1 00:00:18,229 --> 00:00:19,340 Hi. 2 00:00:21,180 --> 00:00:23,970 (Superman theme song) 3 00:00:38,871 --> 00:00:42,358 I'm here to talk to you for 15 fun-packed minutes 4 00:00:42,358 --> 00:00:45,661 about what is enough to live a happy and fruitful life, 5 00:00:45,661 --> 00:00:49,303 and I'm going to tell you all how you can become Superman. 6 00:00:49,303 --> 00:00:53,341 And I'm going to weave this seamlessly into a story 7 00:00:53,341 --> 00:00:56,182 and hope to get through the whole thing in one piece. 8 00:00:59,162 --> 00:01:01,461 This is Charles Handy. 9 00:01:01,811 --> 00:01:03,412 In no particular order, 10 00:01:03,412 --> 00:01:06,040 he's one of the world's leading management gurus, 11 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:07,811 he's an unbelievably nice man, 12 00:01:07,811 --> 00:01:10,431 he's very wise, he's written lots of books. 13 00:01:10,811 --> 00:01:15,100 And on one January 1st, one New Year's Day, 14 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:17,162 about five years ago, 15 00:01:17,662 --> 00:01:22,768 he came to see me in my house with his wife, Elizabeth. 16 00:01:23,308 --> 00:01:26,471 And welcoming one of the world's leading management gurus 17 00:01:26,471 --> 00:01:28,500 into your home on New Year's Day 18 00:01:28,500 --> 00:01:32,281 can put an entirely new light on New Year's Eve celebrations. 19 00:01:32,281 --> 00:01:34,201 (Laughter) 20 00:01:34,631 --> 00:01:38,151 I was home and tucked up by 12. 21 00:01:39,291 --> 00:01:43,260 Charles was one of the people who created portfolio existence: 22 00:01:43,260 --> 00:01:46,452 the very thought that we might have to do several different jobs 23 00:01:46,452 --> 00:01:47,909 in the course of our lives. 24 00:01:48,109 --> 00:01:51,221 And he was also writing a book about philanthropy, 25 00:01:51,221 --> 00:01:54,711 and I was writing a book about giving - how to give effectively. 26 00:01:54,711 --> 00:01:56,560 And we got on really well. 27 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,080 But it was one of the things that we talked about 28 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,650 that left an ever-lasting impression on my brain and my mind 29 00:02:03,650 --> 00:02:04,940 and indeed my life, 30 00:02:04,940 --> 00:02:07,250 and that is, What is enough? 31 00:02:07,900 --> 00:02:09,729 And Charles and his wife, Elizabeth, 32 00:02:09,729 --> 00:02:14,619 had decided that they were going to lead the life that they wanted to lead. 33 00:02:14,619 --> 00:02:17,730 So, every year, they sit down, and they work out 34 00:02:17,730 --> 00:02:21,862 how much money they need to fund their simple lifestyle for the year. 35 00:02:21,862 --> 00:02:24,941 Charles adds 20 percent because he worries. 36 00:02:24,941 --> 00:02:26,400 (Laughter) 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,159 And then they divide their year into three. 38 00:02:30,449 --> 00:02:33,711 One-third of the year, Charles works. 39 00:02:33,711 --> 00:02:37,751 He gives management advice, makes speeches, and he charges for it. 40 00:02:37,751 --> 00:02:40,691 One-third of his life, he writes books, 41 00:02:40,691 --> 00:02:43,370 and he's written several best-selling management books. 42 00:02:43,370 --> 00:02:46,178 And one-third of his life, he helps people for nothing. 43 00:02:46,178 --> 00:02:47,889 He does pro bono work. 44 00:02:47,889 --> 00:02:49,471 And as he explained to me, 45 00:02:49,471 --> 00:02:52,109 he did this because he wanted to find 46 00:02:52,109 --> 00:02:55,578 the other parts of his life and his character that he could develop. 47 00:02:55,578 --> 00:03:00,029 In his own wonderful words, he wanted to maximize his life, 48 00:03:00,029 --> 00:03:01,550 not his income. 49 00:03:03,790 --> 00:03:09,950 And, of course, not all of us can live like Charles has rearranged his life, 50 00:03:09,950 --> 00:03:14,300 but we can all decide what enough is for us. 51 00:03:14,300 --> 00:03:19,010 We can all sit down and decide how much we need to live a happy and fruitful life. 52 00:03:19,309 --> 00:03:21,950 And you'd be interested to know that - What is enough? - 53 00:03:21,950 --> 00:03:24,381 there is no definition of what is enough. 54 00:03:24,381 --> 00:03:26,030 There is no right answer. 55 00:03:26,030 --> 00:03:29,801 So, for example, a family living in a village in rural Kenya 56 00:03:29,801 --> 00:03:31,891 would need completely different needs 57 00:03:31,891 --> 00:03:35,041 from a family living in a city like Exeter or London. 