Spring 2025 alumni address: Sandra Walker

Sandra Walker clearly remembers the question that turned conflict into collaboration around a tense boardroom meeting.

“We’d been in that meeting for hours, locked in a stalemate over a critical strategic decision that would impact thousands of employees across multiple countries,” said the MBA alum during her Spring 2025 convocation address.

As tempers rose and voices grew strained, Walker realized everyone — including herself — were blinded by their own confirmation bias.

Her convocation address details what came next, and how it helped not only solve a conflict, but also redefine how decisions were made across the organization.

"This new mindset became the foundation for my life’s next chapter," says Walker, who later founded Viacern Group Inc., and now leads it as CEO.

Watch her full address or read a transcript below.

Good afternoon, graduates.

It's such an honour to be here with you today — both as a speaker and as a fellow Royal Roads alumnus.

Crossing this stage is a powerful moment — not only for the pride it brings, but for what it represents: your hard work, your introspection, and the bold decision to invest in your own growth at a time when the world needs thoughtful, capable leaders more than ever before.

When I returned to graduate school six years ago, I had already spent decades in leadership roles — and yet I knew I was being called to lead differently.

So I came to Royal Roads with a key question: How can we make better decisions in a world that’s only growing more complex?

And that question has stayed with me, guiding my growth as a leader.

I still remember the moment that crystallized this question into action.

So come back with me to that moment.

A group of colleagues and I were sitting around a large boardroom table. We’d been in that meeting for hours, locked in a stalemate over a critical strategic decision that would impact thousands of employees across multiple countries.

Voices had grown strained. Positions were entrenched. Everyone was fiercely defending their own data — including me.

As tempers rose, I noticed something crucial. We were trapped in loops of confirmation bias — selectively highlighting information that supported our existing views and blinding us to everything else.

My heart started racing — not from uncertainty, but from recognition. This was exactly the kind of moment I had studied for.

The moment when clarity demands bold intervention.

I leaned forward and addressed the room.

“Wait,” I said. “What if we’re wrong? What are we not seeing clearly?”

You could practically hear the gears shifting as everyone processed the question.

And one by one, those defensive walls began to crumble as each person started to question their own assumptions.

And by the end of that meeting, we didn’t just make a better decision — we redefined how decisions were made in our organization.

By shifting from defending certainty to embracing curiosity, we created space for deeper understanding and genuine collaboration.

And that’s the essence of what I’ve gained at Royal Roads.

It was more than a degree. It was a disciplined mindset — one that encourages stepping back, asking more impactful questions, and holding space for complexity before rushing toward certainty.

And this new mindset became the foundation for my life’s next chapter.

Today, I lead Viacern — an organization dedicated to helping leaders understand how their preferences, mental shortcuts, and decision-making patterns shape their choices.

And here’s what I’ve learned along the way: The most dangerous decisions don’t come from too little data. They come from not recognizing what’s shaping the lens we look through.

That shaping influence is everywhere.

It comes from inside us — our personalities, our lived experiences, our hidden biases.

And it comes from outside of us — in tailored algorithms, manufactured echo chambers, and the constant barrage of popular opinion.

We are constantly being nudged — by design and by default — toward narrower, simpler views of an increasingly complicated world.

And this house of mirrors — filled with ideas and people who think like us — reinforces our human tendency to seek being right over seeking to understand.

That’s why critical thinking isn’t just a skill — it’s our responsibility.

It enables us to pause long enough to notice the gap between what we assume and what’s actually true. To distinguish signal from noise. To choose active awareness over automatic assumptions.

So as you step forward — with new knowledge, new responsibility, and a future still being written — I invite you to ask this essential question:

What am I not seeing clearly?

Ask it often. Ask it bravely. And ask it with the humility of someone willing to have your mind changed.

Because clarity isn’t a destination. It’s a discipline.

In a world that rewards speed, visibility, and the illusion of certainty, your courage to slow down, reflect deeply, and see differently can be your greatest advantage.

And these skills are crucial — because each decision we make shapes the future we all live in tomorrow.

So as you leave here today, I invite you to step forward boldly — knowing that the impact of your decisions and the strength of your leadership will be measured not by how firmly you hold on to your views, but by how clearly you see them, and how openly you challenge them.

Thank you, and congratulations.