3 steps to achieving the SDGs | Linda Midgley | TEDxAlkmaar

Summary

The speaker emphasizes that anyone, not just activists or experts, can contribute to making the world a better place by embracing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in daily life. Using three simple steps—listen, act, and listen again—the speaker encourages individuals to reflect on their choices and their impact on the world. Personal experiences illustrate the importance of understanding oneself and others to create meaningful change. Whether through small actions like choosing fair trade products or larger ones like influencing systems, the message is that sustainability is accessible to everyone.

Takeaways

• 😊 You don't need to be an expert or activist to make the world a better place.
• 📊 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated into our daily lives and are relevant to everyday issues.
• 📰 News headlines often reflect key SDGs, such as education, migration, mental health, and economic growth.
• 👂 Listening is a critical step—first to yourself, then to others—before taking action toward making a difference.
• 🛠 Taking action should be personalized, fitting both who you are and the world around you.
• 🔄 Reassessing and adjusting your actions through continuous listening helps ensure progress toward your goals.
• 📚 The speaker's personal journey—from pursuing activism and expertise to becoming a sustainability consultant—demonstrates that finding your unique path is key.
• ♻️ Sustainable choices involve considering how your decisions impact others, including future generations and those in different parts of the world.
• 🚗 Companies increasingly involve listening in their innovation processes, which makes their products more sustainable and customer-centric.
• 💡 The framework of ‘Listen, Act, and Listen Again’ can help individuals and organizations align their actions with sustainability goals.

Q & A

What is the main message the speaker is trying to convey?

The main message is that anyone can contribute to making the world a better place without necessarily being an expert or an activist. The speaker emphasizes the importance of integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into daily life through listening, acting, and reassessing.

What are the three steps the speaker suggests to bring the SDGs into daily life?

The three steps are: 1) Listen to yourself and others, 2) Act by creating a plan that fits your identity and the world around you, and 3) Listen again to check if your plan is working and make adjustments if necessary.

How does the speaker relate the SDGs to everyday life?

The speaker relates the SDGs to everyday life by showing how headlines in a newspaper touch on various SDGs, such as education, migration, and mental health, demonstrating that the SDGs are integral to our daily experiences.

What personal experiences does the speaker share to illustrate the steps of listen, act, and listen again?

The speaker shares her experience of quitting a PhD program, which taught her to listen to herself. She also discusses her work as a consultant, which taught her to listen to others. Lastly, she talks about trying different jobs across sectors and continents, which helped her find her way of making a difference.

Why did the speaker quit her PhD program?

The speaker quit her PhD program because she was miserable on a day-to-day basis and felt it wasn't the right path for her. Quitting lifted a weight off her shoulders and made her happier.

How does the speaker describe her current role as a sustainability consultant?

As a sustainability consultant, the speaker sometimes acts as an activist, sometimes as an expert, but mostly as herself, making a difference in her own way.

What does the speaker mean when she says she helps companies have a 'healthy long-term relationship with the world around them'?

The speaker means that she assists companies in understanding and implementing strategies that align with the SDGs, fostering positive, sustainable interactions with their stakeholders and the environment.

How does the speaker connect the process of innovation in companies to the SDGs?

The speaker connects innovation to the SDGs by explaining that modern innovation cycles involve faster feedback loops and active listening to customers, which can lead to more sustainable and effective products and services.

What example does the speaker give to show how companies are adapting to consumer behavior related to sustainability?

The speaker gives the example of car manufacturers who, after noticing that people were using their electric car batteries to store solar energy at home, started making batteries for home energy storage.

What is the speaker's final call to action for the audience?

The speaker encourages the audience to figure out how to bring sustainability into their own lives by listening to what's important to them and those around them, acting on it, and reassessing to ensure their actions are effective.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Engaging with the SDGs in Daily Life

The speaker begins by asking the audience about their involvement as activists or experts, and their desire to make the world a better place. They emphasize that everyone can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without being an expert or activist. The speaker uses a newspaper as an example to show how the SDGs are intertwined with daily life, touching on issues like education, migration, and mental health. They propose three steps to integrate the SDGs into daily life: listen, act, and listen again. The first step is to listen to oneself and others, which can be challenging but is crucial. The speaker shares personal experiences of trying to fit into roles as an activist and an expert, and how they eventually found their path as a sustainability consultant, which allows them to be themselves and make a difference.

