Even a Rock Can Lead to Wisdom | Owen Foster | TEDxWilsonPark

Video from TEDxWilsonPark in Florence, AL on Sept. 8, 2018 More at tedxwilsonpark.com

Find your own tool that always you to help the next generations to become greater than you will ever be. For me, I don’t want to give them spoons to feed them information. I want to give them a rock to start their own journey, but I will always be there to lean a hand and to guide the way. A diverse background in architecture, landscape, environmental, and industrial design has afforded me the opportunity to work on an extensive array of projects ranging from small consumer products to complete green environments for several municipalities around the world. I have held positions such as: design director for multiple product design and manufacturing companies with high-profile clients, co-founder of Fulcrum Collaborative, and East Coast landscape architect representative for Monrovia Nurseries.

Though very successful in those endeavors, becoming an educator and mentor seemed to be my calling. I started this career with professorships at Auburn University and University of Louisiana-Lafayette in the field of industrial design. Recently I held the positions of ID Group Department chair (industrial design, design management, service design, design for sustainability, business of design, interaction design, and marine design) and professor at SCAD. Under my leadership tenure, SCAD industrial design was ranked in the top 10 by DesignIntelligence each year, top by Red Dot World Ranking, while earning awards from world-renowned competitions.

In my most recent venture, I am a co-founder, director, and overall ‘Troublemaker’ of Aether Global Learning and SHiFT Design Camp. With an amazing team, we look to create freethinking empathetic practitioners who will passionately lead their local and global communities through logical discourse, impeccable craft, and sound strategic direction. I want to provide a world-class educational experience through platforms for discovery, creation and reflection for the global community of makers, thinkers, changers, givers and leaders. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx