TEDxLuxembourgCity is well under way now! After ‘magically humanitarian’ introductions, four fine speakers gave all they had to share their views on success and failure. This horizontal theme, in line with the main theme “Failure?” of the TEDxLuxembourgCity 2012 conference, was applied to topics as varied as startups, Research & Development, democracy… and punk!

David Schrieberg: success comes at the back of failures

In his personal account, entrepreneur David Schrieberg shares a valuable lesson on success and failure. As a consultant, he was seduced to join an Internet startup at the height of the dotcom boom in early 2000. His colleagues and himself were due to be worth a billon a year later – if not, they must have failed! But then the bubble burst and the wannabe billionaires found themselves putting the pieces together. Twelve years later, they are still around. As David concludes, “In business, failure is not an option. But success inevitably takes a very long time – and it comes at the back of multiple failures”.

Is R&D damned to fail?, asks Raymond Schadeck

Being passionate about research and development, Raymond Schadeck addresses the tacky question why both public and private innovations so often do not pay off. For public research, there is no clear demand for return on investment. And according to Schadeck, it is a mentality of fear on behalf of the angel investor or other counterparty in the early funding stages, which keeps the success of private research behind. Too often, investors say, “I do like the idea, but it is too risky”. So, Schadeck argues, “It is our responsibility to change this mentality and to successfully validate research: we owe it to future generations not to fail in our present investments.”

Jérémy Coxet: are we killing punk 2.0?

What if you are a punk – but born too late? That is the dilemma of Jérémy Coxet. Fortunately, punk has found a fertile ground on the web, where the generation of rebellion has found a new platform. But even punk 2.0 is threatened, by the moderation of YouTube, the guidelines of Facebook and the limits of the AppStore. Jérémy finds himself in a system “where everything is organized, processed, sterile, ready-to-consume… It’s like a punk facing a jukebox”. That is not the world a punk wants to live in. Every day, through our actions, we have to stand for an Internet millefeuille, an Internet of a thousand different layers. God save the Web!

Manuel Baldauff going towards enhanced democracy

“What if there is a blue button”, asks former Deloitte partner and entrepreneur Manuel Baldauff, “which entitles you to generous benefits for the rest of your life, whether you are sick or refuse to work, to the detriment of society at large?”

Manuel, himself, feels that we should apply the concept of “sustainability,” often mentioned in an environmental and natural resource context, to finance. Be it in Greece or in a wealthy country like Luxemburg, financial sustainability matters, Manuel continues.

But how can we help people to understand this? Manuel argues in favor of ‘enhanced democracy’, where politicians explain citizens how they can actively and purposefully contribute to improving education, diversifying the economy and reforming the pension system.

“My idea is that all those wise men and women reflect on all these ideas. They will analyze where we stand, where we should be and how can we get there. By sharing this vision and roadmap with every citizen via credible media and blogs, everybody can be involved in an enhanced democracy. In this way, all voters can contribute to informed decisions.”

 

First article: TEDx spreads creative ideas in Luxembourg

 

In magic and development work, TEDxLuxembourgCity speakers David Goldrake and Runa Khan overcome failure
 

Today, the creative and innovative ideas of the TED conferences are coming to Luxembourg! In the spirit of TED’s “ideas worth spreading,” TEDxLuxembourgCity is organizing the first TEDx event in Luxemburg. Around one hundred attendees will be treated with sixteen live talks, four musical intermezzos and seven prerecorded TED talks from bigger brother TED. The entire event can be followed through the livestream on paperJam.TV and through live-blogs here. In an era full of crises, the event is dedicated to the theme ‘failure?’. Failure with a question mark, that is, because maybe it is exactly our failures that help us to succeed?

 

Mike Koedinger, TEDxLuxembourg license-holder, opens the event. Together with all participants in the room, he welcomes all live-stream viewers. In his brief introduction, he explains how TEDx events are now taking place all over the world, with Warsaw, Dubai and Medellin on the agenda these days. And today, the public in Luxembourg can enjoy the amazing TED talks they have so often seen online.

 

David Goldrake’s magic overcomes predictability

Magician David Goldrake denounces the great predictability of life in Luxembourg, where people usually venture on career paths to become civil servants, teachers or bankers: “When I was five years old, I told my parents I wanted to be the next Grand Duke. I quickly learnt that was not possible. I studied psychology to help people with crazy dreams like me. I followed the road to a predictable and happy life: I became a magician”.

 

However, people felt different about it – they saw the job’s uncertainty as a failure. Perhaps, David thought, failure and success lie in the eye of the beholder. Having traveled around the world to do his shows, David at some point got a nervous breakdown. His therapist diagnosed him with… the fear of success! How to deal with that? David embraced his fears and channeled his energy positively. By accepting your vulnerabilities, you can fight fears to work towards success. And then nothing is impossible. And after all, David still can be a Grand Duke.

 

Runa Khan: if you want something impossible, can you fail?

Through her projects as a humanitarian worker and entrepreneur, Bangladeshi Runa Khan learnt some valuable lessons about failure. Failure and success are part of a circle. In Runa’s view, failure is always connected to the question whether something is possible or impossible. Beyond the question of failure or success lies the understanding that every experience is an opportunity to do better. That’s how she did it herself, rising as a phoenix out of the ashes of failure, multiple times. In her projects – floating hospitals, satellite clinics – she provided medicines and healthcare to people with limited or no previous healthcare access, in peripheral territories in Bangladesh. Learning from mistakes, she learnt that programs often failed, because their sustainability was not sufficiently addressed.Yet, every story, every woman living without pain, every boy running around and finally playing again, indicates that success also lies in the small things.