UCLA Anderson TED Week: Campfire Finale

Check out photos from the entire TED Week at Anderson!

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By Bijan White and Cheechee Lin

Last week’s exhilarating panel discussions and individual talks by leaders in the most eclectic fields culminated in UCLA Anderson’s live TED Week Campfire Talks. The late Thursday sun highlighted an elaborate outdoor stage, where several Anderson faculty and students spoke about personal experiences, endeavors and accomplishments in presentations that emphasized their individuality and the diversity of the Anderson community.

Devon Kelley (’16) shared his story of a summer working with the Israeli national lacrosse team. Kelley spent his days training and working in Tel Aviv amid violence and terror, which gripped the regions surrounding the Gaza Strip. However, despite the ever-present threat of violence, Kelley said, the people of Tel Aviv found solace in their community. He found it in the camaraderie of sport. And he said it could be a viable path to peace:

What if, just one in ten of every instance of a Jew and a Muslim coming together to a game of lacrosse — what if, one in ten of those started with catch and turned into laughter, which turned into friendship, which turned into understanding, which turned into trust, which turned into peace?

Corinne Bendersky, Anderson associate professor of management and organizations, explained surprising findings on team dynamics applied to the hiring process. Contrary to what might be regarded as common wisdom, Bendersky asserts that introverted candidates are more valuable team members than extroverts. According to her published research, introverts draw less attention to themselves and therefore inspire lower initial expectations in teams; whereas, perhaps not unexpectedly, the extrovert will assume a leadership position and, by extension, be rewarded with higher status. However, in the long run, introverts will, more often than not, fulfill their duties and exceed the expectations awarded to them by their peers and gain status. As it turns out, the extrovert often fails to meet the high expectations awarded to him or her and loses status. Bendersky argues that extroverts are best put to use in individual assignments, while the introvert is the best choice for team-driven assignments.

Devon Dickau (’15), UCLA Anderson Student Association outgoing vice president of student affairs, described his personal experience as a homosexual man working for an NGO ten years ago in Tanzania, a state that, at best, denied the existence of homosexuality and at worst criminalized it. “Bringing myself back into the closet was detrimental not only to my personal well-being, but to my professional success,” he said. Returning to America was a difficult and jarring experience in its own way: “There are 29 states where it is unsafe to be who I am; I could be fired for who I am and it would be legal.”

The glass ceiling still exists in corporate America today for LGBT people and for many other minorities. Dickau called for not only equality in the workplace, but a promise to live authentically:

My leadership…is a political action. To lead authentically, to be public about who I am, is far more important than anything I could do in the board room or in the classroom. Each of us must decide to lead authentically. Be who you are. Know each other. All of us must come out of the glass closet.

Isadore Dantas (FEMBA ’16), Molly Joel Coye of UCLA’s Institute for Innovation in Health, and Anderson Professor of Marketing and Psychology Danny Oppenheimer also contributed original TED Campfire Talks. They were an energetic culmination to the aura of curiosity that pervaded the week. With each TED conference talk and live Anderson panel, we learned more about the world. On Thursday evening, we learned a great deal more about our own teachers and friends.

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This year's TED conference convened in Vancouver, Canada, under the theme Truth and Dare. The fourth annual TED Week at Anderson brings together the UCLA community to share ideas that change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.

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