Three of our clients Joanna Rawbone, Caroline Strachan and Rachel Davis were selected as speakers at the TEDx Folkestone 2019 event.
Speakers at this year's event were encouraged to explore their ideas and interpretations of our future; taking into account their own personal experiences and ideologies, and how they would like to use these to change the world (or just the community).
Joanna Rawbone spoke on "Tackling Extraversion Bias to unlock the potential of Introverts"
The bias towards Extraversion leaves up to 50% of the talent in a business exhausted by pretending, in order to fit in, or frustrated that their natural qualities are undervalued. The irrefutable neurodiversity that underlies Introversion and Extraversion is still widely misunderstood. And the existence of scientific evidence of the neurological basis for this diversity is often denied. Little wonder, then, that the world of work and business practices are routinely biased towards Extraversion.
In this heartfelt talk, Joanna identifies some of the most obvious business practices that are biased, which many Introverts will instantly recognise. She outlines the negative consequences of these practices which include the impact on productivity, well-being and diversity. For businesses that are ready to level the playing field in order to honour this aspect of diversity for true inclusion, she outlines her 3-step process to reduce and ultimately eliminate this bias and its negative consequences. She urges organisations to take positive action and encourages introverts to own their strengths and step into their power.
More about her work with individuals and organisations can be found at www.flourishingintroverts.com
Joanna Rawbone MSc is a lifelong learner filled with curiosity, the prospect of possibility and gratitude. She is the founder of Scintillo Ltd, an Ashford based training & coaching consultancy established in 2004. With a loyal international client list, she enables people to set themselves free from their limiting beliefs, own their natural talents and optimise potential.
Caroline Strachan spoke on "Why gender equality is not just about women"
Despite a massive focus on women in the workplace, progress towards a gender equal workplace is slow. What needs to change?
This talk calls for an equal focus on confidence, capability and childcare as the true drivers of change. It’s time to call out the current gender equality bandwagon and move on to a new, truly equal approach to work. www.womenatwork.org.uk Caroline has spent the majority of her career in the travel industry working for companies such as American Express, Cisco, Yahoo and AstraZeneca. Caroline co-founded consultancy Festive Road and has also volunteered as the Institute of Travel Management Chairman, Global Business Travel Association Europe President and has received a number of awards in recognition of her services to the industry.
Most recently these include IBM iX everywoman Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 and Business Travel News Top 25 most influential people 2018. In her spare time Caroline co-leads support network Women at Work, and delivers a number of industry education programmes.
Rachel Davis spoke on "Inspiring confidence & self-belief in children through music"
After helping thousands of children to tidy up with her epic dance track, “Pick Up Your Pants,” Rachel realised she was on to something. In this amusing and thought-provoking talk, Rachel explains how the belief systems formed in early childhood can be influenced through love and music to increase your child’s self-worth, confidence and self-belief, allowing them to live to their full potential. www.lalatigers.com Rachel is the founder of LaLa Tigers, an NLP Practitioner, musician and mother of two. She writes music to increase connection and self-esteem in children.
Her idea for a reimagined future is that every child understands the power they hold inside of themselves to create the life of their dreams and that they also have the courage and the self-belief to step into it. She is fascinated by how the belief systems that we form in the first 7 years of our lives go on to shape the rest of it, mostly subconsciously …and how these can be positively influenced by music.
These talks were given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx