Resources noted here are free unless noted.
Leading Change
How Great Leaders Inspire Action (17 min) Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers.
Secret Structure of Great Talks (18 min) From the “I have a dream” speech to Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch, many great talks have a common structure that helps their message resonate with listeners. In this talk, presentation expert Nancy Duarte shares practical lessons on how to make a powerful call-to-action.
The Nerds Guide to Learning Everything Online (18 min) Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us … well, we don’t. But we still love to learn — we just need to find the way that works for us. In this charming, personal talk, author John Green shares the community of learning that he found in online video.
Leading People
Lead Like the Great Conductors (20 min) An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.
Backwards Riding Bike (8 min) Exploration of how our thought processes can get into a rut and one man’s adventure of breaking out of a rut.
How to Speak So People Want to Listen (9 min) Have 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.
Crucial Conversations (2-day Class) Offered through the KC FEB in September. This 2-day course teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional, or risky topics—at all levels of your organization. By learning how to speak and be heard (and encouraging others to do the same), you’ll begin to surface the best ideas, make the highest-quality decisions, and then act on your decisions with unity and commitment.
Results Driven
Investor, Risk-Taker, Innovator (14 min) Why doesn’t the government just get out of the way and let the private sector — the “real revolutionaries” — innovate? It’s rhetoric you hear everywhere, and Mariana Mazzucato wants to dispel it. In an energetic talk, she shows how the state — which many see as a slow, hunkering behemoth — is really one of our most exciting risk-takers and market-shapers.
What Really Motivates People to be Honest in Business (13 min) Each year, one in seven large corporations commits fraud. Why? To find out, Alexander Wagner takes us inside the economics, ethics and psychology of doing the right thing. Join him for an introspective journey down the slippery slopes of deception as he helps us understand why people behave the way they do.
How Too Many Rules at Work Keep You from Getting Things Done (16 min) Modern 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.
Science in Service to the Public Good (15 min) We give scientists and engineers great technical training, but we’re not as good at teaching ethical decision-making or building character. Take, for example, the environmental crisis that recently unfolded in Flint, Michigan — and the professionals there who did nothing to fix it. Siddhartha Roy helped prove that Flint’s water was contaminated, and he tells a story of science in service to the public good, calling on the next generation of scientists and engineers to dedicate their work to protecting people and the planet.
Business Acumen
The Workforce Crisis of 2030 (12 min) It 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.
The Problem with “Trickle-down Techonomics” (6 min) Hooray for technology! It makes everything better for everyone!! Right? Well, no. When a new technology, like ebooks or health trackers, is only available to some people, it has unintended consequences for all of us. Jon Gosier, a TED Fellow and tech investor, calls out the idea of “trickle-down techonomics,” and shares powerful examples of how new tech can make things actually worse if it’s not equally distributed. As he says, “the real innovation is in finding ways to include everyone.”
Building Coalitions
Coding for a Better Government (12 min) Can government be run like the Internet, permissionless and open? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can — and that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments — and their neighbors.
Demand a More Open-Source Government (17 min) What can governments learn from the open-data revolution? In this stirring talk, Beth Noveck, the former deputy CTO at the White House, shares a vision of practical openness — connecting bureaucracies to citizens, sharing data, creating a truly participatory democracy. Imagine the “writable society”
The Risky Politics of Progress (17 min) Global problems such as terrorism, inequality and political dysfunction aren’t easy to solve, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. In fact, suggests journalist Jonathan Tepperman, we might even want to think riskier. He traveled the world to ask global leaders how they’re tackling hard problems — and unearthed surprisingly hopeful stories that he’s distilled into three tools for problem-solving.