Illinois Wesleyan University debuted its new Kinder Brothers Speaker Series on Monday, September 22, 2025, with a speech from Ed Rust ‘72.
The speech was made possible by a donation from the Kinder Brothers. IWU alums of the classes of 1955 and 1950, Garry and Jack Kinder now run their namesake business, Kinder Brothers International, a leading financial consulting and training firm, out of Texas.
Rust–a former CEO of State Farm and IWU alum–spoke to a room of over 200 students and staff of Illinois Wesleyan with his speech on the value of a liberal arts education in the business world.
Rust reflected on the last sixty years of his life, starting with a conversation he had with a higher-up at Netscape (owned by AOL, for those who know what that is.) He shared the focus of the conversation (which elicited giggles from the audience): is there any business practicality to the Internet?
Rust moved into how his liberal arts education not only made him a more holistic student but eventually a holistic thinker, which helped him jumpstart a career spanning across US states and multiple countries.
Rust boldly said, “The liberal arts are no longer a luxury. They are a necessity.” He shared how all aspects of a holistic education–a liberal arts education–will be used for forging a path in the business world.
Aspects like global awareness, cultural competence, a focus on global arts and the ability to navigate a multicultural world are all vital for navigating the business world and forging new partnerships or entering new markets, Rust shared.
He added that all students should take multiple economics courses, saying that students need to learn about the current system if they ever wish to change it.
As Rust wrapped up his speech, he asked the audience to look forward. He asked: where will you be in 30, 40, 50 or 60 years? Will we be reflecting on AI as the start of something large or a fad? He shared an old British mantra: May you live in interesting times. He said while interesting times for some may mean turmoil, instability and strife, for others it means an era of rapid technological changes, new opportunities and growing ambiguity. An era that will be guided and dependent on the values of the liberal arts–wisdom, empathy, creativity, humanity. These values are what Rust said plainly are leadership qualities.
“Business is not static. It requires leaders who are not only good in numbers but also good in people,” Rust said.
The speech was followed by a short Q&A session, which quickly devolved into stories about Rust visiting numerous countries, including China and the former Soviet Union. He added some final words of wisdom: “We don’t think enough. We don’t get paid working with our feet. We get paid working with our heads.”
