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Archives for March 2013

Speaker picks 07: Evan Walden

Speaker picks is an ongoing series where past TEDxMH speakers share what they’re up to, wax poetic, and divulge their TED Talk of choice with the community. This week: Evan Walden. 

What (or who) has been inspiring you lately?

Lately, I’ve been inspired by my community. I live with a group of amazing social entrepreneurs in Boulder, in a house called The Village. I’ve seen first hand how deeply community affects my personal development, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this group in 2013.

What are three words you’d use to describe Colorado? 

Open, nurturing, and creative.

What’s one of your big goals in 2013?

To learn how to be a servant leader. I want to be the best in the world at empowering confidence in the people around me. The best leaders make the people around them better.

What’s your favorite TED talk?

Brene Brown – The Power of Vulnerability
This talk is one of my favorites because I think vulnerability is what separates good from great. We face such a degree of pressure to act like we have it all together, yet we all know that perfection is a myth. Whether you’re leading a team, strengthening a friendship, or building a romantic partnership, showing vulnerability can be a game changer.

From TED.com:

“Brené Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.”



Did you miss Evan and Nathaniel’s talk at TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward? Find it here

Want to learn more about what Evan is up to?  Follow him on twitter @itsevanwalden, @reworkjobs or check out their website and idea here.  

What drives you? Welcome to TEDxMH13: Values and Instincts

Shared value. Core value. Killer instinct. Familial instinct.

Our values derive from what we think is good for us – constructive, beautiful, useful – and as we understand what helps us thrive, we capture and communicate these values in our communities as traditions and laws, and, ultimately, build culture.

Instincts, we believe, are somehow more basic. We don’t think about them – they just happen in response to a particular stimulus. Our instincts express our native intelligence and drive us in ways our logical selves may not understand.

This idea of exploring the values and instincts of extraordinary agents of change through TEDxMileHigh team arouse as we began discussing possible themes for 2013, and the implications for discussion were astonishingly deep.

What happens when our values and instincts align? What happens when they don’t?

What can we trust? What’s the difference between a habit, and instinct and a preference – and why does it matter? What do we value in community? What instincts no longer serve us in our evolution as a species? What values can we rely on as humanity prepares for perhaps the most profound collective changes we’ve ever seen in our environment and societies?

The need to understand the implications of how our values and instincts as people, communities, and cultures create our realities in the light of the times became evident to me two years ago at a global health foundation event. Talking with an executive from a global pharmaceutical company based in Europe, our conversation migrated to the waves of protests against economic inequality that at the time were engulfing European and North American cities

The executive asked me what I thought was motivating the protests, and I went on for a several minutes about how I believed there were two tales in the American economy – one was about scaling technology, winning the battles of globalization and creating individual wealth while another was focused on a perception that our infrastructure is crumbling, our schools are falling behind, and that working together in community was how to get to the other side of the housing and credit crises.

Even as the words were coming out of my mouth a quiet voice in my head was curious about how to make these two perspectives see each other – global and local; scale and efficiency; resilience and abundance. The executive, as though reading my mind, looked me in the eye and said, “the global economic crisis is a values crisis.”

Work coming out of the University of Michigan looks at how values in organizations compete for expression – collaboration, control, creativity and competition – and are all necessary for the graceful navigation of challenges we face. At the end of the day, the full range of values and instincts we have developed since the dawn of humanity is required to rise above the hurdles we confront.

Welcome to TEDxMH13. Tickets on sale now.

What drives you? Welcome to TEDxMH13: Values and Instincts

Shared value. Core value. Killer instinct. Familial instinct.

Our values derive from what we think is good for us – constructive, beautiful, useful – and as we understand what helps us thrive, we capture and communicate these values in our communities as traditions and laws, and, ultimately, build culture.

Instincts, we believe, are somehow more basic. We don’t think about them – they just happen in response to a particular stimulus. Our instincts express our native intelligence and drive us in ways our logical selves may not understand.

This idea of exploring the values and instincts of extraordinary agents of change through TEDxMileHigh team arouse as we began discussing possible themes for 2013, and the implications for discussion were astonishingly deep.

What happens when our values and instincts align? What happens when they don’t?

