Disruption, or focusing on uprooting the ordinary and challenging the status quo, was the theme for TEDxOregonStateU in Corvallis this past February. Accompanied by four other speakers, including Co-Producer and host of FOX’s Xploration Outer Space Emily Calandrelli and winner of Project Runway Season 11 Michelle Lesniak, Director of the Communication Leadership program Hanson Hosein delivered a 20-minute talk titled, “Why I Drop the Mic.”

“We are in this incredible time of disruption where it has become so easy to communicate that we have to be able to figure out how to actually make those meaningful connections through the chaos and digital noise that we all have today,” Hosein said to begin his talk.

While Hosein said the term ‘dropping the mic’ comes from comedy and hip hop to mean saying something so profound that it’s okay to leave and people will keep thinking about what you’ve said – he related the phrase to five lessons he has learned in his personal and professional life.

“The talk is fundamentally the kind of professional advice I give to my students (and I try to adhere to myself), in order to survive and succeed in our 24/7 post-industrial world,” he said. “When everything is in a state of constant flux, partially due to the communication technologies we champion in our graduate program, there’s no real career playbook anymore. It’s a call for professional self-renewal and sometimes, self-destruction.”

Audience members clung to this idea of self-renewal and took to social media to share what they learned:

Probably the best Valentine’s date ever. Thoroughly enjoyed attending @tedxoregonstateu with Micah. Out of all of the insightful thoughts shared, these words won’t leave me alone. “I don’t really think of it as a career, more like a series of profound stories” (paraphrased a little by me, spoken originally by @hrhmedia123). I’ve never had a solid career plan, and I haven’t really wanted one, either. I do want to do meaningful work that helps others, and sometimes I think that can happen in seasons. It looks different for each of us, and I think it can even change and look different throughout the different seasons we each experience in life. I’ll be thinking about this for a while. If you get a chance to look up the rest of Hanson Hosein’s talk, do it. It’s called Why I Drop the Mic, and it’s full of good stuff.

A photo posted by Abi Losli (@abigailandwhimsy) on Feb 13, 2015 at 4:44pm PST

“Listen to the Beatles, read The Economist…drop the mic” @hrhmedia #mydisruption

— TEDxOregonStateU (@TEDxOregonState) February 13, 2015

I want to be like Hanson Hosein (@hrhmedia) and be able to pursue my dreams and learn when to “drop the mic.” @TEDxOregonState #MyDisruption

— Shane McKinnon (@ShaneMcKinnonYo) February 13, 2015

“If you don’t drop the mic, somebody might just drop the mic on you,” said Hosein in closing.

Watch Hosein’s full TEDx talk here and read his own thoughts about the event here.