Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Lessons from the 2015 Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs Inductees

To kick off last month’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, Babson held an induction ceremony for the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, the world’s first entrepreneurship hall of fame. Three new members were recognized for their outstanding business accomplishments as well as their contributions to society. This year’s inductees were Diane Hessan, founder and chairman of Communispace, Alan Trefler, founder and Chief Executive Officer at Pegasystems, and Graham Weston, founder, chairman of the board and CEO of Rackspace.

Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs Induction Ceremony

Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs Induction Ceremony

The three inductees shared their lessons learn through their entrepreneurial journeys during the ceremony and at the opening keynote session of the Babson Entrepreneurship Forum.

Here are some highlights:

  • If you know what you want to do, start doing it. Life is long, and there are various chapters of life. Do not feel afraid to take advantage of chance or risk. (Diane Hessan)
  • There are moments that opportunity can change your life. Be active and grab those opportunities. Do not worry too much about failure. (Diane Hessan)
  • Dream bigger. Everyone has potential to grow from what each person is doing right now. (Diane Hessan)
  • Try to find some things that will make you happy and smile. And try to enjoy the things that you have right now. (Diane Hessan)
  • You need to be enthusiastic about your idea. And you actually need to perform and take action to see if your idea will work. (Alan Trefler)
  • The key to leadership is making people want to follow you. (Alan Trefler)
  • Passion builds on itself. Be aware of passion and learn how to narrow it down. Focus the energy you have into the specific passion. (Alan Trefler)
  • Develop a mission. Find a mission that will absorb your passion and make you want to change the world into a better place. (Alan Trefler)
  • The more you focus on career, the more expertise you will get in the career. Focus on where you place value. (Graham Weston)
  • Culture is the fuel to any success of an organization. Culture enables leadership when the leader is not there. (Graham Weston)
  • In order to build a motivated team, help employees develop their vision. (Graham Weston)
  • Every company needs to innovate. What you do is most important when you are making an impact. (Graham Weston)

These were some highlights from the lessons shared by the three inductees. After listening to the three inductees, we received meaningful tips on how to deal with some of the challenges that we will face throughout our life. Next step? Go out, try and take the action to get closer to your goals.