New approach to documenting a CEO’s impact: Documentaries
Feature-length documentaries becoming a powerful tool to capture the very essence of CEOs and their legacy
TORONTO, December 18, 2024 – CONTEXT Studios (CONTEXT) is proud to unveil an innovative approach to documenting a CEO’s tenure and defining their legacy: high-end, feature-length film and podcast documentaries.
Dave Leonard, the retiring CEO of McCarthy Tétrault, helped pioneer this game-changing concept by being featured in CONTEXT’s inaugural CEO Documentary. Filmed in his office on the 48th floor of McCarthy Tétrault’s downtown Toronto office, the documentary offers a comprehensive look at Leonard’s distinguished career, highlighting the milestones of his tenure as CEO and reflecting on his humble beginnings. It explores the ups and downs of his journey, featuring interviews with colleagues and acknowledging the mentors who played a pivotal role in shaping his success.
“Documenting a CEO’s journey in such a meaningful way showcases the lasting impact they had on the organization and honours their legacy,” says CONTEXT Studios CEO Andrea Lekushoff. “This approach offers a timeless tribute that goes beyond achievements. When done well, it allows leaders to reflect on their career, share the triumphs and challenges they experienced, reflect on the lessons they learned, and highlight the milestones that define how they will be remembered. Our process actually captures their very essence.”
The Power of Context: Redefining Storytelling in a Short-form World
Amid the shift toward short video clips and the fast-paced, mobile-first nature of social media, CONTEXT is adopting a unique approach focused on archival, historical, and educational content. Focusing on long-form, in-depth documentaries, the company offers a refreshing alternative to the bite-sized content dominating today’s attention economy, providing deep context into a person’s life or a business’s evolution.
CONTEXT has developed a simple, efficient way to capture an individual’s or business’s most important stories in a single day. With a team of award-winning filmmakers, the company films clients in their own environments—whether at home, a vacation property, or business—creating space for personal stories and emotions to naturally unfold. The clients’ own photos, videos, and audio are seamlessly integrated during post-production. Each documentary is up to 90 minutes long and divided into episodes, and two social media clips are included. Clients can access their documentaries from any device on a dedicated streaming platform, with the option to keep the documentary private or share it online. CONTEXT can also design a custom package to suit a client’s needs. For those who prefer audio or are camera-shy, CONTEXT produces podcast documentaries. These can be kept private or distributed across all major listening platforms with full support from CONTEXT.
A New Approach to Capturing Business Legacy
A CEO documentary preserves an organization’s history by highlighting its leader’s impact on growth, culture, and strategy. It offers insights into their vision, values, and decision-making while providing leadership lessons for future generations. Through personal stories, it humanizes the company, strengthening connections with employees and stakeholders, and reinforcing its brand. Serving as both a tribute to the CEO’s achievements and a resource for leadership transition, a documentary is a powerful tool that supports long-term strategy and growth.
“This documentary is a powerful way to reflect on my time in this role, acknowledge the incredible friends and colleagues I’ve worked with, and capture the successes we achieved together,” says Leonard. “It’s a fresh, modern format that makes it easy for anyone to gain a deeper understanding of the firm’s evolution and growth.”
Leonard also chose to create a second feature-length documentary centred on his personal life—a private keepsake for his family, serving as a complement to his CEO Documentary.
An Innovative, Modern (and Much Easier) Alternative to Writing a Book
By the time companies consider documenting their history—often during a milestone anniversary—they typically need to hire researchers, historians, writers, and publishers to sift through the past and craft it into a narrative. This process is often viewed as a book-writing project, a task that can take over a year and is frequently abandoned due to the time and effort required. And with today’s shift toward digital media, people are engaging more with videos they can watch on their phones or audio clips they can listen to on the go, rather than traditional books or written content.
While Leonard participated in the first CEO Documentary, CONTEXT has also interviewed other prominent CEOs, including Gillian Stein (former fourth-generation CEO of Henry’s) and her father, Andy Stein (visionary entrepreneur and former third-generation CEO of Henry’s), as part of documenting the story of their successful, multi-generational family business.
A Personal and Meaningful Gift for a CEO
In addition to its organizational value, a documentary also makes a lasting gift for an outgoing CEO. “It’s far more meaningful than a watch or a piece of art,” says Leonard. “It’s a gift that brings together my thoughts, experiences, and memories from throughout my career. It will be a valuable keepsake, allowing me to reflect on my journey in the years ahead, and offering my family a deeper understanding of my career.”
Leonard says what he will miss most about the firm is the people. His documentary includes several interviews with colleagues, including Sarit Batner, Chair of McCarthy Tétrault’s Board of Partners, and Barbara Boake, National Practice Leader at the firm. Their heartfelt words and cherished anecdotes add a personal touch, creating a beautiful tribute to Leonard and highlighting the profound mark he’s left on the firm.
Understanding the Person Behind the Success
When a CEO is honoured at the end of their tenure, the focus is typically on their achievements in the role. However, CONTEXT understands that to fully grasp someone’s success, it’s essential to explore their background and early jobs. A documentary allows for a deeper and more engaging look into the moments that shaped a person’s life, successes, and ultimately, their career.
