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By October 2008, the merger of Esso Iceland and Bilanaust into the new company N1 was considered a success. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was on its way to doubling in three years, and cross-selling was gaining traction. But N1's plans were under threat of derailing due to a looming currency crisis. In October 2008, the Icelandic banking sector collapsed. Gudmundsson called upon his team to determine what internal and external changes needed to be made to remain viable and productive now that they were without access to commercial credit.

The newly appointed general manager at the Scarborough YMCA was discussing her plan of action with the YMCA senior leadership team of the Greater Toronto Area. The Scarborough YMCA had been a perennial underperformer from a membership, member satisfaction and financial perspective, but the general manager vowed to turn the facility around. Four prior general managers had given their best effort; yet the facility continued to lag behind the average YMCA in Canada. She sensed a complacent organization. The general manager had practically grown up in the Scarborough YMCA, and although she had assumed several leadership responsibilities in the centre, she sensed that it would be challenging to advocate change now that she was a formal leader.

The newly appointed general manager at the Scarborough YMCA was discussing her plan of action with the YMCA senior leadership team of the Greater Toronto Area. The Scarborough YMCA had been a perennial underperformer from a membership, member satisfaction and financial perspective, but the general manager vowed to turn the facility around. Four prior general managers had given their best effort; yet the facility continued to lag behind the average YMCA in Canada. She sensed a complacent organization. The general manager had practically grown up in the Scarborough YMCA, and although she had assumed several leadership responsibilities in the center, she sensed that it would be challenging to advocate change now that she was a formal leader.

Spreadsheet for product 9B09N014.

The executive director of the Stratford Festival of Canada was contemplating the organization's future. The Stratford Festival had come a long way since the dark days in the early 1990's. The recovery began with the artistic director, who had built substantial audience momentum through his artistic choices. The executive director, a former Stratford Festival actor, had been in the role for less than a year. He needed to determine what course of action he should recommend to ensure the Stratford Festival's survival and return to greatness.

Murray Douglas is the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Douglas Fine Foods (DFF), a family-owned business in its 80th year. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, DFF has grown to become Canada's largest privately held food services company, doing $30 million worth of business annually. DFF provides business dining, residence and camp food services, catering, vending machine services, and food service equipment and design. The business serves clients in various industries including schools, sports arenas and concessions, warehouses, government offices and corporations. Douglas needs to make several key decisions concerning DFF, including how to pay for a buyout of his brother's shares; whether to renew a contract with an undesirable customer; whether to pursue an active acquisition strategy; and how to transform the business to become a world-class, professionally managed organization. Students must evaluate complexities and trade-offs in making a sequence of decisions; outline a clear strategy and vision for the company; prioritize strategic options; define elements of an acquisition strategy; determine financing options for cash-constrained firm; and manage internal culture transformation.

Coping with the complexity of today's business environment is not about predicting the future or reducing risk. It's about building the capacity, in yourself, your people, and the organization to adapt continuously and learn speedily, in order to maximize the chances of seizing fleeting opportunities. These authors' excellent suggestions will help today's leaders cope with complexity.

The case focuses on the turnaround situation facing the newly elected chief executive officer (CEO) of the Vancouver YMCA. The YMCA has suffered a long series of operating deficits ($9 million per year), has mounting debts to third parties, declining membership, and a maxed out $1 million operation line of credit. There are issues with its assets (old facilities with little renovations done over the past three decades), political infighting and union issues. The CEO has to work to turn the situation around before the organization goes bankrupt.

WestJet Airlines had achieved a lot. The airline had taken to the skies only 13 years earlier, with three airplanes flying to five destinations. Now, with a market value at more than $2 billion, the carrier had more than 70 Boeing Next Generation 737s, employed 7,000 people and had played host to more than 12 million guests. WestJet's ambition was to become the dominant airline in Canada by 2013 and one of the five most successful international airlines in the world by 2016. Achieving these goals would mean continued expansion in the WestJet organization. How could WestJet continue to build a high engagement culture as it experienced high rates of growth? In April 2009, in light of the company's rosy predictions of further growth and success, WestJet's pilots seemed dissatisfied with elements of the new contract offer. The leadership team had met a crossroad.

This case describes the efforts of the management team at Tomasso Corporation, located in Montreal, Quebec, to manage various economic and personnel issues during the economic downturn of 2001. As the situation at Tomasso worsened, the president wondered how to turn the company around. The management team wondered if there was a way to balance the human and economic issues by adhering to a theory that the chief executive officer had developed over 10 years.

This case describes the efforts of the management team at Tomasso Corporation, located in Montreal, Quebec, to manage various economic and personnel issues during the economic downturn of 2001. As the situation at Tomasso worsened, the president wondered how to turn the company around. The management team wondered if there was a way to balance the human and economic issues by adhering to a theory that the chief executive officer had developed over 10 years.

