[Music]
when I was 18 years old I made the best
mistake of my life I had just been
struck by climate change depression
thanks to Al Gore and instead of doing
what most people do in the situation
like change certain parts of my
lifestyle support environmental
organizations or attend demonstrations
my reaction was quite different I quit
school and founded a music festival big
mistake in the eyes of the adult world
because you know how you’re supposed to
do things in the correct order
before choosing a profession you need to
get education before starting a business
you need to write a business plan before
organizing a big festival you need to
get money I did the opposite of all of
these things I risked my economy my
grades my reputation and my future now
why did I do that what was the reason
for breaking the comfortable and
ordinary path and step on the slippery
road of entrepreneurship well the answer
is except from climate change depression
I had also for the first time in my life
experienced something else
empowerment empowerment is when people
and groups starts to master their own
lives and surrounding world and it
starts with a psychological process of
insight and motivation and you know
empowerment is like magic
empowerment can make people take
miles-long steps outside their comfort
zone empowerment can turn frustration
into innovation empowerment can be the
force of everything from grassroot
movements and business ideas to
government loss and global impact
empowerment is the key to individual
development and sustainable development
in other words empowerment is one key to
a better world for people and the planet
so the question is how do we systemize
empowerment how can we create
the best opportunities for empowerment
to thrive in our society I am now gonna
give you a lesson in how we as
individuals entrepreneurs leaders
parents and so on can empower our
surrounding world and how our system
needs to change
but first let us ask ourselves this
question why is empowerment such a rare
currency in our society I have
identified four obstacles to empowerment
that I’m now going to share with you the
first two is about how our system works
while number 3 and 4 is more about
social psychology and attitudes and keep
in mind that I’m telling you this from
the perspective of being a young street
smart entrepreneur problem number one
school when I was young I had a very
vivid imagination producing plenty of
new ideas inside and outside my head all
the time and every time I stepped inside
a classroom I felt like I was pushed
inside this small non creative box where
I had to repress all the qualities that
defined me and made life good and as
many other students who aren’t suited in
this little box I thought that there was
something wrong with me for 12 years
actually thought there was something
wrong with me but you know there has
been many reports throughout the years
proving that the traditional school
system is unjust it’s not suited to a
diversity of students and this of course
leads to many disastrous effects in our
society for examples children dropping
out of school
there are also research showing that 80%
of all dropouts and students who doesn’t
fit the school system or right-brained
which means they learn best from
artistic and creative methods however
our school system is surprised
mostly adapted to left-brained which is
the more rational and yeah the more
rational side you know the Swedish
television documentary we can’t do it
shows how girls are burned out from
school stress before they have even
turned 18 years old
students today are told that the
character on a piece of paper is what
defines their ambition and possibilities
in life that’s simply not a school
system bill to empower our young problem
number two describes what happens when
empowerment is about to turn into action
now when we step outside the classroom
we realize that we live in a bigger and
more strictly framed box called
bureaucracy now whether you want to
carry out an idea address the social
challenge or start an organization you
need a certain amount of financial
support and you need to do things in a
certain order and you need to follow
certain rules when I realized creating a
festival that will make me need a lot of
money
I simply contacted the different support
systems you know those that actually
exists to catch the empowerment and
accelerate social development what I got
back was of this endless bunches of
complicated forms to fill out I realized
that our support system is not adapted
to entrepreneurs and doers it’s adapted
to bureaucrats now do you agree I say
yeah and now we all understand why you
need rules and administration especially
when it comes to funding but the way
it’s structured and presenter today is
choking empowerment especially among
young creative entrepreneurs who are yet
to build a network around them and
figure out how the system works in our
system you are expected to be both this
person and this person at the same time
that’s not a support system bill to
embrace empowerment another thing I’ve
experienced as a young entrepreneur are
comments like this honey do you really
think you know what you’re doing you are
way too young to organize a music
festival this attitude is what we Sweden
called jump the log on the low of young
Tom now this unwritten law is inspired
by fictional intolerant small town in
the book a fugitive crosses his tracks
by norwegian of their access animals and
it basically means know your place and
don’t believe too much in yourself and
it seems like young exists everywhere
from the inside of the classroom to the
inside of institutions now I grew up on
a small island and in my experience the
smaller the town is the more young
infiltrates the attitudes which is a
pity because in small towns in
particular we need brave and power
people who think outside the box so the
law of young is the third obstacle to
empowerment today it’s quite easy to get
scared of the world we have climate
change refugee crisis terrorism polluted
oceans me to Donald Trump it’s very easy
to get scared of the world now when I
present the world like this does it make
you feel empowered probably not
presenting the world like this like
Armageddon his clothes will hardly
empower you it will probably just result
in a feeling of depression fear and
guilt and that’s probably number four
the general rhetoric about social and
environmental challenges among our media
political leaders scientists and so on
has been built on guilt and fear now
guilt and fear will not empower people
guilty fear will make people passive
make them stick their head in the sand
make them refuse to acknowledge or
confront the problem guilt and fear
creates the opposite of empowerment
which is the learning of helplessness if
you are told that the world is
collapsing and that your actions don’t
matter how on earth can you be empowered
now I just shared for concrete obstacles
to empowerment that I as a young
entrepreneur have identified traditional
school system bureaucratic obstacles the
law of young there and guilt and fear
mongering these are things we need to
eliminate or change so the interesting
question of course is what do we need to
do to get away from this
well first of
it doesn’t matter how much education and
tools you have if you don’t believe in
yourself this is where empowerment is
crucial schools should have a greater
purpose than just preparing us with
facts and knowledge winning the genetic
lottery of suiting a traditional school
system shouldn’t be what defines your
future because our society requires so
much more both my personal experience of
working with dropouts and history itself
shows that do you find great leaders
artists and entrepreneurs among people
who didn’t finish school and as I said
before
80% of all dropouts are right brained in
a left brain based system imagine the
effects on society if school was adapted
to diversity of children if the school
system could both foster and capture
empowerment among our youngest citizens
and make them understand that they can
make a difference
we simply need a diversity and
empowerment based school system that is
connected to reality also we cannot
allow a traditional bureaucratic support
system to restrain empowerment among
potential changemakers expecting people
to be both skillful bureaucrats and
skillful doers that is expecting
superhumans we need a more flexible
support system that can allow us to grow
within our strengths and that is adapted
to diversity of empowered changemakers
our governmental institutions simply
need to evaluate themselves study the
needs of entrepreneurs and informal
leaders and redesign the system that’s a
matter of democracy empowerment will
thrive in a society where we support and
encourage each other a society where we
invite big dreams and uniqueness a
society where we allow people to go
against the flow and make mistakes
without being judged it’s everyone’s
responsibility to not let the law of
young to poison our attitudes and
structures one of the world’s most
brilliant social entrepreneurs and
musicians bono from the band you
– once said that music can change the
world because it can change people and
that is very true if you want to change
the world you need to change people you
need to change people’s attitudes
behaviors and level of empowerment
now this quote is actually one of the
reasons that I decided to organize a
music festival in the first place
whether I could have chosen to do
anything and this was not the totally
wrong idea actually because last year
the University of Gothenburg published a
report called social marketing through
events which proves that when people go
to music festival a place built on joy
lust and party mood their mindset allows
them to open up for new impressions and
change traditional behaviors and norms
that’s very interesting and what am I
saying with this that music festivals
will solve our global challenges well I
do wish the answer was that easy but of
course it’s not however this research
shows why we need less guilt and fear
and why sustainable development needs to
be connected to things that makes us
happy and passions for example instead
of telling people to stop over consume
meaningless products inspire them
through showing recycled art instead of
lecturing people in how to recycle teach
them in a fun way through for example
virtual reality games and instead of
telling people to stop eat meat because
we usually don’t like when people tell
us to stop do things we like surprise
them with the most delicious plant-based
burger you can think of what I’m saying
is allow joy lust and party mood to
empower sustainable behavior change
among people now the advertising
industry has used this technique for
centuries to create made-up needs within
us and now it’s time that we master the
same techniques to empower people and
now maybe you think that these four
things are way out of your control maybe
you think that these are for deep
systemic errors and parts of our culture
that will take centuries to change well
I’m not saying this is easy but the
thing is that they’re all certain things
that every person can do no matter what
position you have for example you can
tell children friends colleagues and so
on
that their actions matter make them
understand that they are good enough and
that they have the power to to master
their own lives and surrounding world
and when you are given the opportunity
question the structures that repress
empowerment do what you can with in the
system walls to overpower them or even
maybe change them and never ever kill
someone’s ID or vision even if it might
sound crazy and unreachable try to be
open-minded and celebrate bravery within
boundaries of course and when you save
the world don’t forget to do it through
the party mode now before I get off this
stage I also want you all to just
remember that you just the way you are
can empower people because with your
story your qualities your vision and
your dreams because people are like
dominoes we affect each other and we
affect the world and it’s for us to
decide in which direction we want to
push these dominoes thank you [Applause]
when I was 18 years old I made the best
