Berthold Barth

Connector, Consultant, Designer, Educator/Teacher, Entrepreneur, Life mentor, Philanthropist, Student, Technologist

Today, I am working as a Scrum Master, supporting teams of developers creating web solutions for big industrial companies. Originally, I'm a recent graduate from design school, but my journey was a lot different from my classmates. Sure, I learned graphic design, typography and website construction; I taught myself marketing, change management and more. But most importantly, I got to know myself. I've built up and subsequently crashed my own consulting company. If I hadn't felt so bad about myself while I did it, I'd say that was the greatest experience of my young life, even if it has at this point taken upward of two years to fully comprehend the entire experience and understand the important lessons contained within. I learned to empower myself, and one big life goal for me is empowering others to do the same. Being invited to speak at TEDxRheinNeckar was an important step on the way there, and again, the preparation for my talk and the conversations it started were just as important and insightful as the talk itself.

designing for humans, using the way we perceive our world to enhance and amplify important messages, changing the world for the better with tiny steps

You are shaping your own destiny. Taking inspiration from TED is the first step to becoming empowered. Once you are empowered, you can go out and empower others. To change the world, we have to change its people first, make them tell and understand their story and tell them and explain ours. Take initiative. Reach your goals. Endeavour to be a friend, scholar and mentor to the people around you. You can do it. You must, because if you don't, who does?

Change Management, Design Practice and Methodology, Entrepeneurship, information technlogy, Marketing + Branding, personal motivation, Scrum and Agile Methodologies, Social Media

What I particularly love about the teachings of TED are that they are not of the "use it or lose it" kind. I've listened to talks about building housing from desert sands, growing organs from stem cells or flying in a wingsuit. I may never get to do any of these things in my life and that's fine. But what I take away from TED is that if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. You are inspired and empowered to make stuff happen, and you will. And that feeling doesen't just up and vanish. It opens your mind, urges you to challenge the status quo, think outside of the ol' box. It influences in the very best way each and every decision you make in your life. That to me is the real gift of TED. And what makes a great gift even better? Sharing it with others! That's why I'm a TED translator.

fixing technology issues. It literally works like a touch. If only I could apply this skill to other problems as well...