INSPIRATION. (Volume 1: TED)

My brother taught me once that learning by listening was way better than by bungling when talking. Then I started realizing how easy and useful it is to listen actively to people: Most of the time they know more than me about the subject and, anyway, they always bring a different perspective that enriches my own idea about it.

Since then I love to get informed about topics I am interested in by any means of verbal communication (the radio, talks, speeches, classes, conferences, debates…). I’m very fond of nice conversations in cafés.

And then, just last year, I discovered a marvelous invention called TED.

TED (Acronym for “Technology, Entertainment, Design”) is an NGO dedicated to spread great discussions and conferences on a variety of different subjects.  The talks are lead by all kinds of different people that are always full of innovative ideas that can change world.

It was created in the 80’s, but went fully on-line in 2006. And it’s on the net, and under a Creative Commons License, that their mission got real strength, because the Speeches started to be available for free all around the world.

On TED I found brilliant discussions about Marketing, such as a very comical speech by Rory Sutherland about how advertising can change the consumers’ perception of the value of a product and further how real and important this value becomes:

TED consolidated my ideas about the huge power and responsibility that consumers have on discussions such as the one given by John Gerzema. Just one of the many stirring speeches about Consumer Behavior and Market Research that can be found flicking through the Tags’ listing on TED’s App for Android and iPhone:

But also thanks to TED, I’ve discovered how a social stigma (like mental illnesses) can be fought and altered with humor. The comedian Ruby Wax shows how in this very intelligent speech (Or should it be called stand-up comedy?):

TED even provided me with an easy way to answer when friends ask me “but what’s this thing about meditation?”, because I could never explain it better than Andy Puddicombe in his own words:

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Business educator Eddie Obeng taught me in his electrifying speech that Problem Solving should be, nowadays, Problem Forecasting. He says that getting something wrong is not always failing because in our world “after midnight” there’s certainly not enough to make safe decisions:

And last but not least, TED has reminded me how crucial positive thinking on life and work is. For instance, in this hilarious speech by Shawn Achor I learned that the Competitive Advantage is not as important as the “Happiness Advantage”:

So, when I decided to create a series of Posts about the things that inspire me, I knew that TED was going to be the first one. Because all my favorite speeches on TED give me hints how to evaluate the present and also how I want things to be in the future. And that is, as I see it, pure inspiration.