Ottawa, October 25 - In 2021, Stéphane Brutus moved from his position at Concordia University to serve as the Dean of the Telfer School of Management. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Dean Brutus to get to know him better and gain insight into his opinions on leadership, education, and his direction for the future of the Telfer School of Management. 

Born in Montreal, Brutus studied psychology for most of his academic journey. He received a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Bowling Green State University and a post-doctoral fellowship from the Center of Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. “So my expertise is not in business, interestingly. I've actually never taken a business course in my life,” commented Stephane, when prompted about his history in education, “I never set foot in a business school before being employed in a business school. My background is in psychology.” Brutus explained that despite being unfamiliar with traditional business education, his schooling and background have prepared him to lead an expert workforce to the best of their ability. “In leadership… you manage a workforce that is more expert than you,” referring to how even though a CEO leads a company, there are often activities happening at lower levels that extend far beyond their awareness. “If you think of a university or a faculty… we're really just an assembly of expertise and of people, right?” Thus, Brutus “trusts the experts” in matters outside his expertise, alluding to examples such as marketing or accounting. “I trust the professors, I trust the students, I trust the student clubs. My role is to orchestrate and give it some kind of direction.”

To be an effective leader, Brutus has many strategies to remain energetic. He states that he is always “conscious of bringing energy into [himself] in order to expand it in positive ways,” and he does this by taking care of himself, specifically through sleep, jokingly saying, “I sleep my eight hours, man.” Furthermore, the dean mentions how he “tries to eat well,” and he “tries to exercise [and] live a life outside of the school.” He highlighted the fact that to have various opportunities, one must live an active life outside of work. He states that these things collectively make him more effective as the dean.

“Telfer right now is a strategic cabinet made up of six individuals… they are extraordinary leaders, and those are my inspiration,” commented Brutus. He mentioned the success these individuals have obtained and the invaluable guidance they have provided him in his tenure, stating, “Those are the people that are really inspiring me because they have achieved so much… and I'm super honoured that they've taken time off [in] their busy lives to give me advice.”

When asked what his greatest successes were, Dean Brutus comments that he is proudest of his changes to the Telfer curriculum. “So, for the past three years, each one of our programs has been revised in a fundamental way. Undergraduate is probably the best example… there were no microprograms, [and the] undergraduate program was very contained.” To address this, through collaboration with the Vice Dean and the efforts from many professors to “put some oxygen in the curriculum to allow students to customize [their experience] a bit more like our competitors are doing,” he commented on the difficulty of this endeavour, saying, “The undergraduate program is 5,000 students. It's super complex. If you look at the nitty-gritty of moving students from one course to the next with the prerequisites and the different courses that make up the BCom, well, it was a labour of love.”

Expanding on how he opened up his programs, the Dean noted that all students are “looking for something that is unique to [their] aspirations.” He observed that today's students want a customized experience, stating, “It's almost like [customer behaviour], right? They want their latte with skim milk and two sugars and no ice or extra ice, and it's the same thing [when customizing a course sequence]. People have different tastes, and it’s up to us to accommodate them to the extent that’s possible,” laughed the Dean.

Another significant success for the Dean is the creation of an executive master's in healthcare administration. The program is designed to be completed entirely online with a one-week residential towards the end. “We're at the fifth cohort, so five different groups of students have gone through the program… and I think we have close to 50 students [who have gone through] the program,” commented the Dean, as he mentioned the continued success and growth of this EMHA program.

Dean Brutus provided insight into the many changes happening on the academic side of Telfer. One of Brutus’ goals is to ensure that there is a continuous bridge between research and practice while allowing for flexibility. This was especially prevalent when the Dean was working with committees, as there was a fear of change due to overanalysis, stating that “nothing [was happening] because [we’re] almost paralyzed by overanalyzing.” The Dean’s approach is more focused on doing the best we can today, with the understanding that they will revisit and tweak the curriculum regularly instead of forecasting it years into the future.

