Why heroes don't change the world | David LaMotte | TEDxAsheville

Heroism is overrated. It is always movements that lead to large-scale change, though our dominant cultural narrative of change focuses on individuals. It is not naive to think you can change the world, it is naive to think you could be in the world and not change it, but that change happens in community.
David LaMotte is a songwriter, speaker and author. He has performed over 3500 concerts and released thirteen full-length CDs of primarily original music, as well as four books, touring in all of the fifty states and on five of the seven continents over his 35-year career. He holds a master’s degree in International Studies, Peace, and Conflict Resolution from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, which he attended as a Rotary Peace Fellow. He is the former Clerk of the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee, and a co-founder of Senderos, Inc., which has been working to support education in Guatemala since 2004. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with his wife and son, an old dog, and five chickens. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@tenealparduestats]

For a musical version of this sentiment, I highly recommend David's song "Drops Like Me." It's a children's song, but it speaks to all of us.

[@barbklein3577]

“Everything you do changes the world, whether you like it or not. So which changes will you make?” That lands. Thank you for this reframe that shows us our actions matter and gives me hope.

[@AndrewYeagerBuckley]

Everything you do changes the world whether you like it or not!

[@RobinMann-realtor]

"They did not wait until the fire was breaking out, to build the fire station." Powerful

[@davidglanville4380]

A moving talk by a humanitarian who began helping educate and feed Guatemalan children on his honeymoon. I was reminded of this: There's a Margaret Mead quotation that appears in countless books, articles, blackboards, and posters. It goes like this: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."

[@irenepaklee459]

"They had done the boring mundane meetings to make this possible..." I don't know why but that brought me to tears. A good reminder that what sometimes feels like the boring mundane work we do matters too

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

I know you have done a ton of that work, Irene. For my part, I need to be reminded sometimes that it truly matters. It does. The tears make really good sense to me.

[@lysan1445]

This is the best TED talk ever! Thank you for honouring committee work. It has such a bad reputation and is indeed tiresome, but it does change the world.

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

I entirely agree. Thanks to you for being someone who has obviously done their share of it! 🙂

[@angelaallen4488]

David, I wish I had found the time to watch your Tedx before my staff retreat earlier this week. So many of my folks who are working in the trenches every day to make just one person's life better needed to hear this talk. The substance use prevention and harm reduction work that we do feels like a drop in the bucket sometimes but those drops do add up and we have changed some small things in our community for the better. Thank you for the pep talk! I'll be sharing this out with the team.

[@barbklein3577]

Thank you for your work! Those drops definitely add up and the world needs you!

[@drstroman]

Wonderful! I am reminded of the Great Man Theory in leadership studies. Mr. LaMotte offers GREAT storytelling and a very clear framework to organize and mobilize for justice. Thank you!

[@TimDavidSpeaks]

This is a talk that every leader needs to play for their team.

[@soniamarcus6218]

Thank you for this talk, David! Let's hear it for committees.

[@AmyClimer]

Committees change the world. This was a bit hard to digest, but David is right. "People getting together to figure out what needs to be worked on...." Thank you David for your brilliance! I'm inspired!

[@BrettAMcCall]

at a time in our world where there is so much that divides us, this talk provides us a foundation on which all of us can stand.... and that united space where all of us are welcomed, even encouraged to bring our full selves, that is where true belonging exists. thank you David LaMotte!

[@AuburnIceTigers]

Worth watching. And then watching again. And again, and again, until you get the message.

[@jenniferpickering3973]

David LaMotte is one of the KINDest partners, artists, friends and true collaborators. Yes he is a World Changer and he invites us all on the journey, and reminds us to look at the stories from so many perspectives. While he takes us on Learning Journeys, he guides us to our better selves together and solo. It is time the WORLD gets to enjoy and be inspired by David LaMotte- he has been inspiring our path at LEAF Global Arts for over 29 years. Enjoy the listen, and the BOOK is a treasure. As he may say, CONGRATS dear friend. You are WELCOME.

[@LandoftheSkyUCC]

Celebrating a peacemaker and change agent in our neck of the woods... Thank you for loving and inspiring so many of us!

