0:00:19.439,0:00:21.259 Ten years ago, 0:00:21.259,0:00:23.439 I quit my job as a bookseller, 0:00:23.439,0:00:25.319 I packed my luggage, 0:00:25.319,0:00:28.549 and I left Paris to live in Los Angeles. 0:00:29.398,0:00:31.508 I didn’t know anyone there 0:00:31.508,0:00:33.668 but I knew that I wanted to make movies 0:00:33.668,0:00:37.658 so it made sense to go to Hollywood. 0:00:38.674,0:00:41.764 After a few years I came back to France, 0:00:41.764,0:00:44.464 and when people would ask me: 0:00:44.464,0:00:46.014 “What do you do in life?” 0:00:46.014,0:00:47.034 I would reply, 0:00:47.034,0:00:49.604 “I’m a filmmaker. I make movies. 0:00:49.604,0:00:53.214 I’m just back from a few years in L.A.” 0:00:53.214,0:00:56.994 I would often see a sparkle in their eyes 0:00:56.994,0:00:58.724 as they'd say, "That's amazing! 0:00:58.724,0:01:00.014 What films do you do? 0:01:00.014,0:01:01.494 Can we see them at the movie? 0:01:01.494,0:01:04.154 Have you worked with famous people?” 0:01:04.595,0:01:05.545 And I would reply, 0:01:05.545,0:01:06.995 “I direct mostly fiction." 0:01:06.995,0:01:09.205 My films don't play at the movie theatre 0:01:09.205,0:01:11.245 - not yet. And no... 0:01:11.245,0:01:13.735 I haven’t worked with anyone famous.” 0:01:14.861,0:01:16.911 At that moment there would be a silence 0:01:16.911,0:01:20.201 long enough for their enthusiasm[br]to go down a few inches 0:01:20.201,0:01:22.391 And then we would keep on talking about 0:01:22.391,0:01:23.991 Los Angeles. 0:01:25.788,0:01:26.628 Little by little, 0:01:26.628,0:01:33.128 tired of seeing people’s reaction[br]going from curious to disappointed 0:01:33.174,0:01:36.004 when they would realize[br]that I was a "wannabe" 0:01:36.004,0:01:40.804 I started lying about what I was doing. 0:01:41.040,0:01:43.950 I stopped saying[br]"I'm a filmmaker" 0:01:43.950,0:01:46.660 to say “I work as a freelance.” 0:01:46.900,0:01:48.740 I stopped saying "I make films" 0:01:48.740,0:01:52.410 to say “I make videos for clients.” 0:01:52.740,0:01:54.810 It sounded less dreamy 0:01:54.810,0:01:56.520 but it was useful and practical. 0:01:56.520,0:01:58.440 We would talk about how to find clients, 0:01:58.440,0:02:00.940 how to bill them, about gear. 0:02:01.330,0:02:02.930 And more importantly, 0:02:02.948,0:02:08.158 I stopped feeling like I had[br]to apologize for my lack of success. 0:02:08.158,0:02:10.538 I began to feel a bit weird [br]about it though. 0:02:10.538,0:02:13.583 I started to wonder:[br]"Why do you lie about what you do?" 0:02:13.593,0:02:18.013 And why do you feel compelled[br]to diminish people's expectations 0:02:18.013,0:02:21.963 so they won’t think you’ve failed? 0:02:22.793,0:02:25.863 It’s at that point that I really started[br]to become interested 0:02:25.873,0:02:28.343 about the concept of “success”. 0:02:28.343,0:02:31.353 And at how it has evolved[br]in the last few years, 0:02:31.353,0:02:36.183 especially with social media's arrival [br]in our lives that reminds us daily 0:02:36.183,0:02:38.653 how we rank on the graph of success 0:02:38.653,0:02:41.533 compared to the other 8 billion. 0:02:43.037,0:02:46.657 This ranking on the “success graph”[br]explains why sometimes, 0:02:46.657,0:02:49.557 when we talk with people,[br]a contest starts 0:02:49.557,0:02:52.657 to find out who has the most impact. 