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Bill Furlong (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-furlong-0689753/) is a distinguished finance and leadership expert who served as Vice Chair at TD Securities and now advances character-based leadership through his work with Ivey Business School, Leader Character Associates, and various governance roles.

Quotes From Bill

•  "If you want to get an early warning sense of where this organization is going to go, if you have a good sense of what the character of the leadership and the board is like, you're going to have a very good sense as to where the organization is going to go over the two to five year time frame."
•  "Once you've rewired your brain, you become basically a different person, but now you become the different person that you've always wanted to be, one with enormous strength and character."
•  "Directors are brought onto boards for their judgment—and judgment is rooted in character.”
•  "You don’t need elite credentials to build character. It’s available to anyone willing to put in the reps."
•  "I think we underestimate the degree to which we can change the context we're in. One person can shift the whole room."
•  "The culture of an organization is really the aggregate of the character of its people."
•  "Virtuosity gives me the structure I need—without it, I’d probably be a D in character development."

Resources

  •  Leader Character Associates (https://leadercharacterassociates.com/)
  •  Question of Character podcast (https://www.questionofcharacter.com/)
  •  Character Quotient Assessment in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marycrossan/2025/03/26/from-good-to-great-10-ways-to-elevate-your-character-quotient/)
  •  Leader Character Framework with Culture, Virtues, and Vices (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/8505b936-d1fd-4b36-96ed-62663e1c5b9a.pdf)

About Virtuosity

• Website (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/)
• Monthly Newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/virtuositycharacter/subscribe-to-the-virtuosity-monthly-newsletter)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtuosity-character)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

Host, Dr Corey Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycrossan/), is a research and teaching fellow at The Oxford Character Project where she develops and facilitates character development programs for students, industry, and university partners. Corey’s love for elite performance developed as she competed in top-level athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete. Corey translated her understanding of elite performance into a passion for helping individuals and organizations develop sustained excellence. She is also the co-founder of Virtuosity Character, a mobile software application created to support the daily, deliberate practice of character-based leadership development.

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Dr. Christian Breede (https://www.linkedin.com/in/h-christian-breede-09481415/) is a Research Analyst with the Department of National Defence working at the Canadian Defence Academy.

Quotes From Christian

•  "Character work is not to be started in the attack position. You've got to do it before...You gotta have the sets and reps done beforehand so that when you're in those positions of having to make a quick decision, you can rely on your strength of character — your judgment is strong and you're going to make the right call."
•  "Militaries privilege certain virtues over others, which leads to unbalanced character — and that can create problems...Almost every country [Five Eyes and Ireland] under emphasized temperance, collaboration, and — surprisingly — courage."
•  "The proverbial one-and-done is better than nothing, but ultimately of little impact — what really sticks is some way we can build habituation into it — how can we make this habit-forming? That's where Virtuosity is really helpful, the daily cues to think about what you're already doing — just in a new way."
•  "I really want to highlight just how universal this idea of character really is. Character transcends space and time in a way that I think few ideas really do."

Resources

  •  Character and the Five Eyes: A Review of Anglosphere Military Leadership Doctrine (coming soon)
  •  Character Quotient Assessment in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marycrossan/2025/03/26/from-good-to-great-10-ways-to-elevate-your-character-quotient/)
  •  Leader Character Framework with Culture, Virtues, and Vices (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/8505b936-d1fd-4b36-96ed-62663e1c5b9a.pdf)
  •  Seven Strategies for Character Development (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a6

About Virtuosity

• Website (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/)
• Monthly Newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/virtuositycharacter/subscribe-to-the-virtuosity-monthly-newsletter)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtuosity-character)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

Host, Dr Corey Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycrossan/), is a research and teaching fellow at The Oxford Character Project where she develops and facilitates character development programs for students, industry, and university partners. Corey’s love for elite performance developed as she competed in top-level athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete. Corey translated her understanding of elite performance into a passion for helping individuals and organizations develop sustained excellence. She is also the co-founder of Virtuosity Character, a mobile software application created to support the daily, deliberate practice of character-based leadership development.

