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Creating Sustainable Impact: “Feel Good” vs. “Real Good” | Valentine Gandhi | TEDxYouth@SPH


so my topic today when the TEDx folks
that has been asked me to speak was on
how people in our sector or the sector
that I work in understand impact and how
do we achieve it and how do we
differentiate what we call real good
versus what is often in the market as
feel-good I’ll explain a little bit what
I mean by that
essentially the sector that I work in is
called the development sector
I mean sometimes when I say I work in
the development sector people ask me Oh
what do you develop do you develop
software or do you develop hardware or
what is that you develop in a sense
development sector is a short form for
human development sector meaning
anything to do with reducing the
vulnerabilities of people reducing the
difficulties of people challenges and a
lot of the folks in the development
sector I mean at least in countries like
Indonesia or in India most of the
development work code and code is done
by the government because it’s in charge
of the Social Welfare is in charge of
the Social Security is in charge of
reducing poverty and so on and so forth
but it’s not exclusive of government’s
alone lot of UN agencies NGOs research
institutions think tanks and also
for-profit organizations work in this
sector some of the areas of operations
as you can see before behind me is on
agriculture health poverty conflict
resolution research public policy so on
and so forth
and also it’s distinctly different
sometimes from even though broadly the
development sector could cover
humanitarian relief disaster or things
like orphanages and refugee issues and
so on and so forth as a development
professional we tend to focus on long
term changes rather than short-term
changes that is distinct in charity
charity means this Saturday you are
feeling good maybe you made a
Starbucks the last week and you want to
share it with someone you go to the
nearby orphanage or you go to a refugee
center or you go to a women’s
organization and you decide to paint the
wall for them or you decide to buy a
bunch of kids food with the extra money
you made these are what we call
charities development in their in in the
sense is more long-term we try to work
on reducing what makes people poor in
the first place and what makes people
vulnerable to certain things what I mean
by well naraba Liz
supposing me and someone else are
walking on the road and somebody is
trying to threaten us sometimes because
I’m physically big he or she may not try
to harm me
but if physically if I was weaker or
based on my body language people may try
to threaten you so in that situation I’m
physically vulnerable at least in terms
of appearance and most often in our
society either as individuals or as a
nation or as communities we can be
Welner about to shocks that can affect
us like a country can have a shock like
a natural disaster a village could have
a shock like a lack of rainfall which
could cause problems in having
agricultural produce being produced or
individually you could have a shock
maybe you had a break up with your
girlfriend or somebody hurts you deeply
or you failed in your maths test or
something like that
all these are shocks but depending on
how much you’re built either emotionally
and most of it’s emotionally or
financially if you’re a poor person you
are able to be resilient to those shocks
like if you have a hundred dollars or
100 hundred thousand rupiah and you need
to survive that for the whole week and
somebody steals ten thousand from you
you still have 90 thousand to keep you
for the rest of the week but imagine you
only had ten thousand rupiah
and somebody steals it you are going to
be hungry throughout that week and
that’s what happens to a lot of us in
our communities that things when they
are not prepared for happens and that is
why it’s called a shock and most of the
organizations which work to prevent
these kind of shocks are called
development agencies or development
organizations some of them are the UN
and NGOs and governments and so on and
so forth and my organization Dave cafe
is one of them in the context in which
we work as opposed to regular situations
is not like tomorrow I get up and I say
I want to go to Pacific Place Mall I
want to hang out with some friends I
have the liberty or privilege to think
like that but in the context in which we
work people are not often being able to
make that choice it’s a privilege to
even get up on a Sunday to say I want to
do this or that I want to have coffee
rather than tea but a lot of folks right
now while we speak are in a position
where they don’t know whether they can
have the next meal or under de-stress
you probably watch news you say people
are in war and crime and terrorism
affected or hurricane and situations
where people don’t know if they can even
wake up the next day and especially when
they are vulnerable meaning all they
have is ten thousand rupiah in two if
you look at that metaphor they are going
to find it very hard to survive the next
day and that is the context under which
we work and many times like many kids
are here from aspera school it is a
well-known school and you are able to
voice your opinion because structurally
you are empowered to speak out or talk
to you or your parents will speak for
you or you you have the resources to
make your voice heard but many times
those of us in our communities even the
hidden voices they are unable to wise
the concerns and development
professionals tried through research and
evaluation and proper study to talk
about what they are facing both at the
national regional and also community
level some of the terms that we use
in describing what makes a person well
neural is if you’ve seen circus I don’t
know if many of the circuses are
available at least when I was a kid we
used to have these circuses circus is
this you know like a fun thing where
there’s a clown or they’re animals and
they people do tricks and one of the
