Dare to be vulnerable | Peter Sharp | TEDxPerth

I used to be an accountant then I realize my skills were much better suited to creating flash mobs that inspired members of the public to participate in creating a better world the first idea came from the idea of trust I just moved to Barcelona Spain I was 21 years old and I couldn't help but wonder what effect focusing on the negative news stories had on the general public why was it that the inspiring story is the uplifting stories about our shared humanity was always left as the fluffy bed at the end instead of getting angry and upset about this negative focus I thought I'll just create my own story and see if I was want to participate in it so I went into a very busy public plaza with a few friends and I blindfolded myself with a sign at my feet and it read I trust you do you trust me let's hug I was just in accounting students from W a Perth and what am I doing here in this public space I was terrified here's what happened next an Irish woman approaches she says why are you doing this they said I'm giving people an opportunity to rebuild their sense of trust in public she says all right she thought I could see her she's hugged me back I hoped her back and once she hoped the next person came forward shortly after and after that person the next person came and before long there was a steady stream of people of all different ages all different backgrounds stepping forward to show their trust what does this mean it doesn't necessarily mean you should go out and start giving hugs in the streets more frequently although it's a great idea I it actually is a metaphor for the idea of building trust and quite often much of the world is waiting for us to take the first step so in order to build trust we need to dare to be vulnerable first by giving our trust in order to then receive that trust give trust get trust I put that video online a week later and before long it went completely viral because that's the sound that it makes when things go viral before long people in cities all over the world from Cairo to Osaka to New York City actually wanted to recreate it themselves and one guy even put his own spin on it and he said I'm a Muslim I trust you do you trust me let's hope so beautiful his video went on to gaining more than 40 million views worldwide this was a photo taken down a cottesloe beach our local beach front here and this is an indigenous girl who's 18 years old and she felt inspired to create it after hearing a stat that said 12 percent of Australians felt they could trust Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders so instead of feeling disempowered by that that information she had a platform she had a way to participate in creating a new world that worked towards a positive future so I knew now that this this was no longer just the story at the end of the newscast this story was travelling by itself and was inspiring people to take action I came home and I'm super excited after three years of living in Spain and I said mom dad I found my passion I know why I'm here this is what Richard Branson was talking about and I've got it and they're like yeah that's great but when you're going to get serious about life I am serious I've never been more serious in my life but I knew then that I would need more than just words I need to take some action what happened was I got my next idea by sitting on the train who here thinks that train rides can sometimes be a little bit weird I was like we got to do something what can we do here that can inspire people to believe that they actually have much more ability to change their current situation than just sitting back and feeling awkward so I came up with this idea hey guys I don't want money I just want to spread a little bit of happiness so I'm going to do that today by starting a small dance party okay and if you want to join you're more than welcome if you just want to watch or clap that's also equally okay all right thanks guys ah but wiggle it's a great way to start inviting the public it's growing watch out for it it's moving it's a ride this woman here in the corner of the screen keep an eye on them boom so you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that Jamiroquai and his band caught wind of it and shared it with that two million fans before long we had train parties popping up in cities all over the world but one of my favorite moments of all this is this moment here she dared to stand up and rewrite her own story now there's something incredibly powerful because she would have been able to go home that day with a beautiful story to tell her friends and her family about the day that she decided to jump up and rewrite the story for her own better good so it's incredibly in powerful moment it's empowering but little did she know that that little action led to a 40 million person ripple I think that's often the case when it comes to making this world a better place even those small little actions that we feel are not making a difference can very quickly turn into 40 million person ripples fast forward a year now I want to disregard that year that year was freaking amazing great yeah we just don't have time to go into it right now we're going to go fast forward into just one month ago where we created one of our most powerful and remarkable experiences yet and you are the first people in the world to see it right here TEDx Perth the idea went like this you you so what I learned from this incredible moment that exploded into a hundred thousand people wanting to be a part of the creation of this inspiring message is that behind the flags behind the languages behind the political preferences behind the skin color there is this humanitarian thread within us all and it desires it wants to connect and find ways to feel like it's a part of the same human family and that's exactly what we provided the people on the 15th of October and this all happened with a zero dollar marketing budget I do believe this is an idea worth sharing so when it comes down to this idea of if you're feeling stuck or if you're repeating yesterday's story or you're not sure if you can make a difference in this world know that you're not alone and that there are actually hundreds of thousands of people around you who are waiting for you to take the first step you need to dare to be vulnerable by stepping forward first in order to then get that trust from other people to support you so no matter the difference get out there and make it happen because this is how we can make the world a better place now what bit of time to do it then right here right now how about that hey we're here at Ted huh we've come to change the world right well now is that time here's that opportunity here's that call to action and it's going to involve one very important element bubbles so there's going to be some bubbles placed underneath some of the chairs and the top tier up there if you could please reach for your bubbles guys up there now what we're going to do together guys we're going to start a dance party right here in the middle of first concert hall this is going to demonstrate to ourselves and to the others that we are capable of rewriting the story to create a better collective future you ready for that I didn't hear that how are you ready for that all right so we're going to count it down from five when we count down from five together when we hit zero we're going to jump up out of our seats and start the dance part is going to be some music playing we're going to have a real good time in the bubbles you're going to get onto it all right let's count it down from five all right five four three two one Oh Oh come on come on come on I gotta make and if you do you have Oh

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 33,638

Rating: 4.9552002 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Australia, Life, Change, Community, Compassion, Dance (performance), Friendship, Hope, Movement

Id: vRex3RKcQdk

Length: 15min 11sec (911 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2016