TED Business
427 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★ - 875 ratingsWhatever your business conundrum, there’s a TED Talk for that—whether you want to learn how to land that promotion, set smart goals, undo injustice at work, or unlock the next big innovation. Every Monday, host Modupe Akinola of Columbia Business School presents the most powerful and surprising ideas that illuminate the business world. After the talk, you'll get a mini-lesson from Modupe on how to apply the ideas in your own life. Because business evolves every day, and our ideas about it should, too.
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Episodes
How to get back to work after a career break | Carol Fishman Cohen
March 22, 2016 14:56 - 80.5 MB VideoIf you've taken a career break and are now looking to return to the workforce, would you consider taking an internship? Career reentry expert Carol Fishman Cohen thinks you should. In this talk, hear about Cohen's own experience returning to work after a career break, her work championing the success of "relaunchers" and how employers are changing how they engage with return-to-work talent.
How to get back to work after a career break | Carol F Cohen
March 22, 2016 14:56If you've taken a career break and are now looking to return to the workforce, would you consider taking an internship? Career reentry expert Carol Fishman Cohen thinks you should. In this talk, hear about Cohen's own experience returning to work after a career break, her work championing the success of "relaunchers" and how employers are changing how they engage with return-to-work talent.
Uber's plan to get more people into fewer cars | Travis Kalanick
March 04, 2016 15:49 - 132 MB VideoUber didn't start out with grand ambitions to cut congestion and pollution. But as the company took off, co-founder Travis Kalanick wondered if there was a way to get people using Uber along the same routes to share rides, reducing costs and carbon footprint along the way. The result: uberPOOL, the company's carpooling service, which in its first eight months took 7.9 million miles off the roads and 1,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air in Los Angeles. Now, Kalanick says carpooli...
How to make a profit while making a difference | Audrey Choi
February 24, 2016 16:21 - 84.3 MB VideoCan global capital markets become catalysts for social change? According to investment expert Audrey Choi, individuals own almost half of all global capital, giving them (us!) the power to make a difference by investing in companies that champion social values and sustainability. "We have more opportunity today than ever before to make choices," she says. "So change your perspective. Invest in the change you want to see in the world."
My year of saying yes to everything | Shonda Rhimes
February 17, 2016 16:30 - 128 MB VideoShonda Rhimes, the titan behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, is responsible for some 70 hours of television per season, and she loves to work. "When I am hard at work, when I am deep in it, there is no other feeling," she says. She has a name for this feeling: The hum. The hum is a drug, the hum is music, the hum is God's whisper in her ear. But what happens when it stops? Is she anything besides the hum? In this moving talk, join Rhimes on a journey through her "y...
Economic growth has stalled. Let's fix it | Dambisa Moyo
February 08, 2016 16:08 - 96.6 MB VideoEconomic growth is the defining challenge of our time; without it, political and social instability rises, human progress stagnates and societies grow dimmer. But, says economist Dambisa Moyo, dogmatic capitalism isn't creating the growth we need. As she shows, in both state-sponsored and market-driven models, capitalism is failing to solve social ills, fostering corruption and creating income inequality. Moyo surveys the current economic landscape and suggests that we have to start thinking ...
How I turned a deadly plant into a thriving business | Achenyo Idachaba
January 21, 2016 15:49 - 50.1 MB VideoThe water hyacinth may look like a harmless, even beautiful flowering plant -- but it's actually an invasive aquatic weed that clogs waterways, stopping trade, interrupting schooling and disrupting everyday life. In this scourge, green entrepreneur Achenyo Idachaba saw opportunity. Follow her journey as she turns weeds into woven wonders.
How frustration can make us more creative | Tim Harford
January 11, 2016 16:35 - 107 MB VideoChallenges and problems can derail your creative process ... or they can make you more creative than ever. In the surprising story behind the best-selling solo piano album of all time, Tim Harford may just convince you of the advantages of having to work with a little mess.
