Program description

Mission:  Help high school students develop leadership skills, service mindset, and self awareness to better prepare themselves for journey to college and beyond

Students during our Pilot

Passionate Ivy League Facilitators for every 6-8 students

• Ivy League graduates and students with diverse academic interest and aspirations
• Passionate about helping others learn
• Track record of success, maturity, and “charting their own course”

Program Components

• ROLE-PLAY SIMULATION & CASE STUDIES: Experience different levels and types of challenges faced by most leaders in today’s world, illustrated by micro-finance and the threat of its collapse in India

• PROJECT EXPERIENCE WITH NGOs: Do a project for an NGO under guidance of seasoned business people and top tier college students.  Partner NGOs include Grameen Foundation, Dialogue in Silence, Diamond Cab & Bits-to-Bloc

• SUBSTANTIVE LEARNING: Learn about tangible leadership skills – analyzing situations, negotiations, devising executable plans, bridging differences in opinions

• EXPOSURE TO INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS: Hear how leaders from all walks (and ages) of life have aligned their purpose, talents, and values to their leadership, work, and life

• REFLECTION AND ONE-ON-ONE COACHING SESSIONS: Create own Inner Leader Portfolio – “What kind of person do I aspire to be, so I can be true to my essential nature, successful, and make a contribution to the world?

• MENTORSHIP & WORKSHOPS: Practical tips for college, school and life advice, sharing of experiences, exposure to various career paths

Exposing our students to leaders from a cross-section of life is one of our program goals.  Below is a list of speakers from the 2011 Program.

Business
Tim Wang – MNC General Manager, Mainland Chinese

Tony Estrella – Health care entrepreneur, ex-consultant (Accenture)

Lei Chen – Hedge Fund manager, ex-Goldman

Robert Davidson – Astrologer, musician, IT leader, talent management entrepreneur

Meng Lu Lim – Ex-Consultant (McKinsey), restaurant Entrepreneur (Ding Tai Feng Malaysia)

Abe Crystal – Technology entrepreneur, Usability advocate, academic

Ron Balzan – COO of travel/lifestyle advisory company, ex-AIG

Jennifer Moburg – Musician and Education Entrepreneur, Director of KinderU Suzuki Music Academy

NGOs/Social enterprises
Jennifer Meehan – CEO, Asia Region, Grameen Foundation

Ned Tozun – President and Co-founder of d.light design

Anthony Pang – General Manager, Dialogue in the Dark

Su-Mei Thompson – CEO, The Women’s Foundatino, ex-lawyer and executive at Disney, Financial Times & Christie’s

Grace Chiang – Social entrepreneur in China, Business Development

Doris Leung – CEO, Diamond Cab, ex-journalist

Francis Ngai – CEO, Social Venture Hong Kong, ex-PCCW

Charles Watson – Founder of SolarLEAP

Chandran Nair – Founder and Chief Executive of GIFT

People development

Sean Lin – Lieutenant Governor Marketing, China, Toastmasters; Police Negotiator; Ten Outstanding Young Persons Awardee; Chief Inspector (Hong Kong Police Force)

Pastor Brett Hilliard – Pastor

Robyn Lamsam – Life Coach, host and Emcee of sports events, ex HK Olympic swimmer

Kristofer SIY – Grade 10 student at HKIS

Bill Torbert – professor of leadership

James Krantz – Executive Coach

Barbara Cecil – Executive Coach, artist

Dorian Baroni – Executive Coach, ex-senior executive

Joven Mak – Magazine editor and coach, trained as lawyer

See below for bios

Business

Tim Wang – MNC General Manager

VP of Strategy and Business Development, Global F&B Sector, Ecolab

Tim is a seasoned General Manager with multinational companies such as GE, Cooper Industries, and EcoLab.  He grew up in a poor area in Fujian, China.  He was educated at Jiaotong University in Shanghai, winning a GE scholarship, and a job with GE as a product manager in its lighting business.  He then joined GE’s elite internal auditing and consulting arm, Corporate Audit Staff, and its corporate BD function.  With aspirations to be China’s Jack Welch, Tim went to HBS, and started his first stint as a general manager at the age of 33.

