The Way Forward Webcasts with Leon Goren Leon Goren, PEO Leadership

In this special episode of The Way Forward podcast, we delve into Sam's remarkable life story, from Division One hockey player to traveling through North Korea, being wrongfully imprisoned in Syria, and co-founding a tech company in Singapore. Discover how his harrowing experience of surviving captivity shaped his approach to leadership and life in the business world.

On a quest to visit every country in the world, Sam’s life took an unexpected turn when he found himself wrongfully imprisoned in Syria, accused of espionage and collaboration with terrorists. For 63 days, he endured the harsh realities of captivity, facing uncertainty, isolation, and unimaginable challenges. He shares with us three profound lessons that he learned while in solitary confinement that he continues as guiding principles for his day-to-day. Sam offers us invaluable insights on gratitude, resilience, and post-traumatic growth.

PEO Leadership provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high disclosure, objective and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all for the purpose of enhancing the personal and professional lives of its members.

We have two upcoming in-person events that we would be delighted to have you join us for. The first, Catalyst 360: Give Us 15 Minutes to Solve Your Biggest Challenges & Opportunities will be on April 18th in Unionville, Ontario. The second, Compete on Culture: Unleash the Power of Your People for Strategic Success, will be on April 23rd in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Please visit the links to register.

Our podcast is now listed at #7 amongst the top 30 CEO Podcasts.

In 2021,  Scott D. Anthony, was named the World’s 7th Most Influential Management Thinker by Thinkers50. Today’s turbulent times present unique and persistent challenges. Leaders are in a thick fog. Data to justify a decision comes in when it is too late to decide. Yesterday’s strengths become tomorrow’s weaknesses. Seemingly conflicting demands – purpose/profits, life/work, empowerment/decisiveness, meritocracy/inclusivity—feel paralyzing. When the fog of uncertainty descends, it is natural to want to slow down. The right mindsets, mental models, and approaches can allow leaders to navigate disruptive change, and own the future.

Scott D. Anthony is passionate about helping individuals and organizations thrive in today’s world of never-ending change. He is a Professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where he teaches a course called “Leading Disruptive Change,” and a Managing Director and Managing Partner Emeritus at Innosight, where he helps leaders design new growth strategies, build innovation capabilities, navigate disruptive innovation, and manage strategic transformation. 

PEO Leadership provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high disclosure, objective and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all for the purpose of enhancing the personal and professional lives of its members.

Our podcast is now listed at #9 amongst the top 30 CEO Podcasts.

We were thrilled to have Dr. Michael Roizen, one of the world's leading experts on aging and longevity, at our Summer 2023 Eye of the Executive In-Person Series in partnership with Cleveland Clinic Canada and Aird & Berlis LLP, on June 20, 2023. Dr. Roizen is the creator of the innovative RealAge concept, which motivates behavior change to promote wellness. He has authored over 190 peer-reviewed scientific publications, five New York Times #1 best sellers and ten overall bestsellers. His latest book, The Great Age Reboot: Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow, focuses on how to navigate upcoming changes, to make the best decisions for your brain, your body and your bank account. He helped start 13 companies and co-invented a drug approved by the FDA. He and Dr Oz coauthor a daily column syndicated to over 100 newspapers that translates current scientific reports into actionable steps for all audiences. In his keynote, he provided key insights on prevention, treatment, and technology that will reshape how we think about aging.

PEO Leadership provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high disclosure, objective and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all for the purpose of enhancing the personal and professional lives of its members.

We were thrilled to have Avi Goldfarb, one of the world's leading experts on AI, kick off our 2023 Eye of the Executive In-Person Series in partnership with Aird & Berlis LLP, on March 23rd, 2023. Avi is the co-author of the bestselling book Power and Prediction, on how artificial intelligence is changing business, economics, and finance. In his keynote, he provided key insights on how AI is transforming the global economy and how companies can best leverage its capabilities.

Avi Goldfarb is a renowned expert in AI and its impact on business, economics, and finance. He has written several books on the topic, including Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, which was named a best business book of 2018 by strategy+business magazine. He is also a frequent speaker and commentator on the topic, having been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

PEO Leadership provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience, and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high-disclosure, objective, and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all to enhance the personal and professional lives of its members.

2022 PEO Leadership Conference Keynote. Over the past decade, globalization, demographic shifts, and technology have changed the very landscape in which businesses are operating. The speed of change continues to accelerate with the third connected-age technologies of AI, Voice, 5G, and cloud computing. To further add to the uncertainty of the future, the economy is highly volatile and the world is facing geopolitical strains not seen in a lifetime. Rishad will distill this uncertainty and confusion into the key drivers leaders should focus on to prepare them and their companies for the Great Re-Invention. He will reveal how new scale is replacing old scale, why data is key but like electricity, not really a differentiator, how the rules of brand building require an understanding of “God-like” power, and how to separate the signal from the noise. 

Rishad Tobaccowala is a Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe where he has spent his entire 38 year career, most recently serving as the Groupe's Chief Growth Officer and Chief Strategist. Tobaccowala was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation and TIME magazine dubbed him “1 of 5 Marketing Innovators”. He is in  the Ad Age Interactive Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement silver medal from the Chicago Ad Federation.

Rishad is also the author of “Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in The Age of Data” which helps people think, feel and see differently about how to grow their companies, their teams and themselves to remain relevant in transformational times. Each Sunday, Rishad publishes a post covering a variety of topics. Explore more of his insights by visiting https://rishadtobaccowala.com/100. Additionally, Rishad is the host of the 'What Next?' podcast, where he finds fresh takes on society, the advertising and marketing industry, and the way we work to guide us into the near future. Rishad is also the Chairman of The Tobaccowala Foundation which helps 10,000 people in India gain better healthcare and education. Rishad has a BS in Mathematics from the University of Bombay and an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

PEO Leadership is one of the leading peer to peer leadership advisory for C-Level Executives. It provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high disclosure, objective and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all to enhance the personal and professional lives of its members.

We were thrilled to have Richard Skippon, Partner at EY who leads the Workforce Advisory Practice in Canada, speak to our community in June of 2022 about the challenges and opportunities in the labour market as well as how to retain and engage your employees. 


Over his 25-year career, Richard has held HR leadership roles in both industry and professional services organizations. As part of his practice at EY, he supports clients in achieving business outcomes through effective alignment of their organizations and people. Key areas of focus for the practice include the evolution of talent in response to digital transformation, change management, culture, human resources strategy, and organization structure design.


PEO Leadership provides its business community the ability to leverage its collective knowledge, experience and network; to challenge and be challenged in a high disclosure, objective and trusted environment through a combination of Peer Advisory Boards, One-on-One Coaching, and Thought Leadership Executive Networking Events - all for the purpose of enhancing the personal and professional lives of its members.