Michael Green designs and studies flags, and is fascinated about how we use them as symbols of personal identity and pride.

Why you should listen

Michael Green uses a designer’s eye to examine the surprisingly crazy world of vexillology and why humans revere colored pieces of cloth. He is a published vexillologist, a member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and has served as a design judge on many flag redesign efforts around the US.

Green is the founder and CEO of Flags For Good, a flag company that only makes flags it believes in, and which donates a portion of each to relevant charities. Before leaving the nine-to-five to run Flags For Good full-time, he was the assistant athletic director for branding, digital and social media at Texas A&M Athletics and an adjunct professor of design thinking at Mays Business School. Prior to moving to the Athletics side of A&M, he was the manager of emerging and interactive media for Texas A&M University, creating content and helping @TAMU grow into one of the leading social media accounts in higher education.

An avid traveler, Green has now stepped foot in over 75 countries and collects flags along the way.

Michael Green’s TED talk

More news and ideas from Michael Green

News

Open: The talks of TED@DestinationCanada

March 13, 2023

When we come together with open hearts and open minds, anything is possible. It was in this spirit that TED partnered with Destination Canada for a day of talks and performances featuring new ideas on living, seeing the world and reimagining our shared future. The event: TED@DestinationCanada: Open is the first event TED and Destination […]

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We humans

Why we shouldn’t judge a country by its GDP

April 22, 2015

Analysts, reporters, and “big thinkers” everywhere love to talk about Gross Domestic Product. It has become the yardstick by which we measure a country’s success. But, argues Michael Green, it's also potentially misleading. His alternative? The Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity.

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