PikeSPeak

The video below is my pitch to present at TEDx St. John’s, to be held May 25, 2012.

While it focuses on one concept in particular, it actually touches on two possible presentations:

“Not Your Father’s Adversity”

and the main presentation:

“Adrift on the Ice… Grenfell and You”

Looking at the Grenfell concept, there are three main points:

1.  You will make mistakes, but you can still survive.
Grenfell made a couple of mistakes that could have been fatal — traveling alone even when urged to travel with a guide, and then taking a shortcut across the bay even when it was April and ice would be getting soft.

2.  Be prepared to make sacrificial sacrifices.
Grenfell cut away his sled, abandoned the first ice floe he was on and swam in the icy water to a better one, and killed three of his dogs.

3.  Build a network around you by caring for them first.
Grenfell was alone on the ice, but he was never truly alone at all. He had people on the shore who were desperately looking for them and even willing to risk their lives to save him, because he had done the same for them. Without their help, he never would have made it back to shore.

The overall tone of the presentation is fast-paced, but mixed with periods where we step back and say, “What just happened? How does that relate to us?”

In one sentence, the overall message is that you do have what it takes to overcome adversity, but the better you prepare yourself before you need to, the better you’ll be able to survive anything.