Dean Kamen: The emotion behind invention @ TED

[Akash Rastogi]

Sometimes, after all the long-winded speeches at FIRST events, I forget how amazing of an inventor Dean really is. The team who he chose must also be some incredible people.

Great TED talk.

[Kims Robot]

Thank you for sharing that, I had seen glimpses of the arm before, but not that speech. Dean is an amazing human being. If half the people that had the brainpower he does had the heart and passion that he does, this world would be an amazing place.

I found it interesting to see even people outside of FIRST talking about his lengthy style of speaking, though it appears the overwhelming majority of those people were more moved by his story than itched by his style. Its one thing that has always bugged me in FIRST. We take for granted that every year, often several times a year, we get to hear speeches from this amazing man. And instead of sitting down and thinking about the message, we whine about how long it is, or pull out our phones and start texting or playing games. I for one am enthralled every time I hear him speak, and I for one feel honored that I get to hear him every year and get to listen to the emotional stories and powerful messages. If even half the people in FIRST listened to his messages and took even the smallest of actions on them, what a world this would be.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

I for one am enthralled every time I hear him speak, and I for one feel honored that I get to hear him every year and get to listen to the emotional stories and powerful messages. If even half the people in FIRST listened to his messages and took even the smallest of actions on them, what a world this would be.

The crowd actually draws the speeches out significantly, I think. Several computers back I had the tape of the closing ceremonies at BAE in 2006, and for fun I sped it up so Dean's entire speech was compressed to about 40 seconds. 19 of those seconds were the audience clapping. I'm not sure if that holds true at other events -- but if it does that's a lot of clapping!

He does have a great message. I went to talk by Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes last week and one of his key points was that really great leaders should be measured not only by their own successes, but by the successes of the people they train to replace themselves. By that metric I can only imagine that Dean Kamen will go down as the greatest executive in the history of the world, having played an instrumental role in inspiring and training an entire generation of leaders.