When we keep our leadership ideas in the boardrooms and conference rooms we keep it away from the larger discussion with the diverse communities we crave. Here’s a great blog about a TEDx conference that played presentations on a bus, or MaxiTaxi, in Port of Spain Trinidad. I found it really moving, having worked both inside powerful organizations and outside, part of many different conversations that rarely overlap. Watch the video — it’ll make your day. For me, it made me remember that the greatest joy of leading (or teaching) is that once we share, we get to join a conversation where we get to follow!
The Maxi Taxi is Port of Spain’s answer to the subway.
In the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago, this network of mini buses shuttles commuters along set routes—a red line, a yellow line, a green line—bringing them from neighborhoods to business districts and back. Like commuters in many cities, Maxi Taxi riders generally avoid interacting at all costs. But in November, the riders on one taxi got a surprise: TEDx Talks. All of a sudden, people started talking to each other, sharing opinions on corruption, forgiveness and the future.
The organizers of TEDxPortofSpain carefully choreographed this disruption of the morning commute. They rented out this Maxi Taxi to spread ideas to their fellow city-dwellers and to let people know about their thriving TEDx community.
Keita Demming, lead organizer, says the idea came to the team while brainstorming at a restaurant. The year before, prospective attendees were asked to fill…
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