This past weekend marked the third annual Impact banquet and conference at the Toronto Convention Centre.
Impact, a non-profit, student-run organization promoting entrepreneurship and leadership in Canada, hosted a weekend filled with speakers, panel discussions, a case study and think tank, all designed to assist some of the country’s top university, college, and high school students advance their knowledge of the business world and network with top Canadian companies.
So why was Reality Dish there? The keynote speaker, making her first trip to Toronto, was Kendra Todd, the youngest, and to this point only female winner of The Apprentice.
Kendra delivered a 45-minute address which focused mainly on entrepreneurship and leadership.
In her speech, she drew on her personal business experience. Following her graduation, she started a magazine and later developed a career in real estate, running a company which among other things specialized in connecting developers looking for a market for new projects with investors looking to be early buyers in those projects.
She stressed that entrepreneurship was about going against the trend and standing out from the crowd. She also talked extensively about risk, which in her book, Risk And Grow Rich, stresses that risk is not necessarily something to take as a negative.
She also drew extensively from her experiences on The Apprentice and what she learned and competed in a pressure-packed environment where sleep was as a premium and creativity and leadership won the day. Kendra’s overall performance on the show ranks as one of, if not the most impressive in the history of Reality TV.
She particularly talked about her final task where she mentioned that the people assigned to work for her (Danny, Michael, and Erin), worked harder for her than they did for themselves while still in the competition because of the respect she gave them and her ability to give them responsibilities she knew they would enjoy doing.
Kendra’s speech was as relaxed and interactive as it was informative. At one point she asked the high-school students in the crowd to stand up an acknowledged that she had no clue what she wanted to do when she was in high school. Even in college, she wasn’t sure what her career ambition would be. On at least two occasions she told the delegates, “You’re making me feel like a slacker.”
Also on the speaker’s list was David L. Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, perenially one of the leaders in technology education in Canada. There was also a presentation on the Impact Apprentice, a nationwide competition modelled after the show. Global TV weekend anchor Robin Gill was the emcee and she did a fine job of keeping the event to its schedule.
The real stars of the evening, however, were the students who organized an evening that can proudly rival any professional organization conference, convention, banquet, or awards dinner I have ever attended, and the high school and college students who made their way to Toronto to participate in the conference.
Being at an age where career priority is geared more towards seniority, security, and pension plans, it was invigorating to meet several young people ready to not only chart their own course to personal financial success but the future of Canadian business as well.
