Making a Difference in the World

The power of ordinary acts with extraordinary love

When I was thirteen years old, I was sent to a quasi-military Catholic boarding school in Ireland. There I was: a young Venezuelan, studying in English for the first time alongside one hundred other students from around the world. Life there was highly structured. Showers lasted five minutes, timed by the clock. We wore suits and ties. We sat through two-hour daily study halls. And if you spoke anything other than English, you accumulated black marks, which could hinder the weekend outings exploring the beautiful Irish countryside. And yet, I loved it.

In that environment, I discovered what a great system can do. I learned that high standards, when paired with support and care, can transform people. I thrived there, and I was rewarded for doing so. In many ways, Harvard Business School has reminded me of that school in Ireland. This is also a place with high expectations, strong traditions, and a certain mystique. It is a place with rules—some spoken, some unspoken—that many of us came to enjoy following. But more importantly, it is a place that creates the conditions for growth.

Here, top faculty and exceptional classmates come together to make these two years life-changing. Here, we were encouraged to be curious, to ask difficult questions, to challenge assumptions, and to refine our views about business, leadership, and the world. Here, businesses were started and shut down, ideas were tested, failures were survived, and friendships were built. Here, we found both joy and sorrow. And through it all, we were being formed. And while HBS provides an unusual environment for growth, we tend to think about impact and scale. But the habits that make meaningful leadership possible are built in smaller, quieter moments.

What does it mean to make a difference in the world and how can we fulfill its ambitious mission?

Sometimes we answer that question with grand examples. We tend to look to sports, where teamwork, discipline, and sacrifice teach us something profound about human potential and overcoming challenges. We look to history, where courage under impossible circumstances inspires us. We think of those who hid children during world wars to keep them safe. We think of those who defended the vulnerable, pushed the boundaries of science, protected others, or built artifacts that changed millions of lives.

Those examples matter as they represent with great clarity where leaders made a difference in the world. However, sometimes they can also feel distant, almost too grand to belong to ordinary people. I suspect this feeling will be amplified amongst our classmates who, upon graduation, may feel they are not in the right position to effect change. At the same time, a self-inflicted pressure and duty to excel, to lead, and to make a difference worthy of headlines, might generate some uncertainty and angst. That is why it is important to remember something simple: changing the world is not reserved for history books. It is embodied by those doing ordinary acts with extraordinary love. That intensity and zeal to do “the right thing,” notwithstanding the scale, and in accordance with your values is a daily act, the most important act. And that is something we can all do. After all, the compounding of ordinary choices with extraordinary love will make it easier once we are challenged with the really few, consequential choices you will have to make.

After two years of getting to know you, I’m convinced we are up for this challenge. I have had the privilege of seeing your ambition, discipline, generosity, intelligence, humor and your care for others up close. I have seen classmates lift each other up, push each other to think better, and hold each other to a higher standard. I have seen classmates open up and share their most vulnerable feelings and stories. That combination of excellence and care is what makes this place unique. You see it in our faculty, classmates, staff,  and on this campus, in the everyday interactions that shaped us.

So the call today is not just to go out and do something impressive. The call is to believe that in your everyday life, in every decision, in every relationship, in every responsibility you carry, you are already participating in the work of changing the world. This is not naïve optimism and it is certainly not an attempt to embellish reality. It is a recognition that we have been given extraordinary gifts: education, opportunity, community, and the chance to lead. And with those gifts comes responsibility, to try through business, leadership, and service, to leave the world better than we found it.

There is no single magic formula to achieve this,  but I would argue certain behaviors (i.e., open mindset to test, experiment and learn, adjust and try again; generosity and building with ambition and integrity; and pursuing excellence without losing humanity), coupled with a rigorous system (your mom probably calls them habits), can help shift us in the right direction. This path is not without risks, of course. Fame, power, money, and pleasure can distort our views of what matters and can transform the goal, making us slaves in their pursuit.

I hope to have convinced—despite my poor and eclectic writing—at least a few of you that living life this way is worth it. That treating every second as a gift,  even in moments of difficulty and uncertainty, is a privilege. And that seeking to change the world is not a distant ambition for a select few. It is an everyday task. It is a calling available to all of us.

I trust that each of you will find your way. And in that messy and beautiful journey, I hope you will lift others toward excellence. When in doubt, do not forget the friends of the Class of 2026, with whom you shared two extraordinary years of your life.

Alejandro Moreno (MBA ‘26) is from Caracas, Venezuela. He studied Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Northeastern University. Prior to HBS he advised PE & corporate clients on M&A transactions at PwC. Alejandro is a leader of the HBS Soccer Club and dreams of bringing change to a democratic Venezuela.