By Amoryn Engel

The strong link between leadership, corporate culture and a company's performance was on glittering disply recently at The Design Exchange in downtown Toronto, venue for Waterstone Human Capital's celebration of Canada's 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures of 2008. 

More than 500 guests gathered to celebrate winning organizations Boston Pizza International Inc., Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Intuit Canada, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd., Purolator Courier Ltd., Yellow Pages Group, RBC, Shoppers Drug Mart, Tim Hortons and WestJet. Seven of the organizations on the list are return winners from 2007. Intuit, McDonald's and Shoppers Drug Mart are the three new additions for 2008.

"We've shown, year after year, that corporate culture has a direct impact on an organization's financial performance," said Marty Parker, managing director of Waterstone Human Capital. "And a great culture can only come about with great people. Despite the economic doom-and-gloom out there, the companies on our 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures list keep investing in good people because they know their investment will ultimately benefit the bottom line."

Among the good people on hand for the celebration were Jurgen Schreiber, president and CEO, Shoppers Drug Mart; Mark Pacinda, president, Boston Pizza International Inc.; John Betts, president, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd.; Robert Johnson, president and CEO, Purolator Courier; Paul Godfrey, president and CEO, National Post; Mary-Alice Vuicic, executive vice-president, human resources and organizational development, Shoppers Drug Mart; Zabeen Hirji, chief human resources officer, RBC Financial Group; Dr. Nick Bontis, director, Institute for Intellectual Capital Research Inc., and professor, strategic management, McMaster University; Josee Dykun, vice-president, human resources, Yellow Pages Group.

Between January and June 2008, Waterstone Human Capital surveyed 340 senior Canadian executives representing Canada's top 500 corporations. They were asked to list or nominate names of organizations in Canada they most admired for having a corporate culture that impacts performance.