Dreams, goals, action

He wants to be the kind of person who creates change. Important change. Good change. He aspires to be the kind of paradigm-leaping person who gets asked to give a TED talk.

That's Kyle Kozma's "why."

Inspired by Simon Sinek's TEDxPuget Sound talk about what distinguishes people who achieve great things from people who try to, Kyle recognized the core of his own dream and carefully harnessed it. Starting with his motivation, the "why," Kyle next figured out how he might move forward, and then what he wanted to create.

The result, on March 7, 2012, was a TEDxUVic event with five diverse and creative people talking about unusual business. Dr. Josh Ault, assistant professor at Gustavson School of Business, explained his work on how – or whether – business can alleviate global poverty. Engineering PhD student Barmak Heshmat described how scientists are making the invisible visible, with technology that has huge health-care implications. The crew was completed by Dr. Lara Lauzon, assistant professor in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education; Stacey Toews, co-founder of Level-Ground Trading; and Scott Phillips, who helps entrepreneurs surf the silver (baby-boomer) tsunami.

"I wanted to have a range [of speakers]," explains Kyle, who aimed the TED event primarily at his BCom colleagues. As it turned out, about half the audience were business undergrads and 30 per cent were engineering students, and the turnout at Vertigo in SUB was nudging capacity.

And already, Kyle's dream of catalyzing change is coming true.

Although it took time to craft his presentation, Barmak Heshmat was glad he overcame his nervousness about public speaking to give his talk.

"I could see the excitement in people's eyes," he says, noting that's a rare response in engineering seminars. "I got the chance to come out of the engineering shell...and I made a bunch of good friends."

Kyle was happy with the outcomes, too.

"The presentations reinforced inside of me that there are millions of people out in the world doing amazing things," he says. "Things that have the potential to change lives.

"Only people who have something worth sharing, something that is worth spreading, get to speak [at TED] and I will use that goal to be a check against decisions I make in the future," Kyle promises. "Whether I make it there or not, that goal will help me make decisions."

That goal is bound to help Kyle slip the leash of convention to create better business – and a better world.