05:01

🎓 Learning to Listen and Adapt

The speaker recounts their decision to quit a PhD program in economics, which was a difficult but ultimately rewarding choice that led to greater happiness. This experience taught them the importance of listening to oneself. As a consultant, they learned to listen to others, understanding that truly understanding a situation leads to better solutions and more receptive clients. The speaker emphasizes the importance of listening before acting, a lesson that applies to both professional and personal relationships. They also stress the value of revisiting and adjusting one's approach, as they did through various jobs across different sectors and continents. The speaker relates these lessons to sustainable development, suggesting that listening to a broader range of voices, including those affected by our choices, can lead to more sustainable decisions. They give examples like fair trade chocolate and compensating for air travel to illustrate how personal choices can align with the SDGs.

10:04

🚀 Incorporating Listening into Innovation for Sustainability

The speaker discusses the evolution of innovation, highlighting how the process has become faster and more inclusive, with listening as a key component. They give an example of how electric car manufacturers adapted their products based on customer needs, showing that innovation can be both market-driven and sustainable. The speaker argues that by integrating listening into the innovation process, we can develop more sustainable solutions that align with the SDGs. They extend this concept to personal lives, suggesting that we can all make a bigger, better, and more positive impact by listening, acting, and revisiting our actions. The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to consider how they can bring sustainability into their lives, emphasizing that everyone has the power to make a difference, regardless of their expertise or activism status.

Keywords

💡Activist

An activist is a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change. In the context of the video, the speaker initially asks how many consider themselves activists, suggesting that activism is often seen as a role for a select few. However, the speaker goes on to argue that everyone can contribute to making the world better, regardless of whether they identify as activists.

💡Expert

An expert is someone with extensive knowledge or experience in a particular area. The video script mentions the audience considering themselves experts, implying a level of specialization. The speaker suggests that expertise is not a prerequisite for contributing positively to society, aligning with the theme of universal participation in bettering the world.

💡SDGs

SDGs stands for Sustainable Development Goals, a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations. The script emphasizes that the SDGs are integral to daily life, not just abstract promises. The speaker uses headlines from a newspaper to illustrate how the SDGs permeate various aspects of society, such as education, migration, and mental health.

💡Listen

Listening in the video is presented as the first step towards making a difference. It involves paying attention to one's own feelings and the perspectives of others. The speaker shares personal experiences of learning to listen to themselves by quitting a PhD program and to others in their role as a consultant, which helped in formulating better solutions.

💡Act

Acting is the second step mentioned by the speaker, which involves creating a plan that suits one's identity and the world's needs. The script uses the term to encourage taking action that aligns with personal values and global goals, such as the SDGs, suggesting that everyone can take steps, big or small, towards positive change.

💡Listen Again

Listening again is the third step in the speaker's proposed process, which is about revisiting and reassessing one's actions to ensure they are effective. The speaker's own career journey exemplifies this step, as they tried different roles and adjusted their approach based on what worked and what didn't.

💡Sustainability Consultant

A sustainability consultant helps organizations become more sustainable. The speaker identifies as one, highlighting that their role sometimes involves activism and expertise but primarily allows them to make a difference in their unique way. This role is used to demonstrate how one can integrate the SDGs into their professional life.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest or stake in a business or organization. In the context of the video, the speaker mentions that companies need to listen to their stakeholders, which includes not just shareholders but also the community and environment, aligning with the broader goals of sustainability and the SDGs.

