Signal/McClelland & Stewart publishes Unprecedented: Canada's Top CEOs on Leadership During COVID-19

TORONTO, April 12, 2022 /CNW/ - Today Signal/McClelland & Stewart publishes Unprecedented: Canada's Top CEOs on Leadership During COVID-19, a remarkable collection of exclusive first-person stories on leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic from twenty-nine chief executives at iconic Canadian companies.

Compiled and edited by Steve Mayer, President of Greenhill Canada and Vice Chairman of Greenhill & Co, and Andrew Willis, business columnist for The Globe & Mail, Unprecedented is an extraordinary business book for extraordinary times. Michele Romanow, CEO of Clearco and a "Dragon" on CBC's Dragons' Den has contributed the foreword.

As Mayer and Willis write in their introduction: "The book is meant for anyone in Canada who wants to know how the brands they touch each day, the companies they rely on, kept moving forward through COVID. We hope those in business, now and in the future, learn something from these shared experiences. Going forward, we hope this book serves as a reminder of an unprecedented challenge to Canada. A crisis we overcame together, and one we emerged from stronger than ever."

Unprecedented includes unforgettable accounts from senior leaders at companies on the front lines during the pandemic—long term care homes, grocery stores and retailers, airlines and hotels, restaurants, pharmacies, shopping malls—along with valuable lessons on crisis management.

The insights in Unprecedented are remarkable. Readers get a seat at the table when the CEO of Tim Hortons (Restaurant Brands International) visits the White House to discuss financial relief initiatives for business. Canada Goose's CEO tells of retooling the parka maker to turn out surgical gowns. The CEO of Kruger Products, Canada's leading tissue products manufacturer, reveals how he reassured consumers about the availability of toilet paper at the height of its demand.

COVID-19 is a shared challenge, a crisis that touches everyone. Unprecedented captures that shared experience with personal essays that mix struggle and achievement, fear, humour, and compassion. At their heart, these are stories about overcoming adversity, a theme that resonates with managers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and students of business.

Unprecedented gives us rare insight into how leaders navigated the pandemic, and the social unrest and technological changes that marked this era—what was gained, what was lost, and what was learned that can help serve companies, employees, and customers better in an uncertain future.

The co-editors' and authors' net proceeds from the sales of Unprecedented are being donated to United Way Centraide Canada for COVID recovery across Canada. To date, more than $3.5 million has been pledged by the twenty-nine companies involved in this project. 

About the co-editors

STEVE MAYER is one of Canada's pre-eminent investment bankers, and is currently the President of Greenhill Canada and a Vice Chairman of Greenhill & Co.  Prior to joining Greenhill in 2016, Steve was the Head of Diversified Industries at Goldman Sachs Canada for eleven years. Previously, Mayer was the Head of Communications, Media and Technology at Scotiabank and was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Canada. He is a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 award and is a member of the board of directors of Sinai Health Foundation.       

ANDREW WILLIS is a business columnist for the Globe and Mail. He has been in business communications and journalism for more than three decades, and his work has been nominated for Michener Awards for public service journalism and National Newspaper Awards. From 2010 to 2016, he was senior vice president of communications for Brookfield Asset Management. He wrote the Streetwise column at the Globe and Mail from 1995 to 2010. He also worked at The Financial Post, The Financial Times of Canada, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, and Maclean's magazine. Willis co-wrote a book, The Bre-X Fraud, with colleague Douglas Goold.

CEO Contributors

Air Canada, Calin Rovinescu A&W Food Services, Susan Senecal Bank of Nova Scotia, Brian Porter BlackNorth Initiative, Wes Hall Brookfield Asset Management, Bruce Flatt Cadillac Fairview, John Sullivan Canada Goose, Dani Reiss Canadian Tire Corporation, Greg Hicks Couche-Tard, Brian Hannasch Finning, Scott Thomson Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, John Davison GoodLife Fitness, David Patchell-Evans Google Canada, Sabrina Geremia InnVest Hotels, Lydia Chen Kruger Products, Dino Bianco

LifeLabs, Charles Brown Linamar, Linda Hasenfratz lululemon, Calvin McDonald Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain McKesson Canada, Rebecca McKillican Nature's Path, Ratana Stephens Recipe Unlimited, Frank Hennessey Restaurant Brands International, José Cil Revera, Tom Wellner Ritchie Bros., Ann Fandozzi Sienna Senior Living, Nitin Jain Sobeys, Michael Medline TELUS, Darren Entwistle WestJet Airlines, Ed Sims

Book details

Unprecedented: Canada's Top CEOs on Leadership During COVID-19
Compiled and edited by Steve Mayer and Andrew Willis
Foreword by Michele Romanow
On sale date: April 12, 2022
Signal/McClelland & Stewart
ISBN 9780771002137 | hardcover, 528 pages, $42.00 (Canada)/ $32.00 (US)
Other editions: ebook and audiobook, read by Conrad Coates, Marcia Johnson and Athena Karkanis
On the web: penguinrandomhouse.ca/Unprecedented 

SOURCE Penguin Random House Canada Limited

Shona Cook, Publicity Manager, 416.433.9699, [email protected]