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Glad to be standing in the circle with the good folks at Land of the Sky! :-)

[@AlanYoungblood5608]

David, I say this with respect when I say you are not the hero we need and you are not the hero we deserve. What you are is another humbly willing servant leader in the tradition of the greatest servant leader of all time from a couple millennia ago. Much like him you see the eternal value in people and show them their true worth. It is empowering and encouraging even if the truth requires us all to put in hard work each day. I genuinely appreciate you and hope your much needed message and movement spread to all our family, friends, neighbors, and world.

[@kenbonfield]

So proud to call this man my friend. Powerful, inescapable truths.

[@cindycassanova4767]

Wow my friend! Thank you for that. Needed to hear it today. Blessings and hugs and big love to you!

[@barriebarton1559]

I hope this message resonates all over the world!

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

If it does, you will have had a whole lot to do with that.

[@tjamos6521]

Thank you for the encouragement in your message! I’m in a community where one typically finds the same group of folks doing many kinds of work all over. I love that you say that most groups welcome people into the movement work, and I’ve found that true. Also important reminders to find one’s people and to find what we find ourselves passionate about. That’s what helps sustain me, as well as knowing I’m not alone in my efforts. I think of the hero mystique, such as Batman or more famous people. I often felt sad at how a hero must feel lonely doing all the hard work. A movement mindset lets us build community, which you also speak so well about. Congrats on this timely message and I hope it keeps spreading further and further.

[@karintome4986]

FANTASTIC message, David - committees lead the world!

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Thanks. 🙂

[@SteveWright-x2l]

"And this story has the added benefit in that it's TRUE!" Thanks for engaging in truth. So needed, refreshing and challenging.

[@philipstargate]

Yes, once you hear the stories of victory, it's difficult to distinguish it from a defeat.

[@pedenharley6266]

Thank you for this talk, David!

[@miattawilson8765]

It matters how we tell the story! Movements and committees! Powerful message David!

[@Judymontel]

The flip side of the hero narrative is the villain narrative. In this story there is an enemy-in-chief, who is blamed for all the ills. The story goes that once said villain is defeated, fired, removed from office and/or public view, the ills will be resolved. I find this just as bad as the hero narrative in keeping people from participating in organizing and strategizing, because it presents a particularly inadequate goal that everyone pours their precious energies and talents into. Then, when/if they succeed in meeting this goal, they are left with all the many (MANY) other systemic problems that have been contributing to these ills all along that have not been included in the meetings and strategies - often leading to looking for a new villain, or to that "nothing can be done" feeling that stops people from taking constructive action.

[@donnaankney5304]

David, listened again to your 2017 TED talk and this, today. You speak your heart in both beautifully. Love the historical perspective in this one but I also identify with your use of musical metaphor in the other. I know this, that though you don't think of yourself as a "hero" you are, without a doubt, an inspirer, a mover. I want to thank you for your work and for the contagious passion to look more closely at what we can do. Donna from SPJ

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Thanks so much, Donna.

[@welovevisalia]

I agree, David is an absolute hero

[@francescamcclure3263]

This talk was just as inspiring as when he came to my college and did a talk for the Spanish Club and a concert for the whole school! It was such a nice way to end the day.

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Thanks, Frances! I hope our paths will cross again some time.

[@francescamcclure3263]

@@DavidLaMotteCommunity Me too!

[@joyfuljennifer4125]

What changes will YOU make! It's an individual choice to gather groups of like-minded people to lead others to the same goal! What change are you leading? 🤔 The choices are endless. The need is endless. Thank you for making a change! Love that YOU are doing something good 👍🏻 ✨️ 💕 👏🏻 yay! I thank you from my heart 🌬💖🫂✨️🙌🏻✨️

[@BrianGivensYtube]

I think its really powerful to understand that all people understand the big problems in the world - what we squabble over and have political turmoil over is simply a matter of prioritization!

[@antlersgray]

Grateful to have been learning from David LaMotte’s stories and songs for many years, since crossing paths at Mo. Thank you for speaking up and speaking truth to power, highlighting the power of Movements and the seductive power of the Hero Narrative. Pleased as a box of fluffy ducks that TEDX is shining a spotlight on this important message. ✌🏻

[@meganl8071]

Amazing, David. Being with you on this journey for 25 years has been a joy and an inspiration. Congrats and ❤

[@Kyoti00]

Thank you! I lived this for eight years, and it works. Just go out and try.

