Four Years of Resilience: Purpose, Community, and Leadership from Ukraine

Описание: Four years into the full‑scale invasion of Ukraine, organizations and communities continue to operate under extreme uncertainty, disruption, and risk. Yet across the country, leaders and employees demonstrate remarkable resilience and commitment offering important lessons that extend beyond a wartime context.

One such example is the destruction and rapid reopening of an OKKO gas station in Korotych, in Ukraine’s Kharkiv Oblast. On November 7, 2025, a civilian OKKO gas station was destroyed during a guided aerial attack. Miraculously, no one was killed, and just two days later, the station resumed operations. Stories such as this raise a critical question: How do Ukrainians continue to remain resilient, four years into the full-scale invasion, an invasion that continues to have profound humanitarian and economic impact.

This webinar recognizes the fourth year of the full-scale invasion and explores what business leaders, educators, and students can learn from leadership practiced under the most challenging conditions. Such events have lots to offer in terms of deep, personal leadership and leadership processes. Hence a second question emerges: What leadership lessons can business leaders adopt to the benefit of their teams and organizations?

Case Spotlight:
Anchored by the release of the new Ivey Publishing case, A Bombed Gas Station in Korotych, Kharkiv Region: The Spirit of Ukrainians Exemplified, the session examines how purpose, community, and adaptive leadership enable organizations to recover, remain operational, and support people during crisis. The case demonstrates lessons in building resilience, including the importance of purpose and staying connected through community hubs.

About this webinar:
In this session, Gerard Seijts, Professor, Ivey Business School and Sofiya Opatska, Vice-Rector of Strategic Development, Ukrainian Catholic University lead a discussion on leadership and resilience in prolonged crisis. Drawing on real‑world experiences from Ukraine’s wartime economy, the panel will explore how leaders sustain morale, rebuild operations, and maintain human connection amid ongoing disruption.

Joined by Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Larisa Galadza, former Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, and Andriy Kostyuk, Corporate Secretary, Board of Directors, OKKO Group, the discussion will bring practitioner and policy perspectives on leadership, organizational continuity, and community engagement during sustained uncertainty.

What you will learn:
-Leadership under extreme conditions: How leaders operate when stability, resources, and predictability are absent
-Resilience in practice: The role of purpose, community, and values in sustaining organizations during crisis
-Teaching with crisis‑based cases: Approaches to using the case in leadership, strategy, and organizational behavior courses
-Transferable insights: How lessons from Ukraine can inform leadership practice in other high‑uncertainty environments