Tony Estrella – Health care entrepreneur, ex-consultant (Accenture)

COO, HealtiNation

Tony has a diverse healthcare background with experience in product marketing, management consulting, and venture capital. Prior to co-founding HealthiNation, Tony was a product manager at Pfizer, Inc, for a $1+ Billion drug where he developed product strategy and marketing initiatives. He is experienced in the strategic development and implementation of cross-functional marketing programs among patients, physicians, and health plans.

Tony’s prior experiences include co-founding a medical device company focused on patent development, evaluating early-stage investment opportunities as a Summer Associate with TL Ventures, and is a former strategic and technical consulting manager with Accenture. Tony is an alumnus from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business (MBA), London Business School, and the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (Electrical Engineering).

Lei Chen – Hedge Fund manager, ex-Goldman

Partner, Standard Pacific

Lei is a senior investment professional with Standard Pacific, a global hedge fund based in SF.  Lei focuses on Asia.  Before HBS, Lei was with Goldman Sachs doing equity sales focusing on the Japanese market.  Lei has written a book about her education and Wall Street experience.  She attended Middlebury College.

Robert Davidson – Astrologer, musician, technology leader and entrepreneur

CEO, TalentPortfolioSolutions
Mr. Davidson is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on talent portfolio management. Prior to co-founding Talent Portfolio Solutions, Mr. Davidson was a managing director at Morgan Stanley where he created the global talent management platform. At Credit Suisse, Mr. Davidson ran the Business Solutions Group overseeing teams that produced best-in-class web, desktop, and mobile applications including HR and IT finance technology and the internal mobility portal. Robert consults with business leaders on Talent Management and facilitates discussions at the Center for CIO leadership.

Meng Lu Lim – Ex-Consultant (McKinsey), restaurant Entrepreneur (Ding Tai Feng Malaysia)

Owner of Din Tai Fung Malaysia

Meng Lu left McKinsey to found Din Tai Fung Malaysia, bringing the famous Taiwanese restaurant for Xiao Long Bao to Malaysia, where she is originally from.

Abe Crystal – Technology entrepreneur, Usability advocate, academic

Principal, MoreBetterLabs

Abe Crystal, Ph.D., is a principal at MoreBetterLabs, a small but feisty company dedicated to creating a better Web through design.  MoreBetterLabs is currently developing our first product, ruzuku. Ruzuku helps passionate experts (such as authors, speakers, and coaches) create online learning communities.  In addition, MoreBetterLabs work with clients (such as Phonebooth.com, ChannelAdvisor, Princeton University, and Duke University), to improve their user experience. We’ve designed mobile apps, online communities, digital libraries, and ecommerce sites.

Abe earned his doctorate in Information Science from UNC-Chapel Hill and has served as an adjunct professor of information science at UCLA (teaching Information Retrieval) and UNC (teaching Organization of Information). He has published in Library and Information Science Research, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, International Journal of Metadata, Semantics & Ontologies, Technical Communication, and Conference on Designing for User eXperience (DUX). He also worked on the user experience team in IBM’s Rational Software division, where he conducted user research and conceptual design for requirements definition and prototyping software. He co-founded the Triangle Usability Professionals Association, and served as Vice President in 2006, President in 2007, and Chair of the Advisory Council in 2008 and 2009.

Ron Balzan – COO of travel/lifestyle advisory company, ex-AIG

COO, Nota Bene

Ron recently became COO of Nota Bene, a members-only travel & lifestyle advisory service for the discerning. The best kept secret of travel aficionados, Nota Bene reviews the finest and the latest in the world’s most sought after destinations; from hotels to restaurants, shopping to wellbeing.  Nota Bene’s founders, Anthony and Elaine Lassman, have made it their lifelong pursuit to travel around the globe seeking the unforgettable.

