JAIMIE FRANKLIN
Assistant News Editor
Pepperdine welcomed investment giant John C. Bogle to campus Tuesday evening as the keynote speaker for National Entrepreneurship Week USA. Bogle spoke on how businesses have abandoned true ethics and the importance of classical values and a liberal education in the today’s world and attested to his humble beginnings and how they shaped his life to come.
As founder and former CEO of the Vanguard Group, the second largest mutual fund company in the world, Bogle was recognized as one of the world’s 100 most powerful and influential people by TIME Magazine in 2004. He was also hailed as one of the investment industry’s four “Giants of the 20th Century” by Fortune magazine in 1999.
Dr. Elliot McGucken organized the event. McGucken teaches a class in artistic entrepreneurship in which Bogle’s 2005 book, “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism,” is required reading alongside Homer’s “Odyssey.”
The theme of a hero’s journey, therefore, permeated Bogle’s presentation.
“Classical precepts are the most useful tools throughout life,” McGucken said. “Ideals are a great a long-term investment, because they never change.”
Bogle reached out to students, urging them to pursue an education and to become a citizen characterized by ethics and ideals.
“Dream, but act too,” Bogle said. “You have nearly all of your own odyssey before you… if you are truly strong in will to strive, seek, find, and not to yield.”
Many students found the presentation to be valuable and could relate to Bogle’s assessment of the business world.
“I thought it was pretty interesting, especially with the moral aspect to see such a wealthy man and how he founded his business,” said freshman Maurice Collins.
Freshman Kamron King agreed.
“To see his humble beginnings makes acquiring that much wealth seem tangible,” King said.
Pepperdine also welcomed Josh Berman, co-founder and chief operating officer of Myspace, on Feb. 21 to kick off Entrepreneurship Week activities on campus.
Berman spoke at Drescher Graduate campus on his experiences as an entrepreneur. Myspace has more than 45 million users and gets 12 billion views per month, making it the third most trafficked site online.
Events will come to a close Saturday with an online lecture by McGucken.
Entrepreneurship Week USA is a nation-wide event established by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and sponsored by The New York Times and Inc. magazine.
Students between 14 to 30 participate in events designed to “foster entrepreneurship and creative ideas among young people,” according to Adam Hutchinson, a public relations agent working on behalf of the Kauffman Foundation.
More than 700 organizations and schools in all 50 states participated in the week and a national policy summit took place in Washington D.C., on Feb. 24.
National events include “The Challenge,” in which participants compete to generate the most value possible out of a Post-It notepad. “The Pitch” is a similar event in which students post a short video on YouTube.com on how to decrease America’s dependence on fossil fuels.
03-01-2007
