Counterintuitive Career Advice
You know how to write a resume and ask for a promotion. These talks go beyond the basics, offering insightful advice on how to think about our work lives.
1. The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get | Susan Colantuono
You’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.
2. The Way We Think About Work Is Broken | Barry Schwartz
What 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.
3. How To Make Work-life Balance Work | Nigel Marsh
Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity — and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.
4. How Great Leaders Inspire Action | Simon Sinek
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 ...
5. The Happy Secret To Better Work | Shawn Achor
We believe we should work hard in order to be happy, but could we be thinking about things backwards? In this fast-moving and very funny talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that, actually, happiness inspires us to be more productive.
6. Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are | Amy Cuddy
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.
7. Why You Will Fail To Have A Great Career | Larry Smith
In this funny and blunt talk, Larry Smith pulls no punches when he calls out the absurd excuses people invent when they fail to pursue their passions.
8. Color Blind Or Color Brave? | Mellody Hobson
The 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.
9. Dare To Disagree | Margaret Heffernan
Most people instinctively avoid conflict, but as Margaret Heffernan shows us, good disagreement is central to progress. She illustrates (sometimes counterintuitively) how the best partners aren’t echo chambers — and how great research teams, relationships and businesses allow people to deeply disagree.
10. Embrace The Near Win | Sarah Lewis
At her first museum job, art historian Sarah Lewis noticed something important about an artist she was studying: Not every artwork was a total masterpiece. She asks us to consider the role of the almost failure, the near win, in our own lives. In our pursuit of success and mastery, is it actually our near wins that push us forward?
11. Grit: The Power Of Passion And Perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth
Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.
12. The Power Of Time Off | Stefan Sagmeister
Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.
13. Five Ways To Kill Your Dreams | Bel Pesce
All 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.