Do you like to stay open to new ideas and innovative viewpoints that can help you – and your team – to improve and thrive in an ever-more turbulent world? If you do, here are some TED/TEDx Talks that offer creativity, insight and advice for leaders, leaders-to-be, and anyone who wants to bring about positive change in their organisations, society, world.
We chose a mix of great “old classics” (like Cuddy, Sandberg and Sinek) together with some (less evident) new pearls. Enjoy!
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What It Takes To Be A Great Leader
Roselinde Torres has developed a deep understanding of what makes leaders effective. She poses 3 questions that will spur your own thinking on what it takes to be a great leader. In a world filled with leadership programs, sometimes the best way to learn leadership might be right under your nose.
2. 5 ways to lead in an era of constant change
Who says change needs to be so hard? Organisational change expert Jim Hemerling thinks adapting your business in today’s constantly-evolving world can be invigorating instead of exhausting. He outlines five imperatives, centred around putting people first, for turning company reorganisation into an empowering, energising task for all.
3. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Driven consultant Angela Lee Duckworth speaks about her theory of “grit” as the number one indicator of future success—and how she learned this in an unexpected place, a seventh-grade classroom.
4. The Surprising Habits Of Original Thinkers
Suffice it to say, all aspiring leaders want to be recognised for their creativity and originality. While creativity often lies within, psychologist Adam Grant studies the lives of “originals” – thinkers whose ideas transform the world. Over the course of 15m, he explains the unexpected habits of original thinkers, and their fearlessness in the face of failure.
5. How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Imagine a workplace where people of all colours and races are able to climb the corporate ladder – and where the lessons we learn about diversity at work actually transform the things we do, think and say outside the office. How do we get there? In this candid talk, inclusion advocate Janet Stovall shares a three-part action plan for creating workplaces where people feel safe and expected to be their unassimilated, authentic selves.
6. How great leaders inspire us to take action
Leadership expert Simon Sinek says lasting movements need inspiring leaders. He argues the best leaders are the best followers — they believe they are following a cause bigger than themselves. Asking WHY is the secret to leadership. His simple model inspires leaders to think deeply about purpose.
7. How to manage for collective creativity
Linda Hill and her team spent a decade studying exceptional leaders of innovation across 12 different industries and learned this important lesson: If leaders want to unlock great ideas time and time again, they must unlearn the conventional notions of leadership. Innovation is not about solo genius, it is about collective genius.
8. The Secret Structure Of Great Talks
The ability to move others through motivational speech is one of the greatest qualities of a true leader. Author and CEO Nancy Duarte gets it, and that is why she developed this talk to help aspiring leaders take their presentation skills to the next level.
9. How to break bad management habits before they reach the next generation of leaders
Middle managers represent a pipeline of talent for any organisation’s future leadership. But they may be learning outdated leadership habits from their predecessors that will be hard to break – and can hold the organisation back in the long run. This happens when they learn from role models who are still leading in old-fashioned ways, says Elizabeth Lyle. Senior leaders need to do a better job helping middle managers develop good habits they will need to lead in the future. Organisations will only progress when middle managers have the space, freedom, and safety to figure out their own way – and leaders learn to let go.
10. Your body language may shape who you are
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy argues that “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident – can boost feelings of confidence, and might have an impact on our chances for success.
11. Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders, by Sheryl Sandberg
Sandberg left Google to become Facebook’s COO in 2008. In this video, she looks at why so few women make it to the C-suite, and offers up three important pieces of advice to women who want to buck the trend and get there. The key, in Sandberg’s view, is ensuring women remain in the workforce. As it turns out, having more women remain in the workforce has other positive benefits on society and households, such as equal earning and equal responsibility between partners.
….And 12. Six steps to be a Leader
This talk by our director, Claudia de Castro Caldeirinha is an unassuming contribution to the TEDx world. It was addressed to an audience of young European leaders. It can ultimately inspire any person wishing to lead positive change to find purpose, overcome individual limits, use own “superpowers” and never give up!
Claudia builds on her 20 years of experience working with leaders of all kinds (famous and anonymous, global and local) to tell us that we don’t need a formal title, other people’s permission or to be famous, to become change-makers and leaders. In simple but inspirational terms, Claudia shares these “6 First steps to be a Leader”, who we hope can inspire you too.