What Matters Most

and a big

good morning to the students and the

visitors joining this tedx event either

live or viewing the recording on demand

thank you so much for your time

in these unprecedented and complex times

the scarcest resource that

any of us has is attention so i

appreciate

your 18 minutes the motivation for

diversion

it sits within all of us and it’s driven

by

boredom negativity bias rumination and

to master

distraction we need to overcome the

discomfort

that comes with it sometimes reimagining

difficult work

as being purposeful and enjoyable can

refocus us

understanding our emotional triggers for

behaviors

and how we describe ourselves and the

world around us

matters greatly to how empowered and

capable that we feel

to make a difference in many ways

probably

like all of you here i have multiple

roles

i work for microsoft education marketing

based here in the united states of

america

yet i’m also a parent i’m a teacher and

i’m a learner

i’m also a bad surfer as you can see

from

some of the images on the slide what

matters most is the topic

for this session today my career if you

like has been defined by exploring where

best practice

and next practice intersect where

technology is levered to extend

to amplify and to enhance the very

qualities that make us

most human we know that

as humans we have some very basic needs

which

haven’t changed and they’re important to

keep in mind during these complicated

times

to be seen to be heard to belong

and to feel like we have some freedom

and choice

never before has this been so important

to be seen to be heard

to belong and to feel empowered

in fact this is what drew me to

microsoft first of all

beforehand i worked as a school

principal the driving mission for the

company is to empower

every learner on the planet to achieve

more and this picture

is from a surf school that i was a

leader at and i was

terrified and it reminded me of what it

was like

to learn something new and strange to

feel uncertain

and unsure to feel clumsy and

incompetent

i felt as a learner i felt shame and

frustration

but i also had coaches who gave me the

right mix

of pressure and support and that’s what

matters most

tip number one is

pressure and support in the right

balance can lead to

powerful learning and deep learning so

finding that right mix

and recognizing and appreciating that at

times you need

support but you need the right balance

of pressure

to be able to drive you to do your best

so when you’re feeling pressure

it’s maybe a good thing if you know that

you have the right level of support

the next one is to recognize that what

matters most

is that emotions matter they act as a

gatekeeper to cognition

to attention and to motivation so

how we feel unconsciously directs

our behaviors and is incredibly

important to develop the language to be

able to

recognize understand label and express

our emotional self and as mark bracket

from the yale center for emotional

intelligence says

to become an emotion detective to be

able to

recognize and understand the emotions in

others

and how they’re driving behavior and

adjust

our responses accordingly to become

socially aware as we self-regulate

ourselves emotions also matter because

they

drive better decision-making through the

development of empathy

they lead to stronger and more authentic

social connections

and they directly influence how we care

for ourselves

physically and mentally

one thing i want to call out that

matters most is mindset

so in adopting a growth mindset

we acknowledge and we embrace the

imperfections

in ourselves and others so we face our

challenges

bravely and honestly we pay attention

to our words and our thoughts how we

describe

ourselves our capabilities and those

around us

seeking all ways to lift people up and

to build on other people’s brilliant

ideas so

pay attention to the words and the

thoughts that you use to describe

yourself

and your learning and your life redefine

what success and genius looks like

maybe it’s not just being the smartest

kid

the fastest kid maybe success is being

the kindest kid or the person who can

bring the best out in others who can

organize groups to achieve amazing

things

it’s important to value the process over

just simply the product learning from

our own mistakes

and our mistakes from others so mindset

matters what else matters

finding your purpose matters one of the

things that comes through studies

of young people across the globe over

and over again

is that they want to engage in work that

has purpose

and passion and when you conduct surveys

of generation z

in the workforce and you ask them what

drives them

it’s not so much about money and

position

but it’s about working with purpose and

passion engaging in work that is

purposeful

that contributes positively to society

or economies

and engaging a work that’s enjoyable it

has some sort of intrinsic

excitement and joy added to it it

connects to a passion

and we know that when we’re engaged in

work with passion whether you’re

passionate about

art or maths or science or dance or

skateboarding

when you’re engaged in something you

love doing it never feels like

work and the time never feels like it’s

dragging does it it goes by

in an instant when we’re engaged in

purpose and passion

so shifting

purpose to action matters greatly and

for this group listening into this tedx

talk youth event talk

many of you are entrepreneurs and doing

incredible things and i’ve

seen and heard some of those you’re

already doing this

shifting purpose and shifting it to

action

matters finding out along the way who

are the people

that can help you how do you go about

accepting

inviting their strengths and wisdom and

taking those on boards

how do you ensure that you are open and

accepting

as you find out about your strengths and

the areas that you’re less