💡Strategy

Strategy in the video refers to a plan or method designed to achieve a specific goal. The speaker discusses how companies collect data (listen) and then formulate and implement strategies to achieve the SDGs (act). This reflects the broader message that thoughtful planning is essential for realizing sustainable development.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. The script mentions that modern innovation is faster and involves listening to customer feedback, which is integral to aligning innovations with sustainability goals and making them more effective.

💡Personal Impact

Personal impact refers to the effect one individual can have on their environment or society. The video encourages the audience to consider their personal impact and how they can align their actions with sustainable development. Examples from the script include simple acts like buying fair trade chocolate or more complex ones like influencing educational systems.

Highlights

You don't have to be an expert or activist to make the world a better place.

The SDGs are not just lofty promises by the United Nations; they are an integral part of our daily lives.

Everyday headlines in the news touch on SDGs, such as education (SDG 4), migration (SDGs 1, 8, 16), and mental health (SDG 3).

The speaker introduces three steps to integrate SDGs into daily life: Listen, Act, and Listen Again.

First step: Listen – take time to listen to yourself and others to understand what truly matters.

Second step: Act – develop a plan that aligns with who you are and the world around you.

Third step: Listen Again – check if your actions are working, and make adjustments if needed.

Personal experience of quitting a PhD showed the importance of listening to oneself, despite external pressures.

Consulting work taught the importance of listening to others before jumping to solutions, improving both the process and outcomes.

Bringing listening into the innovation process leads to better, more sustainable innovations.

SDGs are not just for experts – they apply to everyone’s choices and actions, no matter the scale.

The speaker emphasizes the value of small sustainable choices, like buying fair-trade chocolate or compensating for air travel.

Companies can use the same Listen, Act, and Listen Again process to improve their sustainability strategies.

The importance of innovation being driven by listening to customer needs rather than purely technology.

The speaker encourages individuals to reflect on what they can do differently today to contribute to a more sustainable world.

Transcripts

[Applause]

