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"The practices of the past are not relevant to the present we are living and the future we envision."

April 2012

Dear Friends,

Recently, I have found myself in University classrooms across the country: at Lafayette College speaking to the senior class council (who purchased 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to benefit a local troop in my honor); in Boston at Babson College; on the campus of Virginia Tech; and in virtual conversation through Skype with senior honors students in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. April will bring me to the Naval Service Training Command, where I will address 750 graduating sailors; and then to the University of St. Thomas for a dialogue with students on peace and ethics.

At each session, without fail, students ask "How can I stay true to my values after college given the pressure—including the financial strain of student loans and the unemployment rate—to adopt more "self-serving" values?"

My advice to these young, energetic students has been:

1.       Find an organization that aligns with your values
Philip Kim, who studied neuroscience at Bucknell University will begin Teach for America this summer in the San Francisco East Bay teaching 7-12th grade general science and biology.

2.       Volunteer
Laura Smith is working at a Chicago law firm focused on education law. She recently was named the youngest board member of Big Shoulders, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide support to the Catholic schools in the neediest areas of inner-city Chicago.

3.       Make your passion your career
Christine Marie is Artistic Director and Owner of Industrial Gardens, a performance company she founded in 2008. Performances range from the dramatic to the comedic and incorporate social issues in film, theatre, and photography, and benefit causes including AIDS awareness, LGBT rights, and Lukemia research.

I hope these examples of young leaders— who bring the strength of their living values with them to their professional career—give you energy this Spring.

Frances Hesselbein
President and CEO
The Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute

A new era of international volunteerism and service is taking shape: global service programs Download Spring 2012 Leader to Leader Journal Article

Not only has Red Rooster brought new people to Harlem and spawned other restaurants in the area, but restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson hopes to use it as a training ground for the next generation of restaurant owners and executives.

20% Discount on Best Business Memoir! Frances Hesselbein was honored in the fifth annual Axiom Business Book Awards, winning the gold medal in the Memoir/Biography category for her 2011 autobiography, My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way.

Each month, we profile innovative sources—a person, organization, service or program—to inspire and inform our network. Adam DeVos is an alumnus of the Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership which—through dynamic global mentorship, training, and service opportunities—prepares student leaders of today to become the business, community, and government leaders of tomorrow.

As the Spring semester comes to an end, the quest for Summer Internships begins. It is the conversation topic of both University students and employers—and recently— experience-seeking professionals who are changing careers.

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