[@freredaran]

Amazing talk, thank you David! You definitely gave me a good kick in the rear to go pick a cause and get going for real...

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

You're making me smile! Let's all inspire each other.

[@myyoutube7144]

Great talk sir. Powerful message. It is interesting that these hero narratives can actually have a negative effect by making us feel overcoming problems are insurmountable and futile. We're in this together comrades. ✊

[@newprovidencepres9068]

The message gets better every time I hear you tell it! Great job, David! 🎉

[@joshoptical]

Followed David for over 20 years. Awesome to see this now.

[@kwestmusic1]

Swowing up... and Repeating!! Thank you, David!

[@annamarceldehermanas4962]

I loved the book and the talk and David's sense of humor about serious stuff. As a lifer movement person, glad to get a booster shot for the work. I hope everyone who watches this will be inspired to join a movement to change the world.

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

thanks, friend. I'm honored to have done just a little bit of that work shoulder to shoulder with you.

[@billnancylindeman2295]

Let’s get to work! Especially now!! Great job, David!

[@JohnBlewitt-eb1qb]

A very important understanding of how social changes happens and how you and I can be involved!

[@adat.simmons7601]

David, I am grateful I get this again.Continuing to learn! You are amazing! Love committees and TEDX Talks. Ada

[@ledaynemcleesepolaski3884]

Very helpful and practical

[@Composeyourselfcare]

Beautifully said! I love the way you interspersed humor and history. Thank you for sharing your voice and the work you do, David.

[@philindeblanc]

1. "When the people need a hero, we shall provide them with one"., 2. The way to defeat the opposition is to lead it". That is what we see and get on the programming.

[@aoirwin]

Thank you, David. So many rich takeaways. Yes, The Movement Narrative! Yes!

[@michaelcmontgomery]

Such a powerful message delivered so artfully at a perfect time and place. Have been listening to David’s music since my youth days at Montreat - love the transition to this stage. Well done!

[@juliagb02]

Go Uncle Dave!! ❤❤❤

[@stephanieholdren9061]

Left me with goosebumps!

[@Bostonceltics1369]

I gave up on heros along time ago, its people that are a mix of good and bad that solve our problems and create them.

[@brucemulkey]

Wow, well said, David! I'm fired up and ready to get to work!

[@rogerjohnson6120]

Thank you.

[@jmpt3466]

So very timely. Thank you!

[@marcomcmorice148]

Very educative

[@noelhutcheson-hl7si]

Well done, friend. Very powerful.

[@mark11915]

amazing

[@mauricioweber8879]

Eye opening talk!! And sounds really true and useful! Thanks

[@zanzabird7612]

Thank you for the inspiration! Will watch again 💙

[@jmt1361]

Awesome talk David! Thank you for sharing your insights!

[@gerisolomon2147]

Thank you, David!!!!!! So very inspiring & great!! So glad you're sharing your thoughts here!! All the very best!!!!

[@deeperrhythmwithsherid.kli7285]

Beautiful talk David!

[@SionisMills]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@carmencolado1926]

Bravo bravo sir, great talk, truly inspiring

[@mommengaproppe5093]

This is so well presented (💙 David LaMotte) and absolutely needed! Thank you!

[@firstpresbyterianchurchspr4637]

Thank you!

[@reforzar]

Yes!👏👏👏

[@NatashaFlorencio]

Uouuuuuuu AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Thanks!!!

[@NomzamoNthabiseng]

This was excellent.

[@gunkylol]

Well done David!

[@JohnGallagherSky-Dog]

Wise words...

[@jessmichaels1973]

Excellent ❤

[@RSWasch]

Excellent! Inspiring.

[@armelcrocker2318]

Thank you for reinforcing what the Social Justice and Public Witness Committee I am on does, take what tugs at our hearts the most, concentrate there with small steps gaining traction.

[@tradingforaliving454]

Amazing

[@chrisdionigi9799]

I learned a lot by watching this.

[@aaronprice]

thank you!

[@ampm247arts]

wonderful, thank you!

[@54Revmom]

Hope to join the conversation this evening, to watch this again and reflect with others but my recent Covid bout is sapping energy a bit. The talk is so well done...movements, committees, people, list, reflect, rinse, repeat...

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Hope you heal up quickly and completely!

