“The Power of Dumb” has been selected as an Editor’s Pick by TEDx.
ICONS' creative director Alex Wadelton’s inspiring TEDxMornington talk “The Power of Dumb” has been selected as an Editor’s Pick by TEDx.
With over 41.1 million subscribers on TEDx’s YouTube channel, Wadelton shares a deeply personal and transformative journey, illustrating how so-called “dumb” ideas are often the ones that not only help countless people, but can also lead to making your own life more fulfilling and fun.
“The Power of Dumb” recounts his son’s battle with severe anaphylaxis, leading to a pivotal encounter in hospital with a young child with brain cancer. At that moment he had a “dumb” thought: what if for every dollar people donated to a kid’s cancer charity, he plucked one hair from his head? This idea, dubbed “One Buck One Pluck”, was the light-bulb moment that saw him realise that by helping others, he helped himself, and that he had no choice but to leap into the Power of Dumb.
Since then Alex has done lots and lots of dumb things. Dumb things such as:
Dancing a marathon in his living room during the world’s longest COVID lockdown
Breaking the official Guinness World Record for longest duration touching tongue to nose
Turning a photo of Nicky Winmar’s iconic stance against racism into a ten-foot-tall bronze statue with no prior experience.
Along the way, his dumb ideas have raised millions of dollars for charity, helped hundreds of thousands of people, and uncovered a way of life he never thought possible.
Now, he wants everybody to pursue the ideas that seemed too dumb, too outlandish, or too hard, and make them happen, because when you do, you’ll laugh more, learn more, and love life more.
Says Wadelton: “When I got the call that my talk was being made an Editor’s Pick by TEDx I kinda freaked out. After all, I’m just an idiot from Melbourne who had a bunch of dumb ideas and made them happen with a range of very clever friends. Never did I think that plucking my hair out ten years ago would lead to this. It just goes to show the awesome Power of Dumb!”
Wadelton commenced at ICON at the beginning of 2024, working on projects that combine his creativity and making things that matter.