4 UNBC Life

Grant Bachand
Team Member

t the UNBC Student Leadership Awards

Gala, I had the pleasure of listening
to Drew Dudley, a TEDx speaker who has
lectured about leadership worldwide. Before
his keynote speech began in the Bentley
Center, I saw him and wrote him off as some
weird guy in a fedora. In essence, that is what
Drew’s speech was focused on: not being
quick to judge, and generally being nicer to
people in your life.

Dudley claims that this is leadership, but
not the kind of leadership we are taught-
-this kind of leadership revolves around
moments between people. Dudley’s theory

NS WM

is to add value to other people’s lives in
every interaction you have with them.

Dudley presented this idea by explaining
that we need to take more time worrying

about how we treat each other and ourselves.

Dudley’s argument was that we become

so focused on the macro that we forget

the micro. We should be concerned about
our grades, but they should be the least
interesting things about ourselves. He asked
people to come up with an answer to this
question: why do I matter? (Heavy, I know.)

After the dinner, we moved to the Winter
Garden, eventually leading into a long
discussion involving riding a majestic
hippopotamus into battle, manatees

attacking kayaks, and, of course, the
inevitable uprising of dogs who will

soon take over the world. During this, I
took the position as a fly on the wall. I
could not help but be amazed that ona
Saturday night, this man had a circle of
students around him laughing, listening,
and clinging to every word he said. This is
what he wanted to convey in his speech;
enriching people’s lives and adding value
to their day is the new type of leadership.

There had been a leadership seminar earlier
in the day, and many of the students at the
Gala had attended. Students who had gone
to the earlier seminars said that Dudley

was very interesting, and made them self-
analyze. Dudley also commented about how

Tedx Toronto

students were picking up on themes, and
asking questions about topics he usually
had to bring up, which is an awesome sign
for us here at UNBC. We are proving to
more outsiders that there are some brilliant
students who attend this university. Dudley
commented on how awesome it was visit

a place like Prince George and hear about
everyone’s love for the community here.

He also commented about the UNBC senior
administration saying “...students are ina
good place when people who are here for
longer than four years, really see they’re
responsible... [that] is awesome for the
students.” UNBC students certainly gave
Dudley something to go home with.