What happens when a city runs out of room for its dead | Alison Killing
December 16, 2015 17:06 - 60 MB Video"If you want to go out and start your own cemetery" in the UK, says Alison Killing, "you kind of can." She thinks a lot about where we die and are buried -- and in this talk, the architect and TED Fellow offers an eye-opening economic and social perspective on an overlooked feature of our towns and cities: the cemetery. Speaking specifically to UK laws, she unpacks the fascinating, sometimes funny, often contradictory laws about where you can be buried.
The US needs paid family leave -- for the sake of its future | Jessica Shortall
December 02, 2015 16:28 - 105 MB VideoWe need women to work, and we need working women to have babies. So why is America one of the only countries in the world that offers no national paid leave to new working mothers? In this incisive talk, Jessica Shortall makes the impassioned case that the reality of new working motherhood in America is both hidden and horrible: millions of women, every year, are forced back to work within just weeks of giving birth. Her idea worth spreading: the time has come for us to recognize the economic...
Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume | Regina Hartley
November 24, 2015 16:19 - 72.3 MB VideoGiven the choice between a job candidate with a perfect resume and one who has fought through difficulty, human resources executive Regina Hartley always gives the "Scrapper" a chance. As someone who grew up with adversity, Hartley knows that those who flourish in the darkest of spaces are empowered with the grit to persist in an ever-changing workplace. "Choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose," she says. "Hire the Scrapper."
Why sneakers are a great investment | Josh Luber
November 16, 2015 16:47 - 81.3 MB VideoJosh Luber is a "sneakerhead," a collector of rare or limited sneakers. With their insatiable appetite for exclusive sneakers, these tastemakers drive marketing and create hype for the brands they love, specifically Nike, which absolutely dominates the multi-billion dollar secondary market for sneakers. Luber's company, Campless, collects data about this market and analyzes it for collectors and investors. In this talk, he takes us on a journey into this complicated, unregulated market and im...
Why some of us don't have one true calling | Emilie Wapnick
October 02, 2015 15:44 - 85.3 MB VideoWhat do you want to be when you grow up? Well, if you're not sure you want to do just one thing for the rest of your life, you're not alone. In this illuminating talk, writer and artist Emilie Wapnick describes the kind of people she calls "multipotentialites" -- who have a range of interests and jobs over one lifetime. Are you one?
How to find work you love | Scott Dinsmore
September 18, 2015 15:03 - 118 MB VideoScott Dinsmore quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He shares what he learned in this deceptively simple talk about finding out what matters to you — and then getting started doing it.
The way we think about work is broken | Barry Schwartz
September 08, 2015 15:46 - 55.3 MB VideoWhat makes work satisfying? Apart from a paycheck, there are intangible values that, Barry Schwartz suggests, our current way of thinking about work simply ignores. It's time to stop thinking of workers as cogs on a wheel.
How too many rules at work keep you from getting things done | Yves Morieux
August 28, 2015 15:11 - 114 MB VideoModern work -- from waiting tables to crunching numbers to designing products -- is about solving brand-new problems every day, flexibly and collaboratively. But as Yves Morieux shows in this insightful talk, too often, an overload of rules, processes and metrics keeps us from doing our best work together. Meet the new frontier of productivity: cooperation.
Human trafficking is all around you. This is how it works | Noy Thrupkaew
July 13, 2015 16:08 - 129 MB VideoBehind the everyday bargains we all love -- the $10 manicure, the unlimited shrimp buffet -- is a hidden world of forced labor to keep those prices at rock bottom. Noy Thrupkaew investigates human trafficking – which flourishes in the US and Europe, as well as developing countries – and shows us the human faces behind the exploited labor that feeds global consumers.
The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world | Dame Ellen MacArthur
June 29, 2015 15:19 - 115 MB VideoWhat do you learn when you sail around the world on your own? When solo sailor Ellen MacArthur circled the globe – carrying everything she needed with her – she came back with new insight into the way the world works, as a place of interlocking cycles and finite resources, where the decisions we make today affect what's left for tomorrow. She proposes a bold new way to see the world's economic systems: not as linear, but as circular, where everything comes around.
