Beverly Ann Pamplona

This is really a 2-hour presentation I give to highschool students, cut down to 3 mins. It all started one day on a plane, on my way to Ted, 7 years ago. And in the seat next to me was a highschool student, a teenager, and she came from a really poor family. And she wanted to make something of her life and she asked me a simple little question. She said, “what leads to success?” And I felt really badly, because I couldn't give her a good answer. So I get off the plane and I come to Ted. And I think, jeez! I’m in a middle of a room of successful people so why don't I ask them what helped them succeed, and pass it on to kids? So here we are, 7 years, 500 interviews later, and I'm going to tell you what really leads to success and makes Tedsters tick. And the first thing is passion. Freeman Thomas says, “I’m driven by my passion”. Tedsters do it for love, they don’t do it for money. Carol Coletta says, “I would pay someone to do what I do”. The interesting thing is if you do it for love, money comes anyway. Work! Rupert Murdoch said to me, “It’s all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun.” Did he say fun? Rupert? Yes! Tedsters do have fun working. And they work hard. I figured, they’re not workaholics, they’re workafrolics. Good! Alex Garden says, “To be successful, put your nose down in something and get damn good at it.” There's no magic; it's practice practice practice. And it’s focus. Norman Jewison said to me, “I think it all has to do with focusing yourself to one thing” And push! David Gallo says “Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you’ve got to push push push. You’ve got to push through shyness and self doubt. Goldie Hawn says, “I always had self-doubts. I wasn’t good enough; I wasn’t smart enough. I didn't think I’d make it.” Now, it’s not always easy to push yourself, and that’s why they invented mothers. Frank Gehry said to me, “My mother pushed me.” Serve. Sherwin Nuland says, “It was a privilege to serve as a doctor.” A lot of kids want to be millionaires. The first thing I say is: “okay, well you can’t serve yourself; you’ve got to serve others something of value. Because that’s the way people really get rich.” Ideas. Tedster Bill Gates says, “I had an idea founding the first micro-computer software company.” I’d say, It was a pretty good idea. And there’s no magic to creativity in coming up with ideas- it’s just doing some very simple things and I give lots of evidence. Persist. Joe Kraus says, “Persistence is the number one reason for our success.” You gotta persist through failure. You gotta persist through crap which of course means “Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure. So, the answer to the question is simple: Pay 4,000 bucks and come to Ted. Or failing that, do the 8 things - and trust me these are the big 8 things that leads to success. Thank you Tedsters for all your interviews!