TALKS
Ted Powell | When Your Mind Works Against You
In his talk, Ted Powell explains how to recognize when your brain is working for you and when it might be working against you. “Realizing that we can control our way of thinking in response to a seemingly chaotic world,” he argues, “is one of the most liberating and transformative human experiences we can have.”
Our minds are programmed to make the unknown “known” as part of our basic survival mechanism. But in a seemingly chaotic world, Powell argues that our brains are too often hijacked by what he calls the “Drunken Monkey,” which compulsively seeks absolute and certain truths in order to maintain a false sense of security in our rapidly changing world. Rather than learning to be comfortable with unanswered questions, our minds work against us when we prematurely reject a new or different idea out of the fear of the unknown.
Ted Powell helps organizations, teams and people thrive in business while living their dreams. Since 1995, he’s been a Managing Partner at Stop At Nothing, Inc., a 30-year old Jacksonville-based consulting firm. Prior to that, he enjoyed a 14-year marketing career with American Express and AT&T.
In coaching and observing hundreds of leaders throughout the world, Powell saw that self-awareness and personal responsibility (or lack thereof) contributed more to success or failure than any other leadership skill. By facilitating break-through learning experiences for teams and individuals, Powell realizes his dream of helping leaders maintain healthy, creative, and inspired environments, where people can collaborate and create to their fullest potential.
Powell has also been challenged to apply these experiences in contributing to the health and well being of his family, which includes his wife Nancy and their children, Laura Jane, Teddy and Scott. Work/life balance, practiced imperfectly, is one of his most passionate hobbies. Powell grew up in Memphis, TN before obtaining a B.A. in Economics at the University of Virginia in 1981.