0:02:52.657,0:02:54.627 It’s conveyed through innocent words: 0:02:54.627,0:02:55.967 “I know X person” 0:02:55.967,0:02:57.937 “X number of people follow me”, 0:02:57.937,0:02:59.917 “I visited X number of countries”, 0:02:59.917,0:03:02.397 “I was a speaker at X event”. 0:03:02.397,0:03:05.277 Giving a TED Talk is great[br]to win an impact contest. 0:03:05.719,0:03:08.239 Thank you TED. 0:03:08.984,0:03:12.384 Power and Success have always existed. 0:03:12.384,0:03:15.491 And they’ve always been a fuel[br]for some people, 0:03:15.491,0:03:17.461 and obstacles for others. 0:03:17.461,0:03:20.941 But in the last few years,[br]things have become so intense 0:03:20.941,0:03:25.571 that I’ve already found myself [br]listening to 24-year-olds 0:03:25.571,0:03:28.921 explaining to me that they had [br]abandoned a dream or an idea 0:03:28.921,0:03:31.421 before they had even started. 0:03:31.421,0:03:34.621 And the reason why they[br]had given up before even trying 0:03:34.621,0:03:38.481 is because they were paralyzed by[br]the success of people younger than them 0:03:38.481,0:03:42.231 that they were witnessing daily [br]on social media. 0:03:42.231,0:03:46.741 I’ve listened to 24-year-olds explaining[br]to me that if they really had something 0:03:46.741,0:03:51.831 to achieve on this planet, they should[br]have had their breakthrough by now. 0:03:52.600,0:03:59.860 At 24 they didn’t feel old, [br]they felt expired. 0:04:01.150,0:04:04.770 We have developed a surprising [br]relationship with what we could call 0:04:04.770,0:04:06.870 our “expiration date”. 0:04:06.870,0:04:10.770 We used to have one expiration date:[br]it was the date of our death. 0:04:10.782,0:04:14.352 Today we have a second expiration date [br]in our lives, and it's 0:04:14.352,0:04:17.573 our social expiration date. 0:04:17.573,0:04:23.433 The idea that when we do something, [br]its value must be recognized and 0:04:23.443,0:04:25.433 measurable to exist. 0:04:25.433,0:04:30.463 And if we don’t receive immediately[br]a positive feedback about what we do, 0:04:30.463,0:04:40.833 or worse, if what we do is deemed [br]useless, ridicule, or a failure, 0:04:40.833,0:04:44.873 then we feel socially expired. 0:04:44.873,0:04:47.853 And that’s how some 24-year-olds 0:04:47.853,0:04:51.693 prefer to go sit on the bench to[br]watch History create itself 0:04:51.693,0:04:55.063 without them, rather than [br]risking to do something 0:04:55.063,0:04:59.983 and not receive immediately [br]a positive feedback. 0:05:00.733,0:05:03.123 While I was looking into[br]what "success" means today 0:05:03.123,0:05:04.978 and into our date of social expiration, 0:05:04.978,0:05:07.818 I’ve realised that my job is not 0:05:07.818,0:05:12.078 to write screenplays or direct films. 0:05:12.078,0:05:15.818 My job is to fabricate stories. 0:05:16.146,0:05:20.766 It’s a job that might seem[br]useless, but actually, 0:05:20.766,0:05:27.616 storytelling is the best way that we,[br]humans, have found to survive. 0:05:28.516,0:05:29.736 Tonight, 0:05:29.736,0:05:33.536 if we’ve all come onto this stage[br]to talk to you for 15 minutes, 0:05:33.536,0:05:37.826 it’s because the best way to[br]convey an idea is to do it 0:05:37.826,0:05:39.856 with a story. 0:05:39.856,0:05:46.286 In 2018, we could have made a[br]pdf with each TED Talk's main idea 0:05:46.286,0:05:49.446 summed up in one sentence,[br]and emailed it to you. 0:05:49.446,0:05:51.106 Really, we could have done it. 0:05:51.106,0:05:55.196 It would have cost you less money,[br]and it would have taken us less time. 0:05:55.546,0:05:58.626 But the power of the messages[br]we are trying to share 0:05:58.626,0:06:01.286 would have evaporated. 