Prior to joining Nota Bene, Ron was with AIG and American Express in various finance, business analysis, and business development roles.

Jennifer Moburg – Musician and Education Entrepreneur

Founder and Director of KinderU Suzuki Music Academy

Jennifer Moberg is the founder and director of the KinderU Suzuki Music Academy. She began her studies as a Suzuki violinist with John Klein at the Park Avenue Suzuki Studio in Rochester, NY. She received Suzuki Teacher Training at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music with Teri Einfeldt, Chairperson of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. She also did SAA training with Carrie Reunning-Hummel, Ed Kreitman, Gail Johansen, Ronda Cole and Linda Fiore, and supplemental training with Hwang Kyung Ik, president of the International Suzuki Association. Other mentors include Caonex Peguero-Camillo, Chang Guo, Calvin Lewis, Dr. Paul Chenevey, and Dr. Mark Hartman.

In addition to her daily Suzuki teaching, Ms. Jennifer is a regular clinician at workshops in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand. She currently works with the Changing Young Lives foundation to provide music education for at risk youth in Hong Kong, and was the director of music for Rightmind Kindergarten (Ap Lei Chau). She taught Suzuki violin at the University of Hartford’s Hartt Community Division, the Talent Education Suzuki School, and the Suzuki Music School of Westport. She ran a scholarship outreach program in inner-city Bridgeport (CT), providing Suzuki lessons to needy families.

People development

Sean Lim

Well known as an experienced public speaker, trainer and negotiator. “Live in Excellence, Forwarding the Best.” Sean Lin, Hong Kong’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons Awardee 2006, has been known for walking this talk. Sean is the current Lieutenant Governor Marketing China of Toastmasters International, Founding President of Hong Kong MBA Toastmasters Club, Past President of Centraler Toastmasters Club and Past Division Governor Hong Kong of Toastmasters International.  He holds numerous professional qualifications, including a MBA, MSc and DTM, and speaks regularly on TV, press, media, podcast, seminars and International conferences.  He is also a Council Member, as well as the Founding Chairman of Convocation of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Brett Hilliard, pastor

Senior Pastor of Island Evangelical Community Church, Hong Kong

Brett is the Senior Pastor of Island Evangelical Community Church, the largest English-speaking church in Hong Kong. Brett arrived in the city in 2001 to serve in this position at what was then, a newly-planted church. His vision and leadership have helped develop the church to become the exciting and dynamic centre that it is today.

A native of Texas, USA, Brett graduated in Accounting from Texas Tech University in 1986. He started then in Christian ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Texas, speaking extensively to collegiate audiences, specialising in leadership development among the extensive social fraternity system. He has now served in Christian ministry for over 20 years, and has had the opportunity to speak in over 20 countries, including a 5-week stint in Chad, Africa, and a cultural exchange program in Albania. He graduated in 1996 from Dallas Theological Seminary with a ThM in Pastoral Leadership, and before coming to Hong Kong he served as a Pastor of Missions and Young Marrieds and established the first Sudanese Church in the USA among refugees. Brett is an excellent communicator – articulate, charismatic and genuinely relational, with an extensive knowledge and deep love for the word of God.

Kristofer SIY

Kristofer is a rising junior at Hong Kong International School. He has a strong passion in math and has led HKIS’ math team to several placings in international competitions over the last year; he also swims and is an incumbent captain for the school swim team. He took Humanities I in Action [a liberal studies course revolving around social awareness] in his freshman year and has since undertaken several projects to help spread personal and economic awareness, including co-designing and running an international trade simulation for the course and designing a presentation about the psychology of time.

Bill Torbert, professor of leadership

Bill is the Professor Emeritus of Leadership at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.  He is a notable human development theorist.  He was previously the Graduate Dean of the MBA program and Director of the PhD Program in Organizational Transformation at Boston College.  He has a BA/PhD from Yale, and also taught at SMU and Harvard University. He (co)-wrote Managing the Corporate Dream and Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership.

