By Geoffrey James
Retrieved from Inc.
If you’re determined to get a job that requires an MBA, by all means spend the time and money to get one. However, if you want to know more about business than 99.9 percent of your colleagues, you can spend a day watching these TED Talks.
Motivation
Tony Robbins discusses the invisible forces that make us do what we do and how to use them to your advantage.
Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: that traditional rewards aren’t very effective.
Shawn Achor argues that happiness inspires productivity and that the concept that we should work to be happy is backwards.
Management
Jason Fried explains why the office isn’t a good place to get work done and why people who work elsewhere are more productive.
Sheryl Sandberg looks at why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions, and offers advice to women aiming for the C-suite.
Amy Cuddy shows how standing in a posture of confidence, even when you don’t feel confident, can positively affect your brain and influence your chances for success.
Marketing
Rory Sutherland explains how advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself.
Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.
Steven Johnson shows how history belies the idea of a eureka moment and that good ideas tend to emerge from environments rather than individuals.
Economics
Richard Wilkinson explains what happens when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust.
Mike Rowe tells some compelling and horrifying real-life job stories that provide insights about the nature of hard work and how it’s underappreciated in society today.
Nick Hanauer has been raising the hackles of his fellow 1-percenters, espousing the contrarian argument that rich people don’t actually create jobs.
Creativity
Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for creating an education system that nurtures rather than undermines creativity.
Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can awaken much bigger ones: the power of a good night’s sleep.
Tom Wujec presents some surprisingly deep research into the “marshmallow problem”–a simple team-building exercise.
Psychology
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code and how we’re predictably irrational–and can be influenced in ways we can’t grasp.
Pamela Meyer shows the manners and “hot spots” used by those trained to recognize deception.
Julian Treasure shares five ways to retune your ears for conscious listening–to other people and the world around you.
Success
Julian Treasure demonstrates some useful vocal exercises and shares tips on how to speak with empathy.
Alain de Botton makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work.
Dan Gilbert challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want and explains how to feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned.