Bird's Eye View

TED 2012: Susan Cain and More

Pretty extraordinary bunch of folks here at TED 2012, as always.

I especially liked today the diversity of topics including Susan Cain extolling the importance of introverts and their contribution to the world.

The pretend Dinner Party which was an effort to shake up the usual format did not work so well...but it was great to see Chris Anderson, TED's Curator,  once again pushing the envelope in trying new approaches, new ideas.  TED never fails to surprise.

Perhaps best of all was the face off between Paul Gilding, who argued passionately for the importance of understanding that the fragile earth is indeed in peril and we need to take action now--much like mobilizing for war-- and Peter Diamandis, whose optimistic presentation argued that we brilliant human beings will find a way out of is mess and the doomsayers will be proven wrong.  Chris asked us to vote on which side has it right...and the audience was evenly divided.  I am stained from voting because I feel it is wrong headed to think these views are mutually exclusive.  Instead, we should treat it like the Y2K scare.  Remember that?  When people felt the world would come crashing down at the turn of the century because computers had not provided for the millennial change of date?  My view is that because people hollered DOOM, others got cracking and after lots of money was spent, avoided the predicted mess entirely.  But only because people got worried enough to put extraordinary effort to work to prevent the predicted digital meltdown.

As usual, TED providing the fodder for debates that will live well beyond the conference.

TED 2012 Day 1 with Lucy McRae

The noise surrounding me as I await the opening of the second TED Fellow session says it all: unbounded enthusiasm, anticipation, a little madness thrown in.  Smart people doing amazing things and eager to hear from others doing even more amazing things.

Like Lucy McRae, the body architect who studies ways that the body can involve visual imagery, such as wrapping oneself with plastic tubing filled with colored liquids.  Lucy did work with Philips in finding ways the body blurs its perimeters.  Now she is working with other scientists to create a swallowable perfume...so you emit a pleasurable sense as you sweat. In other words, your body turns into an atomizer.

And yes, Lucy is just one of the many amazing people here...

Stay tuned.

Marie Colvin Told The Stories We Needed To Hear

I had heard of Marie Colvin as a respected journalist for the London Sunday Times.  I didn't realize she was an American.  And although I remember seeing a picture of her, with her distinctive eye patch (necessary because she lost an eye covering war in Sri Lanka or some other global hotspot), I couldn't have told you anything else.

Until today, of course, when her story ended so sadly, with her death in Syria as the result of shellings by the Syrian army on civilians in Homs.  She died doing what she loved to do.  In fact from all accounts that are pouring in from friends and fellow professionals, she died doing what she felt compelled to do: telling the truth.  Getting the real story out.  To the world.

The narratives of great journalists are, of course, at the apex of human communication.  They initiate the kinds of conversations that must take place in order for us to know our world, to know the truth about what is happening not only in our home towns but most especially around the world in the places that even in this time of hyper technology, needs to be observed--and reported on --first hand.

Marie Colvin died shortly after her interview with Anderson Cooper about the senseless killing of civilians in Syria, including the death of a baby boy.  When Cooper asked her if it was appropriate to share with others these horrors of war, especially when they involved young children, she responded with an
emphatic yes.  She believed the story must get out.  And it must be the truth.

It is interesting that in this age of technology, when literally anyone can consider himself a journalist, sharing opinions and iPhone photos with the world, it still takes the eyes and ears and immense courage of a Marie Colvin to get the story right.  To arm us with what we need to continue the conversation so that when appropriate it rises to the shout the world needs to hear.

 

I often say that face to face conversation is the new luxury.  Marie Colvin was there, as she was for decades, face to face with war.  And I suppose her kind of journalism is itself a luxury.  She was reported to be the only British news journalist still on the scene in this bloodbath in Syria.

Thank you, Marie Colvin.  I hope your example will inspire others.  It has certainly given those of us who can only imagine your life, a sense of awe at what you did and the gift you gave to all of us.

