When Alex Budak first started his course “Becoming a Changemaker” at UC Berkeley, he had to turn students away because it was too popular. This course was the first of its kind, providing experiential teaching that ignites the inner changemaker in students and future leaders from around the world. People are craving change. 

Alex Budak calls himself a social entrepreneur. He is also a faculty member at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and the author of the upcoming book, “Becoming a Changemaker.”

In this episode, these UC Berkeley faculty chat about how to teach people to become changemakers, getting comfortable with failure, and the elusive work-life balance.

Why you need to experience failure

08:54 - We tend to make failure up to be a bigger thing in our head, but once we practice it, we realize that failure isnt fatal. We didn't get laughed at. And often, students come back with a new perspective. And so that's why I think doing is so important that you can't just read a book about failure. You learn so much more by actually doing it. So I want to create those experiences for students where they get to experience that.

Desire for change

14:44 - So I'm building off of this latent desire among so many people to have a sense of purpose, to have a sense of meaning, to see the world as it is and believe it can be better in some way—that I could play a role.

Different ways to consider “change”

26:08 - Now, as I think about change, it's a bit like technology. So I see technology as a value-neutral platform. Technology can be used for good and for bad. Change, as well, can be used for good and for bad.

Recommended Resources:

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking: Cain, Susan: 9780307352156
• Episode 163: Iddo Landau — unSILOed Podcast with Greg LaBlanc
• Systems Thinking Resources - The Donella Meadows Project

Guest Profile:

• Faculty Profile at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
• Professional Profile at The Science Factory
• Alex Budak on LinkedIn
• Alex Budak on Twitter
• Alex Budak on TIktok

His Work:

• Becoming a Changemaker
• StartSomeGood