My Top 5 TED Talks

TED talks are amazing, not only are they insightful and well presented, but they cover so many topics.

I tend to focus on many of the personal development topics - here are a few of my favourites (listed in no particular order)

If you haven't already watched them, I highly recommend it! (Links are included in the images). Feel free to share your feedback with me! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

1. Why being respectful to your coworkers is good for business - Christine Porath

I first watched this talk at a time where I was starting to question the culture at the company/mine site I was working at. It was a place where everyone generally said the culture was good, mostly because people were friendly, but once I started to think more objectively, I began to question the capability of some of the leaders and the motives behind some management decisions (like many mid-sized Australian companies, there are many levels of management). This is a great talk to make you reflect on behaviour in the workplace, your own, your colleagues, and the implications for how the team performs as a whole.

2. The power of vulnerability - Brene Brown

I loved this talk from the moment I started watching it, which has now led me to start reading the book covering her research in more detail, "Daring Greatly". Whilst I am thinking of how to apply a lot of the themes into my work in a supervisory role, this concept of embracing vulnerability has implications for just about every aspect of life. This is a must watch talk!

3. The gift and power of emotional courage - Susan David

If you are someone who can get bogged down in emotions (particularly negative ones - I know I do) or struggle with the ridiculous level of disingenuous positivity that is expected these days (I know I have worked in companies where positive reports were valued over honest feedback) then this is a great talk for you. The concepts of emotional agility and resilience, and engaging with difficult emotions is discussed in a practical easy to understand way in this talk.

4. How changing your story can change your life - Lori Gottlieb

This is a great talk for some perspective on how you interpret certain situations and how the stories we tell ourselves about how our lives can be totally bias and obscured. Definitely a good talk if you have recently had some "passionate debates" or strong differences in opinions with others which have resulted in a dead lock. I can definitely apply it to some personal relationship breakdowns. The talk reminds us that it is worth considering how other people feel in given situations, and that our stories about ourselves can change.

Finally, no list of great TED talks would be complete without a Simon Sinek talk on Leadership

5. Why good leaders make you feel safe - Simon Sinek

Not only does this talk feature the typical Simon Sinek style of drawing on paper to illustrate concepts (drawing a near perfect circle at that!) but it explores the primary "what", "why" and "how" of strong leadership, and creating safe environments for team members to thrive.

I know I said "My top 5 TED talks" but I also love the talk below - so much so that I am planning to write a dedicated blog post about it later on. Another great one to think about in your workplace

Enjoy!

Amy