Roxane Gay, TEDWomen2015, Monterey, California, USA. Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED
On May 28, at the cinema Les Scala in Eaux-Vives, Geneva, the Women’s Business Society and Giving Women hosted a live screening of the TEDWomen 2015 Conference held in Monterey, California (USA). Six speakers took the stage to share their experiences around the theme “Momentum. Moving forward. Gaining speed. Building traction.” Speakers included Margaret Heffernan, management thinker; Rich Benjamin, social observer; Roxane Gay, writer; Lerato Mokobe, poet; Elizabeth Nyamayoro, political scientist; and Pardis Sabeti, computational geneticist. One hundred women, and even a few men, attended the event.
Companies don’t have ideas. Only people do. And what motivates people are the bonds of loyalty and trust they develop around each other.” --Margaret Heffernan
Margaret Heffernan shared her experience of implementing small changes in the work environment in order to improve team productivity. For her, what counts is not the individual IQ, nor the “star” leaders. She said that the most successful projects come from groups where ideas flow between people and where they are encouraged to take into account people’s feelings and perceptions towards each other. For Ms. Heffernan, this nurtures motivation, loyalty and the drive to accomplish a meaningful project. The example that she cited was the Montreal Protocol, which is the most successful environmental treaty to date.
Rich Benjamin, author of “Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America”, spent two years living in the “whitest” counties in America. He lived in three places and became friends with white people who accepted him as a black man. During his time, he discovered that he could connect individually with white people, but it did not seem possible for black and white communities to connect. According to him, the exclusion and fears created in “whitopia” towards the outside world makes it more difficult to overcome segregation.
Pardis Sabeti fought against the Ebola virus when it broke out in March 2014 in Sierra Leone. Instead of working by herself, she tracked the virus with colleagues around the world. They were able to find solutions much more quickly and efficiently by constantly exchanging information. Sabeti lost colleagues in the battle against Ebola. However, instead of giving up, she found strength in recalling times while fighting against Lassa fever in West Africa. Back then with her teams, they started the day singing and rejoicing, together.
Elizabeth Nyamayaro works for the campaign HeforShe, founded by the United Nations. It is a solidarity movement for gender equality. Through this program, projects promoting a real change in women’s and men’s lives were launched successfully worldwide.
Roxane Gay does not consider herself a “real feminist” but a “bad” one. For her, it matters more to be a woman and a human. Her speech had a deep emotional effect on the audience.
Lee Mokobe came out as transgender, and faced people’s difficulty to see her as a human being. In the process of becoming a boy, she learned how to love her body.
Sources:
http://www.wbsociety.org/a-propos-de-wbls/
http://givingwomen.ch/
http://blog.ted.com/the-talks-in-session-2-of-tedwomen-2015/
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Beyond-Measure/Heffernan-Margaret/TED-Books/9781476784908
http://richbenjamin.com
http://sabetilab.org/people/pardis-sabeti
Photo credit: Marla Aufmuth/TED, Creative Commons 3.0 License
Thank you for this interesting article.
It is really important that these kind of conferences are being held, insisting on the importance of open-mindedness and collaboration in modern society.