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INNOVATE

7 Powerful Tips from TED Talks That Will Make You

a Better Leader
Some tips from the best you can start using today to supercharge your leadership.

BY ELLE KAPLAN
 @ellekaplan

CREDIT: Getty Images

Very few people would likely describe themselves as "natural born leaders", and that's great
news for us. Although you won't suddenly wake up one day as the next Sheryl Sandberg, you
can start taking steps to become a better leader today.
And even if you do consider yourself a natural leader, leadership is certainly a tool that can
always use some sharpening.
Look no further than TED Talks. TED offers short lectures by brilliant, stimulating people who
Look no further than TED Talks. TED offers short lectures by brilliant, stimulating people who
are doing amazing things and have noteworthy ways to improve in fields such as technology,
business, science, and, you guessed it, leadership. To better help you grasp what these
innovative experts have to say, I've pulled together tips from some of the greatest (among
many) TED talks on leadership.
I won't keep you waiting, here are some TED takeaways you can start implementing today to
become a better leader:
1.) Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree:
According to Margaret Heffernan, mastering the art of disagreement is essential to effective
leadership. In this TED talk, Heffernan explains how disagreements are the building blocks for
progress and how individuals actually need conflict in order to move forward.
This isn't being argumentative-it's teaching your team how to harness differences to create
change for the better. Quite simply, if you have an office full of yes-men (or gals), you'll get a
bunch of nods and smiles as your business heads straight into bankruptcy territory.
Look no further than Pixar. They get a good chunk of their ideas by encouraging their team to
give each other criticism and having leaders be open it. I do the same thing, and you can too-
having your team feel comfortable in making statements and also defending them can help
foster effective leadership and overall success.
2.) Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn... then lead:
Stanley McChrystal is a retired United States Army general who spent decades within the
military. It was there that he learned life-long lessons on how to manage teams and align them
around incredibly intense goals in the battlefield.
In this TED talk, McChrystal discusses how leadership ultimately boils down to how well
individuals listen and learn. He's right-studies have found that actively listening accounts for a
whopping 40% of leadership success.
There's a misconception that leadership involves talking others' ears off. Instead, you should
take a note from McChrystal and aim to listen almost as much as you talk to your team. Even if
you aren't a motor mouth, you can improve your listening through active listening, and
making an effort to understand others and convey you're paying attention as much as
possible.
3.) Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are:
Through her inspiring TED talk, Social Psychologist and Harvard Business School Professor
Amy Cuddy shares a deep personal story of overcoming failure and discusses how our body
language not only influences how others view us, but also influences how we view ourselves.
Her interesting insight is valuable to anyone looking to become a more confident person and
therefore a more successful leader.
The term "power posing" is used a lot, and Cuddy claims it to be a move that can change both

your career and life if utilized properly. Her reasoning behind the power pose will make you
your career and life if utilized properly. Her reasoning behind the power pose will make you
seriously rethink how you approach every upcoming meeting. According to Cuddy, "Don't fake
it till you make it. Fake it till you become it." By practicing the body language of a superhero,
you'll turn into one.
4) Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do:
People aren't just solely motivated by their self-interests. According to Tony Robbins, "that's
bullsh!t at times." Tony's brilliant TED talk tip is that people are instead motivated to make a
difference with others. He's been a personal motivation coach for Bill Clinton and Oprah
Winfrey (among countless others), so he knows a thing or two about the subject.
Your team is (hopefully) after more than just a paycheck - they're driven by a passion to make
big changes and impacts on the world around them. However, many forget that this starts at
the top-if you don't relay to your team why they're doing what they're doing, who will?
That's why I take the time every Monday to cheer on my team, and put our tasks in the broader
context of our mission. To fuel your team's passion, you should do something similar. It's
always worth the effort to frame the daily grind in terms of the big-picture.
5) Nilofer Merchant: Got a Meeting? Take a Walk:
Merchant's great TED advice is that "there's this amazing thing about actually getting out of
the box that leads to out-of-the-box thinking." To start, she suggests walking meetings, which
have been scientifically proven to boost your team's creativity.
I've found that everything from a walk in a NYC park to trips abroad brings about the most
unexpected insights for my firm, so I'll encourage my team to take vacations (for other reasons
too) and always allow them to get fresh breaths of the outside world when they need to.
Beyond that, it's sourcing ideas from everywhere and anywhere. To be a better leader, you
should be sourcing innovative thinking from every part of the company, not just from those on
the top of the totem pole. Who knows? A junior marketing employee might just have that
unexpected solution to that high-level accounting problem.
6.) Roselinde Torres: What it takes to be a great leader:
Roselinde Torres is a senior partner and managing director at the consulting firm, BCG.
Crowned as the "resident expert", she has spent over 25 years observing effective leadership.
In this TED talk, Torres offers a great insight about modern-day, thriving leaders: "Great leaders
dare to be different. They don't just talk about risk-taking, they actually do it."
What you'll take away from this TED talk is that leadership is really all about being open to
change and the willingness to accept new ideas and strategies to better manage your team's
attention and therefore enhance productivity. Torres claims that focusing on our ability to
bounce back from defeat and failure is also important, as innovation stems from great
leadership, and great leaders require resiliency.
By doing just such, you will not only improve upon your leadership skills, but also achieve

greater career satisfaction overall. So brush it off and pick yourself back up, while encouraging
greater career satisfaction overall. So brush it off and pick yourself back up, while encouraging
your team to do the same, as it will make everyone a stronger individual in the long run.
7) Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders:
Sandberg gave this TED talk in December of 2010, which ultimately led to her book that was
published in 2013, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. In this video, she discuss why
so few women make it to C-level positions and offers a few pieces of advice to women who
want to make it there to the top.
Her great advice: "Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success." She
says how many of us-women and men alike-lack the confidence to "sit at the table", and we
end up shooting ourselves in the foot before even trying.
As a woman in finance, I wholeheartedly agree. Sometimes, when you feel like you're the only
person in the room, showing up is all it takes to realize your true, fantastic self. So whether it's
exuding confidence to your team or just showing up to that new job, don't be afraid to take
your own seat at the leadership table.
Do you have any leadership tips of your own, or any TED Talks you'd recommend? Give me a
shout-out on Twitter or Facebook!
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
PUBLISHED ON: JUN 24, 2016

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