If you follow us on Facebook then you will have seen we went to TedxMelbourne last week. If don’t follow us… you’re missing out 😉 We watched three sessions of various performers and speakers and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The theme of the day was Rebels, Revolutionaries, and US. Here we’ve wrapped up some of the diverse and incredible people we heard from on the day… what they discussed and what we took away from it.
Deng Adut
What an absolute legend this man is. He’d cop “you’re so inspirational” ten times a day but there’s a very good reason for that. You’ve probably heard of him after being named the NSW Australian of the Year. Deng was a child soldier in Sudan before being smuggled out of the country by the UN, when he was then taken to Australia. Deng taught himself to read at age fifteen, got into university and is now a lawyer for refugees. He does a huge amount a charity work and is one of the most selfless people you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting.
Deng’s message was to be truthful to yourself, accept the good and the bad in yourself and forgive yourself for whatever has happened in the past. He spoke about making peace with your enemies and taking responsibility for everything that happens in your life, even when it feels easy to place the blame elsewhere.
Do yourself a favour and YouTube Deng, then grab a copy of his book… you’ll be as blown away as we were.
Gender equality was the name of Catherine’s game and she absolutely killed it. Google “drones and girls” now Google “drones and boys”. Or, you could just use your imagine and it’d be spot on. In comes She Flies, Catherine’s start up. They travel the country educating girls on how to operate drones and what they can be used for (which is also fascinating). Check out her website here.
We want to raise strong, independent and compassionate kids, but when they do something differently to what we’re used to, our automatic response is “no, because that’s the rules” or “because I said so””. Justin rose some absorbing points about the different kinds of rebels and how we can foster their development within families and work places. Read about the fascinating difference between a reflexive and responsive rebel here. Being a reflexive rebel is all about doing the right thing, even when no one else is doing it, or knowing what’s wrong, even if everyone else is doing it. This speech really made us stop and think. Justin does talks around the country for everyone from school kids to parents.
Lisa took the cake for funniest presenter. Starting her career as a very successful lawyer, the industry sucked her dry and she left it to become a DJ for ten years. Taking do what makes you happy to the extreme- we love it! She now has a start up, working with artificial intelligence in the law industry. This idea is to take away the mundane tasks from humans, allowing them to have more time to actually be human. Empathy is the one thing AI can never have over humans, but we often don’t even have the time to show it. This was a fascinating spin on a technology that is often met with cynicism.
Laura hated the fact that she could read more sporting stories on horses than she could about women. So she did something about it. Opportunity, Equality, Respect: nothing more, nothing less was created along with An Equal Playing Field. Laura gathered professional and amateur female soccer plays from around the world, to hike up Mt Kilimanjaro and play a game at 5000ft. They set a world record for the highest altitude soccer match played, for any gender, ever. Do you see an issue? Then do something about it!
It’s safe to say we’ll be back to Tedx next year and highly recommend it to anyone else wanting motivation for life and business… or to just hear some amazing ideas from some amazing people.
Have you got a business idea brewing? Chat about it with us.