mistake of my life I had just been
struck by climate change depression
thanks to Al Gore and instead of doing
what most people do in the situation
like change certain parts of my
lifestyle support environmental
organizations or attend demonstrations
my reaction was quite different I quit
school and founded a music festival big
mistake in the eyes of the adult world
because you know how you’re supposed to
do things in the correct order
before choosing a profession you need to
get education before starting a business
you need to write a business plan before
organizing a big festival you need to
get money I did the opposite of all of
these things I risked my economy my
grades my reputation and my future now
why did I do that what was the reason
for breaking the comfortable and
ordinary path and step on the slippery
road of entrepreneurship well the answer
is except from climate change depression
I had also for the first time in my life
experienced something else
empowerment empowerment is when people
and groups starts to master their own
lives and surrounding world and it
starts with a psychological process of
insight and motivation and you know
empowerment is like magic
empowerment can make people take
miles-long steps outside their comfort
zone empowerment can turn frustration
into innovation empowerment can be the
force of everything from grassroot
movements and business ideas to
government loss and global impact
empowerment is the key to individual
development and sustainable development
in other words empowerment is one key to
a better world for people and the planet
so the question is how do we systemize
empowerment how can we create
the best opportunities for empowerment
to thrive in our society I am now gonna
give you a lesson in how we as
individuals entrepreneurs leaders
parents and so on can empower our
surrounding world and how our system
needs to change
but first let us ask ourselves this
question why is empowerment such a rare
currency in our society I have
identified four obstacles to empowerment
that I’m now going to share with you the
first two is about how our system works
while number 3 and 4 is more about
social psychology and attitudes and keep
in mind that I’m telling you this from
the perspective of being a young street
smart entrepreneur problem number one
school when I was young I had a very
vivid imagination producing plenty of
new ideas inside and outside my head all
the time and every time I stepped inside
a classroom I felt like I was pushed
inside this small non creative box where
I had to repress all the qualities that
defined me and made life good and as
many other students who aren’t suited in
this little box I thought that there was
something wrong with me for 12 years
actually thought there was something
wrong with me but you know there has
been many reports throughout the years
proving that the traditional school
system is unjust it’s not suited to a
diversity of students and this of course
leads to many disastrous effects in our
society for examples children dropping
out of school
there are also research showing that 80%
of all dropouts and students who doesn’t
fit the school system or right-brained
which means they learn best from
artistic and creative methods however
our school system is surprised
mostly adapted to left-brained which is
the more rational and yeah the more
rational side you know the Swedish
television documentary we can’t do it
shows how girls are burned out from
school stress before they have even
turned 18 years old
students today are told that the
character on a piece of paper is what
defines their ambition and possibilities
in life that’s simply not a school
system bill to empower our young problem
number two describes what happens when
empowerment is about to turn into action
now when we step outside the classroom
we realize that we live in a bigger and
more strictly framed box called
bureaucracy now whether you want to
carry out an idea address the social
challenge or start an organization you
need a certain amount of financial
support and you need to do things in a
certain order and you need to follow
certain rules when I realized creating a
festival that will make me need a lot of
money
I simply contacted the different support
systems you know those that actually
exists to catch the empowerment and
accelerate social development what I got
back was of this endless bunches of
complicated forms to fill out I realized
that our support system is not adapted
to entrepreneurs and doers it’s adapted
to bureaucrats now do you agree I say
yeah and now we all understand why you
need rules and administration especially
when it comes to funding but the way
it’s structured and presenter today is
choking empowerment especially among
young creative entrepreneurs who are yet
to build a network around them and
figure out how the system works in our
system you are expected to be both this
person and this person at the same time
that’s not a support system bill to
embrace empowerment another thing I’ve
experienced as a young entrepreneur are
comments like this honey do you really
think you know what you’re doing you are
way too young to organize a music
festival this attitude is what we Sweden
called jump the log on the low of young
Tom now this unwritten law is inspired
by fictional intolerant small town in
the book a fugitive crosses his tracks
by norwegian of their access animals and
it basically means know your place and
don’t believe too much in yourself and
it seems like young exists everywhere
from the inside of the classroom to the
inside of institutions now I grew up on
a small island and in my experience the
smaller the town is the more young
infiltrates the attitudes which is a
pity because in small towns in
particular we need brave and power
people who think outside the box so the
law of young is the third obstacle to
empowerment today it’s quite easy to get
scared of the world we have climate
change refugee crisis terrorism polluted
oceans me to Donald Trump it’s very easy
to get scared of the world now when I
present the world like this does it make
