What if leadership at work wasn't for a select few, but rather shared among many? Management consultant Gitte Frederiksen gives us the recipe for "distributed leadership" -- dynamic, multidimensional networks of leaders that tap into everyone's knowledge and creativity -- and shows how it allows teams to do more and do it better.
What's the difference between heroes and leaders? In this insightful talk, Lorna Davis explains how our idolization of heroes is holding us back from solving big problems -- and shows why we need "radical interdependence" to make real change happen.
What should modern leadership look like? Entrepreneur and former Icelandic presidential candidate Halla Tómasdóttir thinks global leaders need to change their ways -- or risk becoming irrelevant. In a conversation with curator Bryn Freedman, she shows how anybody can step up and make a difference, even if you don't yet have power. "There's a lea...
Leadership doesn't have a user's manual, but Fields Wicker-Miurin says stories of remarkable, local leaders are the next best thing. At a TED salon in London, she shares three.
The world is full of leadership programs, but the best way to learn how to lead might be right under your nose. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.
When women lead, bias often follows. Documentarian Robin Hauser dives into the dilemma between competence and likability faced by women in leadership roles, detangling the unconscious beliefs and gendered thinking that distort what it means to be a good leader.
Jacqueline Novogratz works to enable human flourishing. Her organization, Acumen, invests in people, companies and ideas that see capital and networks as means, not ends, to solving the toughest issues of poverty.
"I was the first woman president of an African nation, and I do believe more countries ought to try that," says H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Nobel laureate and former president of Liberia. Telling the story of how Liberian women helped rebuild their country after years of civil war, Sirleaf discusses why gender equality is essential to peace and ...
These days, almost all of us feel pressed for time. Leadership expert Dorie Clark shares three hidden reasons people fall into an endless loop of feeling constantly busy, and invites you to question what really motivates how you spend your time.
As the former Chief Operating Officer of Delta, Jim Whitehurst thought he knew the rules for how to lead. "I thought I was the person ultimately responsible for solving the problems facing my organization. I was the one who was supposed to bring order and structure," he says. His world was turned upside down when he left Delta to become CEO of R...
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.
We have all changed someone's life -- usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other's lives.
The climate crisis demands leadership at every level. Governments, cities and businesses are three key players in designing and implementing the necessary transition -- and putting climate back on the political and social agenda. Session 2 of the Countdown Global Launch, hosted by Al Gore and Jaden Smith, features Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Ursula vo...
The secret to having a great team is being a great leader. So what does it take to develop the perspective and skillset needed to succeed — no matter the situation? Learn from the best on how to foster your own personal brand of diligent, inclusive leadership. (Curated in partnership with Kellogg School of Management)
David Logan talks about the five kinds of tribes that humans naturally form -- in schools, workplaces, even the driver's license bureau. By understanding our shared tribal tendencies, we can help lead each other to become better individuals.
Nadia Lopez is the founding principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, where she is showing the world how underprivileged communities can beat the odds and create positive institutions that have a global impact.
Under the leadership of Lisa Jackson, Apple's environment and social VP and former head of the EPA, the company is already carbon neutral within their own corporate and retail boundaries. By 2030, Apple hopes to extend carbon neutrality to their supply chain and consumers. In conversation with urbanist and spatial justice activist Liz Ogbu, Jack...
The glass cliff: an experience of taking on a leadership role only to find that your chances of success have been limited before you've even begun. Equality activist Sophie Williams explores the research-backed reasons behind this workplace phenomenon and how it overwhelmingly affects underrepresented groups, despite a facade of progress and inc...
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 Jr. and the Wright brothers ...
An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.
Conductor Charles Hazlewood talks about the role of trust in musical leadership -- then shows how it works, as he conducts the Scottish Ensemble onstage. He also shares clips from two musical projects: the opera "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" and the ParaOrchestra.
As the founder of a startup, Tracy Young often worried that employees and investors valued male CEOs more -- and that being a woman compromised her position as a leader. In this brave, personal talk, she gives an honest look at the constraints women face when trying to adapt to a male-dominated business culture -- and shares how she developed th...
Sheryl Sandberg admits she was terrified to step onto the TED stage in 2010 -- because she was going to talk, for the first time, about the lonely experience of being a woman in the top tiers of business. Millions of views (and a best-selling book) later, the Facebook COO talks with the woman who pushed her to give that first talk, Pat Mitchell....