"How to Be a Leader" - My Interview in the UTSC Commons Magazine

In January I had the great honour of being jointly interviewed with my dad for a feature article on "How to Be a Leader" in the University of Toronto Scarborough's 'Commons' magazine. Check it out on pages 7-8 here, or read it copied below. - R.O.
Magazine Source URL: http://read.uberflip.com/i/119514

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario The Honourable David C. Onley and his son Robert on what it takes to become a leader.

The Honourable David C. Onley (left) and Robert Onley.

The Honourable David C. Onley (BA, 1975), Ontario's 28th Lieutenant Governor, has held many leadership roles over his career in broadcasting and public service. His Honour's son, Robert Onley (BA, 2009), is an articling law student, a former student council president and a member of Youth Diplomacy, an international youth think tank. Both are proud UTSC alumni, so UTSC Commons asked them to sit down in His Honour's office at Queen's Park to explore the concept of leadership.

His Honour: When was the first time you realized somebody was a leader?

Robert Onley: In school, when I realized my sixth-grade teacher Mr. Hazlewood was influencing the way I was thinking.

HH: When I was student council president at Scarborough College (now UTSC) our principal was Wynne Plumptre. He was a remarkably dignified gentleman, a scholar and a diplomat. This was at a time in the early 1970s of great student activism. And there were many laudable attempts by the administration to reach out to student groups and involve students in the decision-making process. Principal Plumptre did this with great aplomb. He was a real conciliator. I remember being conscious of the fact that he was practicing a form of leadership that I found enormously impressive.

RO: A great leader creates opportunities for people. And if you want to lead, it's up to you to seize these opportunities. Universities can provide opportunities for people to exercise skills they might have deep inside them. That's huge. Leaders understand that if you don't have the opportunities, you'll never realize your potential.

HH: You learn bits of leadership as you go along. My late father, Robert's grandfather, was a navigator in WW2 with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Many of my Dad's friends had fought in the war. These were amazing guys. They flew Lancaster bombers and Hurricanes and Sunderlands. These guys were decision makers, and when they came home they moved into various leadership positions in society. I'm not sure how much of leadership can be taught, but I'm sure a good portion of it is something you can learn.

RO: We've transformed the way our generation rallies around causes and exhibits leadership. We'll never displace the old notions of political leadership and government, but the ability of young people to quickly coordinate and connect on ideas... we need to harness that for good. For three years I've been a part of Youth Diplomacy, an international NGO that runs G8/G20 Youth Summits. One year the summit was in Paris and I represented Canada as the Minister of Defense. This was, for me, a staggering event, a week-long set of negotiations with my counter-parts from the G8. We had some of the most intense debates over nuclear-proliferation policy, Iran, Libya, defense spending, piracy. And at the end of it we collaborated using Skype, Google Docs and Facebook Messenger to draft a communiqué that summed up the positions we could agree to. In a matter of five days we produced a mini-essay that consolidated the collective wisdom of the G8 youth. Here's what makes that so mind-blowing: for the first time in history, the leaders of tomorrow are already communicating with each other today. This is unprecedented. The rules of the game have changed.

HH: A leader still has to lead, though. The principles of leadership are still the same: you have to inspire people. You have to convince them that they can trust you to make the right decisions even when they don't fully agree with it, whether that's in the boardroom, in cabinet or in the prime minister's office. From my experience, one of the great leadership skills is the capacity to listen to other people. As long as people are being listened to, and they know their input is valued and appreciated, they'll follow you.

RO: A good leader is also able to find and keep the right people.

HH: That's crucial. You just can't do it yourself. If you try to, you won't succeed. History is littered with presidents and prime ministers who tried to do it all by themselves.

RO: As a leader, I don't just want "Yes" people. I want people who will stand up to me or make me sit down and listen. You need a counterweight, someone who puts you in your place a little bit. Because if you don't have that, you risk trampling the roses.

HH: There is such a thing as a born leader, but born leaders can still bomb out if they don't choose the right people or have the right skill sets.

RO: And if you're lucky, you might have good leaders at home, in your own family. I've always been inspired by how much my Dad has accomplished in his life. Having battled polio at a young age, and having fought through it all the way to today... I've always felt that if he can do that, with his condition, imagine what I can do! I have an unrivalled sense of optimism in my own capabilities because I see what can be done.

HH: Well, I was inspired by my Dad, but also inspired by my mother. She was the one who taught me how to be a pit-bull, to fight to get things fixed. When my grandmother came down with Alzheimer's in 1974, nobody knew what it meant. So my mother said, "Well then, we need to have an Alzheimer's Society." So along with another lady she founded the very first chapter of the Alzheimer's Society. That wasn't political or military leadership, but it was leadership.

RO: In the end, leaders are doers. They get stuff done. They say, "this is wrong," or "this needs to change" and they just make it happen. That's where universities come in. By presenting opportunities for students to engage with the world, UTSC can help create immense change. If you live intentionally and take opportunities and make decisions, you can do so much. That's what being a leader is all about.

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution

The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution
Fascinating insights from Eric Schmidt (Chairman of Google) and Jared Cohen (President of Google Ideas) upon their return from a trip to North Korea. Be sure to watch the interview. North Koreans are the only people on earth who remain without widespread access to the Internet. -R.O.

Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile

Great timing, Pakistan. It's not like there's enough going on in the region. Maybe the North Koreans were watching and taking notes? - R.O.

---------------------------------------------

Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile that could hit deep within IndiaBy John Newland and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen latelywith a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned “rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood” during a speech in New Delhi.

“Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,” Krishna said.

Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,” said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country’s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had “consolidated and strengthened Pakistan’s deterrence abilities manifold.”

North Korea Authorizes Nuke Strike on U.S., Moves Missile to Coast

As it stands now, the North Korean government is fanatic and insane. This does not mean the North Koreans are not calculating their every move, however this sort of brinkmanship is not a game, and very well could spark a major war.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the North Korean military said, warning that war could break out "today or tomorrow". 

No matter how this crazy North Korean story plays out in the end, keep one thing in the back of your mind: imagine how Iran would behave if it obtains nuclear weapons. That thought should keep the entire world up at night, every night, until the Iranian regime is stopped. 

And one more thing: the North Koreans don't deny the Holocaust to the United Nations; the Iranians do. You can bet the Iranians are painstakingly scrutinizing the United States' every move and reaction to North Korea's belligerence. - R.O.

Headlines to Watch:

• North Korea 'moves mid-range missile'
• U.S.-South Korea War Games: "Foal Eagle" - What is it?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

N. Korea approves nuclear strike on United States
By Jung Ha-Won (AFP) – 13 hours ago

SEOUL — North Korea dramatically escalated its warlike rhetoric on Thursday, warning that it had authorised plans for nuclear strikes on targets in the United States.

"The moment of explosion is approaching fast," the North Korean military said, warning that war could break out "today or tomorrow".

Pyongyang's latest pronouncement came as Washington scrambled to reinforce its Pacific missile defences, preparing to send ground-based interceptors to Guam and dispatching two Aegis class destroyers to the region.

Tension was also high on the North's heavily fortified border with South Korea, after Kim Jong-Un's isolated regime barred South Koreans from entering a Seoul-funded joint industrial park on its side of the frontier.

In a statement published by the state KCNA news agency, the Korean People's Army general staff warned Washington that US threats would be "smashed by... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means".

"The merciless operation of our revolutionary armed forces in this regard has been finally examined and ratified," the statement said.

Last month, North Korea threatened a "pre-emptive" nuclear strike against the United States, and last week its supreme army command ordered strategic rocket units to combat status.

But, while Pyongyang has successfully carried out test nuclear detonations, most experts think it is not yet capable of mounting a device on a ballistic missile capable of striking US bases or territory.

Mounting tension in the region could however trigger incidents on the tense and heavily militarised border between North and South Korea.

The White House was swift to react to Pyongyang's latest "unhelpful and unconstructive threats".

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said: "It is yet another offering in a long line of provocative statements that only serve to further isolate North Korea from the rest of the international community and undermine its goal of economic development.

"North Korea should stop its provocative threats and instead concentrate on abiding by its international obligations."

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel earlier said Pyongyang represented a "real and clear danger" to the United States and to its allies South Korea and Japan.

"They have nuclear capacity now, they have missile delivery capacity now," Hagel said after a strategy speech at the National Defense University. "We take those threats seriously, we have to take those threats seriously.

"We are doing everything we can, working with the Chinese and others, to defuse that situation on the peninsula."

The Pentagon said it would send ground-based THAAD missile-interceptor batteries to protect military bases on the island of Guam, a US territory some 3,380 kilometres (2,100 miles) southeast of North Korea and home to 6,000 American military personnel, submarines and bombers.

They would complement two Aegis anti-missile destroyers already dispatched to the region.

The THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) is a truck-mounted system that can pinpoint an enemy missile, track the projectile and launch an interceptor to bring it down.

The new defensive measures came as Pyongyang stopped South Korean staff members from entering the Kaesong complex, a shared industrial zone funded by Seoul but 10 kilometres inside the North.

Pyongyang said the 861 South Koreans already in the zone could leave.

The move cut the last practical cooperation between the rival powers and was seen as a dramatic escalation in the crisis.

South Korea's defence ministry said it had contingency plans that included "military action" if the safety of its citizens in Kaesong was threatened.

China, the North's sole major ally, appealed for "calm" from all sides, and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said he was worried the situation could spiral out of control.

Describing the Kaesong ban as "very regrettable", South Korea's Unification Ministry urged the North to normalise access immediately.

Around 53,000 North Koreans work at 120 South Korean plants at the complex, which was still operating normally Wednesday.

Tensions have soared on the Korean peninsula since December, when the North test launched a long-range rocket. In February, it upped the ante once again by conducting its third nuclear test.

Washington has deployed nuclear-capable US B-52s, B-2 stealth bombers and two US destroyers to South Korean air and sea space.

This week, the North warned it would reopen its mothballed Yongbyon reactor -- its source of weapons-grade plutonium. It was closed in July 2007 under a six-nation aid-for-disarmament accord.

The US-Korea Institute at John Hopkins University said Wednesday that a satellite photograph seen on March 27 appeared to show construction work along a road and near the back of the reactor was already under way.

Experts said it would take at least six months to get the reactor back up and running, after which it will be able to produce one bomb's worth of weapons-grade plutonium per year.