James Krantz, Executive Coach, organizational consultant

Prior to founding WorkLab (formerly Nautilus Consulting Group), Jim worked as a consultant with the Wharton School’s Center for Applied Research and the Tavistock Institute in London. He has held faculty appointments at Wharton and Yale, and has taught in numerous other settings including INSEAD, McKinsey’s Center Asian Leadership, and Columbia University. In addition, he served as Assistant Director of Wharton’s Leadership Program.

Jim’s collaborative model of consultation recognizes that the unique characteristics of each organization must be understood in order to arrive at individually tailored, workable solutions. He helps clients address the need for significant change by emphasizing the importance of careful analysis to avoid prematurely jumping from “symptom” to “solution/technique” without understanding the critical underlying systemic factors. He also works extensively with leaders and teams, helping them face difficult issues and improve decision-making.

Barbara Cecil – Executive Coach, organizational consultant

Barbara works as a thinking partner, coach and guide for leaders in organizations which are involved in renewal processes. She teaches core leadership skills for senior executives who are interested in new forms of team governance. Since 1987, Barbara has pioneered the discipline of dialogue as a foundational capacity for large systems change.

Barbara specializes in community dialogue, corporate and non-profit change initiatives, and support for women in transition. Prior to her work as a consultant, Barbara was Executive Director of the American-Soviet Film Initiative, established to dissolve stereotypes sustained by top image makers in the media, (Moscow/LosAngeles); She was Associate Dean of the School of Humanities at California State University, Long Beach. Barbara is also an artist.

Dorian Baroni – Executive Coach, ex-business executive

Dorian is an executive coach, leadership programs and retreats faculty, and organizational advisor in the United States. Her business experience has spanned a variety of industries – investment banking, global energy, consumer goods and art retail – and a number of countries – UK, US, Venezuela, Italy, Belgium.

She works with both individuals and organizational teams. She helps individuals develop a higher quality of transformational self-awareness, so as to enable courses of action in which the truth of one’s individual calling and the power of one’s true gifts can more clearly ‘show up’.

She has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and a BA of Cultural Anthropology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Joven Mak – Magazine editor and coach, trained as lawyer

Editor-in-Chief, CosmoGirl Magazine Hong Kong Edition

Joven is the Editor-in-Chief of CosmoGirl, the leading fashion/beauty magazine for young women in Hong Kong.  In that capacity, she pioneered the concept of Inner Girl, to encourage young Hong Kong women to develop their inner beauty and strength as well as outer beauty. Joven is a trained coach and trainer, dedicated to helping young people face the challenges of relationships and life by developing a positive mindset, emotional intelligence, and communication skills.  Joven has written five books applying NLP concepts to relationships.  Joven has a degree in both law and mass media.

NGO / Social enterprise

Jennifer Meehan – Social enterprise leader

CEO Asia Region, Grameen Foundation

Jennifer Meehan joined Grameen Foundation in February 2005 as the founding Director of the Capital Markets Group, during which time she led the development and launch of the Growth Guarantees product. She subsequently led Grameen Foundation’s strategic planning process before taking on her current role in January 2009. She is based in Hong Kong.
Jennifer has lived in Asia – Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, and China – since 1996. She started her career in the formal financial sector with Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase), but made the transition to microfinance following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Prior to joining Grameen Foundation, she worked extensively with poverty-focused MFIs throughout Asia with CASHPOR, the Asian network of Grameen Bank Replicators, on financial management, business planning and financing. She has also consulted for Calvert Social Investment Foundation, among others, and published a number of articles. She was a founding investor and, until October 2007, served on the Investment Committee of the Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund.  Jennifer graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Ned Tozun – President and Co-founder of d.light design