you feel empowered probably not
presenting the world like this like
Armageddon his clothes will hardly
empower you it will probably just result
in a feeling of depression fear and
guilt and that’s probably number four
the general rhetoric about social and
environmental challenges among our media
political leaders scientists and so on
has been built on guilt and fear now
guilt and fear will not empower people
guilty fear will make people passive
make them stick their head in the sand
make them refuse to acknowledge or
confront the problem guilt and fear
creates the opposite of empowerment
which is the learning of helplessness if
you are told that the world is
collapsing and that your actions don’t
matter how on earth can you be empowered
now I just shared for concrete obstacles
to empowerment that I as a young
entrepreneur have identified traditional
school system bureaucratic obstacles the
law of young there and guilt and fear
mongering these are things we need to
eliminate or change so the interesting
question of course is what do we need to
do to get away from this
well first of
it doesn’t matter how much education and
tools you have if you don’t believe in
yourself this is where empowerment is
crucial schools should have a greater
purpose than just preparing us with
facts and knowledge winning the genetic
lottery of suiting a traditional school
system shouldn’t be what defines your
future because our society requires so
much more both my personal experience of
working with dropouts and history itself
shows that do you find great leaders
artists and entrepreneurs among people
who didn’t finish school and as I said
before
80% of all dropouts are right brained in
a left brain based system imagine the
effects on society if school was adapted
to diversity of children if the school
system could both foster and capture
empowerment among our youngest citizens
and make them understand that they can
make a difference
we simply need a diversity and
empowerment based school system that is
connected to reality also we cannot
allow a traditional bureaucratic support
system to restrain empowerment among
potential changemakers expecting people
to be both skillful bureaucrats and
skillful doers that is expecting
superhumans we need a more flexible
support system that can allow us to grow
within our strengths and that is adapted
to diversity of empowered changemakers
our governmental institutions simply
need to evaluate themselves study the
needs of entrepreneurs and informal
leaders and redesign the system that’s a
matter of democracy empowerment will
thrive in a society where we support and
encourage each other a society where we
invite big dreams and uniqueness a
society where we allow people to go
against the flow and make mistakes
without being judged it’s everyone’s
responsibility to not let the law of
young to poison our attitudes and
structures one of the world’s most
brilliant social entrepreneurs and
musicians bono from the band you
– once said that music can change the
world because it can change people and
that is very true if you want to change
the world you need to change people you
need to change people’s attitudes
behaviors and level of empowerment
now this quote is actually one of the
reasons that I decided to organize a
music festival in the first place
whether I could have chosen to do
anything and this was not the totally
wrong idea actually because last year
the University of Gothenburg published a
report called social marketing through
events which proves that when people go
to music festival a place built on joy
lust and party mood their mindset allows
them to open up for new impressions and
change traditional behaviors and norms
that’s very interesting and what am I
saying with this that music festivals
will solve our global challenges well I
do wish the answer was that easy but of
course it’s not however this research
shows why we need less guilt and fear
and why sustainable development needs to
be connected to things that makes us
happy and passions for example instead
of telling people to stop over consume
meaningless products inspire them
through showing recycled art instead of
lecturing people in how to recycle teach
them in a fun way through for example
virtual reality games and instead of
telling people to stop eat meat because
we usually don’t like when people tell
us to stop do things we like surprise
them with the most delicious plant-based
burger you can think of what I’m saying
is allow joy lust and party mood to
empower sustainable behavior change
among people now the advertising
industry has used this technique for
centuries to create made-up needs within
us and now it’s time that we master the
same techniques to empower people and
now maybe you think that these four
things are way out of your control maybe
you think that these are for deep
systemic errors and parts of our culture
that will take centuries to change well
I’m not saying this is easy but the
thing is that they’re all certain things
that every person can do no matter what
position you have for example you can
tell children friends colleagues and so
on
that their actions matter make them
understand that they are good enough and
that they have the power to to master
their own lives and surrounding world
and when you are given the opportunity
question the structures that repress
empowerment do what you can with in the
system walls to overpower them or even
maybe change them and never ever kill
someone’s ID or vision even if it might
sound crazy and unreachable try to be
open-minded and celebrate bravery within
boundaries of course and when you save
the world don’t forget to do it through
the party mode now before I get off this
stage I also want you all to just
remember that you just the way you are
can empower people because with your
story your qualities your vision and
your dreams because people are like
dominoes we affect each other and we
affect the world and it’s for us to
decide in which direction we want to
push these dominoes thank you [Applause]
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