You may have heard of the informational and informative talks given at TED. “TED” stands for “Technology, Entertainment, and Design” and it is a wonderful resource for personal and professional motivation and self-improvement.
Leaders in their respective industry take the stage to discuss creativity, thinking outside the box, motivation, new trends, and so much more.
It can be difficult to choose just one. See below for some of my favorite “TED Talks”, as well as some from the TED community!
Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action
There are tons of TED Talks on leadership, but none that have merited the over 10 million views Simon Sinek’s has. He is an anthropologist who has made a career of convincing other people to do what inspires them. His simple message is “Start With Why” and has grown into a worldwide phenomenon.
Best of all, this TED Talk isn’t just speculative gibberish. Simon uses real life examples including the Wright brothers, Martin Luther King, and even Apple.
Steve Jobs: How to Live Before You Die
Speaking of Apple, there is no beating this inspirational talk from its former CEO, Steve Jobs. He gave the commencement speech to the 2005 graduating class of Stanford University. His main focus was telling students how to live before you die, an irony which was not lost on him since he was diagnosed with a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor in 2003 and died in 2011.
Here, Steve Jobs shares various stories with his students from his early life, through his college years, to starting and growing Apple. Setbacks, including death, are discussed along with how to overcome them.
Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation
No matter what your job or profession, motivation can be a problem for anyone. Watch Dan Pink’s 18 minute video and see if it is still an issue. Nearly 6 million people have done just that, and the early jokes on becoming a lawyer are worth a visit alone.
This TED Talk is also an excellent choice if you need help motivating others because it turns the notion of the traditional reward system on its head.
Dan is a former speech writer for Al Gore and has some simple (yet much ignored) ideas on predictable, repetitive reward systems.
Seth Godin: How to Get Your Ideas to Spread
Just about everyone in the blogosphere knows about Seth Godin and his amazing blogs on marketing. He takes the next step in this inspirational talk on how to get your ideas to spread into the world. He even shows how traditional, time-tried ideas fail and how bizarre or even bad ideas can win if they are spread correctly.
In this TED Talk, Seth emphasizes that the ideas which get talked about are those that are remarkable, or by his definition “worth talking about.” Real life examples include DVDs, chairs, sliced bread, and other average products that shouldn’t be.
Pranav Mistry: The Thrilling Potential of SixthSense Technology
If you are in the technology industry, or even if you’re not, you have to check out Pranav’s TED Talk on the paper laptop. He is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that interacts with users without the bother of a mouse or keyboard. His plan is to open source this amazing software so that everyone can use it.
Pranav has already has amazing success with this concept and shows you his progress in the video.