91±¬ÁÏ

Arlene Dickinson didn’t open with a framework, a slide or a polished line about leadership. She asked the room to raise their hands as high as they could. People did. Then she asked them to raise them higher, and they did that too.

In one simple moment, she captured something many Canadian business leaders know but don’t always act on. We’re often capable of more than we first claim. We have the talent, the grit and the ideas, yet too often we stay modest, play small and wait to be chosen instead of stepping forward.

At the 91±¬ÁÏ Partner Summit, that message landed with force. In conversation with 91±¬ÁÏ Canada’s VP of Marketing, Adam Jardine, Arlene challenged the room to think bigger, lead more bravely and stop confusing humility with invisibility. For partners, advisors and business leaders navigating rising costs, retention pressure and constant change, it felt exactly right for the moment. In a tougher environment, shrinking isn’t a strategy.

Canada doesn’t have a talent problem

Arlene’s opening metaphor worked because it was simple and true. Canadian businesses often undersell themselves. We pride ourselves on being thoughtful, measured and collaborative, and those qualities matter. But they can also become a cover for hesitation. We call it humility when it’s really caution; practicality when it’s really fear of risk. We accept good enough because it feels safer than going after what’s possible.

That was the instinct Arlene pushed against. Her message wasn’t that leaders need to be louder or more performative — it was that too many smart, capable businesses are making themselves smaller than they need to be. Ambition isn’t something to apologize for, and visibility isn’t vanity. If you want your business to grow, there comes a point where you have to back yourself and let the market see what you can do.

That feels especially relevant right now. Businesses across Canada are working through rising costs, stretched teams and shifting conditions. In that kind of market, caution can feel responsible, but caution on its own doesn’t create momentum. It doesn’t rally a team or help a business claim new ground.

Arlene’s belief was clear: courage makes your world bigger. If leaders want their companies to grow, their thinking has to expand first. If Canada wants to lead on a bigger stage, Canadian businesses need to stop acting like their best qualities are something to keep quiet about. She also pointed to a powerful proof point: some of the biggest innovators in AI are Canadian. The talent is here. The issue isn’t capability. It’s whether we match that capability with enough confidence.

Elbows up, not gloves off

One of the strongest moments in the conversation came when Arlene picked up on the idea of being elbows up, not gloves off, and used it to reinforce the kind of leadership this moment calls for. She wasn’t presenting it as her own phrase or using it to encourage conflict for conflict’s sake. Rather, she was underscoring a more important point: in a tougher environment, leaders need to be ready to protect and defend what matters without slipping into needless combat.

She wasn’t calling for aggression or suggesting businesses should go looking for a fight. Her point was that Canadian businesses can’t afford to sit quietly on the sidelines when there’s so much worth protecting. Elbows up means being willing to step into the scrum when needed, defend your business, stand up for your people and back your ideas with clarity and conviction.

What made the line land was the balance inside it. Arlene wasn’t arguing for dirty play or ego-led leadership. She was arguing for presence, conviction and a willingness to engage. That distinction matters, especially in a more pressured economy. When conditions get tougher, leaders can become reactive, partnerships can strain and decision-making can get personal.

Arlene offered a better framework when she said we should never fight on principle, but fight on facts. That idea carries weight for any leader trying to navigate uncertainty. Facts keep conversations grounded. Facts cut through pride and make it easier to challenge assumptions without turning every disagreement into a battle of personalities.

For the advisors and partners in the room, this wasn’t abstract. They’re supporting businesses that are adapting in real time across different provinces, market conditions and workforce challenges. In that context, elbows up means having the confidence to ask difficult questions, challenge weak assumptions and stay anchored in reality even when the answers are uncomfortable.

Growth starts with uncomfortable honesty

Another thread running through the conversation was introspection. Arlene spoke about calamity as a driver of self-evaluation, not because struggle should be romanticized, but because difficult moments force honesty. When conditions get hard, the stories we tell ourselves stop working. We can see more clearly what’s holding up, what’s breaking down and what we’ve been avoiding.

That’s why disruption can become a turning point. When things are going well enough, it’s easy to leave big questions untouched. Good enough can be seductive because it offers a reason not to look too closely. But as Arlene made clear, good enough can also be the thing that keeps a business from becoming what it could be.

Her challenge wasn’t about perfection; it was about possibility. Growth rarely starts with certainty. More often, it starts with a more honest look at where the business is settling and where leadership has become too comfortable. Are we clear on where we’re going? Are our people aligned around something meaningful, or are they simply busy? Are we making decisions based on evidence, or repeating habits because they feel familiar?

Those questions can feel uncomfortable, but that discomfort is often where progress begins. Arlene’s reflection that you should measure yourself by what you don’t try to accomplish in life reframes risk in a powerful way. Failure isn’t always the greatest threat. Sometimes the bigger loss comes from never fully stepping into your potential.

Purpose is the engine

One of the most memorable moments came when Arlene explained how she spots the first signs of a business in trouble. She talks to employees. Not the leadership team first, and not the polished strategy deck. She goes to the people on the ground who are living the business every day.