0:06:01.286,0:06:03.336 We know it and you know it. 0:06:03.336,0:06:07.596 And that’s why you are here tonight,[br]to listen to stories that might open 0:06:07.596,0:06:09.966 a world of possibilities. 0:06:10.448,0:06:12.178 In 1944, 0:06:12.188,0:06:16.868 Professors Fritz Heider and Marianne [br]Simmel conducted a test. 0:06:16.868,0:06:20.058 They showed a video[br]to a group of students 0:06:20.058,0:06:23.158 and asked them to answer[br]a series of questions 0:06:23.158,0:06:25.348 to describe what they had seen. [br][br] 0:06:25.348,0:06:27.538 I’m going to show you 15 seconds [br]of the video, 0:06:27.538,0:06:29.498 it’s going to be quick 0:06:29.498,0:06:31.828 but I invite you to try[br]to answer this question: 0:06:31.828,0:06:33.878 “What am I seeing on the screen?” 0:06:49.383,0:06:51.523 That was 15 seconds. 0:06:51.523,0:06:53.823 When they reviewed the questionnaires, 0:06:53.823,0:06:58.073 Heider and Simmel discovered[br]that 33 out of 34 students 0:06:58.073,0:07:00.567 had fabricated a story. 0:07:00.567,0:07:02.527 They had imputed motives, 0:07:02.527,0:07:04.957 emotions, and behaviours 0:07:04.957,0:07:07.557 to the geometrical figures[br]that were randomly moving 0:07:07.567,0:07:10.147 through space that you just saw. [br][br] 0:07:11.021,0:07:14.311 This study was one of the first[br]scientific study to confirm 0:07:14.311,0:07:19.761 that our brain understands[br]the world through stories. 0:07:20.841,0:07:25.361 We cannot help but give meaning[br]to the world that surrounds us. 0:07:25.361,0:07:29.001 And to give meaning to the world [br]that surrounds us, 0:07:29.001,0:07:31.681 we fabricate stories. 0:07:31.681,0:07:34.241 Knowing that,[br]that stories are essential 0:07:34.241,0:07:36.521 to our survival and to our life, 0:07:36.521,0:07:41.101 I want to tell you another[br]story about success. 0:07:41.101,0:07:45.911 An alternative to the current notion[br]that paralyzes so many people today. 0:07:46.455,0:07:49.679 Earlier I said that we [br]had two expiration dates: 0:07:49.679,0:07:53.769 the date of our death and [br]the date of our social expiration 0:07:53.769,0:07:56.049 that we give to ourselves [br]sooner and sooner. 0:07:56.337,0:07:58.797 What I did not tell you… 0:07:58.797,0:08:01.720 is that a phone is ringing right now. 0:08:01.720,0:08:04.970 What I didn’t tell you is[br]that we all have a joker. 0:08:05.818,0:08:10.758 We all have the possibility [br]to become a good story. 0:08:10.758,0:08:15.748 We all have the possibility to become[br]a good story that is going to inspire 0:08:15.748,0:08:19.532 other human beings and [br]help them move forward. 0:08:19.532,0:08:25.652 And there’s one group of people[br]whose job is to distribute jokers: 0:08:25.652,0:08:28.245 the story fabricators. 0:08:28.245,0:08:30.365 Lucky me: it’s my job. 0:08:30.365,0:08:35.897 My job is to hunt, to imagine,[br]and to share the stories 0:08:35.897,0:08:40.361 of people with a surprising,[br]innovating and impactful destiny, 0:08:40.361,0:08:42.871 and who embodies strong ideas. 0:08:42.871,0:08:46.776 And currently, we are living through[br]an extremely interesting period. 0:08:46.776,0:08:48.176 Just like archeologists, 0:08:48.176,0:08:52.296 we are digging out new stories,[br]different stories. 