A few years ago, when my little brother first introduced me to TED (that’s TED.com, not some strange guy who prefers to see his name in all caps) I knew I’d found an valuable resource. I hope you’ve been utilizing it for years too, but in case your promotion and busy life has impeded your discovery of this great site, here’s a gentle push: This weekend, devote an hour to browse the site. Sure, you can ignore my “homework” if you want, but I guarantee you’ll find something that piques your interest if you check it out.
Here’s a little intro from their site:
TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become even broader.
Quite simply, TED Talks are some of the most fascinating presentations you’ll ever see. I’ve enjoyed far too many to pick a favorite, but I thought this talk, from author Simon Sinek, would be a good place for you to start. In it, he explains the importance of answering the question “Why?”. Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? What is your purpose? Why should anyone care?
As you poke around the rest of the site this weekend, don’t be afraid to watch talks that aren’t obviously related to your field. The point of TED is to expose you to big ideas, great thinkers and new ways to look at the world and solve problems. I can’t think of a talk I’ve watched—regardless of the subject—that hasn’t helped me improve my thinking in a useful way.
What are your favorite TED talks? Please share your recommendations in the comment section!
Filed under: Leadership, Resources & Tools Tagged: | communication, leadership, motivation, Simon Sinek, TED, TED.com, Why?
A recent favorite of mine was the Nigel Marsh talk on work-life balance. Really compelling. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/nigel_marsh_how_to_make_work_life_balance_work.html
Pete, I enjoyed that one too! Thanks for suggesting it!
[...] while back I wrote about a TED talk from Simon Sinek. He spoke about the subject of his book: the importance of asking the difficult question “Why?” [...]