It was founded in 1540 by ten men. With no capital and no business plan.

European monarchs, China's Ming emperor, the Japanese shogun and a Mughal emperor in India sought its counsel.

It has a list of contacts unmatched by that of any commercial or Government entity.

The journeys of its 'executives' took them to the very ends of the world. They were the first Europeans to cross the Himalayas and enter Tibet, to paddle to the headwaters of the Blue Nile and to chart the Upper Mississippi river.

This company is known for the intense energy it pours into building what has become the world's largest higher-education network. With no experience in running schools, it has managed to have schools and colleges up and running across five continents.

Long before the term 'networking' became fashionable, astronomers and mathematicians in Rome supplied their colleagues in China with technical know-how to win unprecedented prestige and influence in that country, as heads of the astronomical bureau, reformers of the calendar and personal advisors to the emperor.

Nearly a thousand works of national history and geography, researched and written by these 'executives' became reference works across the world. This company has twenty thousand professionals who run two thousand institutions in more than a hundred countries.

This company speaks to us not as an expert in dealing with an antiquated sixteenth century landscape but as an expert in eliciting confident performance despite shifting landscapes in whatever century and whatever country.

This 450-year-old company has proven best practices that changed the world. This company called the Jesuits is uniquely qualified to shape and mould the leaders of today.