PopTech! Highlights: Day One
by Rachel Hinman
Scarcity and Abundance was the theme of this year’s PopTech! conference in Camden, Maine. The fall leaves were aglow and the weather made it difficult to stay inside, but the content was stellar and the speakers were truly inspiring. Here are some of the highlights from day one.
The day started off with a presentation by Saul Griffith, an Australian engineer, environmentalist and inventor based in San Francisco. I found Saul’s talk particularly interesting because like many folks, I am aware of the global problem of climate change, but often feel powerless in truly understanding how my personal behaviors impact the environment. Saul shared how he conducted a micro-level study of the power he uses to maintain his life in a given year. The result? “I started off thinking I was good – now I find out I’m a planet fucker,” he says.
So he created Wattzon, an online tool that allows users to track their energy consumption, compare it to others’ and understand its consequences in order to discover how to reduce their role in climate change. Saul said that what is exciting about the discussion around climate change right now is that people are willing to listen.
I’m a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s work and in his presentation on the capitalization of human potential, Malcolm outlined his theories on what limits people in successfully achieving their potential.
Malcolm’s theory is that there are three conditions that suppress Cap rates (the rate that people within a society are able to realize what they are capable of).
They are:
1. Poverty Constraint
2. Stupidity Constraints
3. Cultural Constraints
Humans like to believe that there are innate reasons why some people achieve while others do not. Malcolm argues that is simply not true – achievement and people’s ability to capitalize on their own potential is dependent on how well they can overcome these constraints.
“We have a scarcity of achievement in the US because we’re squandering it. But it’s not bad news, it’s good news – because it’s not scarcity we have to live with: we can do something about it.”
I’m looking forward to reading more about this topic in three weeks when his latest book, Outliers: The Story of Success is released.
I was truly inspired by the last three speakers of the day: Marian Bantjes, Chandler Burr, and Ben Zander.
Marian Bantjes shared how early in her career as a graphic designer, she became depressed when she came face-to-face with her own mediocrity. “It’s depressing to live your life making landfill,” she said, and at that point, resolved to create work that would transcend garbage.
She started to create work that was meaningful to her, and interestingly enough… it was meaningful to others. Marian’s work is a rare and beautiful mix of art, graphic design with amazing embellishment and detail. A common question admirers of Marian’s work ask is, “How long did that take you?” Marian described how she realized that detail is a form of honor because it is a manifestation of time – and people equate value with time. When you create something from a place of love, it shows — and it will intrinsically have value to others. “When we spend time on something, we dedicate a part of ourselves to it…. it takes a lot of energy and love to do what I do, but when I create something beautiful, I know it has value to the world.”
Chandler Burr is a man unabashedly passionate about scent and his interactive presentation on searching for the perfect scent was truly a treat. I had no idea scent could be so interesting – but when you are in the presence of somebody who clearly loves a topic so deeply, it’s infectious. Chandler explained how a chance meeting with perfumer on a train in Japan ignited his interest in scent. Perfume sticks were passed out to the 600 attendees throughout his talk, as Chandler asked people to identify eight distinct scents. He took us through an olfactory journey, sharing tales of each of the eight scents and describing why each was either scarce or abundant. “There is a story – a world of climate change, bad economic policy, smuggling, and greed – in every bottle of perfume.” I’m buying my bottle of Coco Mademoiselle and Estee Lauder Pleasures today.
The day ended with a truly electrifying talk by Ben Zander on the power of possibility. Ben is a celebrated author and the music director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He started his talk by asking the audience to sing happy birthday to a fellow audience member. He then guided us through improving our delivery by infusing it with emotion and nuance. He then reinforced this lesson by coaching a young, local cello student through a cello lesson. Ben shared that in any adverse situation in life, we have three choices: to be resigned, to be angry, or to see possibility.
Anger and resignation are choices of scarcity. They are choices that are downward spirals where one will always see the glass as half empty. Ben shared that the choice to see possibility is a choices of abundance – it allows for an expressive life and conversation. Great leaders recognize the downward spiral and lead people to conversations of possibility.
Zander closed by saying, “I have a bigger dream – that every one of you in this room will be leaders in seeing abundance. That you will live the rest of your life in possibility. That is my dream.”
Videos of the entire day’s programming will be up shortly on the PopTech! web site and more summaries of all the speakers from day one are available on the PopTech! blog.
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