My Favourite TED talks

In my course on Innovation, I use various TED videos as thought-provokers on different topics.  Those  deliver powerful lessons, and it's also a nice break from hearing me talk for three and a half hours straight.

I urge them to acquire the habit of watching TED videos that are not about business or their own industry.  Those are the talks that will be most mind-expanding for this extremely focused group who are being immersed in a program of disciplined business study.  One of the students this year asked me for a list of my all-time favourite TED talks.  That's a tough question, but it got me thinking.  I decided to try for a Top Ten list.  I'll cover five talks in this post and five more in a subsequent post.

Hans Rosling

This brilliant Swedish academic could have quietly taught global health cloistered at the Karolinska Institutet in Stocklhom.  He would have wowed his students and he would have been in demand as a dinner guest.  But TED changed all that.  He gave his first TED talk in 2006 and electrified the conference.  His talk fused long-term global health trends, amazing dynamic data presentation techniques, incredible energy, and great wit.

"See this corner?  Watch per capita incomes rising!  And over here, watch world health improving at the same time!  There goes Asia taking off!"  It has all the panache of a sports announcer shouting "He shoots!  He scores!"  But it's not all performance art.  He has a substantive and encouraging message about the world's progress toward better quality of life; what could have been boring statistics illuminates those underlying and connected trends.

TED.com has brought this man with his big ideas to the world.  Rosling's  talks are the most viewed of all TED.com talks.  He looks totally spontaneous but he is the most diligent in preparation, according to Nancy Duarte who coaches many of the TED speakers.  I chose Rosling's first TED talk in 2006 as my favourite here. It was my first TED conference and I spent the whole conference reeling with euphoria, with Rosling being a huge contributor.  However, I've watched many of his other talks since, from various TEDs and TEDx's; I could watch him forever and I would recommend you watch any and all of his talks.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates gets a mention here for a different reason than Rosling.  One couldn't claim that he's exactly charismatic, although he's developed a certain charm and warmth as a speaker now that he's a philanthropist rather than a business person.  I wrote in a previous post about Bill Gates' TED Talk on Innovating to Zero, a well-reasoned plea for getting carbon emissions to zero.  It was perhaps the best organized and persuasive presentation I'd ever seen.  He laid out the arguments clearly as to why we should care about climate, and why, when you examine all the alternatives, 'safe' nuclear energy is the only way to go.  Then he unveils such a new technology for safe nuclear energy (while transparently admitted it was developed by long-time friend and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's company).

 Derek Sivers
This is a short talk, less than three minutes.  But what a powerful message Sivers packs into that short time.

One of my firm convictions is that a prerequisite to great innovation is to be able to let go of what you know.  In this talk Sivers brilliantly exposes how we can get locked into one way of thinking, with a great story comparing address conventions in Japan and the US. 

William McDonough

William McDonough's talk wowed me at my first TED conference with 'his manifesto for the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design'  (his words on the Cradle to Cradle website. 

McDonough believes that when you manufacture something, you should know the characteristics of all ingredients and components and ensure that these are environmentally benign.  Moreover, you must ensure that the waste product, as well as your actual product must be environmentally benign.  And you should build products that can come back into the system to be used again.

Isabel Allende

Why is Isabel Allende's talk on my favourites list?   Because she was vibrant, inspiring, and funny.  She was totally feminine and totally feminist. 

When invited to carry the flag at the Opening Ceremonies of the Turin Winter Olympics, Allende's first concern was what she'd have to wear.  Her second concern was how she'd be dwarfed by the statuesque and gorgeous Sophia Loren.  How totally feminine! 

Her feminism was even more strongly represented.  She fervently disagreed with the thesis that feminism is passé.  Firstly, women and children still suffer incredible hardships and mistreatment.  The world needs to address these disadvantages.  Secondly, Allende believes that helping women helps the world.  This theme is often echoed in such movements as the microfinance movement.  Lend to men, they say, and the men improve their lives.  Lend to women and the whole family thrives. 

Allende is, after all, a well-known and prolific writer.  So it's not surprising that her talk centred around stories and was titled Tales of Passion.