The Leap Year Project Book: Learning to Risk & Risking to Learn
This adventure started with a single deep-seated desire to make a difference.
It was this desire that hooked Victor Saad on pursuing a business degree around social enterprise. Yet as he researched MBA options, he wondered if business school was the most effective way to learn. Believing there had to be a better way, Victor decided to take the biggest leap of his life, quitting his job to design and pursue a self-made education; 12 experiences in 12 months, all centered around design, business development, and social innovation.
Along the way, Victor realized he didn't want to leap alone, and began challenging others with one driving question, What risk would you take to change your life, your community, or your world for the better?
As people from all over the world stumbled across the project, accepted the challenge, and shared their stories, a community of Leapers began to develop. While each individual's leap was unique, there existed a common bond of taking risks to learn and attempt great things.
Each chapter contains a piece of Victor's story: a glimpse into his educational experience for that month, followed by hopeful, daring, and genuine stories of Leapers from around the world.
This book is meant to be a companion on your journey, a tool for the moments when you are facing a problem, dreaming about the future, or simply on the brink of something great. May it push you to see the need for change and show you that we learn our most valuable lessons when our hopes surpass our fears.
12 Chapter Themes
It starts with me
The challenge of hope
Working Together
Good things take time
Defining failure
Creating Space
Gaining perspective
Imagination's dance
Going right
Growing a family
Being present
Creating something of value
Book Features
Written with Tyler Savage & Michelle Lincoln
Edited & Copyedited with Ben Skoda & Johnny Michael
Foreword by world-renowned Creative Director Alex Bogusky
Content from over 70 leapers from around the world
Designed by the uber talented GRIP Design
Guest designs by Debbie Millman, Justin Ahrens, and Brady Bone
Printed & bound in Chicago by award winning Graphic Arts Studios on Utopia Two 100# Dull
Proceeds of this book will be used to launch and create a scholarship fund for the Experience Institute, a new type of higher education creating a credible space for people to learn through real-world experiences.