0:08:52.296,0:08:59.386 Stories of people who often did not receive[br]immediate and positive feedback 0:08:59.386,0:09:02.356 about the worth of what[br]they were doing and who, 0:09:02.356,0:09:06.266 5, 50, 100, 200, 500 years later 0:09:06.266,0:09:09.966 end up at the center of the[br]storytelling stage to help us, 0:09:09.966,0:09:12.776 the new generations, to better[br]understand the world 0:09:12.786,0:09:14.636 and to move forward. 0:09:14.636,0:09:18.566 For example, some of you[br]might recognize the name of 0:09:18.566,0:09:19.886 Georgina Reid. 0:09:19.886,0:09:25.996 A textile designer who decided, in 1971, when she was 63 0:09:25.996,0:09:29.996 , that what she really wanted to do 0:09:29.996,0:09:32.616 was to save her little town’s lighthouse 0:09:32.616,0:09:34.515 that was at risk of falling down 0:09:34.515,0:09:35.885 due to the cliffs’ erosion. 0:09:35.945,0:09:38.185 Georgina created a whole system 0:09:38.185,0:09:39.215 that she patented. 0:09:39.215,0:09:42.805 She presented her project to the coast guards, 0:09:42.835,0:09:44.835 they listened and told her 0:09:44.835,0:09:46.815 “We won’t prevent you from doing it 0:09:46.815,0:09:48.045 but we won’t help you out either.” 0:09:48.045,0:09:49.645 Okay, no problem. 0:09:49.645,0:09:53.095 For 15 years, helped by her husband and volunteers, 0:09:53.095,0:09:55.595 Georgina used her knowledge 0:09:55.595,0:09:58.075 and her time for free 0:09:58.075,0:10:00.625 to prevent the lighthouse from falling down. 0:10:00.625,0:10:02.545 And she succeeded. 0:10:02.545,0:10:04.845 Georgina died in 2001 0:10:04.845,0:10:07.000 but the lighthouse is still here. 0:10:08.770,0:10:09.877 And then 3 years ago 0:10:10.741,0:10:12.307 a French story fabricator, 0:10:12.307,0:10:15.933 Pénélope Bagieu, gave a joker to Georgina. [br] 0:10:15.933,0:10:17.973 She shared Georgina’s story 0:10:18.071,0:10:21.787 in a graphic novel dedicated to several women 0:10:21.787,0:10:23.627 who’ve changed their story 0:10:23.627,0:10:27.227 and sometimes History in unexpected ways. 0:10:27.227,0:10:31.227 It’s thanks to a story fabricator 0:10:31.227,0:10:33.307 that 200,000 French people 0:10:33.307,0:10:36.107 and myself have been inspired 0:10:36.107,0:10:38.617 by Georgina and her determination 0:10:38.617,0:10:41.837 to fight for something that mattered to her 0:10:41.837,0:10:45.837 even though officially she was told it didn’t. 0:10:46.227,0:10:48.827 Georgina was able to become a good story 0:10:48.827,0:10:53.747 because she was an active actress of her story. 0:10:53.747,0:10:57.636 She didn’t settle for wishing that the lighthouse 0:10:57.636,0:10:59.194 wouldn’t fall down 0:10:59.607,0:11:01.097 No, she did what she had to do 0:11:01.097,0:11:03.019 to make sure the lighthouse wouldn’t fall down. 0:11:04.550,0:11:06.150 And this word, “doing”, 0:11:06.150,0:11:10.590 is one of the three steps to become a good story. 0:11:11.211,0:11:11.851 In reality, 0:11:11.851,0:11:13.630 the recipe to become a good story is simple. 0:11:14.146,0:11:16.316 Well, it fits into three steps. 0:11:17.906,0:11:18.326 First, 0:11:18.326,0:11:19.876 you have to listen to your intuition 0:11:19.876,0:11:23.247 to hear what you really want to do. 0:11:23.620,0:11:25.449 And once you’ve listened to it, 0:11:25.449,0:11:28.969 you need to muster the courage to go for it, 0:11:28.969,0:11:30.031 and do it. 0:11:30.031,0:11:32.581 And once you’ve had the courage to do it, 0:11:32.581,0:11:34.721 you need to repeat. 