It’s an early Jan. 28 evening in the Lundring Events Center at California Lutheran University where students, alumni and business people attended the first episode of this year’s Leadership Essentials Development Series.

The School of Management and Cal Lutheran Alumni sent out an email to students announcing the beginning of this series of various guest speakers and workshops. These events will provide attendees with strategies and ideas that could help them to be more effective leaders in the workplace.

When many of these attendees heard that the first speaker of the series would be Wall Street Market Strategist Bryan Brown, they knew it was a meeting they would not want to miss.

In the business world, Brown boasts 36 years of Wall Street experience. He has truly seen it all, from working over 100 hour work weeks for several years to experiencing 14 different buyouts.

According to the California Lutheran University website and Brown’s slideshow presentation, Brown has managed to find time to set three world records, hike the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail, kayak some 7,000 miles along with many other astounding accomplishments that have deemed him a member of the prestigious Explorers Club.

“I heard Bryan Brown was a success in the business world, but when I heard about all of the adventures he has been on, I got really curious as to how that has helped him as a businessman and as a leader,” sophomore Matthew Jorgensen said. “I just had to come to satisfy my interest in the outdoors and how I could apply that in the world of business.”

Most people do not draw a connection between business and nature, but Brown insists that the connection is crucial. From the beginning of the discussion, he emphasized a simple message.

“The agenda is ecological and if I fail to convey that I have failed completely,” Brown said.

Brown highlighted the idea that if we do not take responsibility and do something to remedy the destruction of our planet, there will be no planet to do business on. Brown suggested that the Earth might be able to return to health if everyone becomes more aware of the environment and does his or her part to save on water, recycle and stop pollution.

Brown is a huge environmental enthusiast and insists that his passion for the outdoors is instrumental in his success on Wall Street.

“I sweat more but the process is the same,” Brown said, comparing his many adventures to his endeavors in the working world.

Throughout the lecture, Brown talked about various explorers and their accomplishments and how their success as pathfinders made them into successful trailblazers.

“All good pathfinders are trailblazers,” Brown said.

Trailblazers are the leaders of the business world. They develop new ideas and run with them to create their own success. He himself has been a proven trailblazer on Wall Street and he credits that to his triumph in exploration.

The presentation was built around his many personal stories from traveling the world and how even though his accomplishments seem impossible, they are things that anyone could go out there and do.

“If this guy can do it, so can you,” Brown said.

Most individuals struggle to follow their dreams of exploration and adventure because they have problems motivating themselves to get out there and turn those dreams into reality. Brown said he believes that the solution to this problem is leading by example.

“Self-motivation is the most infectious virus on this planet,” Brown said.

Above all, Brown promotes that those aspiring to break into business and leadership do what they love.

“Decide what it is you want to do and do it to the exclusion of everything else,” Brown said.

Brown’s unorthodox way of thinking and bringing the outdoors into the workplace brought new perspective to the table. His message provoked many people to ask not only what they can do to better themselves in the workplace, but also what they can do to protect the environment and ensure they have a workplace at all.

Senior Jesse Rydalch found Brown’s background and ideas to be very interesting, intriguing and motivating.

“We all have a moral responsibility to take care of the environment,” Rydalch said.

The first installment of the Leadership Essentials series was an evident success and an explosive kick-off to these events.

Evan Underwood
Staff Writer
Published February 3rd, 2016