[@cifae7468]

A remarkable, insightful, and inspiring talk. Thank you, David LaMotte!

[@DanH-u3f]

They do change the world for the better.

[@vathelosfox4986]

you god damn right

[@lauriefisher1854]

Nice whiskers and 'hero' insight! Works the same way with 'villains'

[@milo_thatch_incarnate]

We need this so much in the West right now. Human trafficking is worse than it's ever been, _in our countries,_ and most people won't look at it. The processed food companies and the pharmaceutical companies work together to keep us sick so they can make us pay for their prescriptions, and we let them. Some people are trying to say that it's _okay_ to let small children choose elective surgery that _cuts off their body parts,_ and that parents shouldn't have to be made aware of it and they _shouldn't be allowed to stop it._ Our CHILDREN. We need to realize that it's only going to change if YOU get off your couch, turn off Netflix, and go join boards, committees, rallies, and movements. Spend our extra spending money on supporting those movements. Spend some of our weekend time GOING to those meetings, boards, committees, and rallies! We are far too comfortable. We have to GET UP.

[@ruthpittard]

David LaMotte encourages us to think of what happens in a totally new and exciting way---one we already practice in so many other everyday ways. We can understand from experience the "magic" of working together for a long time to produce the change that we know we need. Think about church and school and county and state committees. Realize that gathering together, working together and showing up together can create lasting and constant change, that believing and working together creates the hero "magic". We can all be "heroes" together to remove fear around not being able to solve our large problems.

[@jakariashafin8685]

This is probably ai genarated

[@ruthpittard]

@@jakariashafin8685 I’m a real person and a neighbor of David’s in his town.

[@LaurenBurgess-u1h]

A great talk my friend! XO, L

[@Radicalharmonypodcast]

He is very captivating & this talk is magic. 😊

[@xoxoxocoxox9251]

All of the changes that I make will be made in good health, for the mutual benefit of all and in God's good time.

[@dennycorsa5760]

As a Quaker, I love “committees change the world.”

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Thanks, Friend. 🙂

[@ElmerJackson-g4r]

Committee Work? At its best it's conversations and building relationships to get things done.

[@allisonkelly1481]

This works for Elder Training!

[@aureliebrulavoine5476]

Great David! Long time since we met at Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas (2002). I've been working with extra-ordinary people since (personnes en situation de handicap). "Worldchanging 101" has been on my shelf for years (and moved to Brittany a couple of year ago) I'll spread the video on the French network. I need to change some of the subtitles first ;)

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

Thanks so much, Aurelie! Hope life is good in Bretagne. It's among my favorite places.

[@EmiliaAlexandre-nb3du]

Excellent David👌 I want to make friends who are fluent in English to improve my English, please. My native language is Portuguese.🙏

[@EliHansen729]

Commenting for the algorithm

[@Mottem98]

Hey... I know that guy

[@revdocdee]

Committees change the world! That's like Presbyterian bumper sticker

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

LOL!

[@amandabuxton1045]

There will always be something off

[@lacygorman9154]

Welcome to Magdalyne's Blyss Holistic Healing Center Global WORLD PEACE initiative.

[@brandonstorey8242]

Wow so beautiful and gorgeous , You Are my Idol

[@DavidLaMotteCommunity]

haha! :-) I'd much rather be your team member in the movement. :-)

[@CharlesBrown-xq5ug]