strong in and finding people to help you

a wishbone is no replacement for a

backbone

so shifting purpose to action

matters greatly

this is an important one too the journey

matters

through school and through life we’re

not in

any race here so what you do every day

to lift others up

matters because it directly reflects on

your character

which builds your reputation which is

something

you cannot buy but it’s easily given

away

the journey matters through school and

through life

so how do you express gratitude each day

to those who help lift you up and how do

you help lift up others

how are you helping someone learn today

are you the smart kid the fast kid the

funny kid

the kind kid be the kind kid

lift people up each and every day

that leads us to character and character

maybe you could describe it as this is

how you behave

when no one is watching and

whereas skills can be taught and are

useful in a specific

situation so i can learn to code it will

help

me do this i can learn to ride a bike

it will help me ride a skill can be

learned and

it’s usually developed for something

very specific

and known character traits

dispositions however you want to

describe them personalities

these are useful in situations which are

unknown

ambiguous complex challenging

changing it’s in those situations in

fact just like

right now that we need people whose

character

we can trust whose character draws

people

in reassures them and they have

character traits like

judgment perspective

honesty curiosity a sense of fairness

humor adaptability

focus patience so these are

character traits which can be developed

over time

which contribute positively and

purposefully to life

to learning and to work your character

matters

i touched on skills and yes they’re

critical we know that the new future

ready skills will be this delicate blend

of

social and emotional skills so the

ability to be self-aware

to self-regulate to be able to develop

relationships set positive goals and

achieve those

plus also higher order cognitive skills

so the ability to synthesize

information to make rational decisions

that the higher order cognitive skills

will be important

plus also those technical skills to the

digital economy

so to become indispensable now and into

the near future

you need a delicate mix of these new

future ready skills remember

between 30 and 40 percent of the

projected growth

jobs across the decade of the 2030s will

place a premium

on social and emotional skills because

these

are the skills which ai and automation

cannot replicate these are the qualities

that make us

most human make sure you sharpen those

in your skill set

to be needed in the world of work and

society

in the future this one is a little bit

like

mindset but how you navigate challenge

matters greatly because again it

reflects on your character

it draws on your skills how you accept

how you invite how you embrace how you

turn life challenges and school

challenges

into a gift and what do you do with a

gift well

you receive it you acknowledge it and

then you look for the value that it can

bring to your life

so one thing we’re clear about is that

our greatest natural resource on the

planet

other students like you in our

classrooms and our communities

across the globe we see you working as

student activists

as student entrepreneurs students civic

leaders

coaches mentors carers performers

athletes artists scientists

we see all of the things that you can do

and

what matters most is providing young

people like yourselves

with the tools and the environments to

have authentic voice

around the things that matter most to

you right now

a chance to speak up for yourselves

speak up on behalf of those who don’t

have a voice

to have options and informed choices

large and small which guide you towards

autonomy

and agency so you can become those

active

informed creative and confident young

people

who can make responsible decisions

because

you are literally shaping the society we

will all

live in each and every day so student

voice

student choice student agency matters

so let’s summarize this around

what matters most what matters most

is probably this first one which is

it’s what you choose to do with what you

know

that matters so not just doing

things right but doing the right things

you matter whoever you are listening to

this live or on demand

you matter and importantly your big

ideas matter and the world needs

your big ideas as you hear from the

esteemed speakers over the next

the next few sessions they have big

ideas

connected to purpose and passion and

these big ideas your big ideas

matter to the world so share them out

share your art share your poetry

share your skills teach someone else

giving back your contribution matters

giving back is the most empowering thing

that we can all do

to our classmates to our friends and

family our communities and ultimately

more broadly to society

how can i help someone today we are all

teachers

we’re all learners

technology matters here although this

talk around what matters most is not a

technology talk

it’s through technology that young

people make sense of their world

explore identity and contribute

positively and purposefully

to civic society technology matters

because it allows us to expand

explore and to influence

so to be seen

to be heard to belong and to be

empowered

that’s what matters the most at the

moment

so thank you very much for the

invitation to come and speak at tedx

youth event here

i can’t wait to hear the speakers coming

up with their bold

brilliant ideas to make the world a

better place the power

is indeed in your hands so thank you

again for the opportunity

and thank you to the organizing group

for putting on such an incredible event

i’m mark smarville i’m looking forward

to talking to you another time

another day another place bye for now

stay safe