A visual history of inequality in industrial America | LaToya Ruby Frazier
June 18, 2015 14:54 - 36.5 MB VideoFor the last 12 years, LaToya Ruby Frazier has photographed friends, neighbors and family in Braddock, Pennsylvania. But though the steel town has lately been hailed as a posterchild of "rustbelt revitalization," Frazier's pictures tell a different story, of the real impact of inequality and environmental toxicity. In this short, powerful talk, the TED Fellow shares a deeply personal glimpse of an often-unseen world.
Forget the pecking order at work | Margaret Heffernan
June 16, 2015 14:39 - 108 MB VideoOrganizations are often run according to "the superchicken model," where the value is placed on star employees who outperform others. And yet, this isn't what drives the most high-achieving teams. Business leader Margaret Heffernan observes that it is social cohesion — built every coffee break, every time one team member asks another for help — that leads over time to great results. It's a radical rethink of what drives us to do our best work, and what it means to be a leader. Because as Heff...
The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed | Bill Gross
June 01, 2015 15:13 - 46.1 MB VideoBill Gross has founded a lot of start-ups, and incubated many others -- and he got curious about why some succeeded and others failed. So he gathered data from hundreds of companies, his own and other people's, and ranked each company on five key factors. He found one factor that stands out from the others -- and surprised even him.
Why we need to rethink capitalism | Paul Tudor Jones II
April 16, 2015 15:07 - 67.7 MB VideoPaul Tudor Jones II loves capitalism. It's a system that has done him very well over the last few decades. Nonetheless, the hedge fund manager and philanthropist is concerned that a laser focus on profits is, as he puts it, "threatening the very underpinnings of society." In this thoughtful, passionate talk, he outlines his planned counter-offensive, which centers on the concept of "justness."
5 ways to kill your dreams | Bel Pesce
April 06, 2015 14:59 - 42.7 MB VideoAll of us want to invent that game-changing product, launch that successful company, write that best-selling book. And yet so few of us actually do it. TED Fellow and Brazilian entrepreneur Bel Pesce breaks down five easy-to-believe myths that ensure your dream projects will never come to fruition.
How to manage for collective creativity | Linda Hill
March 13, 2015 14:58 - 115 MB VideoWhat's the secret to unlocking the creativity hidden inside your daily work, and giving every great idea a chance? Harvard professor Linda Hill, co-author of "Collective Genius," has studied some of the world's most creative companies to come up with a set of tools and tactics to keep great ideas flowing -- from everyone in the company, not just the designated "creatives."
In praise of macro -- yes, macro -- finance in Africa | Sangu Delle
March 09, 2015 14:47 - 40.6 MB VideoIn this short, provocative talk, financier Sangu Delle questions whether microfinance — small loans to small entrepreneurs -- is the best way to drive growth in developing countries. "We seem to be fixated on this romanticized idea that every poor person in Africa is an entrepreneur,” he says. "Yet, my work has taught me that most people want jobs.” Delle, a TED Fellow, makes the case for supporting large companies and factories — and clearing away the obstacles to pan-African trade.
How to run a company with (almost) no rules | Ricardo Semler
February 10, 2015 16:07 - 148 MB VideoWhat if your job didn't control your life? Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler practices a radical form of corporate democracy, rethinking everything from board meetings to how workers report their vacation days (they don't have to). It's a vision that rewards the wisdom of workers, promotes work-life balance — and leads to some deep insight on what work, and life, is really all about. Bonus question: What if schools were like this too?
Got a wicked problem? First, tell me how you make toast | Tom Wujec
February 05, 2015 16:01 - 61.9 MB VideoMaking toast doesn’t sound very complicated -- until someone asks you to draw the process, step by step. Tom Wujec loves asking people and teams to draw how they make toast, because the process reveals unexpected truths about how we can solve our biggest, most complicated problems at work. Learn how to run this exercise yourself, and hear Wujec’s surprising insights from watching thousands of people draw toast.