What can we trust? What’s the difference between a habit, and instinct and a preference – and why does it matter? What do we value in community? What instincts no longer serve us in our evolution as a species? What values can we rely on as humanity prepares for perhaps the most profound collective changes we’ve ever seen in our environment and societies?

The need to understand the implications of how our values and instincts as people, communities, and cultures create our realities in the light of the times became evident to me two years ago at a global health foundation event. Talking with an executive from a global pharmaceutical company based in Europe, our conversation migrated to the waves of protests against economic inequality that at the time were engulfing European and North American cities

The executive asked me what I thought was motivating the protests, and I went on for a several minutes about how I believed there were two tales in the American economy – one was about scaling technology, winning the battles of globalization and creating individual wealth while another was focused on a perception that our infrastructure is crumbling, our schools are falling behind, and that working together in community was how to get to the other side of the housing and credit crises.

Even as the words were coming out of my mouth a quiet voice in my head was curious about how to make these two perspectives see each other – global and local; scale and efficiency; resilience and abundance. The executive, as though reading my mind, looked me in the eye and said, “the global economic crisis is a values crisis.”

Work coming out of the University of Michigan looks at how values in organizations compete for expression – collaboration, control, creativity and competition – and are all necessary for the graceful navigation of challenges we face. At the end of the day, the full range of values and instincts we have developed since the dawn of humanity is required to rise above the hurdles we confront.

Welcome to TEDxMH13. Tickets on sale now.

Speaker picks 06: Paul Polak

Speaker picks is an ongoing series where past TEDxMH speakers share what they’re up to, wax poetic, and divulge their TED Talk of choice with the community. This week: Paul Polak

What (or who) has been inspiring you lately?

I drove through about 25 million acres of scrub forest between Cozumel and Merida a couple weeks ago — looks like an ideal place to convert biomass to green coal through torrefaction!

What are three words you’d use to describe Colorado?

Inspiring. Original. Easy-going.

What’s a good book that you recently read that the TEDxMileHigh community would enjoy?

The Last Lion by William Manchester (a biography of Churchill).

What’s your favorite TED talk?

Stats that Reshape Your Worldview by Hans Rosling.

From TED.com:

“You’ve never seen data presented like this. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called ‘developing world.'”


Did you miss Paul’s talk at TEDxMileHigh: Inspired Citizenship? Find it here

Want to learn more about what Paul is up to?  Follow him on twitter @outofpoverty or check out his website here

Speaker picks 05: Woody Roseland

Speaker picks is an ongoing series where past TEDxMH speakers share what they’re up to, wax poetic, and divulge their TED Talk of choice with the community. This week: Woody Roseland

What (or who) has been inspiring you lately? 

Honestly, the most inspiring thing to me lately has been the opportunities to be around brilliant, hard-working people. I find that there is nothing more motivating than seeing people better than you are. This has led me to kick my work into a higher gear, pursue more opportunities, and take more risks.

What have you been working on since TEDxMileHigh 2012? 

Over the past year, I have continued to partner with non-profits to fight against cancer, raising funds and awareness. I’ve unfortunately relapsed again and I’m back on treatment to ensure cancer doesn’t return again. I’ve had the opportunity to blog for the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/woody-roseland/) for Generation Why, a series concentrating on spreading awareness for the young adult cancer community. Also, I’ve been approached by a publishing house to begin working on a book, which is tremendously exciting. My experience at TEDxMileHigh was a tremendous stepping stone to many of the opportunities I’ve had.

One of your big goals for 2013. 

My main goal for 2013 is the same goal I’ve had since 2007 and that is to finally beat cancer. I’m done dabbling in cancer, I’ve dealt with it 7 times, and now seems like as good a time as any to stop the shenanigans.

What’s your favorite TED talk?

How it feels to have a stroke, by Jill Bolte Taylor.

I find it incredibly fascinating and humbling to hear Dr. Bolte’s first-hand account of her stroke. Her unique perspective as a neuroscientist gives incredible depth to her story. Pair all of this with her incredible message, and this is easily one of my favorite TED talks. 

From TED.com:

“Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness — shut down one by one. An astonishing story.”


Did you miss Woody’s talk at TEDxMileHigh: Risk and Reward? Find it here

Want to learn more about what Woody is up to?  Follow him on twitter @woodyroseland or check out his website here.  

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