In Leonard’s documentary, he reflects on his modest beginnings, in a typical middle-class family. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t working,” he recalls, thinking back on his earliest jobs cutting lawns, shovelling snow, and his paper route delivering the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and Sunday Sun. His first “real” job was at Burger King, and he also lifeguarded in Toronto’s Parks & Recreation department. At Western University, he served as a residence advisor and don for six years, always living on campus. During this time, he also worked weekends and summers at IBM, where he remained employed until he joined McCarthy Tétrault. Leonard emphasises how these jobs shaped him into the leader he would become.
Creating Space for Emotions and Feelings to be Expressed
A documentary brings people’s stories to life by capturing voices, faces, and emotions, allowing future generations to connect personally with those that came before them.
Leonard expresses emotions at several points in his documentary, such as when speaking about leading the firm through the COVID pandemic: “We never want to go through that again—the health toll, the economic toll, the personal toll on our people. We made sure our people knew we would take care of them. And we did.” When speaking about his partnership with his longtime executive assistant Maria De Marco, with whom he worked since his early days at the firm, he said “She always had my back, was in my corner, would do whatever she could to make my life easier. I couldn’t have done this job as well as I did without her.”
The format also gives individuals the opportunity to express gratitude to those who have played a meaningful role in their careers. Leonard acknowledges a number of people, and notably makes a point of thanking his wife, Janis. “It’s not easy being married to a CEO. Its not a Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-5 job. It's 24/7, 365 days a year, and that affected my family life, there’s no question. Janis was there for me through it all. She's incredibly smart, we were partners in this, and I want to acknowledge the impact she had.”
Drawing on Deep Expertise in Humanizing C-suite Leaders and Telling Compelling CEO Stories
Since founding Broad Reach Communications in 2004, Lekushoff has gained widespread recognition as an authority in profiling CEOs – many of whom are members of YPO – highlighting their achievements, and showcasing the transformative growth they drive within their organizations, including:
Tech industry innovators and advocates like John Ruffolo, founder of Maverix Private Equity & OMERS Ventures, and co-founder of the Council of Canadian Innovators (when he was Deloitte’s TMT leader)
Powerhouse global CEOs like Victoria Sopik of Kids & Company
Changemakers like Deborah Rosati, CEO of Women Get On Board Inc. (who asked Broad Reach to launch their ELEVATE program to help get more women on boards)
Mental health advocates like Gillian Stein, former CEO of Henry’s (who engaged Broad Reach, to among other things, help reveal that she lives with bipolar disorder, through this Financial Post story and this LinkedIn article)
Industry pioneers like Ersilia Serafini, President and CEO of Summerhill, who now sits on the board of Toronto Hydro
Industry leaders like global mining innovator Don Duval, CEO of NORCAT
“It’s been an honour to position our clients as industry leaders, showcase their achievements, and define their lasting legacies,” says Lekushoff. “Building on this expertise and telling their stories through documentaries is a natural extension of this work.”
Preserving Memories and Leaving a Lasting Legacy
When asked how he wants to be remembered, Leonard says, “I hope to be remembered as someone who had a positive impact on the firm, and who did it with integrity and respect for our people. One of the things I’m very proud of is having embedded diversity and inclusion into the fabric of the firm.” He says his time as CEO has been the highlight of his professional career. “It’s an honour to have had the opportunity to lead this firm for the past nine years, to make a difference economically, culturally, and with our people, clients, and partners. I have nothing but great memories of my career at McCarthy Tétrault, and it’s great to have this documentary that captures it in such a powerful and personal way.”
About Dave Leonard, Retiring CEO, McCarthy Tétrault
Leonard joined McCarthy Tétrault in 1992 as an articling student. He practised in McCarthy Tétrault’s litigation group, representing a wide range of clients. In 2012, he was appointed National Practice Group Leader for litigation before assuming the role of CEO in 2016. Under his leadership, counsel, and vision, the firm developed its pioneering industry strategy, introduced countless award-winning innovations, and expanded its reach into new businesses and markets, including the opening of the firm’s New York office. Leading more than 700 lawyers and operations in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, New York, and London (UK), Leonard incorporated diverse perspectives to build a cohesive plan for the business's future. Leonard led with compassion and empathy, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he made the well-being of everyone at the firm a priority. A stalwart champion of the firm's Inclusion Now strategy, Leonard led the firm to being named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 12 years in a row. In 2019, he was named Senior Executive of the Year (Eastern Canada) by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion for his commitment to fostering and building the firm’s proud diverse and inclusive culture. In 2021, he was named Managing Partner of the Year at the Canadian Law Awards. Leonard received his LLB from Western University in 1992 and was called to the Ontario bar in 1994.
About CONTEXT Studios
CONTEXT Studios documents the lives and legacies of individuals, entrepreneurs, and family businesses in high-end film and podcast documentaries. Its films are shot by cinematographers and streamed on a custom streaming platform. Its podcasts are hosted on the same platform and can be published on all major listening platforms. CONTEXT documentaries can be enjoyed from any device and can be easily passed down to future generations, making them a unique and invaluable gift for any family or business interested in legacy. For further information, email andrea@contextstudios.ca, visit contextstudios.ca, and follow CONTEXT on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
