Beyond Politics: Can we find a shared purpose?

My colleague Lindsey Grossman attended the first ever TED gathering in DC last week—I asked her to share some of her observations with us.

I feel very grateful to be surrounded by innovative thinkers and energetic doers in both my professional and social networks. On Thursday, I met some new thinkers and doers who are inspiring businesses, non-profits and governments to do things smarter, when D.C. played host to TEDxPotomac, the city’s first independently organized TED event. Curated along the theme “Beyond Politics: Inspiration, Innovation and Insight,” the event generated conversations that extended far beyond the speaker presentations, and it asked fundamental questions like, “How do we create a world we actually want to live in?” and “How can businesses, even those in the same industry, get beyond their fears of the competition and cooperate because of their shared purpose?”

As a volunteer and attendee at the event, I was proud to hear the words “shared purpose” explained by multiple presenters – and not just because it’s the name of this blog.

Presenters like Josh Sundquist asked TEDxPotomac attendees, “What’s The One More Thing you can do today?” to push yourself to improve your own situation and the lives of others.

Another presenter, and one that my team at APCO has the honor of working with while supporting D.C.’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration, with our partner in the project, TCBA, drove the message to do one single thing, if nothing else. Dr. Shannon Hader, Washington, D.C.’s HIV/AIDS Administrator, debunked four conventional wisdoms about HIV in D.C. and urged attendees to do one thing, if nothing else: Ask for the test. By proactively asking doctors for an HIV test at routine health check-ups, it is her hope (and mine) that D.C.’s residents can help generate widespread HIV testing, leading to more early detection, better information about the actual size of the epidemic in the District, and importantly, some lasting destigmatization of the epidemic. 

Reoccurring questions throughout the day’s presentations led to discussions about how the private sector can partner with the public sector and generate mutually beneficial change. 

Neil Takemoto asked a locally relevant soul-searching question: “If you could create any space that would make where you live better, what would it look like?” Exploring case studies in crowd-sourcing, Neil explained what happened when a bunch of neighbors in Dallas decided they wanted to revitalize a run-down block (City Hall, developers and other officials quickly took note and agreed similar initiatives should follow suit).

Speaking about an urban revitalization project just 1.8 miles from one of D.C.’s finest examples of modern architecture, Steve Moore, president and CEO of the Washington, DC Economic Partnership, questioned the roots of development disparities in our nation’s capital and explained how businesses and governments are collaborating to revitalize a unique block of Washington, D.C. – the H Street Corridor.

The end of the day concluded with a passionate talk by global water advocate Alexandra Cousteau (yes, the granddaughter of Jacques-Yves Cousteau) who told the story of how exploring aquariums with her grandfather in Monaco inspired a mission to encourage the rest of the world to stop considering environmentalists a “special interest,” but rather partner architects in designing the future. 

Clearly the theme of the day was not just the official tagline of TEDxPotomac. “Beyond Politics” means proactively identifying shared purposes among competitors, clients, partners, neighbors, allies and foes. Understanding what that shared purpose is does not necessarily mean we have to agree on all the ways we achieve that purpose, but admitting our interconnectedness, and thus dependency on each other, seems like more than half the battle in the things that matter the most.

In case you couldn’t get an in-house seat last Thursday, or did not simulcast the event like we did here at APCO, you can check out more of what went down at the TEDxPotomac here.