TedX Zurich

An esoteric presentation by a neuroscientist, Molly Crockett, at TedX Zurich on 4 October, opened with questions about how we don’t object when our neighbors and friends have different opinions about the taste of blue cheese, but we view them differently when their opinions on moral values don’t align with our own.

She emphasized that we need to distinguish fact from opinion and avoid believing the “My facts trump your facts.” It’s better, she said, to at least try to change a person’s attachment to a set of values, even if it’s not possible to change the values themselves.

That presentation brought to mind some critical business questions for thought leaders: Are the professionals in your organization attached to your set of values? Are they the right values? Does your organization’s commitment to those values need a “refresh”? Should the renewal of those “value vows” start top down or bottom up?

It’s great to ask the questions but it’s more important to answer them honestly – to really look at the facts – and then to take the action needed. Ask, assess, then act. Contact us – we’re here to help.

In his TedX Zurich presentation on 4 October, Matthias Daum compared urban sprawl in Switzerland to a cancer metastasizing but admitted it is the future whether we like it or not. That’s because the country is rich, full of lawyers and a direct democracy with federalism. “Each society gets the landscape it deserves,” he said. “Planning gives us freedom.”

Similarly, planning in the business sphere must be rigorous, but it should give the organization the freedom to be agile enough to adapt to a changing environment. How agile is your organization? Ask yourself this question and then take the necessary action to improve that key competency. Ask, assess, then act. Contact us – we’re here to help.

On 4 October I took what’s been called an “intellectual vacation day” and attended TedX Zurich. Eclectic and sometimes electric, the event drew about 450 to the SRF television studios and hundreds more to the virtual conference streamed online.

I wouldn’t say the live event drew together people from all walks of life as the audience didn’t appear to be too diverse – most seemed to be young, creative types, or at least folks who were interested enough in creativity and the world of ideas to spend their day at a TedX event.

The diversity of presenters, however, was carefully planned by the legendary Swiss “ideas man” Peter Hogenkamp and his team. A magician, a musician, an experimental particle physicist, a neuroscientist, an asset manager, an anthropologist – oh, and a business consultant – were among the featured speakers.

In typical Swiss fashion, the event started precisely on time – on the hundredth of a second, in fact, someone pointed out. During the 20 sessions, audience-fed Twitter streams (#tedxzh) provided live commentary. Most of that instant feedback was positive but sometimes the Tweets were just clever, like the one sent following a too-brief introduction of one of the presenters: Worst intro you can get ever anywhere—“Our next speaker is a consultant.”

Over the next few days, I’ll write about some other quotable quotes and intellectually stimulating ideas from the thought leaders on stage that, I believe, loosely apply to the business world, too. I’ll ask some rhetorical questions for you to think about and then encourage you to assess the necessary actions based on your answers. The thought-leadership model introduced here is “Ask, assess, then act.” Contact us – we’re here to help.