An Evening with Adam

Today, I heard Adam Leipzig speak on “Hollywood Creativity and Entrepreneurship.” Mr. Leipzig stood about 5’7”, 5’8” and delivered a timely and refreshing message, not with fervor and intensity, but with poise and a gentleness that invited and challenged the listeners to transform society “ten percent over the next ten years.” The challenge was presented, and I accepted the challenge.

Adam Leipzig is the Senior Vice President of Walt Disney Studios and President of National Geographic Films, with successes including "Dead Poets Society" and "March of the Penguins." He spoke about “niches” and “micro-niches,” and revealed to us the value of vulnerability: “The thing that the world wants most is the most vulnerable thing you have... What if you made a small difference over a medium length of time?”

The highlight of the evening was when Mr. Leipzig opened the floor for questions, and I was offered the mic. I used the 30 second window to introduce myself, sharing that I am a student whose desire is to reform education and who was inspired by a man teaching calculus on YouTube who has a world-wide classroom. Mr. Leipzig, being an advocate of “strengths-management” asked me what I was “superbly good at,” in which I could go home this evening and upload an instruction video that would immediately gain 5 students. I answered “networking,” after a few moments of hesitation.

After the talk, I lingered for a bit. I did this purposefully, because I knew that I would find at least one person who would come up to me with some valuable information after I declared my intention to the room, on air, and online. This person did, in fact, appear. “Are you the education guy?” she asked. “That’s me!” “Have you heard of Udacity?” (I, in fact, did. I just read about them a few weeks ago in a magazine article.) “Ben Nelson just got granted $25 million in seed funding for Minerva, his Ivy-League start-up. Contact him and ask for a job.”

That’s in fact what I will do.