tricks in that is where there’s a
tightrope walking person they walk on
you know on a very high tightrope and
they try to cross without sometimes with
a stick or sometimes just by themselves
and if they’re really Daredevils they
won’t have a safety net to fall on but
most often they used to have a safety
net that even though they’re experts in
walking this tightrope because you might
slip and fall you can fall on that but
that that metaphor is what we use when
we work with communities that people
when they are coming through disaster
imagine there’s a household there’s only
one farmer or one person working in the
household the wife is bedridden or sick
and they have like three kids and this
one person is trying to feed their
families and that person dies or has an
illness then in case they had some
savings or they have a community support
or some sort of some sort of a financial
contribution that they can rely on that
is the safety net when someone falls
sick or the main person who earns money
falls sick but in most cases they work
on a day to day basis foot to mouth what
we call you work today you’re able to
field you don’t have work you’re unable
to feed your children and imagine you
fall sick or worse still you have an
accident and pass away or sometimes
because most of them work in risky
situations their their main breadwinner
dies that is where there is no safety
net and they get more and more more and
more into poverty for people like that
we can’t do charity maybe you can feed
them lunch or me they give them one one
one of things but to understand why
people fall into situations of lack of
safety nets or what makes people
vulnerable you need to do
long-term study to see what is the
issues that is why people in a
particular region or a particular
country are more prone to falling into
disaster or more prone to falling into
poverty so development work can be
studying about an individual village
individual community or a nation and
sometimes it can be about just the
climate also because sometimes what
pushes people into poverty is then is
the climate in which you live I mean I
used to work a lot in a region called
semi-arid tropics the world has 20
agro-ecological zones I think we are I’m
sweating because we are in a humid zone
but semi-arid tropics is a is a zone
where rainfall is erratic all of you eat
food right is there anyone who doesn’t
eat food so food comes from agriculture
and agriculture a lot depend on the
climate in which you live so you eat
rice because rice is grown where there
is water but if you live in semi-arid
tropics you depend on different kinds of
foods your color everything depends on
your agro-ecosystem but in some agro
system by nature they have very poor
safety nets or they have very poor
climatic conditions so development
professionals also assess that when they
give long term solutions to these kind
of development issues and also wonder
abilities can be individualistic as well
I mean as I told you development work is
not just at the national level a village
level it can be geographical but it
can’t be for one person also I put three
three short names there a B K s RW it
actually stands for Anthony boudoir Kate
Spade and Robin Williams all very
successful people in the prime of the
carrier from the outside world it looks
like they are having the time of their
lives I mean they are wealth fame maybe
access to things that we all crave for
you know success but they all kill
themselves why because they are not
resilient to shocks or they not built to
be resilient so Wallner abilities is not
often a thing of the poor a thing of the
climatically I mean our difficult
climate zones but also too
individuals who are seemingly successful
in our eyes because they are
individually vulnerable individually not
resilient to shocks in individual cases
I am NOT going to examine why despite
the so-called successes folks like that
who are so on the prime of the career
commit suicide or unable to cope with
the challenges in their lives I’m not
going into that but it gives a little
bit of flow into what I mean by
feel-good versus real good so when you
do charity on a weekend sometimes you do
feel good I’m not saying you should not
do charity please go ahead and do
charity but development work is
long-term and it does not often feel
good and what I have learned at least in
the last 20 years is when you do
long-term interventions it’s it doesn’t
give you instant gratification and
sometimes you’re not even there in the
picture and that’s something we will
examine a little bit when we do
evaluation of our work when either at
the national level or regional level or
multiple countries or in individual
levels I am also a development evaluator
so we we evaluate whether the
intervention we did through systematic
study and research was successful in
terms of whether it was relevant let’s
say I’m studying poverty issues in
Indonesia but whether my situation or
whether my intervention was relevant to
Indonesia was it efficient and was it
effective and then then we can measure
how it was impactful and more than just
creating an impact we want to see
whether it’s sustainable even after we
have done the intervention are people
able to hold on to that particular
situation themselves and become
resilient what is impact you hear I mean
in the board there’s outside there
aspera impact is and we all see but what
is this impact is it number of links
clicked some of the brightest minds that
I’ve been speaking to in the last week’s
last two weeks I mean I was in the US
and even last week I was interacting
with a lot of this bright data
scientists there is brilliant guys who
can analyze great things in seconds but
they use their brains only to make sure
my
here clicks more ads you know what I’m
saying there they’re using their data
science skills to reduce to our jobs to
just clicking on links and ads even
though they could be using the same
skills for so much more than making a
few people or even millions of people
click on ads so our life or impact or