Creative problem-solving in the face of extreme limits | Navi Radjou
January 12, 2015 16:15 - 112 MB VideoNavi Radjou has spent years studying "jugaad," also known as frugal innovation. Pioneered by entrepreneurs in emerging markets who figured out how to get spectacular value from limited resources, the practice has now caught on globally. Peppering his talk with a wealth of examples of human ingenuity at work, Radjou also shares three principles for how we can all do more with less.
The power of believing that you can improve | Carol Dweck
December 17, 2014 16:12 - 71.3 MB VideoCarol Dweck researches “growth mindset” — the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and to solve problems. In this talk, she describes two ways to think about a problem that’s slightly too hard for you to solve. Are you not smart enough to solve it … or have you just not solved it yet? A great introduction to this influential field.
The workforce crisis of 2030 -- and how to start solving it now | Rainer Strack
December 03, 2014 16:04 - 86.1 MB VideoIt sounds counterintuitive, but by 2030, many of the world's largest economies will have more jobs than adult citizens to do those jobs. In this data-filled -- and quite charming -- talk, human resources expert Rainer Strack suggests that countries ought to look across borders for mobile and willing job seekers. But to do that, they need to start by changing the culture in their businesses.
How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings | David Grady
November 17, 2014 16:05 - 45.2 MB VideoAn epidemic of bad, inefficient, overcrowded meetings is plaguing the world’s businesses — and making workers miserable. David Grady has some ideas on how to stop it.
Be an opportunity maker | Kare Anderson
November 05, 2014 16:20 - 65.7 MB VideoWe all want to use our talents to create something meaningful with our lives. But how to get started? (And ... what if you're shy?) Writer Kare Anderson shares her own story of chronic shyness, and how she opened up her world by helping other people use their own talents and passions.
What new power looks like | Jeremy Heimans
October 31, 2014 15:15 - 104 MB VideoWe can see the power of distributed, crowd-sourced business models every day — witness Uber, Kickstarter, Airbnb. But veteran online activist Jeremy Heimans asks: When does that kind of "new power" start to work in politics? His surprising answer: Sooner than you think. It’s a bold argument about the future of politics and power; watch and see if you agree.
Should you donate differently? | Joy Sun
October 22, 2014 15:24 - 51 MB VideoTechnology allows us to give cash directly to the poorest people on the planet. Should we do it? In this thought-provoking talk, veteran aid worker Joy Sun explores two ways to help the poor.
What do we do with all this big data? | Susan Etlinger
October 20, 2014 14:45 - 83 MB VideoDoes a set of data make you feel more comfortable? More successful? Then your interpretation of it is likely wrong. In a surprisingly moving talk, Susan Etlinger explains why, as we receive more and more data, we need to deepen our critical thinking skills. Because it's hard to move beyond counting things to really understanding them.
The hidden force in global economics: sending money home | Dilip Ratha
October 09, 2014 15:03 - 113 MB VideoIn 2013, international migrants sent $413 billion home to families and friends — three times more than the total of global foreign aid (about $135 billion). This money, known as remittances, makes a significant difference in the lives of those receiving it and plays a major role in the economies of many countries. Economist Dilip Ratha describes the promise of these “dollars wrapped with love” and analyzes how they are stifled by practical and regulatory obstacles.
New thoughts on capital in the twenty-first century | Thomas Piketty
October 06, 2014 14:26 - 144 MB VideoFrench economist Thomas Piketty caused a sensation in early 2014 with his book on a simple, brutal formula explaining economic inequality: r > g (meaning that return on capital is generally higher than economic growth). Here, he talks through the massive data set that led him to conclude: Economic inequality is not new, but it is getting worse, with radical possible impacts.