The vice-president of the Bank of London was stunned to hear that the union representing clerical workers was initiating a complaint of gender discrimination in starting salaries. The vice-president had believed the Bank of London was actively promoting diversity and inclusion as a natural part of its culture; additionally, the senior leadership team understood how vital diversity and inclusion were to organizational effectiveness and growth. The vice-president was wondering what the accusation of discrimination was costing the Bank of London, and how to manage perceptions both inside and outside of the organization. To determine this, he wanted to understand if discrimination had in fact occurred and analyzed the following factors between male and female job-holders: beginning salary, time at current job, education and experience.

The vice-president of the Bank of London was stunned to hear that the union representing clerical workers was initiating a complaint of gender discrimination in starting salaries. The vice-president had believed the Bank of London was actively promoting diversity and inclusion as a natural part of its culture; additionally, the senior leadership team understood how vital diversity and inclusion were to organizational effectiveness and growth. The vice-president was wondering what the accusation of discrimination was costing the Bank of London, and how to manage perceptions both inside and outside of the organization. To determine this, he wanted to understand if discrimination had in fact occurred and analyzed the following factors between male and female job-holders: beginning salary, time at current job, education and experience.

WestJet Airlines had achieved a lot. The airline had taken to the skies only 13 years earlier, with three airplanes flying to five destinations. Now, with a market value at more than $2 billion, the carrier had more than 70 Boeing Next Generation 737s, employed 7,000 people and had played host to more than 12 million guests. WestJet's ambition was to become the dominant airline in Canada by 2013 and one of the five most successful international airlines in the world by 2016. Achieving these goals would mean continued expansion in the WestJet organization. How could WestJet continue to build a high engagement culture as it experienced high rates of growth? In April 2009, in light of the company's rosy predictions of further growth and success, WestJet's pilots seemed dissatisfied with elements of the new contract offer. The leadership team had met a crossroad.

Transkin Income Fund provided freight transportation services in Canada and the United States. In mid February 2009, in response to a sharp fall in demand for transportation services due to the economic crisis, the chief operation officer had suggested that each of his six freight divisions and six support divisions and the corporate division should all implement a salary rollback. The chief operating officer (COO) believed that a strong message needed to be sent to customers, shareholders, banks, owner-operators, drivers and suppliers that Transkin was being proactive by taking action internally to ride out the crisis. Two of the 13 general managers resented the COO's plan. The two dissenters were from Transkin's two most profitable divisions; they were also the most senior executives. Both had their own reasons to resist the COO's idea. The COO wondered how he should respond to both dissenters - he wanted the support of every general manager for the salary rollback.

The Minister of Justice for the Republic of Iceland is contemplating how to work with the various stakeholders to implement the recommendations for the structure of policing. The main issue to address is how to consolidate the number of region-based police forces. The minister's views on restructuring the police force are shared by the police association; however, a number of municipalities and police commissioners are not as enthusiastic about the proposed changes to the structure of the police organization. He understands that change is never a pain-free process. Formal reports have been submitted and now is the time to make some decisions.

The Minister of Justice for the Republic of Iceland is contemplating how to work with the various stakeholders to implement the recommendations for the structure of policing. The main issue to address is how to consolidate the number of region-based police forces. The minister's views on restructuring the police force are shared by the police association; however, a number of municipalities and police commissioners are not as enthusiastic about the proposed changes to the structure of the police organization. He understands that change is never a pain-free process. Formal reports have been submitted and now is the time to make some decisions.

In September of 2001, 24 Calgary firefighters ended up in hospital with throat and eye irritations, severe breathing problems and headaches after fighting a fire at a battery plant. The blaze looked like a routine fire; the industrial fire was seen as just another assignment that needed to be taken care of. The working atmosphere at the fire hall was impacted. Some firefighters commented that they had expected to be better looked after, that they did not have enough information about what was inside the burning plant. Where had things gone wrong? What specific lessons should be carried forward?

The case explains the ordeal of the newly appointed manager of planning and reporting at Connectco, an outbound call center in Ontario, Canada, who suspected wrong-doing early on at work. After his fears were confirmed, he was very uncomfortable with the situation he found himself in. However, he had to make a choice about how he would respond. This case also portrays, among other things, how young professionals find themselves in situations that create moral distress when they are aware of unethical conduct but feel constrained from taking action to correct it.

Visualize a leader with virtues such as courage and integrity, as well as five key types of intelligence, and you've got a clear picture of the cross-enterprise leader. So equipped, such a leader has what it takes to adopt the enterprise-wide perspective that is necessary to make the right decisions for creating and delivering value to all stakeholders. These Ivey professors describe how an organization develops the type of leader to succeed in today's dynamic and complex business environment.