Vanguard Magazine

40 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com See the full interview online Q What is a habit that contributes to your success? Persistent passion is a key habit that has served me well through my career. I am always fully engaged technically, aligning the talents of the company with the chal- lenges of the customer, and I passionately promote the way ahead both within and outside the organization. Q What is the one thing that has you most fired up today? Next Generation Training Systems have me really fired up today. The systems ap- proach to training is undergoing a minor revolution with the advent of Closed Loop, Self-Paced, and Performance-Based train- ing systems, enabled through Live-Virtual- Constructive (LVC) simulation-based con- tent. The impact of this is extraordinary, in terms of the potential to increase student engagement and as a result student reten- tion, to maximize student success rates, to optimize the learning time customized to the individual student's needs, and to truly optimize the expense of developing a trained professional. I have the opportuni- ty to lead a strong team in a world-leading training organization at a time when this transformation is taking place, and it is very exciting. Q What was your worst moment in your career? My worst moment in my entire career was missing out on a key promotion opportu- nity many years ago. However, like any challenge, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and I learned a lot about corporate dynamics that continues to help me perform better today. Q What was your aha moment or epiphany that you think will resonate most with our reader, tell us that story. A few years ago I received the opportunity for in-depth executive coaching from an excellent firm in the United States. This coaching lasted over a two year period, and was very intrusive and personal, and very effective. Mid-way through this pro- cess, once my coach got to know me and the entire executive team members very well, the coach made a comment which for me was an "A-HA" moment. He said… "Mike, it is important for any exec- utive to truly understand their role within a corporate team, as it relates to leveraging their strengths to maximum effectiveness. I think your role at the executive table might be to make everyone else around the table stronger. In your case, it's not as much about you and your growth, it's about your interaction with others and how you lift their growth". That was a key moment for me, that has had a large impact on how I lead people and teams, and work with people across the organi- zation. Q Step back and analyze your journey. What is the take away you want to give to our audience? I think there are a few key takeaways from my journey…First, is that establish- ing a strong technical competence early in your career can serve you well all the way through. Second, always share the mindset of the customer, think like they are think- ing, share their goals and objectives, and align your business to that. Third, "size doesn't matter", in that the size of the organization you work for does not mat- ter. My early years in small business really taught me to "own" responsibility and to understand all aspects of the business. Q What are the biggest impediments to innovation in today's enterprise? One of the biggest impediments to inno- vation is resources. A company committed to innovation must dedicate the financial resources, which in turn dedicates the hu- man resources, to the innovation process for both near term and medium/long term advances in their capability and of- fering. Fortunately, I get to work at a company that does that. Q What technologies, business models, and trends will drive the biggest changes in your industry over the next two years? Integrated Live-Virtual-Constructive sim- ulation environments, enabled through cyber-secure distributed simulation net- works, will drive significant change over the next two years. In addition, closed- loop, performance-based training system management frameworks will have a large impact on training system design and op- timization. Q What is your parting piece of advice? "Own it". If every person, at each layer, of any organization had a grip on their role and the strategy of the company, and they truly "owned" their piece of it, an or- ganization would be untouchable. Mike Greenley VICE-PRESIDENT aND GENERal MaNaGER CAE CAnAdA

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