If she asks why they work there and the answer is money, she sees that as a major red flag.

Her point wasn’t that pay doesn’t matter. Of course it does. People need fair compensation and financial security. But money on its own isn’t enough to build commitment, resilience or belief in a company’s direction. If a paycheck is the only thing holding people there, that culture is fragile. It may function for a while, but it won’t hold under pressure.

Mission-first cultures look different. People understand the why behind the work. They know what the business stands for, where it’s trying to go and why their contribution matters. That kind of clarity creates alignment, and alignment is one of the most valuable things a leader can build.

This matters even more now. Retention pressure is real, and employees want more than a list of tasks and a salary. They want clarity, meaning and trust. They want to know what they’re part of. Leaders can’t assume people will fill in those blanks themselves. As Arlene put it, if your people can’t answer your why, you’re in trouble.

It was also a sharp observation about a common leadership gap. Many founders and CEOs understand the heart of the business in their own heads, but they never articulate it clearly enough for other people to hold onto. They can talk about targets, priorities and strategy, yet struggle to express purpose in a way that feels real. That matters because strategy will evolve. Markets shift, plans change and business models develop. Values should remain steady. When people understand the values and purpose of the business, they can navigate change without losing direction.

Arlene put it plainly in another way too. Money can’t be your purpose. Passion has to be the driving force because that’s what gives success meaning.

Entrepreneurship, courage and mindset

Arlene also shared a view that will spark debate, but it was classic Arlene in its directness. She believes entrepreneurship is something you’re born with. Education can help draw those traits out and experience can sharpen them, but in her view, there is a certain kind of person who is wired to put their heart and soul into building something from nothing.

Whether everyone agrees or not, the deeper point is useful. Entrepreneurship asks a lot of a person. It requires conviction when there are no guarantees, stamina when the path gets messy and a willingness to keep going when outcomes are uncertain. Skills can be taught and frameworks can be learned, but that internal drive to build, persist and take responsibility for making something real is harder to manufacture.

That’s why courage sat at the center of so much of what Arlene shared. When she asked how you make your world bigger, her answer was simple: it starts with courage. Not theatrical courage, but the everyday kind that shows up in decisions, conversations and choices. She also offered one of those lines that cuts straight through unnecessary self-consciousness: you’d worry a lot less about what others thought of you if you knew how little they thought of you at all. It’s funny, but it’s also freeing. Too many leaders spend energy managing perception when that energy would be better spent building something with substance.

Better business needs a stronger shared language

One of the more structural themes in the conversation was Arlene’s view that entrepreneurs and government aren’t speaking the same language, and that needs to change. It’s an important point because businesses don’t grow in isolation. Policy, regulation and economic conditions all shape what’s possible. When the people building businesses and the people shaping the environment around them don’t understand each other, progress becomes slower and more expensive than it needs to be.

That gap affects hiring, investment, innovation and confidence. For a country with serious talent and ambition, it matters. Arlene’s broader point was that Canada needs stronger alignment between the systems that support business and the people trying to grow it.

The same principle applies much closer to home. Arlene spoke about partnerships in a way that felt especially relevant for the audience in the room. Great partnerships, she said, require eyes-wide-open expectations and effective communication. Business is like a marriage in that sense. It works best when both sides are clear about what they want, what they bring and what they’re responsible for. Misalignment doesn’t become less risky when nobody names it. It usually becomes more damaging.

That’s an important reminder for partner-led businesses. Strong partnerships aren’t built on polite vagueness. They’re built on transparency, trust and a shared understanding of what success looks like. Underneath that was one of Arlene’s strongest mindset shifts of the day. The question can’t just be what’s in it for me. It has to become what’s in it for we.

The leaders worth following build for more than themselves

Toward the end of the conversation, Arlene left the room with a reminder that felt bigger than business while still being deeply relevant to it. We woke up in the best country in the world today. It wasn’t a line meant to make people comfortable; it was a call to responsibility. If we believe that, then we need to build like it and lead like it.

That was the real power of her message at the 91±¬ÁÏ Partner Summit. She wasn’t simply telling the room to think bigger. She was challenging business leaders to lead with more courage, more clarity and more responsibility. She was asking them to stop hiding behind modesty, get comfortable with being seen and communicate their purpose in a way people can believe in.

Her final image was the one that tied the whole conversation together. Great business leaders plant trees the shade of which they will never sit in. It’s a powerful way to think about leadership because it shifts the focus away from ego and toward legacy. The best leaders aren’t only chasing personal wins or short-term applause. They’re building things that outlast them. They’re creating opportunities for other people, laying foundations others can stand on and investing in teams, partnerships and ideas that will matter long after they’ve moved on.

That is the real invitation behind raising your hand higher. It isn’t about attention for its own sake. It’s about having the courage to claim the opportunity in front of you, the discipline to build with purpose and the generosity to create something bigger than yourself. The leaders worth following understand that the work is never only about today. It’s about what grows because they were willing to step up now.