 

 

V2V Technology Has Cars Talking To Each Other

We love hearing about any new kind of conversation, so I'm fascinated by V2V technology, which refers to the ability of vehicles to communicate with one another.  Could eliminated a lots of car crashes according to tests conducted thus far.

Imagine if the car in front of you can let the car you are driving know that it is braking suddenly, or that its wheels are beginning to skid.  Apparently it is all done with a simple antenna, and computer chip and GPS technology.  I can imagine it will be especially helpful when your car is in a blind spot, stopped on the highway but blocked by other vehicles or hidden around a corner (this speaks to me big time, since I drive a Mini Cooper and often feel I'm invisible to other cars when I get hidden behind a big truck).  As I understand it, when the vehicle you are driving gets an important alert from another vehicle, if you don't respond to the alert your car will bring it self to s safe stop. 

V2V sounds like a major breakthrough in auto safety.  It's a long way from just buckling up your seat belt to feel safe. 

And besides that, what's not to love about cars talking to each other?  Sounds like the Pixar film "Cars 2" has come alive.  And if you don't know what Cars 2 is, you haven't been around little kids lately.  A family film where the cars talk, laugh, get mad and socialize. 

Maybe that's next.  If every car gets V2V technology, will Bentley's only want to talk with one another?

 

Linsanity Has Made It Sweet For Knicks Fans

Jeremy Lin is without question the basis for linsanity in New York, if not elsewhere as well.

Over the weekend, my Chinese manicure/pedicure lady told me she never watched a basketball game in her life...until Jeremy Lin entered it.  Now she's a fan. 

I passed a newsstand and saw that Lin has been approached by just about every agent imaginable to consider endorsement of whatever brand they represent.  Sportswear, real estate, airlines, you name it.  Even food.

Which brings me to my walk through Central Market this morning on the way to the office.  Central Market is a terrific combination of great fresh food purveyors--from fresh lobster to cheeses to spices to veggies to breads.  And it's all within Grand Central so commuters can do their grocery shopping on the way home to Connecticut and those of us with offices near Grand Central can pick up wonderful things to take home via the subway. 

One of the merchants there is Eli Zabar, who has an impressively successful high end grocery business on the Upper East Side as well as his outpost at Central Market.  As I passed his shop today, I looked down to see--would you believe--beautifully iced Lin cookies!  Yes, you can have your nibble of Jeremy Lin by buying a $7 (yes, that's right) cookie with Lin and his Knicks Jersey portrayed in frosting on a buttery sugar cookie.  Go ahead, taste the excitement of the moment.

And for what it's worth, these cookies will be a great conversation starter around the dinner table this evening. There is plenty to talk about, even without the cookies,when it comes to the Jeremy Lin phenomenon.  We all love an underdog story and this one is right up there with the best.  If you're Asian, you have to love him.  If you're not, you still have to love him.  And if you are a Knicks fan you have to be kissing his feet.

Who knew?  Lin appeals to every taste.  Including those who love sugar cookies.

Susan Cain On The Power Of Introverts In A Talkative World

TED excitement is indeed building.  I learned that Susan Cain will be a speaker at TED and she has written an intriguing book about the power of introverts.

Indeed, she is right that we live in a talkative world.  Blab, blab, blab surrounds us.   Radio talk shows.  TV talk shows.  Online talk and more talk.  YouTube talk.  And all that peripheral chatter we hear on the bus, the subway, and even in taxis equipped with tv screens and people on them...talking.

I'm hoping Susan differentiates between people talking and people in conversation.  I say the world can do with lots less of the former.  And here's where Susan and I may differ: I believe we need lots more of the latter. 

Conversation can lead to collaborative discovery, to understanding, to innovation, to peace.  Conversation requires active listening.  It's not the same as debate, in which both parties try to convince the other of the rightness of their view. 

Instead, great conversations result in something new being created by the combination of the parties' views.  Not a compromise, this is something new, something shaped by the intersection of their interaction.

I am assuming that introverts can be as good at conversations as extroverts.  Maybe better, in fact, since they may be more prone to listening.

