By Steve Sears

Morris County Assemblyman Brian Bergen on October 25, 2022 presented a TEDx talk on adaptive leadership. Hosted by TEDx Morristown, the forum took place at the Madison Community Arts Center in Madison, and the theme was “Drawing on Your Own Creativity.”

Bergen, who titled his presentation, “The Art of Leading: Adapting for Maximum Results,” was selected after submitting an application which stated he wanted to do a TEDx Talk on leadership, and particularly on the concept of adaptive leadership. He then went through a series of interviews and ultimately was selected to participate.

Bergen explains the TEDx requirements. “It (the presentation) has to be no less than 10 minutes and no more than 18 minutes, which doesn’t seem like a challenging window to hit, but it can be very difficult,” Bergen says. “That’s really the base requirements, and then it has to fit the theme of whatever the TEDx producer is putting on. This one happened to be about creativity, and so I felt as though they felt ultimately that my concept of adaptive leadership is a creative approach to leadership. It relies on your ability to be creative in your style in order to be the most effective leader, so it fit pretty well with what they were trying to do. It has to be something that will resonate with people, because they’re trying to change people’s lives in a positive way.”

Bergen explains the adaptive leadership concept. “We need to always be looking at ways to be better,” he says. “I found a little bit of a hole in the way that we approach leadership in general. You can go to the store right now and buy 50 different books on leadership, and most of them I would argue are good. They have really good leadership techniques and leadership traits. The problem, though, is that you can’t pick up any one or two or 10 and follow it to the letter, because people like to be led differently. People need to be led differently. So, the most effective way – and this is the concept of adaptive leadership – to truly lead people is to dial in on that individual and understand what they need, and then pull from all these different tools across the leadership spectrum that you’ve read, and compile a tool kit that works for that person. And that will be different from another person, and from another person.” And, per Bergen, the same with groups and businesses. “If you look at it organizationally, if you’re leading an organization, that tool kit will look different from organization to organization based on the time and space that they’re operating in.”

Another important point Bergen also makes is that, although the word “leader” creates a picture that includes CEOs, Generals, Head Coaches, he says that everybody is a leader. “You’re a leader in your church,” Bergen states, “you’re a leader in your house, and you’re a leader in a conversation with a peer. Even if you don’t have a leadership title, you might be leading up all the time.”

Bergen, the owner of Bergen Botanicals, served for eight years in the United States Army. A United States Military at West Point graduate, he was awarded both a Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star for his service as an officer, company commander, and Apache helicopter pilot while in Iraq. A prior Denville Township councilman from 2017 to 2019 and vice chairman of the township’s zoning board, Bergen and his family – wife Kristin, and children, Samantha and Justin – are residents of Denville.

The opportunity to do his TEDx talk meant a lot to Bergen. He says, “This is the very first time ever that I’ve had the opportunity to deliver a speech on leadership. I’ve been waiting for a long time to have the opportunity to do this. This was so important to me.”