Anyone who is a genius can succeed!
Sure, but how about the rest of us?
Stanford’s Organizational Behavior Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer talks about power, the religious “accounting balancing scheme” to make life seem more fair (!) and the political smarts to listen to all kinds of people.
Taking time off is a great healer. And wanting to get back in the groove is actually a great thing. Wanting to learn and being open to listening to all kinds of people is a whole different story. Do you?
I haven’t been blogging. I have been reading a lot, having hundreds of stories in my head – and today I discovered I had 33 draft posts sitting on my dashboard. So many possibilities, thoughts, opportunities, fleeting memories and wizard words flying in the dome of my imagination.
No, I don’t mind. When the time comes, I will get back at it – but lately I just want to take a break and simply laugh more – and, yes, laugh at myself also. Or maybe it is reflection time and I need the solitude and quiet to think.
But as I have been re-reading some of the themes and ideas and stories, I thought again of Umair Haque and something he had written: “.. A life well lived isn’t party time with the airheads at the McClubs in Ibiza. And here’s the inconvenient truth: it’s going to take more than the tired old refrains of hard work, dedication, commitment, and perseverance. It’s going to take very real heartbreak, sorrow, grief, and disappointment. Is the heartache worth the breakthrough; is the desolation worth the accomplishment; is the anguish balanced by the jubilation; perhaps, even, are the moments of bitter despair, sometimes, finally, the very instants we treasure most?..”
So, I am at a stage where I am trying to laugh more finding the magic to experience what’s true and do stuff that matters. And I do laugh more often – especially at myself.
It’s all Greek to you, I am afraid.
When I was asked to give a talk at TEDx Thessaloniki, I had mixed emotions. While I am infinitely curious, and passionately share TED’s “belief in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world,” this time I hesitated.
The city which I left more than thirty years ago rings a special emotional connotation with me – about roots, country, family and heritage and somehow the responsibility loomed even larger. Traveling all over the world, it’s easy to get lost in the anonymity of strangers and crowds but this city is somehow mine. No strangers here – even if I have never seen most of them in the auditorium before in my life. Contradictions, conflicts, regrets, pain of separations, so many farewells and unfulfilled promises of the prodigal daughter return.
And along with the agony and creative struggle of formatting the ideas in my head – came the language dilemma. In my bilingual life, I primarily write in English – as Greek is a luxury language for the non-Greeks. But as a presenter, the speaker’s primary responsibility is to the audience. You honor them; you give the talk for them and not for you. So, it was the shortest lived dilemma to figure out that my talk would be in Greek.
And now that the talk is on YouTube and until and if/when it gets subtitles, so many non-Greek friends cannot watch it. Huge debate about the language of marketing on this one. And is the TEDx talk a marketing and branding exercise? Views and likes and thumbs up/down and all that paraphernalia, it’s all about the audience in the end. And in the end, they, my Thessalonikian audience made my day – and for that I will be forever grateful.
I don’t have any special talent. I am just infinitely curious.
I usually end up exploring and discovering and pushing the limits of my Marco Polo-ish spirit while TED has for years been one of my major accomplices. Inspiration, challenge, denial, acceptance and often awe at the simplicity and beauty of all those “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world.”
And now I humbly stand ahead of the challenge of being one of the speakers in my hometown’s TEDx event. 700 people in the Olympion auditorium with over 5,000 viewers from around the world through the webcast; over 2,000 applications to register for the event and a spirit of positive emotions that is slowly sweeping the city. This year’s theme is the power of “syn.”
In a world full of divisions, polarities and extremism, the positive + sounded as the perfect emotionally cohesive glue amplifying synergy, synthesis, symbiosis. In my mini-terrorist comedian mode, I toyed with the idea of speaking about the power of “sin” – after all occasionally such delectable pleasure comes out of sinning 🙂
But seriously: Seeing things from a positive perspective, being tough enough to resist the collective depressive state, and finding the strength to get up and try hard the things you do best and have that deeper meaning that lifts your soul – that’s what really matters.
So, that’s what I will talk about: + vs. –
And while the “blasé factor” increases exponentially with the degree of adversity, the “been there, done that, don’t need to pay attention to this or that” spirit takes us to the dark, fatalistic mindset. Can you shift and see things differently? Do you want to fight and live the way you really want to? And why are you really hesitating?
It’s been a long time since I’ve spent “Fat Thursday“ in my hometown, Thessaloniki.
The carnival tradition of barbecuing all kinds of meats was long forgotten in my urban existence. But, not only did I not remember the tradition. Being the far removed expat, I was blown away by the dancing in the streets, the smiles, the laughter, the singing, the raggedly funny costumes. No, not Rio but humble little Greece in the middle of the crisis, the austerity, the unemployment and the budget cuts. Puzzling as it is, I found the collective feast spirit sanely healthy. People have to have an out; they need the distraction, the joy, the camaraderie, the “unbearable lightness of being.” Greeks are stereotypically extroverts, friendly folks who have had more than their fair share of suffering lately. Local shopkeepers are being run out of business so why not bring everyone out for a party? Ingenuity or desperation with dirty cheap “souvlaki” stands and blasting music to break the bleakness. I am all for it. Occasionally we all deserve our break.
Maybe it’s just that I am in a good mood because I am back “home.” Maybe it is because I am always routing for the underdog and I am getting oddly sentimental with what’s going on all around us. Or maybe the sweet old guy who has the flower stand around the corner insisted on wrapping the bouquet of freesias I bought for the house. “No need to waste paper,” I tried arguing rushing as usual me. He smiled.”Ohhh…” he smiled. “These are flowers; they deserve to be pretty, I’ll tie a beautiful white ribbon on the bouquet.”
Customer service manuals thrown out the window, my marketing hat smoked from the great practice. The old florist is a natural. He made me feel so good. He had heart, passion, pride for his flowers; not a lot of money for what he sold – but a lot of beauty and color and splash of joy and warmth.
I played the sentimental/accidental tourist in my old hometown and snapped his picture. He posed boasting he is not as young anymore. I started whistling an old song as I left. Happiness is in the littlest things. And dancing in the streets on Fat Thursday in a small country named Greece – that, too…
What interests me is helping sharp, intelligently curious people overcome barriers that may be keeping them from achieving more. Passion and boldness can make the art and science of leading easier to navigate. So, have fire; feel with your brain; don't be afraid.
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