Essential Business Based TED Talks

Everyone in the business world needs to pay attention to TED Talks. This website provides a host of insightful videos offering academic lectures on various topics in an understandable package. Each video presents incredible statistics, arguments, and studies to better the business savvy of every human being who watches it. Collected here are some incredible TED Talks for any business person looking to better the workplace environment and best advance their bottom line.

This TED Talk features a discussion on the hiring process, and how sometimes it is better to hire the underdog, to give a person with less experience a chance to prove themselves. Regina Hartley discusses the risks and benefits of hiring "The Scrapper." What a less-experienced person lacks in a list of prior hires, he or she makes up for with passion and eagerness. This energy might be lacking in employees comfortable in their positions. As she eloquently puts, "Choose the underestimated contender, whose secret weapons are passion and purpose."

For more information on Regina Hartley, click here.

In this TED Talk, Simon Sinek discusses the qualities great leaders must possess in order to succeed in the workplace. He cites successful businesses and great social revolutionists to come up with a model for success. This model—encapsulated by a simple Golden Circle—will aid leaders in compiling a great business model to spur on productivity in the workplace. Some techniques discussed are easy and can reap immediate results. Every business owner and supervisor needs to see this.

For more information on Simon Sinek, click here.

You can do everything you've been told, yet still come up empty handed. In this TED Talk, Susan Colantuono discusses the adversity facing so many employees in the work place. She states that there is a single solution to all these problems, and that requires addressing the strategic focus of the company. She offers one technique that can advance any employee up the corporate ladder toward success, one that can help an employee stand out from the crowd.

For more information on Susan Colantuono, click here.

So much of our issues with the work place derive from our issues with perspective. This TED Talk confronts that core business misconception head-on. Barry Schwartz addresses that the obsession business owners have with the bottom financial line is a flawed mindset. To properly advance, we can no longer see workers as "cogs on a wheel," but as individuals with aspirations.

For more information on Barry Schwartz, click here.

Star employees are given pickings while the rest of the hierarchy is left with their scraps. According to Margaret Heffernan, this mindset is not only wrong but also bad for business. This essential TED Talk deconstructs this mindset by exposing that social cohesion—bringing the work force together—benefits the work environment immensely, for it encourages everyone to solve problems together rather than meander with nothing to challenge them.

For more info on Margaret Heffernan, click here.

Sociologists have spent years understanding it. Managers seem to misunderstand it. This TED Talk cracks the code: what motivates workers? According to Dan Pink, not only is the current reward model outdated—it's also harmful. Pink presents a new strategy that sociologists the world over agree works.

For more information on Dan Pink, click here.

Race remains a sensitive issue in the US. So often, the wrong action can trigger an unintended response that brings about nothing but pain and hurt. Leave it to TED Talks to discuss the means through which business owners and employees can avoid offending... by addressing it directly. In order to foster acceptance, color blindness is not the solution. But embracing color? That is something entirely different... and better.

For more information on Mellody Hobson, click here.

We stand on the cusp of a conflict. We may be creating far more jobs than necessary. The world may depend on a multitude of services without people around to do the walk! In a humorous TED Talk, Rainer Strack addresses the incoming crisis, and, rather than be daunted about it, explains with a smile the only way to side-step adversity.

For more info on Rainer Strack, click here.

The Marshmallow Project sounds like a silly team-work exercise. Build a tall tower using dry spaghetti, one yard of tape, and a marshmallow. Seems silly, but this TED Talk, hosted by Tom Wujec, shares an interesting discovery about the teams that so often win these competitions... and, more importantly, how the results and trends recorded can advise business owners on the best path forward.

For more information on Tom Wujec, click here.

So often, business can run a person's life. Dominate their day to day thoughts, their activities, their plans. But what if so many of these restrictions to our lives—calling in sick, reporting sick days, board meetings—were changed on a fundamental level? Ricardo Semler, in this insightful TED Talk, proposes a radical change to our model of business. In doing so, he explores deep, philosophical concepts that might reshape the way you perceive the world. Also, education is discussed at the end.

For more information on Ricardo Semler, click here.

Some startups fail, while others skyrocket to the top. Bill Gross takes a look at numerous startup businesses in this TED Talk to come to a singular reason why so many businesses fail, and so many businesses succeed. And, in all fairness, even Mr. Gross, with all his experience, didn't see this coming. A must-watch for anyone interested in startups.

For more information on Bill Gross, click here.

On a similar note, failure is an ever-present risk for countless businesses and companies. The risk of failure may keep many on their toes, but wouldn't it be better to just avoid failure altogether? In this TED Talk, Knut Haanaes discusses finding a balance between running a company and innovating upon what works, and the two pitfalls that come along the way that leads so many to ruination.

For more information on Knut Haanaes, click here.

The future remains obscured, but data can help deconstruct the boundaries between the now and the yet to come. Numbers can predict what trends to anticipate, what we must do to advance. This TED Talk, presented by Philip Evans, demonstrates the inevitable impact data will have on the business world, how to employ the upcoming changes for our benefit, and, more than anything else, how to adapt to the developments in our immediate future.

For more information on Philip Evans, click here.

The world changes without halt. It does not wait for creativity to catch up with it. According to business educator Eddie Obeng, there are three major changes we must make if we hope to evolve with the times. Watch this TED Talk to understand why we need a stronger culture of "smart failure."

For more information on Eddie Obeng, click here.

Linda Hill, author of Creative Genius," addresses the concerns many businesses have about creative output of their company. After studying countless organizations and their products, she states a guideline for businesses to follow in this insightful TED Talk. A little series of instructions for any company hoping to advance their business by managing the collective creativity of their working staff.

For more information on Linda Hill, click here.