Luigi, tell me about your vision. Let's dive in right to that first. Awesome. Yeah, so as part of
Eller Executive Education, we have a pretty grand vision, and that is to touch a million lives
by 2030. And the work we do is we impact the lives of leaders through leadership development
programs. And so the reason we've cast that vision is that we really want to see the ripple effect
of the work we do. You know, everything kind of rises and falls out of leadership. And as you work
with leaders and develop leaders, they're going to impact other people, right? And so by touching
and impacting the life of one leader, you're really impacting the lives of many. And that's
what I've seen over the last 11 years working in executive education is that when you make a
difference in a leader's life, you're really making a difference in many people's lives.
And so when I say touch, you know, the lives of a million people by 2030, it doesn't mean I'm going
to train or develop a million individuals. It means that as we do our work with leaders,
there's going to be that ripple effect and we're going to impact a lot of lives.
Absolutely. So double down on that with you. I served a mission in Uruguay 19. And one of the
first little girls I got to meet, she was 14 years old. And she was crying the day before, well, it
was the day of her sister's baptism and she was supposed to give a talk right in front of people.
And there was going to be all of probably eight people, 10 people in the audience. But for her,
it was a huge deal. Right. And so we went aside, we said a prayer together, you know, and I said,
this is totally up to you. You don't have to do this, you know, but we're here to support you.
And she gave that she gave that speech, that talk that she had prepared and she did excellent,
of course, and the radiance right on her face was having done that fast forward several years.
And she got called to serve a mission in Chile. And, you know, the impact of, you know, well,
more than 10,000 people in my two years that I got to talk to and work with and help now just went
global to Chile, right. With her experience and going out and doing that. And so we don't know
the type of effect that we can have when we work to serve people who are designed to be leaders.
That's also why I love hosting people like you, Luigi, is there's there's a huge opportunity to
lift people up and change lives for the better. So I got to ask you, where did your vision come from?
Yeah. So, you know, it started with someone kind of similar to your story. As a freshman
at John Curran University, I had a Jesuit priest for second semester class on Greek and Latin
roots of all types of classes. And because I hadn't done so well in my English course,
I needed to rush up on my vocabulary. And, you know, it's one of my memories foggy,
but it was one of these random things where he says, you know, you you're going to probably
touch 10,000 lives in during your life indirectly, whether you know it or not. You know, just kind of
one of these bold statements. And, you know, it's just one of those things that stops you in your
tracks and, you know, makes you reflect. And it's like, what is he trying to say here? And as I
reflected on that statement, you know, it you know, the immediate answer in my mind was,
well, I certainly want that to be for the good. Right. I want that to be for the good. And I want
to learn how to influence people positively. I want to learn how to be, you know, a better person. And
my driving question throughout my college degree, it was a humanities degree. I was influenced by
the Jesuits was, what does it mean to be human in the world today? And that was my exploration
question throughout, you know, my time there. And, you know, that was part of the question is,
who will I be and how will I influence others and who am I influenced by? Who will I associate with?
Who will I become? And as I've gotten in the leadership development, it's, you know, the
question has evolved into what does it mean to be a leader in the world today? And what do we need
to do to prepare leaders and become better leaders? Being influenced by the Jesuits, you know, I've
become an educator. They're one of, you know, they're some of the best educators in the world.
And one of their pillars is to develop leaders. And so I've learned a lot from them and I've carried
their ethos, if you will, into the world with me, wherever I've gone.
That's amazing. And I love, I love the teacher's attitude on that. We, we share something in
common with that. You mentioned struggling in English class. I struggled in every class.
I had, I was projected to probably have a 0.24 GPA. And my international politics teacher ended
up giving me a C even though I did not turn in the midterm paper, I did not go to the final exam and
I didn't turn in the final paper. And he looks at me and he goes, Jackson, if you want to change a
nation, educate a mom. And that hit everything within me. When he said that, he said, I'm going
to change everything within me. When he said that years later, I heard Steve Jobs, at least in the
movie, Jobs said, we're going to make an, we're going to make a dent in the universe. My thought,
Luigi was as soon as I heard it, I thought I do that every day. Right. We have such a big ripple
effect as visionaries. Right. We have so many lives that we can touch and no, we don't comprehend it.
We can't see it, but it's there, you know, and as we show up, right, there's such an opportunity.
So all you visionaries listening in, my opportunity is to invite you like step into the game,
come and join us on episodes. So Luigi, what's your, what's your why? Why does all this matter to you?
Why? Yeah, my why is I want to, you know, I want to bring out the best in other people.
I've had so many folks do that with me and for me. As I said, you know, starting with the Jesuits
and mentors and colleagues. And, you know, I like to say that along the way, I found a way to make
my life, my work life, my life work. And that's been about helping bring out the best in others.
That's the work I do. That's my why. That's what I get up every day to do in the work that I do,
whether it's my team that I work with, whether it's the people that I serve with educational
programs, development programs, coaching. It's always about bringing out the best in them,
getting them to realize, you know, their talents, their gifts, their abilities, support, encourage,
coach them. You know, my why is about, you know, living, living life to the fullest.
Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking
forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get
more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to
participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time
building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.