TED Community » Berthold Barth

More About Me

I'm passionate about

designing for humans, using the way we perceive our world to enhance and amplify important messages, changing the world for the better with tiny steps

An idea worth spreading

You are shaping your own destiny. Taking inspiration from TED is the first step to becoming empowered. Once you are empowered, you can go out and empower others. To change the world, we have to change its people first, make them tell and understand their story and tell them and explain ours. Take initiative. Reach your goals. Endeavour to be a friend, scholar and mentor to the people around you. You can do it. You must, because if you don't, who does?

Talk to me about

your experience as a designer, marketer or technologist. I'm eager to learn as much as possible about my chosen profession, and always looking for chances to prove and improve myself.

People don't know that I'm good at

fixing technology issues. It literally works like a touch. If only I could apply this skill to other problems as well...

My TED Story

What I particularly love about the teachings of TED are that they are not of the "use it or lose it" kind. I've listened to talks about building housing from desert sands, growing organs from stem cells or flying in a wingsuit. I may never get to do any of these things in my life and that's fine. But what I take away from TED is that if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. You are inspired and empowered to make stuff happen, and you will.

And that feeling doesen't just up and vanish. It opens your mind, urges you to challenge the status quo, think outside of the ol' box. It influences in the very best way each and every decision you make in your life. That to me is the real gift of TED.

And what makes a great gift even better? Sharing it with others! That's why I'm a TED translator.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +75.10 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• A reply on Conversation: The west can no longer claim to be an honest broker in the search for peace in the Middle East.

  Feb 15 2011: You're right, in an ideal democracy state and people would be of the same opinion. The closest we have to that is I think the Swiss approach, which is fairly direct. Still, it's either waiting for our governments to ask our opinion or stand up and take matters into our own hands. Even if the government listens to its people, it still has national interests in mind when dealing with international issues. They are simply not equipped for global challenges, and the entire east vs west rift is certainly going to be a decisive one to tackle this century. Ideally, we'd start with ending the mentality.
• +4

  A comment on Conversation: Should anyone be able to upload their TEDTalk to TED.com?

  Feb 15 2011: No.
  
  I would prefer an advanced TEDx directory that allows for easier browsing of events future and past. The videos should remain on their respective sites, with only the curated ones hosted on the main site.
  
  As a translator, I would like to see portals that cater to the respective languages, off- or onsite. I think talks in languages other than english may not be accessible to the vast majority of the community but help immensely in spreading awareness of TED on a national basis.
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What's your favorite single sentence from a TEDTalk?

  Feb 15 2011: "You are enough" - Brene Brown
• +2

  A comment on Conversation: The west can no longer claim to be an honest broker in the search for peace in the Middle East.

  Feb 15 2011: I think mixing the policies of governments in with the opinions of its people is a mistake.
  
  Yes, western (and eastern) governments have decided to go to war for economical reasons.
  
  Yes, other western (and eastern) governments have stood idly by.
  
  But both had considerable opposition in their population when the true motifs became clear, and will be met with more and more scrutiny in the future.
  
  Indeed the only thing keeping the worlds people from standing up as one (as we have with Egypt) is precisely the differentiation between "eastern" and "western" countries, between the polemic images of towelheads and terrorists on one side and rednecks and oil-thieves on the other. Neither of those images does the respective side justice in any way.
  
  If we can overcome this rhetoric, imposed upon us by our own governments and detractors, we can close the government gaps that have so far hampered us from achieving true peace, sustainability and prosperity for everyone. Auret van Heerden in his talk points out the flaws in our global supply chains, forced labour and exploitation running rampant. He also sees that governments are neither capable nor interested in changing what's happening, so he founded an NGO that exerts pressure on private industries to behave ethically. We should all follow his example, eastern, western, southern and northern alike. And it all starts here, at TED. And with people, not governments.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability

  Dec 27 2010: My father did what he did because he wanted the best for me and I'm pretty sure that what happened hurt him just as much as it did me. If any forgiveness was necessary at all, we're past it at his point. It's just the realisation that hit me a little later.
  