how many of you would consider

yourselves an activist can you raise

your hands

a couple not too many how many of you

would consider yourselves an expert

again okay we are a few more right now

how many of you would like to make the

world a better place yeah much better

great now suddenly it's everybody well I

have good news for you because you don't

have to be an expert or an activist to

make the world a better place now by now

we've heard a lot about the SDGs

and all of us sitting here know what

they are and we also know that they're

not just some lofty promises made by the

United Nations they're an integral part

of our daily lives now if you're not yet

convinced let me show you this is

Saturday's newspaper and every single

headline is about the SDGs there's one

about the number of tests that

schoolchildren have to do and they

literally ask the question is this good

education SDG for there are two

headlines about migration which touches

on a whole range of SDGs from no poverty

SDG one decent work and economic growth

SDG eight peace justice and strong

institutions SDG sixteen and at the top

here there's even a story about how to

battle your winter dip might not seem

like it has much to do with sustainable

development but the winter dip means

mental health good health and well-being

SDG three

now what I find really comforting about

all of these stories is that they touch

on the everyday lives of normal people

like you and me and you can do this with

any newspaper on any day you'll see the

SDGs are everywhere and especially on a

day like today when we hear so many

inspiring stories to me it helps to make

the SDGs smaller and a little bit closer

and what I'd like to share with you

today are three steps that have helped

me to bring the SDGs into my daily life

and those steps are listen act and

listen again first of all listen really

listen to yourself and to others now for

some of us it's harder to listen to

ourselves Visayas it's harder to listen

to other people and there's somebody in

the front row giving a bit of a guilty

laugh so I'm pretty sure that that

struggle bone the second is act come up

with a plan that fits who you are but

also the world around you and finally

listen again check if your plan is

working and make changes if you need to

when I was growing up I knew one thing

for sure and that's that I wanted to

make a difference in capital letters but

I just didn't know how and so I tried to

be an activist I wrote fiery speeches

and I got in heated debates but it just

wasn't me then I tried to be an expert I

started a PhD I stopped a PhD that just

wasn't me either

and so now I'm a sustainability

consultant which means sometimes I get

to be a bit of an activist and sometimes

I get to be a bit of an expert but most

of the time

I get to be me and make a difference in

my own way now what do these steps have

to do with that well let me share some

experiences which helped me to make them

a part of my life I mentioned I quit a

PhD well I started it when I was 24 PhD

in economics and my family was really

proud my friends were thrilled but on a

day-to-day basis I really really was

miserable and it took a lot of courage

to actually pull myself together and

make the decision to stop I felt like I

was letting a lot of people down but

when I did quit a weight lifted off my

shoulders and I was so much happier and

that experience taught me to listen to

myself now believe it or not being a

consultant actually taught me to listen

to other people a lot of people don't

like consultants because they think that

they're always trying to sell something

which well it may be true at least some

of the time but what I've noticed is

that many consultants myself included

tend to focus on the act part the

solution without really taking time to

understand what's going on and I've

learned that if I take the time to

understand the situation then the

selling part feels completely different

not only is the plan the solution much

better but people are more open to it as

well so listen first and then act and

believe it or not a free tip this works

really well in in personal relationships

as well first listen then act also

something that I've learned the hard way

and then finally listen again it took me

a number of jobs to figure out my way of

making a difference

I've worked in the public sector in the

private sector for large corporations

for small startups in five jobs on four

continents before the age of 30 now if

you're a millennial this is normal but

at the time it wasn't I cannot call

myself a millennial anymore but I

learned to learn from what didn't work

and to adjust accordingly so by now you

may be wondering what an earth does this

have to do with sustainable development

and the SDGs it's this you can use these

steps as a guideline for making

sustainable choices who do you listen to

what if the people that you listen to

are not just your family and friends but

are the people in your community the

people who are growing the beans to make

your coffee the people who'll be around

in 30 to 40 years time what if you

really take the time to understand

what's important to them and the way

that your choices impact on their lives

then you'll make different choices from

now on you might choose to buy fair

trade chocolate you might choose to

compensate your air travel I've

mentioned I use these steps at home

especially the chocolate pod but also to

work and when people ask me what what I

do I tell them I'm a relationship

therapist they all look a little bit

confused and say I help companies work

on having a healthy long-term

relationship with the world around them

using listen act and listen again well

of course I have to translate it into a

bit more consultant speak so I usually

say stakeholders strategy

impact which sounds very fancy but it's

actually the same now companies listen

by collecting data and they act by

formulating and implementing a strategy

to achieve the SDGs we all need a new

strategy we need to do things

differently we need to innovate and the

interesting thing is that companies when

it comes to innovation innovation are

learning to listen better if you think

back to Henry Ford when he brought the

Model T Ford onto the market it was

available in one color black and when

the new model came onto the market the

adverts simply said buy it it's a better

car so the innovation then was really

technology driven and the customer came

later nowadays if you look at innovation

it's really different so the cycle from

idea to prototype to feedback it goes

much faster and listening is an integral

part of the innovation process as a

result car manufacturers especially of

electric cars have learned that people

were using their their car batteries to

store the solar energy the excess solar

energy in their homes and as a result

car manufacturers started to make

batteries for use it for storing energy

inside the home as well and of course as

we all know you can take that energy and

stick it into any color car you want now

of course I'm not saying that all

innovations are necessarily sustainable

absolutely not but I am saying that if

you bring listening into the innovation

process then not only will innovations

be more sustainable they'll be better

and they'll bring us closer to the SDGs

well likewise in our personal lives

we're all touching on the SDGs in some

way but our impact can be bigger better

and more positive if we listen act and

listen again if we go back to the

newspaper headlines it might be

something relatively simple like

tackling your winter dip it might be

something really relatively complicated

like changing an entire educational

system either way

it's about figuring out what works for

you and for those around you what are

you going to do to bring sustainability

into your life what are you going to do

differently now that's something that

each of us needs to figure out for

ourselves

but listen act and listen again can help

you ask yourself the questions what's

important to me and those around me now

and in the future what am i doing today

to make those important things happen is

it working and if not what am I going to

change remember you don't have to be an

expert or an activist to make the world

a better place thank you

[Applause]