Ned Tozun is the President and Co-Founder of d.light design (www.dlightdesign.com), one of the world’s leading social enterprises. Since its founding in 2007, Ned has played a key role in developing the company’s mission and strategic plan, securing over USD10 million in private investment from reputed American and Indian investment funds, and establishing four international offices and worldwide distribution to bring safe, clean and bright light and power to millions of base of the pyramid customers. Along with business partner Sam Goldman, Ned was awarded the 2009 Innovation Award by the Social Venture Network in Silicon Valley, and was named as a finalist for BusinessWeek’s Most Promising American Social Entrepreneurs. He has presented at the 2009 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of New Champions and the 2010 Ashden Conference. Prior to starting d.light, Ned founded multiple start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area and developed several products that attained global distribution. He has an MBA and bachelor degrees in Computer Science and Earth Systems from Stanford University. He is currently living in Hong Kong.

Anthony Pang – Social enterprise leader

General Manager of Dialogue in the Dark Hong Kong

Antony is the General Manager of Dialogue in the Dark (DiD) HK. He is a Registered Social Worker (Hong Kong), Certified Gambling Counselor (Canada), Mental Health Instructor (Australia) and Narrative Therapy Practitioner (Australia). He receives training in the areas of Social Work, Marketing and Criminology. Antony has worked in NGO for more than 15 years focusing on children and youth work. His experience in the Social welfare field includes pioneering the first Asset Based Approach project in Hong Kong. Antony has started his journey on Social Enterprise experience since 2008 when he initiated and started “BiciLine – Bicycle eco-tourism” in Hong Kong which create employment opportunities for disadvantage youth in the Tin Shui Wai district.
Antony starts his second career by joining DiD this year. He chooses to start his work wholeheartedly in the Social enterprise field as he believes that he can make a greater impact to the society through SE. He is also inspired by the “Darkness” of DiD, which he is able to see other persons’ preferred identity, ability, and the connection with the Visual impaired community.

Su-Mei Thompson – CEO of the Women’ s Foundation

Su-Mei Thompson joined The Women’s Foundation as Executive Director in 2009. In this role, her responsibilities include strategic planning for the Foundation, fund-raising, donor relations, overseeing grants and programmes, as well as government relations, community outreach. Su-Mei started her career as a corporate finance associate at Linklaters before serving in senior management positions at Disney, the Financial Times and Christie’s in the Asia Pacific region. She is an external advisor to the Planning Committee for the Chinese University’s proposed gender studies undergraduate programme and a member of the Women’s Commission’s taskforce for Hong Kong women’s development goals. Su-Mei serves on the board of HKSE-listed Natural Beauty and is a corporate board member of The Cheltenham Ladies College. She also writes for the South China Morning Post on women’s and gender issues. Su-Mei is a graduate of Oxford and Cambridge Universities and earned her MBA at IMD in Lausanne, where she was the first woman to graduate on the Dean’s List.

Grace Chiang – Social entrepreneur in China, ex-BD and Strategy, Investment Banking

Chairman of the Board, Social Venture Group

Grace Chiang is the co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the Social Venture Group (SVG). Under Grace’s leadership, SVG successfully ran capital campaigns that doubled the capacity of China’s only orphanage for the blind, established a counseling center after the Sichuan earthquake, and arranged teacher training for one of China’s leading schools for autistic children. In addition to her work with SVG, Grace sits on the advisory boards for several foundations as a China specialist. Grace has spoken on philanthropy in China for local publications, U.S. MBA schools and the BBC. Prior to co-founding SVG, Grace was Senior Manager of Strategy and Business Development for one of China’s top semiconductor foundries and IP design services companies, where she played a key role in managing its Hong Kong IPO in 2004 and in developing strategic partnerships. Before moving to Shanghai, Grace worked as a financial analyst in Citigroup’s Global Corporate & Investment Bank in New York City, focusing on risk assessment. She is from the United States, has a B.A. in Economics and International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and is fluent in Mandarin and English.

