Ideas worth spreading

4 ways to build a human company in the age of machines

1,725,756 views |

Tim Leberecht |

TEDSummit

• June 2016

In the face of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we need a new radical humanism, says Tim Leberecht. For the self-described "business romantic," this means designing organizations and workplaces that celebrate authenticity instead of efficiency and questions instead of answers. Leberecht proposes four (admittedly subjective) principles for building beautiful organizations.

In the face of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we need a new radical humanism, says Tim Leberecht. For the self-described "business romantic," this means designing organizations and workplaces that celebrate authenticity instead of efficiency and questions instead of answers. Leberecht proposes four (admittedly subjective) principles for building beautiful organizations.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Tim Leberecht

Business romantic

See speaker profile

A humanist in Silicon Valley, Tim Leberecht argues that in a time of artificial intelligence, big data and the quantification of everything, we are losing sight of the importance of the emotional and social aspects of our work.

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This series, in which founders and managers openly share their failures, falls under the principle “be ugly” and is a great example of how embracing the messiness of work can not only be cathartic but indeed beautiful. As my friend, the entrepreneur Chris Chavez likes to say: "Beauty comes from turning shit into fertilizer.: In business and in life.

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The Great Beauty

This stunning 2013 movie by the Italian director Paolo Sorrentino won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Navigating the remote territory between Frederico Fellini and Peter Greenaway, it is not only an eccentric homage to the eternal city, but also an exuberant celebration of wisdom, art, eros, romance, and love—in other words, the beauty of things that don’t scale.

Trailer

Franklin Foer | Harper Perennial, 2010 | Book

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.