1. Mike Greenley
GAME
CHANGERS
Mike is responsible for all
of CAE’s Defence and
Security business in Canada
and to support him he has over
700 “outstanding” employees
working at over a dozen sites
across Canada.
For the interview, see page 35
“Show value,
then ask for
money.”
HOW IS CAE CHANGING
THE GAME WITHIN THE
DEFENCE INDUSTRY?
“We are changing the game
in the area of defence training
systems through our innovation
in the development and delivery
of next generation closed-loop,
performance-based, training
system design. This enables us
to deliver and manage highly
effective training systems,
tailored to individual learning
styles that increase student
retention and success, de-
crease drop out rates, maximize
effectiveness, and minimize
cost. When we combine this
with scaleable Live-Virtual-
Constructive technical solutions
within the training media itself,
we are finding that we are able
to offer highly effective training
solutions to military customers
worldwide.”
THE BEST ADVICE MIKE
RECEIVED
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER
CAE CANADA

2. 36 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016 www.vanguardcanada.com
See the full interview
online
Q What is a habit that contributes to
your success?
Persistent passion is a key habit that has
served me well through my career. I am
always fully engaged technically, aligning
the talents of the company with the chal-
lenges of the customer, and I passionately
promote the way ahead both within and
outside the organization.
Q What is the one thing that has you
most fired up today?
Next Generation Training Systems have
me really fired up today. The systems ap-
proach to training is undergoing a minor
revolution with the advent of Closed Loop,
Self-Paced, and Performance-Based train-
ing systems, enabled through Live-Virtual-
Constructive (LVC) simulation-based con-
tent. The impact of this is extraordinary, in
terms of the potential to increase student
engagement and as a result student reten-
tion, to maximize student success rates,
to optimize the learning time customized
to the individual student’s needs, and to
truly optimize the expense of developing
a trained professional. I have the opportu-
nity to lead a strong team in a world lead-
ing training organization at a time when
this transformation is taking place, and it
is very exciting.
Q What was your worst moment in
your career?
My worst moment in my entire career was
missing out on a key promotion opportu-
nity many years ago. However, like any
challenge, “what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger”, and I learned a lot about
corporate dynamics that continues to help
me perform better today.
Q What was your A-HA moment or
epiphany that you think will resonate
most with our reader, tell us that story.
A few years ago I received the opportunity
for in-depth executive coaching from an
excellent firm in the United States. This
coaching lasted over a two year period,
and was very intrusive and personal, and
very effective. Mid-way through this pro-
cess, once my coach got to know me and
the entire executive team members very
well, the coach made a comment which
for me was an “A-HA” moment. He
said… “Mike, it is important for any exec-
utive to truly understand their role within
a corporate team, as it relates to leveraging
their strengths to maximum effectiveness.
I think your role at the executive table
might be to make everyone else around
the table stronger. In your case, it’s not
as much about you and your growth, it’s
about your interaction with others and
how you lift their growth”. That was a
key moment for me, that has had a large
impact on how I lead people and teams,
and work with people across the organi-
zation.
Q Step back and analyze your jour-
ney, what is the take away you want to
give to our audience?
I think there are a few key takeaways from
my journey…First, is that establishing
a strong technical competence early in
your career can serve you well all the way
through. Second, always share the mindset
of the customer, think like they are think-
ing, share their goals and objectives, and
align your business to that. Third, “size
doesn’t matter”, in that it does not matter
the size of the organization you work for
as my early years in small business really
taught me to “own” responsibility and to
understand all aspects of the business.
Q What are the biggest impediments
to innovation in today’s enterprise?
One of the biggest impediments to in-
novation is resources. A company com-
mitted to innovation must dedicate the fi-
nancial resources, which in turn dedicates
the human resources, to the innovation
process for both near term and medium/
long term advances in their capability and
offering. Fortunately, I get to work at a
company that does that.
Q What technologies, business
models, and trends will drive the biggest
changes in your industry over the next
two years?
Integrated Live-Virtual-Constructive sim-
ulation environments, enabled through
cyber secure distributed simulation net-
works, will drive significant change over
the next two years. In addition, closed-
loop, performance-based training system
management frameworks will have a large
impact on training system design and op-
timization.
Q What is your parting piece of
advice?
“Own it”. If every person, at each layer,
of any organization had a grip on their
role and the strategy of the company, and
they truly “owned” their piece of it, an or-
ganization would be untouchable.
MIKE GREENLEY
GAME
CHANGERS
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER
CAE CANADA