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Chuck Ansell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-ansell-00370185/), currently serving as the School Chief Warrant Officer at the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control Operations, sits down with Corey to share insights on how he's embedding character leadership into their education and leadership training.

Quotes From Chuck

• "We make sure that junior leaders, intermediate leaders, and senior leaders, all understand what their character looks like and learn about how they can recognize it in other people."
• "I send out a weekly character email that takes a topic, whether it's a character virtue or vice, then discuss it, define it, and explain how it can impact the mission and the team."
• "Our annual evaluations have changed to a character and competency-based evaluation - so character is in our evaluations."
• "[Virtuosity] provides the information, it provides the avenue to track your progress, and asks you the questions that we should be thinking about to change a habit."

Resources

• Character Quotient Assessment in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marycrossan/2025/03/26/from-good-to-great-10-ways-to-elevate-your-character-quotient/)
• Leader Character Framework with Culture, Virtues, and Vices (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/990340a0-9980-4919-9456-ab5640b405a0.pdf)
• Seven Strategies for Character Development (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/fa001ea5-006e-4e0e-8f68-c4fc2d671aae.pdf)
• Five Stages for Character Development (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/97cf5062-

About Virtuosity

• Website (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/)
• Monthly Newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/virtuositycharacter/subscribe-to-the-virtuosity-monthly-newsletter)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtuosity-character)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

Host, Dr Corey Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycrossan/), is a research and teaching fellow at The Oxford Character Project where she develops and facilitates character development programs for students, industry, and university partners. Corey’s love for elite performance developed as she competed in top-level athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete. Corey translated her understanding of elite performance into a passion for helping individuals and organizations develop sustained excellence. She is also the co-founder of Virtuosity Character, a mobile software application created to support the daily, deliberate practice of character-based leadership development.

Send us a text

In our launch episode, co-founders Dr. Mary Crossan and host Dr. Corey Crossan challenge conventional thinking on leadership development and invite you to reimagine what's possible when character becomes a daily practice.

• Mary reveals why character isn’t just important—it’s foundational
• Corey unpacks the intentional design behind Virtuosity’s flagship program
• Mary outlines what makes this approach radically different from traditional leadership models
• Together, they introduce this year’s program participants—guests who will bring theory to life
• Mary shares strategic insights on how Virtuosity drives organizational transformation
• Mary reflects on the Virtuosity app and how it brings character development into daily practice
• And finally, Mary unveils the Character Quotient—a new framework to assess and elevate the way we lead

This isn't just another leadership podcast. It's a call to those who believe that character is the next frontier of excellence.

Dr Mary Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-crossan-048ba5269/) is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Strategic Leadership at the Ivey Business School, Western University, Canada.

Resources

  •  Character Quotient Assessment in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marycrossan/2025/03/26/from-good-to-great-10-ways-to-elevate-your-character-quotient/)
  •  Cracking the Code (https://www.cutter.com/article/cracking-code-leader-character-development-competitive-advantage)
  •  Leader Character Framework with Culture, Virtues, and Vices (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/organization/storage_production_6e2934b8-3e20-47a7-aa79-59a612f967be/990340a0-9980-4919-9456-ab5640b405a0.pdf)

About Virtuosity

• Website (https://virtuositycharacter.ca/)
• Monthly Newsletter (https://mailchi.mp/virtuositycharacter/subscribe-to-the-virtuosity-monthly-newsletter)
• LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtuosity-character)
• Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/virtuositycharacter/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)

Host, Dr Corey Crossan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycrossan/), is a research and teaching fellow at The Oxford Character Project where she develops and facilitates character development programs for students, industry, and university partners. Corey’s love for elite performance developed as she competed in top-level athletics for most of her life, highlighted by competing as a NCAA Division 1 athlete. Corey translated her understanding of elite performance into a passion for helping individuals and organizations develop sustained excellence. She is also the co-founder of Virtuosity Character, a mobile software application created to support the daily, deliberate practice of character-based leadership development.