>>Al Seckel: My name is Al Seckel. I'm here
to give the final Ignite talk. And it's about
the theme of this whole Zeitgeist conference,
which is Mindshift. Innovation, creativity,
thought, understanding the constraints of
the system, knowing how to break through those
constraints of the system. And mindshifts
require startling transformations. They also
require startling changes in behavioral action.
You can have all the changes in thought. But,
unless you get people to qualitatively change
their behavior as well, you won't have those
transformations. It's about overcoming what
was seemingly impossible with new perspectives
and reaching new heights. These are the things
about transformation, about Mindshifts. It's
about looking for the underlying commonalities
when things appear to be dissimilar. Hold
up your fingers like this and cover up the
middle section of those two blocks, and you'll
see that they're identical. Remove your finger.
They appear dissimilar. It's about confronting
your perception versus reality.
The two tabletops appear to be dissimilar
in size and shape even though they're identical,
even though you may know that they're identical.
We can measure them. You can measure their
length. You'll see that they're identical.
You can measure also their width. And, even
though you're intellectually able to see that
you're being tricked, you can't overcome it.
It's about perception. All mindshift is about
perception. You can measure their width and,
also, as I say, see that those two tabletops
are identical. It's about confronting your
own perceptions, worths versus reality.
So here, even though you know they're the
same, you still see them as dissimilar. So
there's a split between your conception of
something and your perception of something.
And it doesn't matter how smart you are, your
background, your gender.
It's about understanding the importance of
context. I'm passionate about education. The
importance of teaching how to think rather
than -- the importance of teaching how to
think rather than what to think. And that
proper context is the most important element
in information.
Here you have two identical silhouettes of
horses. It's also about understanding how
little it takes to bias your perception. Here
they're identical. All I can do is add two
small lines, and you'll see it doesn't take
a lot to switch your perception.
Now the two horses appear to be facing in
two different directions. Not a lot of information.
And look how quickly your brain is biased
in a different direction just by adding context.
Here we have two identical gray squares. They're
identical. I'm going to add a little bit of
context, and they will appear to be quite
dissimilar. One square will be light, and
one square will be dark. And it will be coming
on.
Now, if we can point out which square the
square in the shadow is identical to the square
in the outside the shadow. But they're identical.
Even though you know they're identical, you
can't see them that way.
Here we have two identical brown squares.
Just color your perceptions a little bit.
So I'm going to add some context here, and
you'll perceive those two squares as different.
So those two squares are actually identical
in color, even though you perceive them very
differently.
So context can really switch your perceptions.
It's understanding these concepts.
This is an actual homework assignment handed
in by an 8-year-old child to the assignment
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
What is Mommy here? Do you see all the cash
that people are -- what is Mommy. She's a
pole dancer. Let's read the letter from the
parent.
"Dear Mrs. Jones, I wish to clarify that I
am not now, nor have I ever been an exotic
dancer. I work at Home Depot. And I told my
daughter how hectic it was last week before
the blizzard hit. I told her how we had sold
out every single snow shovel and that was
the last one." All right?
Our expectations can go over here and reality
is over here. So reality is that which exists
independently of your perception or beliefs.
And your perception may not be aligned with
reality and it may not be, and you wouldn't
know.
Perception versus reality. How do you perceive
yourself? How do others perceive you.
For those who are -- since this is a lot of
branding and marketing people, it's not just
about the technology. It's about the client.
How do the client see themselves? What do
they need?
So all this technology, all this has to come
back to the consumer. And this is all part
of a simple, but deeper argument that perhaps
your own world view is preventing you from
seeing, recognizing, and internalizing some
ideas that fall outside of your own world
or ones that you think may be different from
the way others that you think they may be
true. Anyway, that's a mindshift. Thank you
very much.
[ Applause ]
