TEDx event challenges to change

WOMEN were asked to challenge their assumptions and the usual way of doing things at a TEDx event held in Torquay earlier this week.

TEDxBellsBeachWomen, held at the RACV Torquay Resort, drew a sold-out crowd of 100 people (almost all in person) for a full day of discussion, workshops and virtual speakers selected from the globally famous library of TED Talks.

Freeceo founder and Torquay local Annelise Worn organised Monday’s event, curating the program around the possibility of challenging the existing paradigms around work, rights, climate and family as a result of the upheaval caused by COVID-19 over the past two years.

Opening the event, Ms Worn said she was talking about “asking questions”.

 

“Asking questions about the things you’ve taken for granted. Asking questions about the way that you do things. About the way that things have always been.

“Because if the last few years I’ve taught us nothing else it is that everything is up for discussion.

“Many of you here will have already made big changes in your live recently – geographically, in business, and in the things that you prioritise – and as a result, I believe many of us are feeling more connected and aligned with the pace of our lives our businesses and our communities, and we are ready to head in the direction that we choose for ourselves.

“And this is what I want to celebrate and encourage and connect through.

“Because it’s from connection and exploring ideas collectively that we change the culture for the better.

“So we are here to make waves, to question the status quo, to live differently, to be in community, to create and live in true freedom and joy.”

This was typified by a TED Talk from Valorie Kondos Field, the highly successful retired head coach of the UCLA women’s gymnastics team, titled “Winning does not always equal success”.

 

Ms Kondos Field said although winning a lot was “really, really, fun”, it was now the case that “winning at all costs has become acceptable”.

“As a society, we honour the people at the top of the pyramid, we effusively applaud those people who win championships and elections and awards, but sadly quite often those same people are leaving their institutions as damaged human beings.”

She said a sobering team meeting with her gymnasts early in her tenure led to her radically changing her coaching philosophy.

“Being a dogmatic dictator may produce compliant good little soldiers, but it doesn’t develop champions in life.

“It is so much easier in any walk of life to dictate and give orders than to actually figure out how to motivate someone to want to be better.

“And the reason is – we all know this – motivation takes a really long time to take root, but when it does it is character-building and life-altering.”