Stay tuned and I'll let you know what Susan's TED talk reveals. 

TED 2012 Excitement Builds

I agreed to be a "Speaker Host" at TED this year, which means that I have responsibility for making one of the speaker/performers feel especially welcome and comfortable in Long Beach during the 5 day TED experience. I am supposed to make introductions, meet up with my speaker ahead of social events if they would like that, just in general show them the ropes.  The Speaker Hosts are selected from among veteran TEDsters who are "connectors by nature" and willing to make an extra effort to put the speaker in touch (somehow) with people there they would like to meet. (This last activity is interesting to me, since I find it difficult to get in touch with people I want to meet myself...it is a big crowd and there is only so much texting that works in groups like this.

I just got my assignment and it is a young woman named Knoelle Higginson who, with her mother Vy Higgensen, is a force behind the Gospel for Teens program run by The Mama Foundation for the Arts.  They've built the School of Gospel, Jazz and R&B Arts into a respected and influential program for teens between 13 and 19.

I had not known of the Mama Foundation  of the Gospel for Teens program but a quick Google search ensures that once again the folks at TED who do the magic of bringing groups with real Wow! power to the TED audience made no mistake in this one.  I'm certain the place will rock literally when the Gospel for Teens kids let loose.  And, lucky me, I'll get to know Knoelle in the process and she sounds like an inspiration all by herself.

The last time a musical aspect of TED brought me to tears was watching Gustavo Dudamel conduct the Venezuelan orchestra composed of kids from the barrio of Caracas and elsewhere...all built by El Sistema, Venezuela's program of social up life through classical music.

Somehow I have a feeling the Gospel for Teens folks are going to be similarly amazing.  Stay tuned. 

 

 

 

Downton Abbey and Gustavo Dudamel: Is Culture Alive?

Have you been caught up in the Downton Abbey fever yet?  I confess I have.  On a four hour bus ride from Washington DC to New York City some weeks ago, I overdosed on Downton Abbey episodes, back to back.  The ride seemed to take minutes rather than hours and I was almost reluctant to get off since I had not yet reached the end of the episode I was watching.

What accounts for the American frenzy for Downton Abbey?  After all, it is a soap-opera story of the upstairs and downstairs inhabitants of a fictional great country estate in England through the Second World War and just after.  It is a class-based social society and everyone knows his or her place in it.  People are seriously aware of their station in life and they are loyal beyond comprehension (at least to many curent Americans) to their employer, to their family, to their country.  They know what sacrifice is and undertake it willingly for a cause bigger than themselves. 

Is it nostalgia that has taken hold here?  Hardly.  Most Downton Abbey viewers have no recollection of the Second World War, much less of the UK of the 1940's.  But audiences can appreciate terrific settings, fine acting, and well written, wrenchingly personal drama.

OK, that means we've suddenly got a bunch of people who may have watched Kim Kardashian's wedding now watching PBS.  Who knew?

Is there a connection between Downton Abbey and the Venezuelan-born Gustavo Dudamel, now the rockstar conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic?  He recently took the orchestra to Caracas, to play in his native country, where he got his start as one of the whiz kids in the phenomenal musical educational program that is Venezuela-wide, called El Sistema.  Venezuelans rightly regard Gustavo as a national treasure and they sold out his concerts quickly.  Typical of the audience was a forty year old motorcycle messenger who had never before attended a classical muic concert and who brought along his 8-year old son.

Gustavo Dudamel was showcased at TED a couple of years ago and I'll never forget the experience.  At that point he was directing an orchestra made up of Venezuelan kids, all of them from slums of Venezuela and each of them, thanks to the El SIstema program, a first class classical music performer.

Do Gustavo and the Downton Abbey folks simply provide an escape for us from the in-fighting nastiness of America's presidential debates and the rocky global economy? Or is something bigger afoot here, namely that once people who have stuffed themselves on junkfood-level entertainment get a taste for first class cultural offerings they develop an appetite for much more satisfying fare?

