Amy Bridgeman is the Director of Client Engagement at EduSource and part of our Executive Leadership Team. She loves kickboxing and concert-going. At EduSource, we set quarterly goals. Amy’s second-quarter goal was to identify 7 great Ted Talks for leaders. Here, she shares what she found:

 

 

1. Drew Dudley: “Everyday Leadership”

  • What you’ll learn: Most people feel that leadership is a large, daunting task, but it’s the small gestures that make the biggest impact. Equally important is telling someone about the positive impact that they had on your life.
  • Takeaway: Leadership isn’t a title, it’s about making a difference.

 

2. Derek Sivers: “How to Start a Movement”

  • What you’ll learn: How one person can inspire a crowd of followers. The first follower turns a lone nut into the leader, and that first follower becomes as, if not more, important as the leader.
  • Takeaway: Nurture your first follower as an equal, it makes a safe environment for other followers.

 

3. Fields Wicker-Miurin: “Learning from Leadership’s Missing Manual”

  • What you’ll learn: People who make the biggest difference have a passion, and they try to learn from others, but end up inspiring instead. They have drive, passion, commitment, and humility.
  • Takeaway: The best leaders don’t use business-school tactics.

 

4. Roselinde Torres: “What it Takes to be a Great Leader”

  • What you’ll learn: The past model of an all-knowing superhero standing on high has to change to match the fast-paced world of today. Old training models of large companies are producing a 58% gap in candidates for future leadership.
  • Takeaway: Three questions future leaders should be asking:
    • Where are you looking to anticipate the next change?
    • What is the diversity of your network?
    • Is there a practice that you do out of comfort that you should abandon?

 

5. Margaret Heffernan: “Why it’s Time to Forget the Pecking Order”

  • What you’ll learn: This is a summary talk on a few studies on high-performing teams. The highest performing teams don’t have the highest IQs, but they have high degrees of social empathy; roughly equal voices, with no one voice louder; and have more women in them.
  • Takeaway: When social support is integrated into cultures of large organizations, they see an increase in productivity of 10%.

 

6. Stanley McChrystal: “Listen, Learn … Then Lead”

  • What you’ll learn: You must build trust to build faith to get to confidence.
  • Takeaway: Leaders will let people fail, but they won’t let them become failures.

 

7. Italy Talgam: “Lead like the Great Conductors”

  • What you’ll learn: If you have joy at work, you’ll have joy in output. Joy can be bringing other’s stories together and telling them as one.
  • Takeaway: A small gesture can make a big impact.