4 Su ccess

Don’t eat the marshmallow!

FEDTALKS
JOACHIM DE POSADA got his Bachelor’s degree (BA) in business
administration at the University of Puerto Rico, and then a Master’s
degree (MSc) and a Doctorate (PhD) in psychology. In 1988, he began
teaching business courses at the University of IVIiami. He also was
Director of the Learning Systems Division of Xerox Corporation, where
he developed courses in sales training.

During his lifetime he visited more than sixty countries, talking to

businesses and other organizations about leadership, management,
team-building and sales, in both Spanish and English. His clients included
Citibank, Pepsi Cola, Verizon, and Olympic and professional sports teams.

His books include How to Survive Among Piranhas: Motivation to

Succeed (2003), Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet! The Secret to
Sweet Success in Work and Life (2005), Don’t Gobble the
Marshmallow... Ever!: The Secret to Sweet Success in Times of
Change (2007), and Keep Your Eye on the Marshmallow: Gain Focus
and Resilience - And Come Out Ahead (2013).

CAREER PATHWAYS 3 Read the TED playlist again and answer the questions.

1 Read the text. Answer the questions.
1 What two subjects did de Posada study at university?
2 What company did he work for?
3 What skills did he help people develop?
4 Who did he train in addition to businesspeople?
4 Complete the examples with the highlighted words from
5 How many of his books focus on the marshmallow
experiment?
TED PLAYLIST
2 Other TED speakers are interested in topics similar to
Joachim de Posada’s TED Talk. Read the descriptions
of five TED Talks at the top of page 35. In your opinion,
which is the best title for this playlist, a, b or c?
a How diet, exercise and hard work create success
b How the right teacher is the way to success
0 How our character is the key to success
1 Which two speakers explain the reasons why people
succeed or fail?___________________________
2 Which speaker talks about the reasons people want to
w ork?_____________
3 Which speaker considers the way success and
happiness work together?_____________
4 Which speaker talks about the importance of the things
that we want for the future?_____________
the TED playlist.
1 things you do to discover information or find out how
something works - We did several with workers
to learn more about why they chose their jobs.
2 special methods of doing things, perhaps not known
by many people - What are th e to making a
business successful?
3 things you hope to do in the future - My m ain for
the year are to find a new job and improve my English.
4 clever - The students w ere and did very well in
their exams.
5 things you receive for doing a good job - For me, the
biggest of my job are knowing that I'm helping
and meeting interesting people.

5 Which talk would you most like to see? Why? Watch the
talk at TED.com.

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 Q Richard St. John: Eight secrets of success managers don’t: traditional rewards aren’t always as useful
as we think. Listen and learn.
Why do people succeed? Is it because they’re smart? Or are
they just lucky? It isn’t either of those! Business expert and
Q Dan Gilbert: Why we make bad decisions
author Richard St. John turns years of interviews into a three-
Dan Gilbert explains his research into happiness - and talks
minute presentation on the real secrets of success.
about some surprising tests and experiments that you can
Q Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit also try on yourself. Watch until the end for the interesting
question-and-answer session.
When she left a top job in business, Angela Lee Duckworth
took a job teaching maths in a New York public school. She
Q Raghava KK: What’s your 200-year plan?
quickly realized that being intelligent wasn’t the only thing
You might have a five-year plan, but what about a 200-
that made students successful. Here, she explains how ‘grit’
year plan? Artist Raghava KK thinks a lot about the future
(the ability to continue working hard) can predict success.
and shows how this can help guide today’s choices and
Q Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation tomorrow’s goals - and encourages you to make your own
200-year plan too.
Career expert Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation,
starting with a fact that social scientists know, but most

AUTHENTIC LISTENING SKILLS Dealing When Witold stood up to speak, he couldn’t stop □
with accents laughing.
Both Witold and his audience felt that his talk didn’t □
6 F W iH 'J You are going to hear a podcast in which a
go well.
member of the Keynote team talks about Angela Lee
Witold realized then that he disliked his job. □
Duckworth’s TED Talk, The key to success? Grit. Listen to
Witold has learned to speak in front of audiences, O
these extracts from the podcast. Listen to the sentences
though he still isn’t comfortable doing it.
said first by a native British English speaker, and then by
Witold Chabrowski, a native Polish speaker. Compare the
pronunciation of the underlined sounds.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT
9 Read the sentences from the podcast. Choose the
1 My name is Witold Chabrowski, and I work as a sales
correct meaning of the words in bold.
and marketing manaoer in a Polish publishing company.
2 Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED Talk, which is called The 1 Anyone who watches the talk will feel inspired by
key to success? Grit, is about her experience working in watching it.
education. a bored
3 I must say, I reallv enjoyed the talk. b encouraged
c upset
LISTENING 2 I was working as a sales rep for a publishing company,
a person who writes
7 P B f lP g Listen to the full podcast. Choose the correct
b person who manages
option to make true sentences.
c person who sells
1 Witold says grit is the ability to work towards a goal for a 3 No big deal, I thought,
long time / make and achieve daily goals. a This will be easy
2 Witold talks about his experience trying to find a job / b This will be hard
speaking in front o f a group o f people. c This will be strange
3 As a result of his experience, Witold worked to find a 4 Being the centre of attention was something I was not
more suitable Job / to develop a new skill. comfortable with!
a thing everyone is looking at
8 F W lE f l Listen again. Are these statements true (T) or
b big problem
false (F)? c person who doesn’t talk
1 According to Witold, grit is more important for □ 5 I feel proud of my determination,
success than being rich or smart. a job
2 Witold had to explain his company’s business □ b education
plan to a group of colleagues. c grit

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