cordeau, Executive Advisor, Office of the President,
Quebecor Inc.;
_ Ms. Francine Harel Giasson, Full Professor, HEC;
_ Mr. Laurent Lapierre, Pierre-Péladeau Professor of Leadership;
_ Mr. Abraham Zaleznik, Professor Emeritus, Konosuke Matsushita
Professor of Leadership, Harvard Business School.
Three HEC professors will join the Chair from its inception. Francine
Harel Giasson, Veronika Kisfalvi and Patricia Pitcher, all associated
with the Department of Management, have several years of teaching
and research on leadership to their credit.
Quebecor Inc.
(TSE: QBR.A, QBR.B) is a communications company with operations
in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Company runs
its lines of business through two subsidiaries: Quebecor World Inc.
and Quebecor Media Inc. Quebecor World is the largest commercial
printer in the world. It operates close to 160 printing plants and
studios specializing in related services in 16 countries. Quebecor
Media is active in the following sectors: newspapers, integration
of Internet technologies, Internet portals, books, magazines, music,
video retail sales, business telecommunications and remote surveillance.
Subject to approval by the CRTC, its cable television and television
broadcasting are being controlled by trustees. Overall, Quebecor
Inc. has over 50,000 employees in 17 countries.
The École des Hautes Études Commerciales of Montreal
offers more than 25 management programs, from the bachelor’s
to the doctorate levels, to 10,000 students each year, approximately
800 of whom originate from over 60 countries. Its multidisciplinary
faculty comprises 190 full-time professors, many of whom are involved
with over 30 chairs or centres and research groups at the HEC. In
association with four foreign universities, the École is
a founding member of the AEA Alliance (Americas, Europe, Asia),
a unique inter-university partnership intended to offer businesses
training solutions that meet their globalization needs. The HEC
has earned EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation
from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD),
and is a member of the Conférence des grandes écoles
de France.
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