Another significant change was the adjustment made to make the "Greener, Happier, Wealthier, and Healthier Canada" initiative more relevant throughout Telfer. When the Dean arrived at Telfer, the “pillars existed and they were the product of a strategic exercise that took place right before the pandemic,” explaining how this initiative was to help Telfer better fit into the Ottawa business environment. The Dean recognizes Telfer’s role in the local ecosystem, as “[there are] two business schools in the city, a city of a million people, a city whose business community is thriving otherwise on the upswing in terms of the business intensity,” especially when it comes to industries such as technology and AI. The school has a symbiotic relationship with the business community, as they provide learning experiences for students and hire Telfer’s graduates, while Telfer supplies the community with well-prepared and educated individuals ready to contribute. The Dean discussed the importance of having this interaction for a business school and to “have these very permeable boundaries with the business community. Without them, we wouldn't be as strong as we are… without us, the business community wouldn't be as strong as it is,” and Stéphane added, “You can't throw a stone in downtown Ottawa without hitting a company that has a Telfer grad somewhere in the company, probably in a leadership role.”

“I must say that the post-pandemic was really difficult,” commented the Dean when asked about some of the disappointments he has experienced. Commenting, “Every week we didn't know [what was happening], especially [the] post-pandemic period [and] when the pandemic started to ease up… [we had] limited information,” stating that one of his most challenging decisions was in “the winter semester, we decided not to send our exchange students abroad, even though in some of these destinations… the post-pandemic restrictions were taken away… [it] was very frustrating for students.” Feeling for the loss many of these students felt, the Dean remarked how he “put [himself] in their shoes, right? You're finishing your university degree. You're supposed to go to Spain. You have a place there. Spain is open. Schools are back on campus. And then your university [says] you can’t go. That was tough.” The Dean ultimately found the decision necessary for the time but still looks back as one of the toughest calls he’s had to make.

When asked to define his leadership style, the Dean stated that he “thinks the best person to ask would be the people that work with [him],” as they would probably provide a “much more valid perception than my own,” acknowledging his own potential bias. However, Brutus states that his enthusiasm is one of his keys to success when leading. “I'm a glass-half-full type of person. Even when there are setbacks, I find opportunities to turn these setbacks into opportunities… I think this is important because the situation is a bit difficult right now in higher education in Canada due to the budgetary situation and government decisions.”

Expanding on these challenges, Brutus commented that due to universities in Canada being under provincial jurisdiction, provinces including Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia have been gradually reducing investments in higher education. Relevantly, tuition fees have been frozen in Ontario since 2019, despite rising costs for universities in terms of construction, utilities, and labour. With stagnant government funding, universities are effectively experiencing budget cuts due to inflation. The Dean mentioned how to offset these challenges, many universities have turned to increasing the number of international students. Tuition fees are deregulated and higher. “Is this the right thing to do? I'm not sure, but that's the only discretion we had to make up for the lost funding,” commented the Dean, although he suggested that this would not last, as the federal government introduced a cap on international student visas, creating uncertainty and reducing the ability of universities to rely on this revenue stream. Provincial funding is not expected to increase, and a potential conservative government might implement even stricter immigration policies, with Brutus stating that “the government not only reduced it last year, this year, they're going to further reduce by 10%. So the future looks a bit difficult because our ability to attract international students is going to be drastically handicapped by this measure.” He expressed confidence that “the next four or five years are [going to] be difficult,” but reassured that the “number of international students has been maintained from last year,” suggesting that there may be hopeful stability for the Telfer School of Management.

With all the ambiguity, Dean Brutus was asked to share his thoughts on what he thinks the future of Telfer will look like. Brutus commented especially on Telfer’s new focus on experiential learning, saying, “What we're offering is like a cafeteria-style of experiential opportunities, right? You can do co-op, you can hone your writing skills… you can go on an exchange. You can [participate in] case competitions,” suggesting that these supplemental learning opportunities differentiate Telfer from its competition. The Dean noted that these opportunities add to leadership development in addition to traditional business education. “I truly believe that you develop leadership from doing. You practice leadership, you learn from it, you make mistakes, you reflect, you try it again,” and he emphasized how, years down the line, “you're going to look at your CV and you're going to be able to speak to these real experiences.” Stéphane hopes that this new focus will encourage professors to infuse experiential learning into the classroom.