Could be.  What I do know is that the conversations I overhear on Manhattan subways between riders discussing the latest episode of Downton Abbey are a lot more interesting to listen to than musings over the latest craziness of momentarily superfamous media superstars.  May these conversations continue.

I hope Gustavo and Lady Mary will build more demand for amazingly compelling culturally impressive entertainment.   That would be worth talking about.

Tell All Your Valentines You Love THem

Cast the net wide.  There are many people in your life who love you.  Your family, your amour, your friends. It would be nice if each of them heard from you today that you love them.  It's Valentines Day and everyone loves to hear that he/she is loved.  So you can do this for each of them.

How about the others?  How about those people with whom you work, the people who work at your local bank, your grocery store, your dry cleaner?  You may be amazed at how much they would love to hear you say "It's Valentines Day and I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you do..."

 

You may find your conversations with each of those people--from her on--take on a whole new dimension because you reached out today and showed them some love.

We could all use it, right about now. 

My Peak Performance in Hong Kong

I'm a jogger.  Or, perhaps more accurately, I go out for what I call a run (what others may call a very fast walk) daily, Monday through Friday.  I'm pretty religious about it and try to do it even when out of town on business trips, which can be a royal pain, since running shoes and clothes take up suitcase space I'd prefer to use for other stuff.

Anyway, there I was a week ago, trotting myself out to a path that I'd gotten to know pretty well, leading to the road that goes up to The Peak.  For those who know Hong Kong, The Peak is a special place.  To live on The Peak is the aspiration of many people, certainly most expats, who love the view and the prestige attached to having one o those great homes that cling to The Peak and provide a living experience nothing short of worldclass.

Pokfulam Park is a wooded area that surprises people with its gorgeous unpopulated expanse of rolling green, forested hills in the heart of otherwise densely populated Hong Kong.  And it has a road through it that winds itself to the top of The Peak.  A perfect place for a morning job. 

Unfortunately, on my fifth day in Hong Kong, I took the same small path to that road that I'd maneuvered successfully every day before.  But this time, in the dark at 4:45 AM, my toe caught on one of the large roots that crosses the path, and fell flat on my face.  At first I thought I'd merely lost my glasses and groped my way around the ground area at my feet trying to find them.  Then I felt my face hurt and put my hand up to investigate and found my hand was surprisingly sticky.  Realizing that I was bleeding, I made my way back to the flat where I was staying and got whisked to the Adventist Hospital, conveniently located on The Peak.

The doctor on call was terrific and after a cat scan assured him I did not have a concussion, wasn't bleeding internally and likely had no broken bones, he patched up the cut my eyeglasses had made in my face and sent me on my way. 

I was impressed by the staff, by the professionalism and, yes, by the conversations I had with the Adventis staff.  It could as easily have been a hospital in Manhattan, except for the fact that I was given such swift attention (here at home it would have been hours of waiting to see a physician in the Emergency area).  They used all the same words my doctor here would use. "Pain" and "hurt" and "headache" and "bleeding" mean the same thing in any language.  And there was no misunderstanding among us.

A far cry from the time years ago when I was in France as a student and although I thought my French was passable, it did me no good in talking wiht a doctor, who brought out a French/English dictionary and made me point to the words to explain what was wrong. 

Educated people in Hong Kong speak English.  And this doctor was crackerjack smart.  When he pronounced me lucky for having not suffered more severely from my fall, I knew he was right. 

Now that I'm home, I realize it will be a long haul before the left half of my face no longer looks like I got on the wrong side of Mike Tyson's fist.  It's now in that unattractive stage that makes me think of Kermit the Frog's song, "It's not easy being green..."  And it's interesting to see the reaction of people who look up in the subway and see this pathetic bruised face standing next to them.  Most look away.  But at least one man said "What happened to you?"  When I told him, he recounted his fall in Singapore two years ago, jogging on a city street.  So we were off on a conversational comparison of jogging accidents.

I'll be happier when my face elicits no comment at all.