58 00:03:35,041 --> 00:03:36,639 But nevertheless, 59 00:03:36,639 --> 00:03:40,880 having a conversation with yourself about what is enough 60 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,150 can have a profound and transforming effect on your life. 61 00:03:44,150 --> 00:03:45,448 To begin with, 62 00:03:45,448 --> 00:03:48,222 you won't have to spend enormous quantities of money, 63 00:03:48,222 --> 00:03:50,444 buying things that you don't really need. 64 00:03:51,741 --> 00:03:53,520 You can take some time out. 65 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:55,381 You won't have to work so hard. 66 00:03:55,601 --> 00:03:58,141 You probably won't have to work such long hours. 67 00:03:58,141 --> 00:03:59,481 You can do what Charles did. 68 00:03:59,481 --> 00:04:02,971 You can set out to maximize your own lives, not your income. 69 00:04:03,271 --> 00:04:06,013 You can perhaps volunteer to help a charity. 70 00:04:08,123 --> 00:04:13,902 Let's just take three ideas for what is enough. 71 00:04:14,902 --> 00:04:19,411 The average lifetime of a driver is 60 years. 72 00:04:19,751 --> 00:04:21,807 If you buy a new car every two years, 73 00:04:21,807 --> 00:04:25,221 you'll be the proud owner of 30 brand-new cars. 74 00:04:25,721 --> 00:04:30,431 If you change your car every six years, you'd be the proud owner of just 10 cars. 75 00:04:31,123 --> 00:04:36,186 And we all know that a six-year-old car goes happily from A to B. 76 00:04:36,942 --> 00:04:39,642 But we'll see, it's 20 less cars. 77 00:04:39,642 --> 00:04:43,490 It's less resources needed from our much battered planet. 78 00:04:45,260 --> 00:04:46,932 Take the subject to presents. 79 00:04:47,772 --> 00:04:50,040 Okay, this is engagement time. 80 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:55,451 Hands up those who every year get presents that they don't really want. 81 00:04:56,201 --> 00:04:57,340 (Laughter) 82 00:04:57,340 --> 00:04:58,442 Unbelievable, isn't it? 83 00:04:58,442 --> 00:04:59,990 It's almost the entire audience. 84 00:04:59,990 --> 00:05:01,851 And I'm afraid it follows, sadly, 85 00:05:01,851 --> 00:05:05,368 that you give presents to people every year that they don't want either. 86 00:05:05,368 --> 00:05:06,761 (Laughter) 87 00:05:07,651 --> 00:05:12,000 Present-buying done well is a wonderful, wonderful thing to do. 88 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,552 Done badly, it's just simply a colossal waste of money. 89 00:05:15,552 --> 00:05:18,061 I think eBay, about two Christmases ago, 90 00:05:18,061 --> 00:05:22,412 had something like one million presents up on eBay on Christmas Day - 91 00:05:22,412 --> 00:05:23,763 (Laughter) 92 00:05:23,763 --> 00:05:25,797 many of them by 10 o'clock in the morning - 93 00:05:25,797 --> 00:05:27,272 it defies description. 94 00:05:28,822 --> 00:05:32,657 Move on to the slightly more serious subject of food. 95 00:05:33,737 --> 00:05:37,459 There are one billion people in the world hungry 96 00:05:37,459 --> 00:05:39,422 who don't know today - 97 00:05:39,422 --> 00:05:42,901 who don't know how they're going to make it through to the end of the week 98 00:05:42,901 --> 00:05:44,749 or, indeed, the end of the month. 99 00:05:44,989 --> 00:05:48,510 And at the same time, there are one billion people in the world, 100 00:05:48,510 --> 00:05:50,970 according to the World Health Organization, 101 00:05:51,330 --> 00:05:54,267 who are obese or overweight 102 00:05:54,497 --> 00:05:55,700 and probably on diets 103 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:58,030 or running around in gyms like hamsters. 104 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:03,317 And in the wonderful Make Poverty History video several years ago, 105 00:06:03,317 --> 00:06:05,291 they quite rightly pointed out 106 00:06:05,291 --> 00:06:09,200 that somebody dies with hunger and starvation every three seconds. 107 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,048 (Snaps fingers three times) 108 00:06:13,908 --> 00:06:17,049 And at the same time as all this is going on, 109 00:06:17,049 --> 00:06:19,489 in North America and Europe, 110 00:06:19,489 --> 00:06:24,078 we throw away three times the food 111 00:06:24,078 --> 00:06:26,870 that would be needed to feed the bottom billion. 112 00:06:26,870 --> 00:06:28,420 In the UK alone, 113 00:06:28,850 --> 00:06:31,906 we throw away one-third of all the food we buy. 114 00:06:31,906 --> 00:06:33,387 You couldn't really make it up. 115 00:06:33,387 --> 00:06:35,489 There's enough food to go around the world. 116 00:06:35,489 --> 00:06:37,960 It just simply doesn't go around. 