The Dean reinforced his dedication to experiential learning by referring to recent initiatives at Telfer. Brutus ensured that “if there's a new initiative that the students want to push, the dean's office will be there to support them,” whether through financial support or consultation. Furthermore, the recent hiring of Head Coach Stephen Daze for all case competitions across Telfer is an initiative aimed at investing in and pushing case competitions.

When asked about how to measure student success, Brutus discussed the importance of the skills developed from extracurriculars and experiential learning, as he “knows full well that what employers are looking for [in addition] to technical skills, are soft skills… you develop those by working on experiential learning, student clubs, and exchanges.” In his many interactions with his contacts in the professional world, many explicitly favour hiring those who have participated in extracurriculars. Brutus mentioned that many employers are “going to look at grades… [but they're] also going to say [if] they were entrepreneurs, [if] they built their own business within Telfer, [if] they created this little enterprise that thrived, that's what they're going to look for.”

Similarly, Brutus commented that the Telfer School of Management places significant emphasis on career outcomes, noting that if they “track people's careers and if their careers are doing well, [it is because Telfer did] a good job,” referring to a recent Alumni event in Toronto, saying, “Our alumni are thriving, right? So that validates the work we do, we're doing a good job.”

Brutus stressed the importance of alumni interaction and the numerous efforts made to engage them. “We've put a lot of effort into bringing the community back into Telfer. I'm sure in your undergraduate classes, you probably had, I would venture, dozens of guest speakers coming into your classes from the community, either Telfer grads or non-grads, right?”

“The best thing that anybody can ask for is that as you pass through Telfer, you leave it in a better place than you came into,” answered Brutus when asked what he would like his legacy to be. “I came in, Telfer existed, Telfer was doing great. [I] came into the Dean's role, took stock of what the school was, infused some energy, created some initiatives, and built some momentum in a couple of areas. [I hope] that when I leave, I can look back and say I moved the needle. I left the place a bit better than [when I arrived],” shared the Dean, contemplating the question.

Towards the end of the interview, I took the liberty of asking Dean Stéphane Brutus some Montreal-based questions, being a proud Montrealer myself:

• Favourite Bagel: St-Viateur.
• Fan of the Montreal Canadiens?: Yes, but there’s some tension with the Ottawa Senators since they are a close second.
• Best Borough in Montreal: Mile End.
• Are you still a Concordia Stingers fan?: He was, but no longer, and he expresses his love for the GeeGees, their skill and community.
• Best smoked meat: Mains, which unfortunately closed its doors.

When asked if he missed Montreal, he said not at all. Brutus spoke of his love for the community here in Ottawa, praising their humility, kindness, and approachability. He also enjoys playing sports in the many parks around the city and biking along the canal to work every day, commenting, “Ottawa is big, but small at the same time. And for the dean of a business school, this is the perfect town.”

“I've been enjoying my time. It's been an honour to lead this institution. I'm super proud of what the school is, and I'm doing my best to live up to what it is every day, so yes, I've been enjoying it mentally,” stated the Dean when asked if he has been enjoying his time at Telfer, concluding the interview. “Whenever I have a tough day or whenever I need a little boost, you know what I do? I get out of this office, take a walk through the lobby or on the second floor, and just go talk to students… seeing [the students] enthusiastic and working on [their] endeavours is huge fuel for my fire.

Edited by LILLIAN VANDERMEY

Interview conducted by ALEXANDRE BRETON, MATTHEW MONTONI

Works Cited:

Montoni, Matthew, et al. “Interview with Dean Stéphane Brutus.” 15 Oct. 2024.

“Stéphane Brutus - Telfer School of Management Staff.” Telfer School of Management Directory, telfer.uottawa.ca/en/directory/stephane-brutus/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.