  That, and finally being able to mourn my grandfather. At the time I felt I had to be strong for my family, and didn't realise that next to my grandmother and mother, I was probably hit hardest. I stowed those feelings away and never touched them until now. I'm glad I did, I feel so much better about it now.
  
  But yes, please make the best of your time with your loved ones - there is no work in the world worth losing those dearest to you, and I'd rather lose the career opportunity of my life than miss the first steps of my future child.
• +5

  A reply on Talk: Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability

  Dec 26 2010: Thank you for your kind words. It was all there, waiting to surface, the final piece to the puzzle. All that remained was for me to see and understand it, and that was quite an overwhelming and liberating revelation. I'm glad it happened, it allows me to inspect my feelings in a new way.
• +11

  A comment on Talk: Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability

  Dec 24 2010: I'm crying right now.
  
  When I got to the "I am enough" part, I really couldn't keep it in. My whole life my father tried to get me to be perfect. Naturally, I resisted. When it didn't work out the way he had planned, he just gave me up. And I went and tried to become perfect to spite him. I failed miserably, and recently I opened up and spoke about my business at TEDx, my attempt at independence and career and everything I deemed "perfect".
  
  It wasn't perfect though, it was hell. I neglected my friends - who I am glad to say were still there for me when I came back. I neglected my family. My grandfather, an unconditionally loving, supporting man who taught me so much about love, about life and compassion and connection - he died during that time and in his last year with us I saw him only once.
  
  It hurts terribly, and I can hardly see the keyboard for tears. I love to finally feel the pain. I have been so angry, and I hope I can be enough starting now. Thank you so much, Brene.
• +9

  A comment on Talk: Halla Tomasdottir: A feminine response to Iceland's financial crash

  Dec 13 2010: I've been vocal in the past about how I think both our economy as well as our political systems would benefit greatly from feminine values. I'd even go on record saying if both were run primarily by women, a great many of the crises and conflicts of the recent past would simply not have happened.
  
  Two things need to happen in order for women to get into these important positions and change the world for the better:
  
  1. We have to accept that men and women are different, and not just superficially. The emancipation is great and all, but we've overshot the target by quite a bit.
  
  2. - and this results from 1 - we need to be aware that we want women in these positions precisely because they are different. It's no use handing over the reigns and still demanding everything be done accord to male view of the world. Take German chancellor Angela Merkel for instance - she has shed everything that made her a woman to get where she is. Just another power jockey among testosterone-driven leaders.
• +1

  A reply on Talk: Stefan Wolff: The path to ending ethnic conflicts

  Nov 27 2010: Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to belittle the Native Americans. Their victim role will not be easy to shed, since it's not part of a struggle with parental paradigms but has indeed been passed down through the generations. Blaming the white man has become an important part of Native American identity in some tribes and groups. I assume that when you try and break out of that pattern and attempt to overcome these prejudices, you become an outcast among your own people. Leaving the victim mentality means leaving family and friends and going out into a world that may still have lingering if not latent prejudices against you and that works in a way largely unknown to you.
  
  So yeah, I kind of contradicted myself there a little. Nevertheless, giving out more land will not help. White America must welcome Natives with open arms and incentivise their move.
  
  Less poverty-sticken slums and war imagery, more positive examples like NASA pilot John Herrington of the Chickasaw tribe.

• A reply on Talk: Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work

  Nov 27 2010: If some of these managers actually followed Dilbert, things wouldn't be as bad as they are, I wager. I've worked under several Dilbertesque managers and when under pressure as a freelancer, fallen back on those same paradigms and pitfalls I so hated about them.
  
  My suggestion is that there is a behavioural reason people behave like they do. As an employee you might loathe the way your boss behaves but when you yourself attain that same position, complete with the power to boss around your underlings, but still someone above you in the chain of command (other bosses, clients) those same patterns emerge - unless you have the personal wisdom to handle things differently, and actively stick to it. Even then, peer and boss pressure will make it exceptionally hard to change the course of one department within a badly managed corporation - people will call you on your different management style, forcing you in line.
  
  It's a vicious cycle we must work hard to try and break. Share and discuss!