0:11:34.721,0:11:37.401 Every day, you need to do it again. [br] 0:11:39.141,0:11:40.541 Today we are under a lot of pressure 0:11:40.541,0:11:42.195 when it comes to picking the projects 0:11:42.195,0:11:43.384 we decide to pursue. 0:11:44.210,0:11:45.796 We need to have a goal. 0:11:45.796,0:11:49.226 there’s no goal, then it’s not serious. 0:11:49.226,0:11:51.504 And if it’s not serious 0:11:51.504,0:11:52.949 then our projects don’t have any value. 0:11:53.436,0:11:57.016 I completely disagree with this way of thinking. 0:11:57.326,0:11:58.406 If there’s one thing 0:11:58.406,0:11:59.986 I’ve learned this past decade 0:11:59.986,0:12:02.836 hunting and fabricating stories, 0:12:03.096,0:12:07.153 it is that the value of what we do is not fixed in time. 0:12:07.415,0:12:09.845 The value of what we do 0:12:09.845,0:12:12.865 can have a surprising impact in five years, 0:12:12.865,0:12:15.505 fifty years, after our death 0:12:15.505,0:12:18.025 or our great-grand-children’s death. 0:12:18.025,0:12:21.065 So there’s no point to try 0:12:21.065,0:12:25.190 doing something that will have an impact instantaneously. 0:12:25.190,0:12:27.360 We can’t know if it will happen. 0:12:27.360,0:12:29.495 We should just keep on doing. 0:12:31.365,0:12:32.472 And these three steps: 0:12:32.472,0:12:33.153 listening to yourself, 0:12:33.153,0:12:33.587 going for it 0:12:33.587,0:12:34.697 and repeating 0:12:34.697,0:12:40.040 are crystallized in Carmen Herrera’s story. 0:12:40.554,0:12:44.114 Carmen Herrera was born in La Havana in 1915. 0:12:44.114,0:12:46.704 At a young age she realized 0:12:46.704,0:12:49.064 that what she really wanted to do was to paint. 0:12:49.064,0:12:51.566 So she painted, every day. 0:12:51.566,0:12:54.207 And then she realised that she created 0:12:54.207,0:12:55.895 minimalist abstract paintings 0:12:55.895,0:12:58.405 exactly at the time when abstract minimalism was trendy 0:12:58.405,0:12:59.668 Perfect 0:12:59.668,0:13:03.668 She sold a first painting. And that was it. 0:13:03.668,0:13:08.236 She exhibited her work, the audience didn’t respond. 0:13:08.497,0:13:10.667 She tried to find a gallery 0:13:10.667,0:13:13.481 who would show her work, everybody said no. 0:13:14.173,0:13:16.425 And then one day, 0:13:16.425,0:13:18.415 Carmen was offered the opportunity 0:13:18.415,0:13:20.015 to exhibit her work again 0:13:20.015,0:13:24.015 and this time people loved it. 0:13:24.924,0:13:28.924 That was in 2004, Carmen was 89. 0:13:29.805,0:13:32.007 Today Carmen is 103. 0:13:32.007,0:13:34.717 These past 14 years, 0:13:34.717,0:13:37.957 her paintings have been exhibited 0:13:37.957,0:13:40.447 presented in some of the most prestigious museums in the world. 0:13:41.096,0:13:45.556 For 60 years she has been creating daily 0:13:45.556,0:13:50.005 paintings that nobody thought had value. 0:13:50.005,0:13:51.667 And then one day, 0:13:51.667,0:13:56.075 Carmen Herrera’s story has aligned with Art’s History. 0:13:56.689,0:13:59.239 If I tell you this story 0:13:59.239,0:14:03.829 it’s not to say that success always arrives. 0:14:03.829,0:14:05.918 Because it’s not the case. 0:14:05.918,0:14:07.768 But it’s because 0:14:07.768,0:14:09.556 I’m convinced that Carmen Herrera 0:14:09.556,0:14:11.438 would still be painting today 0:14:11.438,0:14:13.466 even if she had never found 0:14:13.466,0:14:15.270 an audience for her work while she was alive. 