As the Professor of the revised Governance, Risk, and Compliance course in the Telfer Executive MBA program, Sean Finn brings a practical teaching style to the classroom. With decades of boardroom experience, legal and communications expertise, EMBA candidates are learning from an expert who has hands-on governance experience in both private and non-profit sectors, as well as with a privatized former Crown Corporation.
Bringing the boardroom to the classroom
Governance has been a part of Sean’s entire career. As a lawyer, he spent 12 years as a tax attorney before transitioning to an executive leadership role at Canadian National Railway (CN) just prior to its Initial Public Offering in 1994. He worked at CN for thirty years, in twenty of which he held the role of Executive Vice President, Corporate Services, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. During this time, CN was transitioning from a Crown Corporation to the third-largest market capitalization industrial company in Canada. This experience gave him a front-row seat to the boardroom of one of the largest Canadian companies going through a major transition. Outside of CN, he has served on multiple boards, including the Confederation of the Arts, Gordon Foundation, Montreal Children's Hospital, the Saint Mary's Hospital Foundation, and Swimming Canada to name a few. He was also the Mayor of Saint Lambert, Quebec. “I've always been a big believer that you can learn a lot by experience in the boardroom, but today the rules are a bit more complex. You need a mix of experience and continuing education,” says Sean. As such, he structures his class to provide both education and experience for the EMBA candidates. "I designed the class to help candidates develop and practice the key skills I believe future leaders need to be exposed to in order to effectively lead governance, risk, and compliance matters."
Governance: More than a checklist
In Sean’s view, effective governance cannot be a “check-the-box” exercise. “Some organizations may meet best practices on paper,” he says, “but their governance practices are not really adding value to the organization or its purpose.” Sean feels strong governance starts with a clear purpose. The Board and executive team can then help to ensure the governance of the organisation supports the purpose. “A company cannot just be saying we have strong governance and therefore you should trust us and believe in us. That’s not how it works. You know a company has strong governance when shareholders, stakeholders, regulators, customers and the public have confidence in the organization.” Sean believes the true measure of strong governance is also evident with a company’s response when facing a crisis. “Weak governance shows up quickly in a crisis. Strong governance doesn't prevent the impact of a crisis on a company’s reputation, but it helps the organization recover from it.” The principles of good governance as a support system for purpose and resilience is something Sean stresses with the EMBA candidates.
Compliance with intent
When it comes to compliance, Sean has the same philosophy – ‘you can’t just have compliance for compliance’s sake.’ While acknowledging that some industries in Canada remain highly regulated, he argues that organizations and leaders must understand the purpose of the regulations to navigate them effectively. “When the people who are handling compliance don’t understand the regulatory framework, they can create problems because they simply answer regulators’ questions or fill out forms. I think the challenge around compliance is understanding why a company or industry is being regulated, for what purpose, and building trusted relationships with regulators.” Sean warns that when compliance is treated as an obligation rather than a responsibility, organizations run the risk of inefficiencies and missed opportunities to work with regulators to find solutions. “For leaders, it’s important that you have people who understand the regulatory framework of the business at all levels of the company, so as people retire or move on, the knowledge is still in the organisation and so are the trusted relationships between the regulators and the company.” Boards also have a role to play in compliance. It’s important they are not simply rubber-stamping reports but are asking the right questions such as: “What does the regulator think of us? How are we perceived? What are the current issues and what is being done about them?”
Learning boardroom leadership by doing and experiencing
The Governance, Risk, and Compliance course in the Telfer Executive MBA focuses on corporate governance and responsibility, ethics, board of directors’ effectiveness and board experiences, and how corporate governance is linked to strategy. Sean doesn’t rely solely on lectures and case studies to teach the academic material. “The best way to develop the required skills is to practice them,” he says. Each week his class begins with a short review of the theory and practice of a specific governance issue, but most of the time is spent giving candidates the opportunity to practice the skills that are being taught. “I have designed the course so that candidates take part in a simulated board meeting in every class, rotating between the roles of chairperson, secretary and board member so that everyone can practice the skills needed for each of the board roles.” Through this real-life role-play, candidates develop confidence in leading board dynamics and making tough decisions. In the last five minutes of each board meeting, the chairman of the board is assessed by the board members. “I designed the meetings this way so that the chairperson learns how to listen and handle constructive feedback and so the board members learn how to give constructive feedback. All of the skills the candidates are learning through these board meetings are essential for future leaders,” Sean explains. His class has candidates from diverse backgrounds - including those with little or no board experience. “By the end of the course, they’re no longer intimidated by the idea of walking into a board meeting, chairing one, participating on a private sector or a not-for-profit Board.”
Staying relevant in a changing environment
Despite all his experience, Sean stays well-informed about current issues related to the subject he teaches. He reads five newspapers daily as well as the Harvard Forum on Corporate Governance. He has a wide network of colleagues across Canada, the U.S. and abroad that he stays in touch with, and he is also involved in a very large U.S.-based company, which aligns with his philosophy of integrating governance into business decisions and not the other way around. Another source of learning for Sean - the Executive MBA classroom. “What I like about teaching this course is that I am learning from the candidates as much as they are learning from me; they have very interesting and relevant experiences also. I find it especially interesting how each of the groups comes at a case and board meeting differently based on the experience, background and culture of the people in each group.”
Sean Finn’s philosophy is simple: good governance should serve the organization’s purpose. He teaches EMBA candidates that good leaders must go beyond following formal compliance. It is all about doing the right thing. They must be proactive in shaping and developing good governance practices that build trust, resilience and value in the organization. By combining academic rigour, practical experience and a focus on good leadership skills, Sean ensures that Telfer Executive MBA candidates are not just prepared to serve on boards; they are ready to lead them.
Surprising fact about the professor
When he’s not teaching or serving on boards, you can find Sean Finn in the pool. He was a competitive swimmer in his youth and still swims every day.
