WEBVTT

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I think everyone has these three zones

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Their comfort zone, their learning zone,
and their panic zone.

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And I think our most defining moments,
and our greatest lessons

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come when we take risks to move

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from comfort into learning

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and maybe, to the edge of panic.

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Now, I'm on this stage,
because I did not go to grad school.

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Instead, about five years ago,

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after working with middle school,
and high school students,

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when I was curious about the intersection
of for profit, and for purpose businesses.

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I was almost going to go to a traditional
grad school to get a master's in business.

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But the costs were too high,
and the style didn't fit me.

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So I decided I would try to design
my own education.

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By doing twelve projects in twelve months
around the world.

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I would source these projects
by talking to companies in design,

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and business and social change.

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And I would try to find one project I could 
complete over the course of the month.

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I would fund my year by creating a newsletter
that my friends and family could subscribe to

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at ten dollars a month.

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And I would share my learnings
with them each month.

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Now as I was travelling to
fulfill this idea,

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I had met all kinds of amazing people.

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Who started talking to me
about the ideas they had,

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to learn in a different kind of way,
or to create change to take leaps of their own.

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So, I created an invitation
for those people, to send stories

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about the leaps they were taking,
the risks they were taking,

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to learn, grow, and create change
in their communities.

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And I promised that if
at the end of the year,

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I had enough stories, we would take
those stories and make a book.

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And at the end of the year,
sure enough, we created a book

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called "THE LEAPYEAR PROJECT",
of those stories.

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And this kind of became my dissertation.

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I also needed my place to graduate.

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Some way to end my year.

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And there was a TED conference
happening in Chicago.

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So I put a cap and gown on,
and that was my graduation.

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And in 2013, after this was all over,

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We launched a school, where
people could come and design

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their education through experiences,
in their field of study.

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We called it the "EXPERIENCE INSTITUTE"

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I even got to meet Oprah.

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Now this is pretty traditional.
Me trying to explain

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some sort of audacious idea
to someone who is

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much more successful and powerful.

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And really probably doesn't
actually care about what I'm saying.

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This is a good picture of that year.

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Now that was one of the most
transformative years of my life.