My passport to ευδαιμονία (happiness+) – a TED Talk

18 May 2011

Feeling in the doldrums? (I’m thinking about the economy, of course.) Imagine being an entrepreneur or professional in Greece. Many want to leave. Yet Greece’s resurrection is in their hands.

TEDxTalks just posted one Greek entrepreneur’s heartfelt plea to Greeks around the world. Onic Palandjian, friend and client, told how he found his passport to ευδαιμονία (eudaimonia) in Greece. It’s his call to Greeks around the world to enlist in the country’s resurrection.

When Onic Palandjian asked me to help produce his TED talk, I first wondered: ‘what’s Eudaimonia?’ (All languages have unique words. Look up kapara, nunchi, mamihlapinatapai, honne and tatemae.) Literally, Eudaimonia means ‘happiness’ or ‘well-being’. But it’s far more than that. It’s happiness+. Aristotle wrote about it.

Everyone has their own, personal, magic formula for happiness+. What’s yours?

Onic is super-passionate about Greece, and how it is his passport to eudaimonia. But he had just 18 minutes to present. TED has strict rules! Read how Onic felt preparing and delivering a TED presentation.

Preparing wasn’t easy. Of course, we wanted to show Onic’s passion. But we had to appeal to a sceptical audience. And pessimism prevails in Greece. I think he won them over, though:

“Palandjian’s whole presentation is engaging, lively & quotable.”

“A human and inspired speech.”

“People want more of that jazz.”

Onic wanted to tap into feelings of responsibility. In one consultation, he showed me a photo of his young son, Artin, planting a tree. They were working together on a reforestation project. Names in some countries have special meanings. So I looked up ‘Artin’. It means ‘resurrection’. And that’s how we decided on the presentation’s finale.

My eudaimonia
Oh, and my eudaimonia today? My children’s joyful welcome home. (I heard it from the driveway as I returned from the IMLPO annual conference). I’d given a talk to money laundering prevention officers about communicating. It’s the bliss of helping people who fight corruption make their big ideas stick and spread. And it’s the appreciation of my children whose world will be better when IMLPO succeeds.

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