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About Me

Scott is passionate about transforming big ideas and visions into world changing, history making realities, and he works with, in and for people and organizations who have that drive in their DNA. He views the pursuit of implementing such ideas and visions as a most fertile ground for the exploration, discovery, and opening of new frontiers in, 1) inspiring and igniting the human spirit, 2) enabling, engaging and empowering the human intellect, 3) challenging and expanding the human imagination, and ultimately, 4) transforming the human experience.

So far this pathway of exploration has included:
> Working as a Performance Consultant across a range of industries and countries. including favorites such as Australia, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Spain, Venezuela, Canada, and the US
> Serving as a catalyst for breakthrough performance on more than 12 mega-projects for 6 different companies
> Co-founding a cross-sector, execution focused, collaborative learning laboratory / think tank which convened a working partnership of leaders from 1) Academic institutions, 2) Fortune 500 companies, 3) NPO & NGO organizations, 4) national and local government leaders, and 5) local, visionary entrepreneurs in developing countries
> Opening, or instrumental in launching, over 20 different businesses, including 6 different restaurants, 3 management consulting companies, and more
> Regular appearances as a speaker and published author at events such as the Conference for Global Transformation and the European Summit for Global Transformation
> Taking a former employer into the UN Global Compact as participant company
> Leveraging technology to impact organizational performance, from proposing and launching a corporate intranet and knowledge management initiative for global consulting company in 1998, to designing and implementing Cloud-based strategies in 2011
> Providing leadership of, and investment in, a portfolio of philanthropic investments, from the TED Fellows program to Colorado Youth at Risk to Wikimedia, beginning this lifelong pursuit at age 15 where I first began investing my time, money and leadership in The Hunger Project and its strategic approach to the end of chronic, persistent hunger globally.


Location:
United States, Redondo Beach, CA
Current organization:
Sunergos
Past organizations:
Saizhoo?, SDI Communications, JMW Consultants, Landmark Education
Current role:
Frontier & Emerging Market Projects
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
Organizational Performance, Organizational Transformation, Dialogue, Leadership, World Travel, Megaprojects, Project Management, Philanthropy, Strategic thinking, design and execution
I am:
Business leader, Change Agent, Connector, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Idea generator, Philanthropist, Project manager, World traveler, Writer/Editor
Associations:
The Hunger Project, Colorado Youth at Risk, Landmark Education, Electronic Frontier Foundation, TechnoServe
Languages:
English
My website links:
Sunergos, LinkedIn Profile
Universities:
Tulane University, Florida International University, Case Western University
TED conferences attended:
TED2014, TED2013, TED2012, TED2011, TEDWomen, TED2010, TED2009, TED2008
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TEDCRED 200+ TED Attendee

More About Me

I'm passionate about

- Connecting people, ideas and bold visions, and then nurturing those connections
- What's possible when we view "identity" as a socially constructed narrative (rather than a psychological construct)

An idea worth spreading

In his open letter on "The Power of the Powerless", Vaclav Havel said, "For the real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?"

Examples of this are abundant, but not necessarily what people are most present to on a day to day basis. We need leaders who not only see what's possible, but who also see what's already here that is ignored or invisible.

In those places where our attention is on unleashing the human imagination, the human intellect, and the human spirit - what impact is that having on the most pressing issues of the day? If we continue to build focus on ensuring that every person's imagination, intellect, and inspirationn can be most fully alive and expressed in the world - all of the world - what would our planet look like?

Talk to me about

1) The convergence of business, education, entertainment, and technology, and how to achieve what that convergence makes possible
2) Digital identity & gender multiplicity
3) Your big idea / vision

People don't know that I'm good at

Cooking and culinary arts - I've been part of opening 6 different restaurants, and have a Master's in Hotel & Food Service Management

Comments

  • TEDCred score: +200.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • A comment on Conversation: Is Language a) the defining framework, b) a bulk of building blocks, c) a function, d) all A,B,C... of higher cognition (> thinking)?

    Mar 22 2011: Can you have a thought without language? Quite likely, language is an access and a fundamental precondition for thinking (higher cognition) to occur. But to answer your question, I think it depends whether "language" is referring to a collection of words, grammar, syntax, etc. (e.g. English, Mandarin, etc.), or it is referring to the phenomenon that someone eventually "gets" as language in the way that someone "gets" balance when they are trying to learn to ride a bicycle (and then once they have gotten language at that level, then they have specific languages that they learn - including linguistic languages and non-linguistic languages). When I try to answer the question, I think about something that has fascinated me for years.... that many multilingual people report that there are things they can think in one language but that they find very hard to think about in another language - or at least they have to initiate the thinking in one language in order to begin thinking about it in another. I've worked with people who cannot think of a solution to the challenge in front of them in one language, but when they talk to someone in another language, all of a sudden they have a solution, or at least a new pathway to the solution. Does that make the answer to your question a, b, c, or d?

  • A comment on Talk: JJ Abrams: The mystery box

    Mar 26 2008: Got me thinking how many ways I can give the gift of a mystery box. Love the central idea in here and how he play with it.

  • A comment on Talk: Evelyn Glennie: How to truly listen

    Jul 2 2007: Absolutely stunning... I can't help but wonder how much of what I could have been listening to I've missed simply because I was only using my ears to do so. Evelyn does a fabulous job of giving people the opportunity to "hear" so much more than they have when they've limited their hearing to that which enters their ears. One of my early music teachers was one of those teachers who didn't just "teach" music, but who really opened opens up the world of music for his students. Evelyn Glennie opens the world of much fuller listening... at least if you really listen to her.

  • A comment on Talk: Hans Rosling: Stats that reshape your worldview

    Apr 16 2007: It's so refreshing to see how our understanding of reality can change as our view of the facts develops, and to imagine what's possible as we see reality through the window provided by Hans Rosling. He provides a much more vivid, dynamic and detailed way to see the world, much like going from an old black & white TV to high-def in one leap.

  • A comment on Talk: Jehane Noujaim wishes for a global day of film

    Apr 15 2007: What's so fantastic about Jehane is that she powerfully demonstrates being a creative visionary, where she sees something extraordinary and is out to bring that something forth via the work that she is doing. She gets beyond the cliches of what's happening in the world and starts to tell the stories in a way that lays a foundation for new ways of relating and connecting as a global community.

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