Eureka at 60 even though he is only 55: Chris Howe at TEDxGreatWall

Good afternoon. A very good quote, actually. Since I am probably one of the least academically talented people in this arena today, Eureka at 60. Well, I actually because he set me a task to speak on something I've never spoken on before, I actually had to do two things that anyone who knows me are totally out of character. One, I actually had to do some research because I wanted to sound vaguely like I knew what I was talking about, and secondly, I actually had to do some preparation, which is totally against my normal sort of scan of events. So I started off thinking, what's the one thing I know least about, Eureka or 60? I picked 60. And I tried, I sat there and I cogitated and I thought, had a drink, and I wasn't really getting many answers other than the only thing I can predict about 60, it now being four years away, not five, because I had a birthday the other day, is there'll probably be a few more bits of the body that are functioning outside the original design specification. So I went to the great god Google, thinking this will help me. I started entering 60, and you get about five gazillion hits for 60. So then I put life in 60, and I made this terrifying discovery. There are about 500 websites on the topic that goes, life begins at 60. I thought, I've got to waste another four bloody years before the start. Is this just the rehearsal? So I gave up on that, that was a bit depressing. So I thought I'd go to Eureka. Now Eureka is a Greek word, I'm sure many of you know that, and it's probably most famously known for coming out of the mouth of a gentleman called Archimedes. Archimedes was a scholar in ancient Greece, and one day chose to have a bath. There was nothing in the references to how often this occurred, by the way. So as he got into his bath, as he slipped down, he noticed, as I'm sure you all have, that the level of water rose. He lifted himself out, it went down, and he started to recognize that what was happening was that the volume of water displaced was equivalent to the volume of the body submerged. For those who haven't done basic physics, that's called the Archimedes Principle. Now it was a great discovery because at the time, Hiero the king had handed over a load of gold to some goldsmiths and said, make me a crown. And when they brought it back, he was fairly convinced they diddled him. He was fairly convinced they'd substituted some cheaper metal. So it weighed the same as the gold he gave them, but it wasn't actually the same purity. And Archimedes realized that with this principle of the volume of water displaced and density, he could prove whether it was gold or not. Now, so many people know of Archimedes as a scholar. However, ladies and gentlemen, I put it to you that he was the first of our brand experts. You see, not only did Archimedes brand his own principle, Archimedes Principle, he then went in for brand extension. He discovered various other products that seemed to reflect his principle. So for example, there was this thing that the Egyptians had discovered. It was basically a wooden tube with a sort of drill bit through the middle, and if you put the end in the water and turned it the right way, water came up so you could irrigate the land. Now they hadn't sold many of them, and Archimedes came across it and renamed it the Archimedes Screw, at which point discovered that branding dramatically increases sales if you can associate it with someone famous or otherwise. But the other thing I realized about Archimedes was not just that he was the first of the brand experts, he was the great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of what we now call the celebrity culture. You see, if you talk to many people in England who've been educated and done basic physics, if you say to them, do you remember Archimedes? They all say yes. If you then say to them, what do you remember him for? Very few can tell you the Archimedes Principle. What they can tell you is, wasn't he the nut who leapt out of his bath and ran naked through the streets of Syracuse yelling Eureka? Now of course the celebrity culture has become quite prevalent in recent years, because I think we've started to, and it's really interesting when you compare that with Archimedes, because what do we start to value most in life? Recognition or contribution? You see, the celebrity culture is all about recognition. Now the danger with recognition is it's a fickle mistress, because if you assess yourself and judge your success based on recognition, we all know that three or four different people will judge you differently for exactly the same act. For example, you might win a red rosette in a competition. You might walk home mildly disappointed but vaguely proud, and someone might say to you, congratulations, you did well in that competition, you've got a rosette. But others might say, hmm, so you didn't win there. Now recognition, you see the problem with recognition is it can feed ego, but it will never build love, because you are the victim of other people's judgments. Your sense of worth is driven by how people see you and how you will receive that view. And tragically, as human beings, we are quite capable at times of seeing the negatives, not the positives. We'll focus on the criticisms, not the praise. So I will put it to you that contribution is a far better way of measuring success. But can you judge it? Do you know? I'm going to tell you a little bit of a story. About two weeks ago I was in Berlin. It was a great pleasure to be in Berlin because I was sharing the platform with a very dear friend of mine who's a Maasai elder. And we went to Berlin because he'd been asked to speak to 200 senior partners in a global IT consortium consultancy. And they were asked, basically it was all about leadership. And he told them the story. Come up, you'll get a bigger round of applause. So he told them the story of about four years ago they'd had a massive drought in Kenya. All the cattle and goats had died. Their community was starving, literally. And he and some of his peers in their early 30s realized something had to be done. They couldn't carry on the way they'd been living, because that lifestyle was gone, courtesy of climate change and land subdivision. So he started a community group. It started with 