Profile with Yolande Chan
Dr. Yolande E. Chan is Dean and James McGill Professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Prior to joining Desautels, Dean Chan served as Associate Dean of Research, PhD and MSc Programs, and the E. Marie Shantz Chair of Digital Technology at the Smith School of Business, Queen’s University. Dean Chan has received the Queen’s University Distinguished Service Award, Commerce Teaching Excellence Award, Commerce Professor-Student Life Award, Queen’s University Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, and a Smith School Researcher Achievement Award. She previously served as Queen’s University’s Associate Vice-Principal (Research).
Dean Chan holds a PhD in Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University, an MPhil in Management Studies from Oxford University, and SM and SB degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on innovation, knowledge strategy, digital strategy, digital entrepreneurship, and business-IT alignment.
Rhodes Project: Where did you grow up?
Yolande Chan: For much of my youth, I lived in Kingston, Jamaica. I left Jamaica to study at MIT and then at Oxford. I later travelled to Canada with my husband. During my career, I spent about three decades working in Kingston, Canada, at Queen’s University. Now I work in Montreal at McGill University.
Rhodes Project: What most surprised you about your time in Oxford?
Yolande Chan: I should say that the most significant surprise was probably my husband – another Rhodes Scholar, Michael Chan. I met him on his first day in Oxford, and he became my biggest surprise and biggest love. One of the most wonderful memories I have is going down the River Cherwell with Michael. He was punting, we had strawberries – it was truly a time when I was fully alive, and fully aware of being in a place of significant historical and cultural importance. I was very aware of the gift, privilege and joy that was mine being in Oxford. Even the buildings speak quietly and elegantly of the city’s history and scholarship.
Rhodes Project: Has a sense of being grateful for privilege always guided you in life?
Yolande Chan: I live with a deep sense of gratitude, which is balanced by a sense of responsibility that has, at times, felt like a heavy load. I believe that because of my tertiary education in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, I have had more global opportunities than most fellow Jamaicans. Thanks to what I have received, I choose to mentor others who are less privileged, to serve as a champion and voice for others, and to live courageously, making tough but right choices. I feel a sense of responsibility to use all that I am and do to reflect well on Jamaica, on women, on racialized persons, and on those who look to me to set an example and show what can be done. I want to remind them there is nothing they cannot do.
Rhodes Project: What is something your students have taught you?
Yolande Chan: My students have taught me that my role in the classroom, and in the supervision of doctoral and master’s students, is service. I remember a moment which encapsulates this. I was frustrated with a student who was very demanding. I kept finding that, although I had just provided helpful information and reviewed the student’s work, there was always another request for assistance. And then there was that moment—the moment of recognition, of a fresh vision of my purpose, which is to ably and willingly serve. Of course, there are boundaries that must be set, and expectations that are unreasonable need to be confronted—but all that aside, I recognized that I wasn’t teaching or supervising for my own advancement; I was there for the students.
Rhodes Project: Can you tell me about a favorite past project?
Yolande Chan: As a researcher and academic administrator, and during the past three decades of my career, I have advocated for women, and more generally for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). For more than five years, I have made this my professional priority. As co-chair of the Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion at Queen’s University, I worked on a report on recommendations to create a more welcoming and inclusive community. It stands out as one of the most challenging but rewarding projects I have undertaken in my career. Now, at Desautels at McGill, I continue to make EDI a significant priority for the Faculty. My goal is to build a more diverse and inclusive community in which all of our members feel welcome, respected, and represented—a place where people can learn, thrive, and feel they belong. This not only prepares our students to work in a diverse world, but is critical for innovation and advancement.
Rhodes Project: If you hadn’t been an academic, what else would you have done?
Yolande Chan: When I was a little girl, what I really wanted was to be an Anglican priest. But women weren’t allowed to be priests at that time, so I put that aside. I loved mathematics and English literature; in fact, I just loved studying, so I put aside the desire to be a priest and focused instead on academia. Work involves the mind, heart and body; I had initially wanted to pursue a profession that would have focused on the spiritual side of ourselves, but because that door was shut, I pursued a profession that allowed me to focus on the mind, the soul. I have no regrets. I love what I do.
Rhodes Project: Does that spiritual part of yourself still inform your life?
Yolande Chan: Absolutely. Part of what I live by as an academic is the motto, “Do no harm.” And I think that does come from the strength that I have spiritually. I think that does shape my service as an academic. In fact, I aim to “do good.” At Desautels, I exhort the Faculty to go beyond aspirations for greatness, and to seek to advance goodness. My motto for the Faculty is “Desautels the great, Desautels the good.”
Rhodes Project: What inspires you and why?
Yolande Chan: Love. I grew up in an extremely loving family and I have always known that I’m loved. As I confront challenges and difficult people and circumstances, the phrase that comes to mind is “I am constrained by love.” I do not want to be a perpetrator of anything but love. So when something negative rises up inside of me—if someone hasn’t really treated me with professional courtesy, or has been in some way destructive—I try to filter that response through the strainer of love. It gives me the ability to look at the other and not respond similarly. It constrains me, but it also gives me the ability to continue because a lot of what we face as professionals is not always pleasant or fair or right, and I choose not to be part of the problem. I choose not to be shaped by those who are not acting out of love.
Rhodes Project: What advice would you give to your sixteen year old self?
Yolande Chan: I would say be true to yourself. Don’t live the life that others want you to live, however kind their motivation for trying to determine your path. I would say know yourself, be authentic to your design and live life fully, with gratitude and joy.
Rhodes Project: If you were told tomorrow that you had a month-long sabbatical to do anything you please, what would you do?
Yolande Chan: In this season of my life, I would use the time to rest, to review my leadership responsibilities in a holistic and strategic manner and, of course, be around family and close friends—a luxury I do not take for granted.
Rhodes Project: What guides your choices and decision-making, and what is the cost?
I try to live mindfully and maximally. I want to live each day with a sense of being fully present and having given my best. I care deeply and want to be responsive to every request that comes my way, but I know that I cannot. This is the hardest part of the role for me. I therefore have to make strategic choices about where to be present and, at times, let others make impacts that are important and needed. Strategy is as much about what you will not do as it is about what you will do. Humility involves recognizing that you cannot do it all.
Rhodes Project: What do you look forward to doing in the next 10 years of your career?
I want to transform the Desautels Faculty of Management so we are known globally for our priority areas: equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI); sustainability; innovation and entrepreneurship; and analytics, AI and advanced digital technologies—all of which are supported by what I consider two bookend priorities: academic and research excellence (the greatness), and ethical leadership that positively impacts the stakeholders and communities we serve (the goodness). I want to complete my mandate as dean knowing that I have served Desautels wholeheartedly, wisely, and well.
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