Adaptability creates opportunities | Jasper Reid | TEDxFMS
[Music] quite hard to follow the great musicians and the great artists but I'll do uh I'll do my very best look there's a lot of people out there that will tell you stories about how to make other people change there's a huge industry on how to kind of change yourself right I want to talk to you today about how you can be better at change right how maximizes your chances of being an adaptable person right before we start everybody wake up I'm going to conduct a little poll a little light poll I hope no one's like this in the library here but let's have a show of hands how many of you guys spend time focusing on your academic capabilities get those hands up okay right next next how many of you how many of you people focus time on your physical health and fitness uh it's not bad not bad not bad next how many of you wake up every morning and ask yourself am I an adaptable person we got two guys three guys they rapidly put their hands down this is my assertion right from my very modest experience that in addition to focusing on your mental health your academic capability your physical fitness the big third one is figuring out how to be adaptable how to discover your inner arctic fox who as you all will know is white in Winter and brown in the summer okay so I'm going to talk to you a little bit about that why is that a good idea you guys know this better than me because the world is changing right there are there is a convergence of forces happening now which is unparalleled in the history of the world whether it's VR whether it's robotics whether it's industrial Outsourcing whether it's the codification of knowledge things are changing my assertion with the greatest of respected lawyers and accountants in this room is the world is producing enough lawyers and accountants the world is looking for people that can adapt what does adaptability mean the root of the word adaptability comes from the Latin aptus anyone know what aptus means no Latin scholars in here aptus means to fit right to fit to fit in to fit yourself to mold yourself and the people who adapt the most are the fittest the optisim right the the opimus so then the question is how do you become aptus how do you maximize your chances of being aptus I'm going to give you four areas that you might want to think about um as you move into the state of being adaptable the first one is is be different right be different think about whether you're the black sheep or the white sheep why is this important very simple because the underpinning of being able to change is accepting that you're different if you're different you're going to find it so much easier to change right when I was at your stage in college when I looked back honestly I regret some of the times when I moved with the pack I regret the times that I didn't seek out the Misfits don't make the same mistake seek out the loners seek out the Misfits discover how to be different how not to be part of the flock Mark Zuckerberg's not part of the flock Richard Branson's dyslexic these are very different people right how do you become different so every time I talk about these four ideas I'll have an idea and I'll end with just a practical thought on how you might be different which is a difficult thing I think it back up back up back up I think it comes down to one thing ask yourself do you think for yourself do you really think for yourself the coures that people go through at school and college have a have the effect of creating conventionality But ultimately in the world of change it comes down to your ability to think for yourself idea number two be interesting be interesting this is an interesting Guy this is Jean CTO an artist a poet a ballet scene designer a boxing manager this was the man of whom it was said for him every great verse of poetry is a sunrise every sunset is the foundation of the Heavenly Kingdom imagine being able to think that way why is it important to be interesting frankly and very simply because it maximizes your options it allows you to see things from different angles it prevents you from being binary become polymaths it's more interesting don't make the choice don't answer the first job application from Goldman Sachs or KPMG keep your options open think of the great polymath think of ninda Tor think of Leonardo if you don't like thinking of them think think of David Bowie if you're very young think of Victoria Beckham these are all interesting people yeah how do you become interesting frankly my advice to everyone here is have hobbies have hobbies my big hobby is gardening right gardening has absolutely nothing to do with my working life but it's a great salvation and I tap into the ideas of other people so get Hobbies right I'm becoming very pompous and wise in my old ages you've probably noticed number three be brave Brave right be brave that's the hardest hardest thing of all and it's very easy to talk about um that's the as everyone will know here the param chakra the equivalent of the leion Donna the Victoria Cross the Silver Star right how do you how do you become Brave why is brave being important is important it's important very simply going back to the forces of conventionality because if you want to change and if you want to be different you're going Upstream when everyone else is going Downstream right now how do you become Brave that's a very abstract very difficult thing it's the hardest thing of the four items I'm talking about my advice for everyone here again based on my modest experience is really two things the first one is start early right looking at the faces in the room you guys are at the early stage right the earlier you start be brave the braver you'll be the second thing and it's a very simple thing that I've learned is it's easier to be brave in groups to be bold in groups it's safer you feel more secure you get support So seek out those groups be brave together the last of the four have charm have charm be personable this is a a shamrock an Irish symbol of charm a lucky charm why is this important frankly because the people that have charm and who are personable get a lot of breaks right it's tough to go out there and adapt underwrite Yourself by having charm being personable working on your manners all the oldfashioned things right um look at Muhammad Ali look at look at the current Pope Francis look how they radiate personability how do you do this my simple advice to you guys is less time in the library less time in your tutorials more time in the pubs and cafes right when it comes down to it being a good guy being a communicator being personable will get you through most of life I'm in the home straight now now be the black sheep discover your inner Jean toe aim for the award of Valor and find your charm what's the reward of this the reward of this is an increase in your ability to be adaptable to change right to maximize your chances of being the person that can react as the world gets disrupted as we know it is getting disrupted what's the reward of that and this is very very important because adaptability is not abstract in my opinion in this sense the reward of being optisim being the adaptable person is freedom yeah these are my children Elsa and Cecilia who've been kind enough to drag themselves away from their iPads uh and join us today with my wife Megan this is them running free on the Atlantic coast of the west of Ireland right and I thought about this and I thought why do we want to be adaptable and ultimately when I thought about it it's because it will allow us to get into a position where we can remember the freedom of all freedoms which is the freedom of our childhood our ability to run wild than the west coast of Ireland and that freedom is in my opinion what it ends up being all about right let me um let me stay on Ireland and end with some words of encouragement for all of us with a with a a very Irish um invocation May the road rise up to meet you May the wind always be at your back May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall soft in your fields and until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand thank you