BOLD Leadership in Action

Published: May 1, 2013

The CEO Student Ambassadors of the Business & Organization Leadership Development (BOLD) program are demonstrating their business savvy, leadership, and collaborative teamwork to deliver leadership development opportunities for all UWB undergraduates. On Tuesday, April 23rd, these students hosted a Leadership Lesson event headlined by entrepreneur and philanthropist, Naveen Jain.

Jain encouraged the nearly 150 undergraduate students in attendance to leverage their own potential to solve critical problems for humanity through the use of innovation and entrepreneurship.

How does one go about solving humanity’s grandest challenges? To start, Jain’s well-known mantra is, “If people don’t think you are crazy, then you aren’t thinking big”. That’s exactly how Jain obtained his extensive list of titles, which includes founder of INome, Infospace, Intellius, Moon Express, and the World Innovation Institute. His experience as a CEO includes both successes and failures.

Students actively participated throughout the event by asking tough questions of Jain who challenged them to think in a “different box”, and “be bold”, an apt challenge given the BOLD program’s mission and vision.

Over the past year, BOLD has been paving the way for the promotion of leadership development for undergraduate students. CEO Student Ambassador Paul Morse says, “The BOLD Program is helping students find their leadership style and their leadership voice, then refining it into something they can use on a daily basis.”
When asked, how does one become a successful leader, Jain’s advice, to students was clear: “Go to those who have failed, failed, failed, and then succeeded”. He boldly declared, “If you are not failing, then you are not trying.”
Media and Communication Studies student, Drew Stone added, “My favorite part of the experience was hearing the practical, real-world experiences. We were encouraged to make our own ideas happen, even when we seem to be the only ones who have the vision.”

Jain reminded students to always be mindful that, “Success is not about how much money you have in the bank”, but rather that “Success is about how many lives you are able to positively change”. He elaborated, “The day you become humble is the day you become successful.” With that highlighted, it’s no wonder the room was filled to capacity with students eager to hear a captivating lesson in leadership.

BOLD continues to exceed expectations in delivering motivation and direction to groom a new generation of leaders.

Jain encouraged students to take what they have learned in the classroom and make a difference in the world. So how do you that? First, ask yourself, “Why can’t it be done this way?” Jain proclaimed, “That’s where the change happens.”