The career advice you probably didn’t get | Susan Colantuono
September 30, 2014 15:14 - 93.3 MB VideoYou’re doing everything right at work, taking all the right advice, but you’re just not moving up. Why? Susan Colantuono shares a simple, surprising piece of advice you might not have heard before quite so plainly. This talk, while aimed at an audience of women, has universal takeaways -- for men and women, new grads and midcareer workers.
A park underneath the hustle and bustle of New York City | Dan Barasch
September 10, 2014 14:55 - 43.5 MB VideoDan Barasch and James Ramsey have a crazy plan — to create a park, filled with greenery, underneath New York City. The two are developing the Lowline, an underground greenspace the size of a football field. They're building it in a trolley terminal abandoned in 1948, using technology that harvests sunlight above-ground and directs it down below. It's a park that can thrive, even in winter.
Our unhealthy obsession with choice | Renata Salecl
July 09, 2014 14:51We face an endless string of choices, which leads us to feel anxiety, guilt and pangs of inadequacy that we are perhaps making the wrong ones. But philosopher Renata Salecl asks: Could individual choices be distracting us from something bigger—our power as social thinkers? A bold call for us to stop taking personal choice so seriously and focus on the choices we're making collectively.
Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist" | Joi Ito
July 07, 2014 15:27"Remember before the internet?" asks Joi Ito. "Remember when people used to try to predict the future?" In this engaging talk, the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the future predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea. This kind of bottom-up innovation is seen in the most fascinating, futuristic projects emerging today, and it starts, he says, with b...
How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure
June 27, 2014 14:38Have you ever felt like you're talking, but nobody is listening? Here's Julian Treasure to help. In this useful talk, the sound expert demonstrates the how-to's of powerful speaking -- from some handy vocal exercises to tips on how to speak with empathy. A talk that might help the world sound more beautiful.
How to make hard choices | Ruth Chang
June 18, 2014 15:00Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up -- or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about them the wrong way, says philosopher Ruth Chang. She offers a powerful new framework for shaping who we truly are.
Why good leaders make you feel safe | Simon Sinek
May 19, 2014 15:00What makes a great leader? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests, it’s someone who makes their employees feel secure, who draws staffers into a circle of trust. But creating trust and safety — especially in an uneven economy — means taking on big responsibility.
How to rob a bank (from the inside, that is) | William Black
May 12, 2014 14:58William Black is a former bank regulator who’s seen firsthand how banking systems can be used to commit fraud — and how “liar's loans” and other tricky tactics led to the 2008 US banking crisis that threatened the international economy. In this engaging talk, Black, now an academic, reveals the best way to rob a bank — from the inside.
Color blind or color brave? | Mellody Hobson
May 05, 2014 16:24The subject of race can be very touchy. As finance executive Mellody Hobson says, it's a "conversational third rail." But, she says, that's exactly why we need to start talking about it. In this engaging, persuasive talk, Hobson makes the case that speaking openly about race — and particularly about diversity in hiring -- makes for better businesses and a better society.
Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy? | David Brooks
April 14, 2014 15:09Within each of us are two selves, suggests David Brooks in this meditative short talk: the self who craves success, who builds a résumé, and the self who seeks connection, community, love -- the values that make for a great eulogy. (Joseph Soloveitchik has called these selves "Adam I" and "Adam II.") Brooks asks: Can we balance these two selves?
How data will transform business | Philip Evans
March 04, 2014 16:50What does the future of business look like? In an informative talk, Philip Evans gives a quick primer on two long-standing theories in strategy -- and explains why he thinks they are essentially invalid.
What it takes to be a great leader | Roselinde Torres
February 19, 2014 16:00The world is full of leadership programs, but the best way to learn how to lead might be right under your nose. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.
The investment logic for sustainability | Chris McKnett
February 12, 2014 16:06Sustainability is pretty clearly one of the world's most important goals; but what groups can really make environmental progress in leaps and bounds? Chris McKnett makes the case that it's large institutional investors. He shows how strong financial data isn't enough, and reveals why investors need to look at a company's environmental, social and governance structures, too.