Doris Leung – Social enterprise leader, ex-journalist

Executive Director of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk) and the CEO of Diamond Cab

Doris is the Executive Director of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk) and the CEO of Diamond Cab.  She was a senior journalist with Cable TV News for many years. She left the company as Principal Reporter and joined SVhk since 2009, after being a dedicated volunteer for 2 years. She strongly believed that by participating and pioneering social entrepreneurship in Hong Kong, she could make a bigger impact to the society, than being a reporter. Doris took the lead in 2 flagship projects, namely Happy Grannies Elderly Sponsorship Program and Barrier-free transportation service.

Her most recent accomplishment is launching the Diamond Cab project which is Hong Kong’s first professional, barrier-free taxi service brand.  Doris’ passion for barrier-free transportation developed after her mother became permanently disabled in 2007.  She realized the inadequacy of accessible transport options for the disabled.  After three years building up Diamond Cab, Doris is now managing its operations and long-term strategy.

Francis Ngai – Social enterprise leader, ex-PCCW

CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk)

Francis is the founder and CEO of Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVhk), an NGO dedicated to provide experience, skills and financial support to help social enterprises in Hong Kong thrive and flourish. With experience in marketing, advertising and strategy profession, Francis was Assistant Vice President – Strategic Development of PCCW, responsible for the corporate development and strategy of ICT business in China, before fully dedicating himself in SVhk. He is now also a part-time member of the Central Policy Unit, HKSAR Government and part-time visiting lecturer in universities. He hopes to promote young professionals’ participation in social entrepreneurship and social innovation through the SVhk platform.

Chandran Nair – Founder and Chief Executive of GIFT

Chandran is the founder of what he believes is a “first” – the Global Institute For Tomorrow is an organisation based in Asia that is focused on the relationship of Asian society and values with those of the rest of the world.

Chandran was chairman of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in the Asia Pacific until March of 2004. He established the company as Asia’s leader in environmental consulting.

For more than a decade Chandran has strongly advocated a more sustainable approach to development in Asia, and has helped the governments of Taiwan and Hong Kong instil these principles into their key decision-making processes. He continues to advise the Hong Kong government, devising a new approach that gives the public a bigger role in key policy making decisions – another first for Asia.

Chandran has worked and travelled extensively; corporations seek his advice on how to meet the challenges of doing business in Asia and of globalisation, on investment geo-politics, leadership development, ethics, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. He has addressed many of these issues at forums around the world, notably at speaking engagements in London, New York, Washington, and Sydney, and all of the major Asian capitals.

In addition to his work with GIFT, Chandran has maintained his interest in business, continuing to provide strategic management advice and coaching to business leaders with a focus on achieving growth targets and bringing about organisational change.

Optional workshops – sample topics

Lead Self series

• “Discovery” field-trips:  broaden understanding of societal issues and identify issues students feel a personal connection to (for self-discovery, for aspiration and goal setting, as topic for  personal projects/extended essays/student learning profile, for college application)
• Inner Leader II Workshop:  deeper exploration of your Inner Leader to inform your aspiration setting and personal development
• Self-leadership Workshop:  identify short and long-term goals and develop plan for success

College Success Experience Sharing series

• Interview experience sharing workshop:  Junior Facilitators share their experience with interviews
• Essay experience sharing workshop:  Junior Facilitators share their experience with essays
• College choices experience sharing workshop: how to think through making college and college major choices

Self and Relationship Effectiveness series

• Teenager – parent Dialogue Workshop:  practice how to have mutually respectful discussions during a conflict
• Teenager emotional health Workshop:  learn to identify and manage major sources of stress and emotional conflict
• Time management Workshop:  how to prioritize and focus on important goals while continuing to broaden perspectives and community

Finding your Inner Leader for College and Life Success

By Agnes Kong, Huijin Kong, Yvonne Chu

Sometimes life can feel like a never-ending to-do list, with many (people’s) expectations to meet. Yet at the same time, there are a bewildering number of choices.  To prioritize, to navigate these expectations, to make choices, all require developing your own sense of what is important – for yourself, your loved ones, and society.  This sense is what we call the Inner Leader.