117 00:06:39,170 --> 00:06:42,631 So, I think that we need to live more simply 118 00:06:42,631 --> 00:06:45,091 so that others may simply live. 119 00:06:45,491 --> 00:06:50,489 We need to set out to create a world, not acquire it, 120 00:06:51,319 --> 00:06:53,053 to build a world of you and me, 121 00:06:53,053 --> 00:06:54,481 not you or me. 122 00:06:57,871 --> 00:06:59,311 Back to Superman. 123 00:06:59,931 --> 00:07:03,502 Superman's role in life was to right wrongs 124 00:07:03,502 --> 00:07:05,740 and fight for social justice. 125 00:07:05,740 --> 00:07:08,460 "And what on earth does this got to do with me?" you ask. 126 00:07:08,700 --> 00:07:09,980 Well, the bottom line is 127 00:07:09,980 --> 00:07:12,690 that every single person in this theater today, 128 00:07:12,690 --> 00:07:17,071 this week can be Superman to one of the bottom billion in the world. 129 00:07:18,650 --> 00:07:22,961 You can provide an education for a girl in a village in Bihar 130 00:07:23,391 --> 00:07:26,341 who otherwise would not finish school 131 00:07:26,341 --> 00:07:28,138 but would go to work in the fields 132 00:07:28,138 --> 00:07:31,442 and even worse, be trafficked into child prostitution. 133 00:07:33,302 --> 00:07:39,983 You can provide medical help and food for a family living in a village in Kenya. 134 00:07:40,303 --> 00:07:45,000 You can provide a microloan, 50 to 100 pounds, 135 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,540 to help lift a group of women start a business 136 00:07:48,540 --> 00:07:52,121 and help lift them and their families out of poverty. 137 00:07:53,271 --> 00:07:55,869 A group of you could get together at lunchtime, 138 00:07:55,869 --> 00:07:58,880 and you could decide that you're going to raise enough money 139 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,690 to buy a well for a village in Ethiopia 140 00:08:02,930 --> 00:08:09,431 that would provide fresh water for about 500 people, 500 villagers. 141 00:08:09,431 --> 00:08:10,991 If you do the maths, 142 00:08:10,991 --> 00:08:13,852 1,500 pounds, 500 villagers - 143 00:08:13,852 --> 00:08:18,390 that's giving fresh water to one person or a child in a village 144 00:08:18,390 --> 00:08:20,332 for the price of a latte. 145 00:08:20,772 --> 00:08:22,470 It's quite extraordinary. 146 00:08:29,190 --> 00:08:32,693 Over the last two or three years, I've been very fortunate; 147 00:08:32,693 --> 00:08:36,302 I've been able to start a couple of charities, 148 00:08:36,302 --> 00:08:42,412 and I've met thousands, literally thousands of simply remarkable people 149 00:08:42,412 --> 00:08:45,171 doing wonderful things to change the world 150 00:08:46,281 --> 00:08:49,471 in many different ways from the simplest, simplest things 151 00:08:49,471 --> 00:08:52,991 to people of great courage who're doing remarkable work, 152 00:08:52,991 --> 00:08:54,310 some of whom, actually, 153 00:08:54,318 --> 00:08:56,720 you're going to meet, and you've heard from today. 154 00:08:57,770 --> 00:09:02,168 And I think I've discovered the purpose of life. 155 00:09:03,918 --> 00:09:05,328 And that's good, isn't it? 156 00:09:05,328 --> 00:09:06,379 Always. 157 00:09:06,379 --> 00:09:08,468 (Laughter) 158 00:09:08,698 --> 00:09:10,759 It's a very rich TED Talk. 159 00:09:10,759 --> 00:09:12,160 (Laughter) 160 00:09:12,570 --> 00:09:16,500 And the purpose of life is to help other people, 161 00:09:18,070 --> 00:09:20,839 to help your family, to help your friends, 162 00:09:20,839 --> 00:09:22,969 to help people who you would normally ignore, 163 00:09:22,969 --> 00:09:25,758 and to help people you don't even know at all. 164 00:09:27,968 --> 00:09:30,278 And Martin Luther King agrees. 165 00:09:31,238 --> 00:09:32,949 He got there before me. 166 00:09:33,769 --> 00:09:37,160 "Life's persistent and most urging question is, 167 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,257 What are you doing for the lives of others?" 168 00:09:44,037 --> 00:09:48,969 So, your mission in the next couple of weeks, your homework 169 00:09:49,249 --> 00:09:53,710 is to go home and work out what enough is for you, 170 00:09:53,980 --> 00:09:58,430 to stop buying stuff you really don't want or need or will use, 171 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:00,140 to get a grip, 172 00:10:01,730 --> 00:10:04,051 (Laughter) 173 00:10:04,621 --> 00:10:09,101 and to turn yourselves into Superman or Superwoman 174 00:10:09,661 --> 00:10:13,180 and go out and help one of the poorest people in the world, 175 00:10:13,540 --> 00:10:14,839 to help others. 176 00:10:14,839 --> 00:10:16,591 Thank you very much. 177 00:10:16,591 --> 00:10:18,869 (Applause)