Finding your IKIGAI: the need for a new economic model | Eddy Van Hemelrijck | TEDxAntwerp

good morning everyone do you know that I'm a very fortunate man shall I explain you why I found my reason of being I found my purpose in life and I'll explain I have a job that I really love I'm good at it I think and I contributes to the well-being of the communities of which I'm a part and I'm being rewarded for what I do so I'm a very fortunate man now I'm curious to discover how many of you are in a similar situation so if everyone can stand up please let's move a bit huh whoa okay I'm gonna ask you four questions and if the answer to these questions is yes you remain standing if the answer is no you're gonna sit down okay first question do you spend most of your time doing what you love okay second second question are you good at it or at least you think you're good at it okay third question do you feel do you feel or do you have the feeling that what you do contributes to the communities of which you're apart all right a last question do you feel rewarded for what you do that's really interesting okay so there are quite a few people or as fortunate as me that's great now you can all sit down please the four questions that I asked you a part of a Japanese concept it's called a key guy some of you may already know about it it roughly means the reason for which you get up in the morning your reason for being and in management books it is often represented by a four-leaf clover as you can see here and they represent the four questions that I've been asking you so on the top of the leaf stands what you love to do in life on the left-hand side is what you're good at on the right-hand side is in which way you contribute to your communities you're part of and at the bottom you find how you're being rewarded for what you do and in the center if everything is in balance there you can find you're a key guy your reason for being your purpose in life now how did I find my a key guy after having studied applied economics I entered the business world I moved up the corporate ladder traveling a lot to the u.s. to Asia and actually I was a so-called high potential which helped me to get my MBA sponsored by the company I was working for actually I was treated like a king and I was being paid for it so that was really a dream job but then suddenly out of the blue my 42 year old CEO a man I admired suddenly died of cancer there was a big shock and I realized for the first time in my life there is a bit more in life to it than only work and though I was sitting on a golden throne that was actually the first crack in my golden throne but hey I needed the money so I continued to work to move up the corporate ladder to make more money to travel even more extensively and during one of my trips I flew in a helicopter over the beautiful city and also crystal hidden door of Rio but I also saw and I'll show you a picture of it the favelas of the city and a couple of months later another international business trip I was driving around in an armed car through the city centre of Cape Town South Africa but a bit later I drove on a highway and I saw these townships so the contrast between my wealthy lifestyle and the poverty that I saw couldn't have been bigger and then looking out the window of a plane on my way to another new customer I was flying over the jungle of Borneo which used to be full of wildlife but it changed over time in these horrible palm tree plantations with no sounds of birds or animals and this was the second crack in my so-called golden throne it was my feeling that there is a lot of inequality in this world and I also saw that the impact of our economic system on nature was huge so the foundations of my golden throne trembled and then returning home from another visit internationally I opened my front door and laid eyes upon my three-year-old daughter I smiled and I wanted to hug her but she stood there with a questioning face and she asked mama mother who's this man standing in the front door whoa that really hurts I mean she didn't recognize me my golden throne my golden throne actually collapsed and I fell and there I was and I go back to my corporate icky guy as I call it there was something wrong with it if you look at it the top left and bottom leaf may have been covered but the right leaf how I contributed felt very empty so I asked for myself how can I find a job that I really love where I'm good at a work I can have a positive contribution to the world and I got excited about sustainability a concept that was becoming trendy it urged companies to think about their environmental and social responsibilities I didn't know much about a sustainability so I thought hey what better way to learn about it is then to write a PhD about sustainability I remember my friends and family saying that I was crazy quitting a well-paid job leaving an international successful career behind me to write a PhD which would lead me to I didn't have a clue but still I wanted to do it so in order to make a living I applied for a teaching position at the kyoto university here in antwerp and i started giving workshops and slowly almost accidentally my Achy guy moved into balance I call it my teaching and facilitating a gig I actually what I was doing is I was enjoying my teaching and giving workshops about topics that really matter to me sustainability and diversity and I was using my social and communication skills and I was inspiring youth and people in workshops to look for a life where they could make a positive impact on what they were doing and actually I had more time to spend with my wife and my kids and I made a decent income to support my family and at the same time not financially I got a lot of positive feedback from both my students as the people in the workshops so by moving into teaching and facilitating I found my Aggie guy my purpose in life and today in my classes and workshops I help people to find their a gigai thus my story ends there no unfortunately it does not there is something else that matters a lot why is it that in quite a few of the portfolio's of my students I read that their true passion in life is arts or music and not international business the field of their study why are there almost half of the people and I'm eating companies they tell me that if there would be such a thing like a guaranteed basic income they would quit their jobs and do something else and why were there so few people still standing after having asked these four questions I realized and I go back to my icky guy that the global EG guy of our society is out of balance and this is because our society focuses mainly on the bottom leaf of the EG guy and not so much on how you're being rewarded but mostly on what you can be paid for and this happened because we made from our society and Society of consumers I'll explain you why that happens and I will show you and read with you a quote of Victor Lobo so one quote but it's an interesting one our enormous li productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals that we seek our spiritual satisfaction or ego satisfaction in consumption we need things consumed burned up replaced and discarded at ever accelerating rate his advice to the American government in 1955 made that we turned our society in a society of consumers and no longer of human beings and since we put consumerism by design into the core of our economy we mainly reward those jobs that contribute to more consumption sales marketing lobbying and there was little or no money left for social cultural or really meaningful activities the results the result is that many students choose studies that they do not don't really love often pushed by parents with the best intentions but they tell them hey it's better to become a businessman than an artist you will make more money and the result is also that a lot of people are doing jobs they don't like the so called jobs book written by David Graeber actually jobs which are created by politicians and businesses in order to make our economic our economy grow the result is that a lot of people here also apps in the audience they have to do the things they really like outside of their jobs but by doing so they get disconnected of who they really are so they get depressed or burn out so I realized inspiring young people and people in companies is not enough we need to do something else we need to change the rules of the game we need to change our system I'll let you read a bit this cartoon which I really like so we need to change our system we need to change and redesign our economy in such a way that people can live their passions can live their ikki guy with financial security and in such a way that our society and our planet as a whole contrived so that's what I would like to focus on so we need to get there so I wondered how can I contribute this change and I challenge all of you here in this audience to think about how you can contribute to this change which I believe we really need so what were the actions that I took a few years ago with my wife we launched the imagined Life Center in Antwerp a place where we invite people to dream and get into a dialogue on creating a better society and a few months ago I joined it's called the rethinking economics movement to influence the way we teach economics the idea is that we should spring in more sustainable business models in our curricula and not our current economic model dominated by production consumption and growth and with a friend I'm writing a book in which we present a sustainable money system called samtcy where the economy is no longer the goal but an instrument to move towards a thriving society and lastly there is this TEDx talk that I'm holding here for you it's my contribution my gift to you to inspire you and let me finish with sharing with you my dream I imagine standing here again for TEDx in the year 2035 asking the same for questions and all of you remain standing because you're doing what you love you're doing what you're good at and you're contributing to the communities of which you're a part and you're being rewarded for it and not only you but also the people outside of this theater because the system the society in which we live is driving and it make that all possible so if this dream of mine or my dream comes true then I will be an even much more fortunate man than I am today thank you you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 5,955

Rating: 4.8936172 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Education, Career, Development, Economics, Life Development, Purpose

Id: 7bpEHA8jzhs

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 22 2020