Faculty & Leadership Blog / Faculty in the News

Brush, Feinman Among Speakers at Tabor Academy’s Graboys Leadership Symposium

Vice Provost of Global Entrepreneurial Leadership Candy Brush and InnerCity Weightlifting founder Jon Feinman M’10 were among the speakers at Tabor Academy’s third annual Graboys Leadership Symposium on October 20, 2015.

The “event provides the opportunity for our school community to take a whole day to focus on the skills and ideas necessary to be an effective leader in our society,” according to Tabor.  The event provided “a wonderful blend of inspiring keynote speakers along with break out groups led by alumni and other local and national social entrepreneurs with the aim of flexing students’ innovation muscles and creating some new ideas to solve local or global problems. The symposium, named for George ‘50 and Lois Graboys, is aptly titled ‘Creative Leadership through Social Entrepreneurship.’”

Head of School John Quirk shared, “Empathy is now understood to be one of the key qualities of effective leaders. As Tabor strives to create adaptable leaders for the 21st century, exposure to these concepts and ideas around social entrepreneurship, and the time to surface new ideas in small groups to solve pressing community needs, creates the kind of relevant learning Tabor students thrive with.”

Feinman was among social entrepreneurs from six different industries who led working breakout groups of students and faculty. “Their insights [highlighted] the power of creative organizations to find innovative solutions to complex challenges,” said Taybor. Feinman showed “how inner city weightlifting programs can reduce violence and promote professional, personal and academic achievement among urban youth.”

Said Taybor, “This year’s Graboys Leadership Symposium presents a unique opportunity for the Tabor community to advance thinking and learning about the topic of entrepreneurship, the power of empathy, and to learn from the expertise of leading social entrepreneurs.”