The TEDxGustavusAdolphusCollege talks took place Saturday, April 18 in Wallenberg Auditorium, offering differing perspectives and ideas on leadership from nine different speakers.
The theme of the event was “Leading the Way Forward: Being, Seeing, Doing;” its focus was on leadership and what that means from various perspectives.
Director for Leadership and Community-Based Service Dave Newell led the planning and organizing of the event.
“The title is part of the leadership philosophy. We were trying to create a leadership model that uses similar vocabulary for everyone on campus.”—Bri Malecha
“The conference ties in with our mission here in the Center for Servant Leadership,” Newell said.
Sophomore Spanish and Chemistry Major Bri Malecha was coordinator of the event through an internship in the Center for Servant Leadership.
She led others in the event planning, reporting back to Newell. Malecha described the title of the event and how it relates to leadership in general at Gustavus.
“The title is part of the leadership philosophy. We were trying to create a leadership model that uses similar vocabulary for everyone on campus. Organizations like Gustie Greeters or Collegiate Fellows have similar vocabulary. The leadership philosophy revolves around the idea of being, seeing, and doing. First you have to be a certain way and see it on the outside, and then do something about it,” Malecha said.
Malecha has come to see the title and purpose of the conferences in a way that relates back to her own life.
“I’ve come to understand that philosophy more. You have a starting point and we have to see something that you can change or affect or influence and then go to put that action to work. You can’t just see an issue, it’s actually going to do it, while bringing people with you,” Malecha said.
TEDx is derived from Ted Talks, which is a non-profit organization that’s purpose is to spread quality ideas through short lectures.
“TEDx is essentially a Ted Talk that is independently run. There is a whole process to get approved to host one and we have some requirements that we have to follow,” Newell said.
This is the second TEDx event hosted at Gustavus, the first taking place last spring. They are hoping to make this an annual event on campus.
“Last year’s event was a success, but we had improvements that we could make. We had some learning to do after the event,” Newell said.
The speakers chosen for the talks came from many different areas, but had at least one aspect in common.
“The speakers are connected to Gustavus in one way or another. Some were invited to speak, but all the others applied,” Newell said.
The nine speakers were Jenny Evans, Lisa Dembouski, Meghan Krause, Barbara McAfee, Nicole LaVoi, Brian Konkol, Pete Machalek, Leila Brammer, and Bruce Johnson. In addition, two Ted Talk videos were played. The speakers in those videos were Shawn Achor and Ken Robinson.
One speaker closely tied to Gustavus was Bruce Jackson, son of C. Charles Jackson, for which the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center is named.
Jackson completed his undergraduate degree at Gustavus in 1990, and went on to do instrumental research and developed the Attentional Leadership Theory, which was a new model for leadership.
In his speech, Jackson talked about the terms, ‘leadership’ and ‘influencer,’ saying he preferred to use the term ‘influencer’ because ‘leadership’ is often vague. While attending Gustavus, Jackson mentioned several impactful moments that stuck out to him.
“My grades were not good enough to get into Gustavus. I had to go to an admission’s counselor and sit down and tell them I messed around in high school. I didn’t take it seriously. From there, I argued that now I was ready to take my education seriously and laid out my plans to prove I was going to work hard. I was lucky, because they gave me a chance,” Jackson said.
The other aspect of Gustavus that impacted his future was his time with the former tennis coach, Steve Wilkinson.
“Influential moments came whenever I was talking to Coach. He taught me so much from tennis and how to apply that to life. In tennis, you are constantly opening your focus to the entire court and narrowing it in to focus on the ball. It’s important in life to fluctuate between looking at the big picture and having a narrowed focus,” Jackson said.
After his time at Gustavus and onward, Jackson made advancements in the discussion on leadership and what that term really means.
All speakers were recorded during the day and videos will be available in the near future. For more information on the TEDx conference, contact Dave Newell.
-Laura Isdahl