19 members, seven men, 12 women. Now if you've ever come across African tribal systems, you'll realize that they're genuinely male dominated. So I said to him, why 12 women? He said, Chris, we've discovered that women are much less change resistant than men. The audience of 200 had 194 men and six women. You could see the chief executive looking into the group going, oh. So I talked to him about what they'd achieved, and they've achieved some incredible things. They started with 19 members, they've now got 100 members. They're supporting a thousand people, and they've really redesigned their lifestyle. They've got a whole load of new sustainable projects, beekeeping and honey is one of them. And I said to him, well you've got to 100 people, where next? 500 people, a thousand people? Thank you, Manuel. You'd be a really big man. He smiled and looked at me, and he said, it's not about me. I don't want to be seen as a big man. I just know that I'm helping, and at some time my children will benefit. It's the contribution that makes me happy. Having a great reputation won't make me happier. So you're looking for recognition, or do you understand what your contribution is? Because again, if you look into indigenous peoples, you will realize that people define themselves not by their job role, not by a title, but by the contribution that they make to their society. But then if you go back, because this celebrity culture thing is fairly new, isn't it? Apart from our communities being a bit early. Because I then go back to the sort of 60s, 70s, 80s. Do you remember those times? No, some of you don't. Well you will do when you're 55. Alright, I know you wouldn't remember. So in the 60s, 70s, 80s, there was this wonderful new movement, well it was a sort of rebirth of something called the positive mental attitude approach to life. Remember that? It's all about setting goals, because if you set goals you'll achieve, and if you achieve you'll be successful, and surely out of success will come happiness. And I think it's really misguided, because who sets the goals? Now the individuals will tell you they set the goals, but what are the parameters that are taken into consideration when they set them in the first place? Well, they're normally societal. It's what their peers will think is success. But if I do that, people will respect me. Well funnily enough, it's all coming back to recognition. And I've seen so many people set goals, they drive their lives by goals. In fact, they become so focused looking at the goal, they miss the great opportunities that are flying past them every day to have a happy life. But they make success. They achieve their goals. They buy a nice house. They can be in a big car. They get married. They get married again. And then they become deeply unhappy, because they realize they've become the chief executive of a very conservative organization, when deep inside their heart is an artist bursting to come out. So the achievement of goals does not enrich your life. They may enrich your lifestyle, I'll give you that. So why do people set goals? And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't set goals, just don't let them rule your life. Well why, how do they do it? Well they ask themselves, they're looking for answers basically. See, I work with large groups and small groups and I facilitate them, and actually what they're always asking me to do as their facilitator is help them find the answer to their problem, which is a bit of a blow because I hardly ever understand their problems, so I don't work out what the answer is. And that's what people do when they set goals. They're looking for the answer. What will make me happy? What do I have to do? They sit there, they stress, and they look at it and they go, please God, just tell me, give me the bloody answer. Because unfortunately they've yet to learn the art of asking questions. You see, it's questions and the art of asking questions that truly enriches our lives. Because the more questions we ask, the more we discover, the more we explore, actually the more fun we are. So if you're sitting there trying desperately to find the answer to something that you haven't found yet, just look for more questions. Find more questions. Ask really weird questions. Ask the questions your friends would never dare to ask, and you'd probably never dare to share. Because your life isn't that. Your life is yours. Your success will be unique. So ladies and gentlemen, for those of you losing the will to live, there's good news, I'm nearly done. But I'm going to finish with a poem, and therefore I have to read, and therefore I also have to admit that certain parts of the body are already functioning outside design specification. It's a poem I found about 20 years ago. Sadly, I never know who wrote it, it was anonymous at the time and stayed anonymous, and I've changed one or two of the words just to fit in with the theme that Anthony kindly gifted me the other day. It's a poem called The Station. Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent, and we're traveling by train. Out of the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, and children waving at a distant crossing, of cattle grazing on distant hillsides, row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of city skylines and village halls. But uppermost in our mind is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing, flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true, and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station. When we reach the station, that will be it, we cry. When I'm 18, when I get my first real job, when I buy my own home, when I pay off the mortgage, when I reach the age of 60, then I shall experience Eureka. Sooner or later, we must realize there is no station. No one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is in the trip. The station is only a dream that constantly outdistances us. Relish the moment is a good motto, especially when coupled with the Psalm 118, verse 24: This is the day the Lord has made, be glad and rejoice in it. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It's the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves that rob us of today. So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, challenge more, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.