our skill sets towards creating and
achieving impacts have become just
volumes no number of people number of
shares number of items you sell the
number the quality is disappearing and
quantity is taking precedence in our
lives in one way or the other but is it
really real good does it last
I mean we just spoke about Anthony
Borden and Kate Spade they sell so much
products and televisions and also Kate
Spade there is one Kate Spade right here
in this mall I mean very successful they
must be selling a lot of stuff but is it
really lasting real good that can help
you make impacts I’m not saying you
shouldn’t share in Instagram or Facebook
I am NOT gonna say oh this generation or
things like that I’m sure you are all
very smart and this is not a a moral
lecture for you but if you’re really
wanting to understand what is creating
real impacts you need to understand the
difference between what is feel-good and
what is real good that’s why I mentioned
it so what is this feel-good
interventions hashtag there’s a disaster
happening in where was that recently
Lombok and then Bali and then Kerala in
India do you want to say I stand with
Kerala hashtag you are all dying there
but don’t forget about me don’t forget
on me I am standing with you I mean the
hashtag interventions have become more
important because you want to feel good
that you are doing something even though
you’re doing nothing you’re just
clicking a few mouse clicks on your
facebook so somebody is dying in a
hurricane there but don’t forget about
me you know I I am so important that’s
what I mean by hashtag interventions but
does it doesn’t mean you should not
raise awareness through social media you
should but also get your butt out there
and go
go out and do something which you can
you don’t have to be a development
professional to make an impact you don’t
have to be a researcher or a government
official in your own spheres in your own
strengths whether your IT whether your
social scientists whether you’re a
mathematician or physician all of these
skills can be used to create sustainable
impact how can you do that is by
studying and understanding the problem
first rather than just going with oh I
can do this I want to do this and that
takes time I call this Dale Carnegie
solutions in some cases do you not Dale
Carnegie have you heard is a very
popular TEDx speaker TED speaker any
bookstore you’ll find Dale Carnegie’s
positive attitude books did you know how
he died he committed suicide
you don’t know good chuckle Dale
Carnegie talked about positive living
all his life but he couldn’t apply it in
his own life because it’s the difference
between feeling good and real good these
kind of instant gratifying interventions
are only temporary long-term study
another thing I wanted to say is this
they said if you go to who booth you’ll
have all this Yogi’s I have a retreat
program in Bali for development
professionals because our job can be
mentally taxing because we deal day now
day out with people with real issues so
it can really tax you and burn you out
so we have a retreat program and to use
in that retreat program I was
interviewing a lot of this Yogi’s and
spiritual healers in ubud this is one of
the most messed up people I’ve met in my
life really I am not joking I’m not
saying there are no good people in who
both are their healers and Yogi’s are
all fake I am NOT here to say that but
some of the people I interviewed cannot
handle themselves you know there’s a big
hole in you you so you are trying to see
holes in others and trying to fix so you
should be cautious in understanding when
you when you go for these instant
solutions to problems I mean whether
it’s at an individual level or a
community level or even at a national
level or in body building when I started
I mean now I
you can see I’m fact building but long
time ago
long time ago I used to be one at that
time I realized something long time ago
in bodybuilding there’s three things
size shape and symmetry so all of us are
they occur more frequent amorphic and
the aim in bodybuilding is to become
mesomorphic where you have all these
three aligned perfectly but our guys
when used to work out in India used to
call them chicken bodybuilders they just
want a big chest in arms and the legs
will be like chickens because you were
generally building your mind you lift so
heavy which your muscle cannot take and
you think you’re doing bodybuilding so
most often feel-good interventions are
only satisfying your mind it’s not
really good for your body or for the
people that you work with whether it’s
yourself or your parents or your
communities and so on and so forth or
for example clinical depression is a
serious problem which requires clinical
requirement but there’s a dude called
Sadhguru who is very popular I’m sure
I’ll get in trouble if you put this in
YouTube but I don’t care but he’s a very
popular Indian guru who always talks
about oh you can think yourself out of
clinical depression which is a false
because you can’t think yourself out of
these things you have to systematically
approach clinical depression as if it’s
an acidity or a headache or you know you
don’t think yourself out of a headache
know you maybe you can but at least in
normal people like as we have to take a
tablet or take rest or something
that is an intervention which is
systematically given and another one
this guy there Baruch Spinoza maybe I’ll
again get in trouble for introducing him
he’s a 16th century philosopher who said
that if you really want to be Christian
or if you really want to be a religious
person close to God it should reflect in
you action your prayer is only for you
God is going to bless you irrespective
of whether you pray to him or not your
job in this earth is to be of use to
your fellow human being in any way you
can give in artists or same thing but
his particular philosophy was not
popular because church at those days the
Dark Ages were really had both temporal
and spiritual power so they didn’t quite
follow him
but if you see any of these miracle