Technology may have advanced enough to release civilization from the confines of the second law of thermodynamics. The second law is behind modern refgeration needing electrical energy to compress the refrigerent to force it to release as waste the heat that it has removed from the refrigerator's service interior in the cooling part of the refrigerent's circulation. There is also discarded heat from mechanical friction. Refrigeration by the principle that energy is conserved should produce electricity instead of consuming it. It makes more sense that refrigerators should yield electricity because energy is widely known to change form with no ultimate path of energy gain or loss being found. Therefore any form of fully recyclable energy can be cycled endlessly in any quantity. In an extreme case senario full heat recycling all electric very isolated underground communities would be highly survivable with self sufficient EMP resistant LED light banks, automated vertical farms, thaw resistant frozen food storehouses, factories, dwellings, and self contained elevators and horizontal transports. In a flourishing civillization senario small self sufficient electric or cooling devices of many kinds and styles like lamps smartphones, hotplates, water heaters, cooler chests, fans, radios, TVs, cameras, security devices. power hand tools, pumps, and personal transports, would be available for immediate use anywhere as people see fit. Larger equipment would be built for enterprise use. If a high majority thinks our civilization should geoengineer gigatons or teratons of carbon dioxide out of our etnvironment, instalations using devices that convert ambient heat into electricity can hypothetically be scaled up do it with a choice of comsequences including many beneficial ones. Computers that consume electricity and yield heat would complement energy sensible refrigerators that absorb heat and yield electricity. Computing would be free. A simple rectifier crystal can, iust short of a replicatable long term demonstration of a powerful prototype, almost certainly filter the random thermal motion of electrons or discrete positiive charged voids called holes so the electric current flowing in one direction predominates. At low system voltage a filtrate of one polarity predominates only a little but there is always usable electrical power derived from the source, which is Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise. This net electrical filtrate can be aggregated in a group of separate diodes in consistent alignment parallel creating widely scalable electrical power. The maximum energy is converted from ambient heat to productive electricity when the electrical load is matched to the array impeadence. Matched impeadence output (watts) is k (Boltzman's constant ~1.38^-23), times T (tempeature Kelvin) times bandwidth (0 Hz to a natural limit ~2 THz @ 290 K) times rectification halving and nanowatt power level rectification efficiency times the number of diodes in the array. For reference, there are a billion cells of 1000 square nanometer area each per square millimeter, 100 billion per square centimeter. Order is imposed on the random thermal motion of electrons by the structual orderlyness of a diode array made of diodes made within a slab: v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v All the P type semiconductor anodes abut a metal conductive plane deposited on the top face of the slab with nonrectifying joins; all the N type semiconductor cathodes abut the bottom face. As the polarity filtered electrical energy is exported, the amount of thermal energy in the group of diodes decreases. This group cooling will draw heat in from the surrounding ambient heat at a rate depending on the filtering rate and thermal resistance between the group and ambient gas, liquid, or solid warmer than absolute zero. There is a lot of ambient heat on our planet, more in equatorial dry desert summer days and less in polar desert winter nights. Focusing on explaining the electronic behavior of one composition of simple diode, a near flawless crystal of silicon is modified by implanting a small amount of phosphorus (N type)on one side from a ohmic contact end to a junction where the additive is suddenly and completely changed to boron (P type) with minimal disturbance of the crystal lattice. The crystal then continues to another ohmic contact. A region of high electrical resistance forms at the junction in this type of diode when the phosphorous near the ĵunction donates electrons that are free to move elsewhere while leaving phosphorus ions held in the crystal while the boron ions donate holes which are similalarly free to move. The two types of mobile charges mutually clear each other away near the junction leaving little electrical conductivity. An equlibrium width of this region is settled between the phosphorus, boron, electrons, and holes. Thermal noise is beyond steady state equlibrium. Thermal noise transients, where mobile electrons move from the phosphorus added side to the boron added side ride transient extra conductivity so the forward moving electrons are preferentally filtered into the external circuit. Electrons are units of electric current. They lose their thermal energy of motion and gain electromotive force, another name for voltage, as they transition between the junction and the array electrical tap. Inside the diode, heat is absorbed: outside the diode, an attached electrical circuit is energized. Understanding diodes is one way to become convinced that Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise can be rectified and aggregated. Development teams will find other ways to accomplish this wide mission. Taxonomically there should be many ways ways to convert heat directly into electricity. A practical device may use an array of Au needles in a SiO2 matrix abutting N type GaAs. These were made in the 1970s when registration technology was poor so it was easier to fabricate arrays and select one diode than just make one diode. There are other plausible breeches of the second law of thermodynamics. Hopefully a lot of people will join in expanding the breech. Please share the successes or setbacks of your efforts. These devices would probably become segmented commodities sold with minimal margin over supply cost. They would be manufactured by advanced automation that does not need financial incentive. Applicable best practices would be adopted. Business details would be open public knowledge. Associated people should move as negotiated and freely and honestly talk. Commerce would be a planetary scale unified conglomerate of diverse local cooperatives. There is no need of wealth extracting top commanders. We do not need often token philanthropy from the top if the wide majority of people can afford to be generous. Aloha Charles M Brown Kilauea Kauai Hawaii 96754