Mission Critical Leadership Imperative with Phil Desmarais

Send us Fan MailWhat does character have to do with military leadership and operational readiness?Lieutenant-Colonel Phil Desmarais—Commanding Officer of the Canadian NORAD Space Detachment—joins us for a pioneering conversation on why character is mission critical in today’s CAF. Drawing on 25+ years in air and space operations, he shares how his team is implementing daily character development across a dispersed unit, what this work demands of leaders, and why what got you here won’t get you there.🧠 What you’ll hear:🔥 Why people who rely on you “deserve a better version of you”—and why Phil refuses to stay static as a leader🧭 “Who are you becoming while you’re busy doing?” — the guiding question anchoring his leadership⚔️ Why character is an operational advantage, not a soft skill—especially in a world of global instability🧩 The pioneering initiative: a train-the-trainer model + Virtuosity’s daily development + defence-specific application🛠️ How behavioral forecasting became rocket fuel for his team—especially when preparing senior leaders for high-stakes strategic engagementsResources •  Canadian Armed Forces Ethos : Trusted to Serve (https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/canadian-armed-forces-ethos-trusted-to-serve.html) •  Fighting Spirit: The Profession of Arms in Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/fighting-spirit.html) •  Behavioural Forecasting in Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marycrossan/2025/06/25/behavioral-forecasting-a-foundational-practice-to-navigate-the-world/) •  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.