Hosted by TSN anchor Lindsay Hamilton, the goal of the event was to provide inspiring stories and a networking opportunity, while also accepting donations for the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. While the networking component wasn’t able to flourish like it has in the past, the Summit was “a success story for us” according to Mary Beth McKenna, the assistant tournament director of the RBC Canadian Open who has co-led the event since it began three years ago.
The event was divided into four sessions, each with different women discussing their experience as leaders in their respective positions. Speakers included Canadian golfers Kane and Henderson, and Olympians Marnie McBean and Perdita Felicien, among other prominent women in leadership positions.
A three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Canada’s chef de mission for the 2020 (though postponed to 2021) Tokyo Summer Games, McBean knows a thing or two about leadership.
Though, even McBean indicated she’s always actively learning how to be a better leader. As the Summit’s first speaker, McBean spoke about her early days with rowing teammate Kathleen Heddle, and how it wasn’t necessarily the match made in heaven their later results would make it seem.
“I actually actively worked for a long time to get into a different boat because I didn’t think Kathleen had what it took because she was introverted, she was calm and quiet,” said McBean. “I was like, well, that’s not what a champion is.”
“Leadership isn’t about meeting in the middle with people, it’s about earning trust and respect. I give 100 per cent of what I have to give, and if I’ve earned it, I’ll get 100 per cent of what the people I’m working with, who I’m leading, what they have to give,” McBean said.The overarching message on leadership from McBean was this: humility and communication. It was a theme that seemed to find its way into separate discussions by all the speakers throughout the two-hour Summit. Humility and the openness to continue learning and growing was a key aspect of Olympian Perdita Felicien’s discussion on overcoming adversity and her experience as a black athlete. “It’s lifelong learning, it’s lifelong commitment,” Felicien said on how to be an ally. “I’m also learning, I’m also figuring it out.” Felicien said she’s had conversations with friends who are white, who’ve called or texted her to say that they want to listen and learn about being an ally. “They want this to change. They might not know exactly how, but they are here, and they are at the table and they are deciding, ‘you know what: enough is enough’,” Felicien said.

“We just have to be humble, have that mindset for growth, and then no barrier is a barrier, they’re all opportunities,” Ho said when asked about obstacles she’s encountered in her own career.While it may have been possible to view the postponement of the CP Women’s Open and the restriction from having an in-person Summit as a barrier, instead the CP Women’s Leadership Summit went on, taking advantage of the unique situation. McKenna admitted that having to do the Summit virtually this year was a curveball, but it also opened up new opportunities. “We had people attend outside of Canada, so you didn’t necessarily have to be in the marketplace to enjoy these great speakers,” said McKenna. Usually in a space-restricted setting, the event has around 275 attendees, according to McKenna. This year, however, she said there were over 1,100 registrants from various countries. [caption id="attachment_100310" align="alignnone" width="1100"]
