ALC2015 - Doing hard things
This past Wednesday, I sat in a front row seat at the first ever graduation ceremony of African Leadership College (ALC) in Mauritius and snapped a photo of each new graduate who crossed the stage to receive a degree during the historic event.
Twenty four and seventeen years ago, respectively, I enjoyed my own two graduation experiences, but neither was laden with the magnitude of expectation, the depth of emotion and the gravity of moment that was witnessed in Pamplemousses, Mauritius on Wednesday.
Africa is on trajectory to have the most populous workforce in the world by 2035 and African Leadership University (of which African Leadership College is the Mauritius campus) was formed to help create 3 million ethical leaders and problem solvers who would be needed to helm the continent's growth and development as it navigated a critical role in a changing world.
When these graduates enrolled in the school's innovative program founded 4 years ago by Stanford MBA Fred Swaniker, it was all brand new, centered on a moonshot vision that was beginning to resonate in some quarters around the world. To compound this fact, many of the graduates actually joined ALC from degree programs in other universities across Africa and other countries. By these measures alone, these young people displayed noteworthy exceptionalism.
And, there is more...
After I joined the school in January 2019 as Executive-in-Residence, I got to intimately learn of the stories behind many of the faces of ALC, and especially of the founding class - the clarity of purpose well beyond their years, the obsession with doing hard things, the individual histories of overcoming, the constant exploration of new possibilities, the record of serial entrepreneurship and philanthropy, the confident acceptance of their role to forge a new leadership brand for Africa, and perhaps most of all, the self-less humility with which they referred to the multiple lifetimes of accomplishments that they had crammed into their young years.
I have never interacted with young people like these. In any other place. At any other time.
As I captured each handshake for posterity, I recalled every second I spent with each student during many hours of 1-on-1 sessions, fireside chats, class discussions, master classes, meals times and other casual exchanges around campus, and I felt the same pride and sense of teary celebration as did all their parents and loved ones who were present in the big tent or watching the simulcast.
Graça Machel, African stateswoman, widow of Nelson Mandela and Samora Machel and the Chancellor of ALU gave the graduation address, sharing generously from her life of service and hope for Africa. At one point, in the middle of her speech, apt for the audience and appropriate for the special moment that it was, she paused and protectively embraced the newly-minted minds, by saying what many of us were already feeling, "You are all my grand-children...you are not only millennials - you are much better than the generation of your grandmother".
And my children too! And your children too! And our children too! As we applaud their acceptance of the challenges that generations before have been unable to solve.
Congratulations to the #ALCClassof2015! Thank you for the memories you left us, the lessons you taught us and the inspiration you gave us. Good luck as you go onward and continue to DO HARD THINGS!
All photo credits to African Leadership University