6 Thought-Provoking TED Talks To Help You In Business

TED talks are short, powerful talks that enlighten you in a certain aspect of a specific subject. They introduce new ideas, new concepts and share thought-provoking experience by the experts and can cover any topic and subject you can imagine.

What Consumers Want

Joseph Pine, a former business coach at IBM, talks about how the key to any business’ success is to create an authentic customer or client experience. Pine coined the term ‘experience economy’, this is the idea that consumers buy experiences, not goods or services.

Reasons Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work

Jason Fried discusses how to give your workplace a productivity makeover so your team can feel more focused and creative. One way to do this, says Fried, is to institute “No Talk Thursdays,” so employees can have a laser-sharp focus on the things they have to accomplish.

Myths of Entrepreneurship

In this TED talk Dr Timothy Folta from Purdue University’s Krannert Graduate School of Management talks about how he thinks the general definition of entrepreneurship is skewed. After studying entrepreneurship and innovation over the years Dr Folta thinks entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be considered a risky path and highlights ways in which business owners can protect their assets, reputations and livelihoods by thinking ahead and leveraging resources.

Why The Best CV Might Not Be The Best Employee

When picking the staff who you want to work with, interviews are likely to take place and meeting new candidates will inevitably happen. Given the choice between a candidate with a perfect resume and one who has fought through difficulty, human resources executive Regina Hartley always gives the “scrapper” a chance. “Choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose,” she says.

What Makes Us Feel Good About Our Work?

Psychology and behaviour economics professor at Duke University, Dan Ariely, tells a story about a man who was assigned to create a major PowerPoint presentation for his company. The man enjoyed working on the project and was proud of the final result but after turning it in he was told the presentation was no longer needed. Even though his boss liked the presentation the man was disappointed. This TED talk is perfect for anyone who is looking for meaning in their work and for anyone who wants to take pride in what they do.

Build A Tower, Build A Team

Tom Wujec, an adjunct professor at Singularity University and author of several books, talks about how The Marshmallow Challenge can be used in business to build teams in the workplace.

What seems like a simple team-building exercise that involves dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow to see who can build the tallest tower turns into a lesson in how to work as a team and using peoples’ skills to their best ability.

The Marshmallow Challenge is a good tactic to build team spirit in the workplace and a chance for your team to bond over a problem that isn’t work related and fun to do.