Arlene Blum and Jock Brandis, 2008 Purpose Prize winners, compare notes at the 2009 Purpose Prize Summit. Storytelling expert Andy Goodman chats behind them.

Editor’s note: In closing the 2009 Purpose Prize Summit, Jim Emerman, executive vice president of Civic Ventures, recapped the three-day event that ended Monday.

What a weekend! We started on Saturday night to honor the Purpose Prize fellows. Ann Higdon started us on our journey with her parable of the older master passing the keys to the new generation of leaders.

Robert Egger closed out the evening, urging us to find ways to bring together the energy, experience and passion of The Purpose Prize generation with the Millennial generation.

On Sunday Ellen Goodman reminded us that the personal is still political, and that Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones have been around longer than Medicare. With Andy Goodman, we learned that storytelling is in our DNA, and that we can move others by the power of our stories.

Laura Carstensen urged us to rethink the meaning of longer working lives and to not be content with old, soon-to-be-retired, ideas of retirement. Bill Damon and Phil Zimbardo picked up the theme from Friday: our responsibility to transmit the values of everyday heroism to the younger generation.

Tom Tierney shared his own journey on John Gardner’s wisdom trail, urging us to be continually open to experience, change and the power of our convictions.

And then Sunday night, we heard the stories of five more people who, in the words of Liz Alderman, are “ordinary as dirt,” but who can change the arc of their lives – indeed, can change the world.

And finally Conchy Bretos’ challenge: Let go of fear, reach out to others, open doors and change the world.