Month: April 2015

Apr 27 Speaking Engagement: TEDxPeachtree in Atlanta

/ Orie Ward / Leave a comment

Today I had the pleasure of being a facilitator of a experimental TEDx program hosted at General Assembly.

The topic was about Using Trust as Currency. It was inspired by Rachel Botsman, a featured TED Talks thought leader. The experiment was to bring thought leaders from Atlanta together to solve issues of trust in interactive pods. Each pod dealt with a separate issue and used rapid innovation to address 6 Top Issues of Trust in Atlanta:

  • Trust between Public Officials
  • Trust between Public Officials in Education
  • Trust between the Public, the Poor and the Mentally Ill
  • Trust between Landlords and Maintenance
  • Trust within Communities Facing Changing Demographics
  • Trust between Social Business Owners and Online Customers
  • Trust between the Community and Law Enforcement
Pods were filled with premiere talent from a wide range of disciplines including Accountants, HR Mangers, Professional Journalist, Entrepreneurs, Educators and Lenders.  Solutions included tax allocation districts (TAD), free web services that enforces quality standards for online companies. Other pods found unique ways to apply technology to their solutions – the result of which is a way to measure and track community progress.

Does Your Life Enrich Others?

/ Orie Ward

By David Brooks

The experiences one should have on the way toward the richest possible inner life. Here, quickly, are some of them:

THE HUMILITY SHIFT We live in the culture of the Big Me. The meritocracy wants you to promote yourself. Social media wants you to broadcast a highlight reel of your life. Your parents and teachers were always telling you how wonderful you were.

But all the people I’ve ever deeply admired are profoundly honest about their own weaknesses. They have identified their core sin, whether it is selfishness, the desperate need for approval, cowardice, hardheartedness or whatever. They have traced how that core sin leads to the behavior that makes them feel ashamed. They have achieved a profound humility, which has best been defined as an intense self-awareness from a position of other-centeredness.

SELF-DEFEAT External success is achieved through competition with others. But character is built during the confrontation with your own weakness. Dwight Eisenhower, for example, realized early on that his core sin was his temper. He developed a moderate, cheerful exterior because he knew he needed to project optimism and confidence to lead. He did silly things to tame his anger. He took the names of the people he hated, wrote them down on slips of paper and tore them up and threw them in the garbage. Over a lifetime of self-confrontation, he developed a mature temperament. He made himself strong in his weakest places.

THE DEPENDENCY LEAP Many people give away the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” as a graduation gift. This book suggests that life is an autonomous journey. We master certain skills and experience adventures and certain challenges on our way to individual success. This individualist worldview suggests that character is this little iron figure of willpower inside. But people on the road to character understand that no person can achieve self-mastery on his or her own. Individual will, reason and compassion are not strong enough to consistently defeat selfishness, pride and self-deception. We all need redemptive assistance from outside.

READ THE REST: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/opinion/sunday/david-brooks-the-moral-bucket-list.html?_r=0