Crusades that happen where people say
God is gonna do
miracle in your life if that feels good
right because it’s about you again like
I stand with Kerala Kerala is in floods
or Lombok is in floods it doesn’t matter
but you are there you are standing with
them in hashtag so that’s why he doesn’t
become popular but people who push this
snake oil
do you know snake eyes you’ve heard of
snake ones in villages in India they
should sell snake oil there’s a solution
for all problems even though snakes
don’t produce oils they only produce
venom but nevertheless they sell it as
you take this medicine you have
strengthened all these but this is what
you know we tend to think the God of
infinity the God who created heaven and
earth he’s thinking about what you are
doing in the bathroom so you feel so
good about it you know people push this
and that becomes popular but spinels is
thinking about no you have to get up and
do something becomes less relevant so
there’s so much connection spirituality
and philosophy in what we do in
development because long-term real good
interventions cannot be so feeling good
all the time many times I advise
governments to research we do for two
years three years and then the whole
country’s policy changes but no one
knows who well Gandhi is oh yeah you
guys know because there’s there but at
least the people in which we work for we
don’t know because it happens in the
background and doing real good impactful
work as young people it requires a
certain level of maturity that is not
constantly making things about you you
won’t get likes and shares and follows
but you will create impact like I said
in the beginning this is I am NOT here
to lecture you on whether you should be
on Instagram or Facebook please you are
young kids you should do all that fun
part but if you want to create an
impactful meaningful sustainable life
for others and for yourself that
requires a little bit about I mean a lot
less about you but it’s about
understanding what goes around you and
he doesn’t have to be something you have
to specifically do whatever you’re good
at you can still contribute to society
in the most powerful way you can I know
many of you like developments like
job is not very sought-after and not
many people know about it I mean
probably is the same in Indonesia in
India if you’re either a doctor or an
engineer everything else you’re a
failure in life I probably it’s the same
because we are all Asian so we’re kind
of cousins but but that’s that’s that’s
what happens but they think there is no
other work but I mean I used to be an IT
and then move to development it has been
one of the most fulfilling and continued
to learning experiences of my life so
that’s why that’s why I want to make
sure how do you identify real good
versus real impact if you want to create
impact in life first of all understand
the problem study it
one thing that I learned from my mentors
a lot of them were simple people you
won’t find them in public venue is we
live in an age of information anything
please Google this google that but you
know one thing you cannot Google no
matter what we try it’s wisdom you can
Google information as much as you like I
can find out where you’re from what
you’re doing next I can find out who is
the speaker everything but wisdom comes
from experience wisdom comes from books
I’m not talking about Harry Potter and
you can read a Harry Potter fine but you
know this philosophy and ancient I mean
I think I spire school do you have
really good books these things you can’t
Google so that’s why I listen to people
who’ve been through situations before
you and learn and one of the ways you
can open your mind to wisdom is being
humble to understand what happens and
what does not happen so please use
social media to change impact create and
I’m not saying from tomorrow throwaway
Instagram account not at all but
remember when you want to create
impactful meaningful life for yourself
and in your communities in whatever way
you can
it’s beyond just numbers beyond just
volume its quality its understanding
things that matter are not always
feeling good you won’t even feel
something when you do you you don’t feel
like you have a company
but really great people don’t constantly
at least if you see statically I can
name a number of people they are not
craving for attention they are not
craving for laurels they are not you
know some interviews people sometimes
ask you what are you most proud of if
you are good at something you don’t need
to be proud of it it should be an
effortless thing for you you should be a
piece of cake are you the best physicist
are you the best scientist why do I need
an award my work is my reward my work is
my award why should I be proud of it I’m
got rated me or universe created in
whatever you believe in it’s individual
but what you achieve itself is your
reward but if you’re constantly looking
for that likes and shares and awards you
end up unfortunately like some of those
folks I mentioned where your individual
resilience is depending on those chairs
and likes and then you cannot create
meaningful impact when you yourself are
unable to cope with the situations that
are thrown before you in life for us in
development sector we try to understand
how to bridge people’s safety nets how
to build what are the missing safety
nets with the poor farmers household or
if it’s a nation that lacks
infrastructure and IT or agriculture or
refugee issues and how do we reduce
vulnerabilities like climate change how
can we use a IOT sensor smart sensors
how can we use mobile phones to inform
people about rainfall coming up so
people can be prepared or earthquake
coming up and people can be prepared and
how do we build resilience these are key
things resilience is after you’ve taught
people to manage livelihoods either as
an individual or a nation how do they
continue to do that these things will
lead to sustainable impact and that is
that is key to creating lasting impacts and that is what I wanted
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