Lloyd Axworthy
Making the world of ideas come true
University of Winnipeg’s unstoppable president dreams big, then makes it all happen.
Dorothy Dobbie O
ne thing Lloyd Axworthy learned early in life: you can never have too many smart, young people around you. It was the key to his success in politics and it remains the
key to his success as one of Canada’s top university presidents. “Tey have the energy and the ideas,” Lloyd said of the bright
youth with whom he surrounds himself. Energy and ideas have helped to take the University of Winnipeg into the list of the top 10 universities in Canada, as ranked by both Maclean’s Magazine and the Globe and Mail. Living in the world of ideas is what
Dr. Lloyd Axworthy is all about. Aſter taking his BA at the University of Winnipeg, he went on to earn his MA and PhD from Princeton Uni- versity. He followed this up with a long and successful political career in Ottawa. Lloyd is a laid back kind of guy who
never intimidates, one reason why he has been able to inspire young people. He is open to ideas and he has a well- developed sense of who he is. He has always had a passion for people and their well being and this is being translated into action with his vision of a community-based campus that is the centre of life and learning in downtown Winnipeg. Trite though that sounds, it is a true reflection of what he sees and what he has been building. Not that he ended his 27-year political life with a career as a
post-political life came home to him: the much ballyhooed par- liamentary pension was not enough to support a family. “What are we going to do?” asked Denise. It took him four years to “recalibrate”. He secured a position at
the University of British Columbia, working at the Liu Institute for Global Issues. He wrote op-ed pieces, part of the download- ing process from an immersion in politics, and he wrote a book. Navigating a New World became
a best seller by Canadian standards, selling over 15,000 copies. True to Lloyd’s philosophy, it’s about how to survive as an individual activist in the 21st century, making the world safer and more humane and promot- ing what he calls “human security”. But of politics, he says, “Now it’s someone else’s game.” Still, having an honourable in front
of his name is helpful. As the former minister of foreign affairs, he has access to all sorts of people and that makes a big difference in building his dream at the University of Win- nipeg. In fundraising, it’s a decided advantage to be able to pick up the phone and get through to some very big names. But there’s more. Lloyd is not afraid to take risks. “I
Hon. Lloyd Axworthy: connected to the community.
always ask, Why can’t we? Is there a reason not to?” he says, and oſten the answer is, Maybe we can. Tat’s the
only signal he needs to forge ahead. In his life at the University of Winnipeg, it also took careful
university president in mind. He had planned for retirement from politics at 60, so the transition from public to private life wasn’t as traumatic for him as it is for some, but it wasn’t until his wife Denise read line 18 on his paysheet that the real facts of
14 SMART careers | Early Spring 2011
calculation to decide where to go and what to do. He spent most of his first year consulting, meeting people, including local abo- riginal groups, and talking to others across the province and at other universities. During this year of learning and reflection,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32