0:14:15.270,0:14:17.811 Carmen Herrera didn’t paint 0:14:17.811,0:14:19.012 in order to become famous 0:14:19.012,0:14:20.834 She painted because 0:14:20.834,0:14:22.931 it was giving meaning to her life. 0:14:23.756,0:14:26.995 It’s not success that gives meaning to our life 0:14:26.995,0:14:30.377 it’s being self-expressed. 0:14:30.377,0:14:32.807 And when we are fully expressed, 0:14:32.807,0:14:37.057 our social expiration date vanishes. 0:14:37.057,0:14:40.266 When we are fully expressed, 0:14:40.266,0:14:43.106 our failures as well as our successes 0:14:43.106,0:14:46.426 become steps on the graph 0:14:46.426,0:14:48.885 of our personal growth. 0:14:50.483,0:14:51.925 Tonight what I want to suggest 0:14:51.925,0:14:54.865 is to shift your focus 0:14:54.865,0:14:58.228 away from what you cannot control. 0:14:58.228,0:15:01.308 We cannot control how people 0:15:01.308,0:15:03.748 are going to react to what we do. 0:15:03.748,0:15:06.898 But we can control what we do. 0:15:06.898,0:15:12.513 So, let’s stop paying attention to society’s feedback 0:15:12.513,0:15:16.403 about the value of what gives meaning to our lives. 0:15:16.403,0:15:19.362 Because we rarely can measure the value 0:15:19.362,0:15:23.362 of what we do right after doing it. 0:15:23.362,0:15:25.432 Especially because the value of what we do 0:15:25.432,0:15:28.352 will evolve in unexpected ways over time. 0:15:30.333,0:15:31.600 Today, when I meet people 0:15:31.600,0:15:34.300 and they ask me what I do in life, 0:15:34.300,0:15:38.973 I tell them that I am a story fabricator. 0:15:38.973,0:15:41.451 Nobody really understands what it means 0:15:41.451,0:15:43.286 but it’s okay, 0:15:43.286,0:15:46.592 because if I have the chance to talk a little bit more with them, 0:15:46.592,0:15:49.674 they understand that fabricating stories 0:15:49.674,0:15:54.354 is my way to express myself fully and daily, 0:15:54.354,0:15:56.194 , it is my way of doing. 0:15:56.194,0:15:57.459 For the last ten years 0:15:57.459,0:15:59.849 I’ve been hunting and fabricating stories 0:15:59.849,0:16:05.135 that I share as screenplays, films, lyrics, drawings, 0:16:05.135,0:16:07.075 podcasts or graphic novels. 0:16:08.585,0:16:09.633 Sometimes, 0:16:09.633,0:16:10.296 I doubt. 0:16:10.296,0:16:13.966 I feel that what I’m doing is completely useless. 0:16:13.966,0:16:17.517 And then I remember that my intuition 0:16:17.517,0:16:20.433 is probably trying to whisper something to my ear 0:16:20.433,0:16:21.942 and that I should listen to it. 0:16:21.942,0:16:27.317 So I listen, I go for it, and I repeat. [br][br] 0:16:27.317,0:16:28.741 If tomorrow, 0:16:28.741,0:16:31.791 you wake up wanting to do something “useless”, 0:16:31.791,0:16:36.135 listen to yourself, do it, and repeat. 0:16:37.058,0:16:38.640 Because it’s by being active actors 0:16:38.640,0:16:44.271 of our story that we will become good stories. 0:16:44.271,0:16:48.111 Stories that other human beings will be able to use 0:16:48.111,0:16:51.741 and share to move forward. 0:16:51.741,0:16:53.535 Do what you have to do, 0:16:53.535,0:16:56.326 never mind if it doesn’t seem useful. 0:16:56.326,0:16:58.954 If it’s important to you 0:16:58.954,0:17:01.674 then it’s worth doing. 0:17:01.674,0:17:04.534 Express yourself and we, 0:17:04.579,0:17:07.239 the story fabricators, we will find you. [br][br] 0:17:07.557,0:17:08.617 Thank you [br]