A TEDx Talk with Grinnell Staff Member Michael Lawrence

In the early days of his career, Grinnell staff member Michael Lawrence would watch videos of people delivering passionate and inspirational talks, connected by the notion of “ideas worth spreading.” He liked the premise of these videos — the speakers were knowledgeable in their fields, deepened audiences’ understanding of a topic, and spread powerful, accessible messages in a matter of minutes. These videos, first posted online in 2006, were none other than the popular, globally praised TED Talks.

After a year of intense application rounds and preparation, Lawrence stood on TED’s signature red circle on stage himself, facing an audience of over 800 people at his alma mater, the University of Delaware. His talk, “The Best Kept Secret to a Successful Career,” shares the power of reframing thoughts — and how reframing can inspire intentional responses and actions in the workplace. As Lawrence reveals, people have anywhere from 6,000 to 50,000 thoughts, leaving room to change them from limiting to beneficial.

“I always want to make sure that what I believe or learned worked first,” says Lawrence, current director of Grinnell’s business and finance career community. “So, for me, the TED Talk was perfect timing. The principles I shared in my talk are principles I’ve used as an executive in the corporate world. They worked. And then I started my own company and taught others these principles. It worked.”

But the road to an impactful TEDx talk was all but easy.

“Initially, when I got approved, my idea for a TED Talk was leadership and career development, which was very broad,” Lawrence recalls. “The hardest part was the takeaway, the one idea I share. I had thirty years of experience to wrestle with. What makes for a great career? I didn’t necessarily have one thing.”

For the next six months, Lawrence would work with students during the day and hop on intensive Zoom calls at night. A content curator provided by TED gave Lawrence weekly homework assignments, designed to pinpoint the messages Lawrence felt most passionate about. With the curator’s help, Lawrence tinkered constantly with his presentation, testing new ways of relating his talk to the audience.

“TED is very pedantic about their expectations; the talk had to be captivating and alluring, something that holds attention,” says Lawrence. “Five weeks before my talk, I was still discarding ideas and had nothing close to a script.”

But three weeks before the event, his message clicked.

“I’m really having fun now,” Lawrence recalls telling his curator.

On the day of the official event, the countdown in the back of the auditorium began, house lights illuminating rows and balconies of people. No notes, no teleprompter – only the message he had learned by heart.

“It took great discipline to land on one idea worth sharing,” says Lawrence. “But I shared one I really believe in and makes a difference to my fellow human beings. And if I teach this to a younger generation … in my mind, that’s the holy grail of making a difference. They have a lifetime to create ripples in the pond.”

Lawrence’s TEDx Talk continues to echo throughout his work at the Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS). His students, who pursue business-related endeavors – such as internships, graduate school, and experiential competitions – occasionally visit his office with a perceived setback. But Lawrence always reframes.

“A student will come to me and say, ‘I had a first interview and I totally sucked!’ I don’t say, ‘no, that’s the story you’re telling yourself, thoughts drive actions, you need to reframe.’ That’s jargon. Instead, I go, ‘This is great! This is perfect.’ And they’re like, ‘Perfect? I just blew it.’ But I’ll go, ‘No, interviewing is a learned skill and you needed to practice. You’re going to be so much better next time.’”

Ultimately, says Lawrence, “we are all telling ourselves stories that create the reality of our lives. You’ll hear people say, for example, ‘you can’t get a job without experience.’ Really? I’ve been doing that for Grinnell graduates for seven years. They don’t have any experience, but they get phenomenal jobs. What are they doing right? They’re giving up that story for one. I’ll always go, ‘There’s another way.’”

For Lawrence, however, his work at the CLS extends far beyond helping Grinnellians shape the best resumes and cover letters. Like he says at the end of his TEDx Talk, the powerful tool of reframing can help individuals navigate the difficulties they encounter in life. “People can start to say, ‘I can respond to this, I can deal with this, and I can make sense of this.’

More importantly, he shares, “If I can teach students how to create a life they want by using career as an example, they’re unstoppable.”

Watch Michael Lawrence’s TEDx Talk on YouTube.