Can my Inner Leader help me get into a better college, get a better job? In high school, college, work, people with initiative and the courage to speak out on things which are important to them, stand out as leaders. Ivy League schools we attended (Harvard, Yale, Wharton, Cornell, Columbia) and world class companies we have worked at (McKinsey, Goldman, World Bank) all look for the same things – do you have strong and authentic aspiration, do you show motivation and persistence in pursuing your aspiration, do you strive for excellence in whatever you do, do you know your own strengths and vulnerabilities, are you working to improve yourself, do people like working with you (and vice versa)? The aspiration does not have to be for business; it is not likely anyone can be truly passionate about being a management consultant or investment banker at the age of 21. Teenager, college, and early twenties are a unique time of freedom and flexibility, when you can dream big dreams without much practical costs. Use this time wisely. Adulthood comes fast and furious. If you have not developed your Inner Leader by the late twenties, you will be carried by the tide of life.

Start discovering your Inner Leader early. We are not suggesting you need to know in high school exactly what you want to study in college or what you want to do as a career (in fact it took us 10 years after college to figure this out!) But starting that journey early on will save you detour along the way and help you make wiser (and happier) decisions in your future personal and professional lives. Start asking yourself “What kind of person do I aspire to be, so I can be true to my essential nature, successful, and make a positive impact on others’ lives?” Go meet people from different walks of life. Seek out authentic experience through active engagement in projects or activities that you truly care about (not what you think will make your resume look good). Talk to people with life experience – understand how their lives have evolved, what lessons they learned, what advice they have for younger people.  You will find out a lot about yourself, what is important to you, what you are good at (and not). Preparing personal statements, college applications, admission interviews, do not have to be a chore to be dreaded. If you treat them as opportunities to learn more about yourself, they can be enjoyable, and help to lay an inner foundation for your life forward.

Aspirations behind creating “Leadership Made Fun” summer program:

The three of us all struggled with our decisions to leave our successful business careers to chart our own way. We had to work through our fear of failure and not having any security. We would no longer have a high income and be part of “world-class” companies (hopefully only temporarily!) However, our Inner Leaders told us that we want to do work which contribute to society, where we could be the masters of our own destiny, and most importantly work that we feel truly passionate about. This brought us together to create the “Leadership Made Fun” summer program which will be launched this summer – a program to help high school students develop leadership skills, service mindset, and self awareness.

Leadership Skills: Leadership is persevering in mobilizing yourself and others to achieve something worthwhile. This program “teaches” leadership through a simulation, in which students personally experience real leadership challenges through role-playing making difficult decisions. This simulation is loosely based on the current microfinance crisis in India. The crisis illustrates the complexities and challenges faced by leaders in all arenas – social business, government or corporations. Drawing on our educational and professional experience, we will facilitate students’ learning of tangible leadership skills like negotiations, analyzing situations etc, and provoke their thinking about the values necessary to be a good servant leader

Service Mindset: In addition to the simulation, each student will work on a project with a local social enterprise so they can apply their learning about leadership to make a specific contribution. We are very excited that Grameen Foundation and Dialogue in the Dark, among others, will identify concrete projects for our students to work on. One area that deeply intrigues all of us is social entrepreneurship. How can leaders apply their business skills and corporate experience to create businesses that are both socially and financially sustainable? Microfinance is one good example although it also illustrates how often times, when social business scales up too quickly, there can be conflict between profit orientation and social mission. School curriculum does not focus too much on this area, but we believe this is the foundation of a sustainable society – building business with a social conscience.

Self Awareness: Aside from actually trying things, we learned the most from hearing what other people have done in similar situations and how their decisions have led them to become who they are. We will be exposing students to inspirational servant leaders across all walks of life and Ivy League facilitators with diverse interests and aspirations. Through this intense exposure, one-on-one coaching, self reflection, and small group dialogue, we hope to raise each student’s awareness of what they are energized by, and how to channel that effectively.

We truly hope that what we have created will be a very powerful and transformational experience for high school students and can help them discover their leadership potential in their journeys to college and beyond.