SXSW Moments: Thriving At Work
The Forrest Four-Cast: April 29, 2019
May 1 became known as International Workers Day to recognize the hundreds of thousands of workers who went on strike and rallied across the U.S. on May 1, 1884, demanding an eight-hour workday, and the subsequent Haymarket Affair, which took place three days later when the rally in Chicago turned into a deadly riot. Today’s working world may have changed, but with new opportunities come new challenges. Learn more about making the most of your time at work — and be grateful when it’s only a third of your day! — from the SXSW 2019 panels below.
What Business Leaders Can Learn About Workplace Dynamics from Couples Therapy
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Famed couples therapist Esther Perel has spent more than 35 years helping people articulate their aspirations, explore boundaries between self and others, and repair trust that is broken. Now she’s applying her extensive knowledge of relationships to help us master the art of modern leadership. Navigating relationships and cultivating relational fluency is key both personally and professionally. We don’t magically become different people when we walk into our office. Once considered a “soft skill” in the workplace, relational intelligence is now one of the top currencies of business success.
A Crash Course in Empathy and Leadership
Diversity in the workplace is a hot topic and deservedly-so, as businesses both large and small attempt to broaden their perspective by building a more gender-, age- and race-diverse workforce. But it’s no easy task, especially within firms unused to embracing such inherent differences. Whether there’s a rift between a roomful of Baby Boomers, a handful of Gen X-ers and an onslaught of Millennials, or an influx of women and minorities into a mostly all-White, all-male space, Michael Ventura, CEO & Founder of Sub Rosa, believes that Applied Empathy is the one thing that can help bridge the gap, appreciating how people expect to be understood in ways that are nuanced and personal. He shares seven Empathic Archetypes and explain strategies for dealing with each.
Mindful Self Care: The Antidote to Burnout at Work
Over a million people miss work daily due to burnout and unmitigated stress. This session explores how mindfulness-based self-care can be an antidote to burnout, exploring why “feeling stressed” differs from “being burned out.” Michelle Berry, Founder and CEO of Courtney Consulting Enterprises, unpacks the mental, physical, financial, health, personal, and professional impacts caused by burnout, examines our resistance to self-care, and describes easy-to-learn daily rituals for mindful self-care to shift mindsets, enhance moods, and create happy, healthy workplaces.
Inner Wellbeing: three rituals for everyday upliftment
In a world of burnout culture and digital chaos, one thing remains: the power of deep, spiritual connection to cut through the noise and ground us in clarity, purpose and love. It doesn’t have a financial cost, but it does take practice and time. Inner Wellbeing is what Tara-Nicholle Nelson calls the upgraded, uplifted thoughts, emotions, actions and inner narratives that change our outer lives. The rewards show up in every area of our lives: health, wealth, wisdom and, especially self-expression. The ability to trigger creative flow and take intellectual risks on demand. In this session, she shares the proven spiritual and practical frameworks, practices and rituals she’s now taught to over 12,000 people, helping them level up their lives and bring 100% of themselves to the world.
The Future of Wellbeing through Ubiquitous Sensing
The panel explores how sensors can shape the future of work and personal life to make people happier and healthier, presenting cutting-edge research on human sensing that can subtly influence human actions and perceptions, such as jewelry that regulates appetite and camera signals that detect emotion. Yet can sensors be used as a workplace “big brother”? How can we ensure that these technologies are used for greater individual and societal good? Panelists include technologists who develop state of the art sensors and experts in human-computer interaction and psychology.
More Memories from SXSW 2019
Change is Coming
Urban Mobility
It’s Time for Sports!
Saving the Ocean
Military Matters
Women’s Health
Social Media Power
Telling New Media Stories
Motherhood
Marvel’s Magic
Future Health
May the Fourth
Women in Tech
Growing Unicorns
Making a Difference
Fighting Fake News
Disaster Response
Hacking Democracy
Pete Buttigieg
Kara Swisher
Arlan Hamilton
Do these audio recordings inspire you to get involved in a SXSW session next year? Enter your forward-thinking speaking proposal for March 2020 via the SXSW PanelPicker. Speaking proposals for next year’s event are accepted via this interface from July 1 through July 19.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
