TED Talks That Make the Biggest Impact
Welcome to today’s article on Most Watched Ted Talks. Firstly, a TED Talk is a well-recorded video presentation from various experts around the world that is dedicated to sharing knowledge through short talks. And many experts worldwide, like scientists, researchers, technologists, business leaders, models, artists, designers, and many more, use the TED stage to present valuable knowledge based on their expertise. Here we will explore the most watched TED talks and many interesting values we can use for companies or organisations.
TED Talks Origins
TED began in 1984 as a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading knowledge from experts around the world through short video presentations. In the beginning, the main focus was Technology, Entertainment, and Design. But nowadays, it explores almost everything from science, business, education, arts, and other interesting global topics.
Moreover, each TED Talk explores a deep look into a specific topic presented by an expert. And, this becomes an important show to watch for whoever wants to learn more about the topic from the expert and one that is presented online for free.
So, what are you waiting for? Now, let’s dig deeper into what you can get from the most-watched TED Talks and where you should start from the TED Talks business category lists.
10 Most Watched TED Talks To Date
Now based on current YouTube views, here is the list of the February 2024 most-viewed TED Talks.
- “How to Speak so That People Want to Listen” – Julian Treasure – 39 million views
- “The Next Outbreak? We’re Not Ready” – Bill Gates – 37 million views
- “Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe Me, I’m a Model” – Cameron Russell – 29 million views
- “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are” – Amy Cuddy – 24 million views
- “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” – Sir Ken Robinson – 23 million views
- “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” – Simon Sinek – 18 million views
- “The Power of Introverts” – Susan Cain – 15 million views
- “How to Make Stress Your Friend” – Kelly McGonigal – 15 million views
- “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” – Angela Lee Duckworth – 13 million views
- “The Danger of a Single Story” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 12 million views
#1: “How to Speak so that People Want to Listen” – Julian Treasure – 39 million views
Julian Treasure, a sound consultant, studies sound and advises businesses on the best way to use it. Managers need to watch this video. In managers’ daily work performance, it is a crucial element that will help the manager in certain situations. Of course, it is because managers need to make their subordinates listen to them and follow their instructions.
#2: “The Next Outbreak? We’re Not Ready” – Bill Gates – 37 million views
Next on most watched TED talks. Generally, this show is about an experience of how the world faced an epidemic. Now, Bill Gates, in this video, suggested that we should have done better and put all the good ideas into action. He talked much about prevention actions that need to be prepared for the epidemic. All in all, managers should be concerned about cases like this because as we know we can learn many things and follow the instruction from the experts.
#3: “Looks Aren’t Everything. Believe me, I’m a Model” – Cameron Russell – 29 million views
Cameron Russell is a professional model and she appeared in many famous magazines. She attempts to break the stereotype that if you are good-looking, you will think that you are secure. But it doesn’t work like that. A career will be defined from lots of aspects, not just good-looking, even for a model. Interestingly, it happens for managers also. Don’t think good-looking is everything. It is probably so if you say it is related to self-image or similar points. However, don’t only depend on looks. You have so many other potentials that you can rely on.
#4: “Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are” – Amy Cuddy – 24 million views
Number four on most watched TED talks. To start, body language is a very important element in business or professional life as a manager. Here, a social psychologist, Amy Cuddy explores the influence of body language on our personal image and illustrates the importance of some strategic power poses that can support our self-confidence.
#5: Do Schools Kill Creativity?” – Sir Ken Robinson – 23 million views
He worked with governments, international agencies, and global corporations to unlock the creative energy of people and organisations. His show on TED Talks in 2006 “Do Schools Kill Creativity” became very famous. This is the top video with more than 70 million times views.
#6: “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” – Simon Sinek – 18 million views
Now an interesting topic about how inspiring leaders think, act and communicate, is presented by Simon Sinek. Managers should watch this inspiring video and benefit from how Simon Sinek thinks and explains the goal of business.
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#7: “The Power of Introverts” – Susan Cain – 15 million views
Susan Cain became viral in 2012 from her TED Talks about the power of introverts. Also, she is the author of bestseller books “Quiet” and “Bittersweet.” In business today’s lifestyle, there is a paradigm that seems to support the assumption that an introverted person is not an ideal person to be a manager. But this is totally wrong. Just because an introverted person doesn’t like to speak up, it doesn’t mean they don’t have the capability to become a great manager.
#8: “How to Make Stress Your Friend” – Kelly McGonigal – 15 million views
From the title you can guess that the topic is unusual and unique. However, it is very interesting. Just imagine, if we can use our stress as fuel for our life to become one of our good friends. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal presents the way of thinking that supports stress as a positive element in our lives. By understanding the key point in this video, managers can learn the way to live their daily lives side by side with the stress that they try to avoid all the time.
#9 “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” – Angela Lee Duckworth – 13 million views
This is a good show for anyone who is striving to succeed. Psychologist Angela Duckworth shows business people that the secret to outstanding achievement in their work is not talent but a focused persistence called grit. So, anything possible, this mindset is very important to have for every manager around the world.
#10: “The Danger of a Single Story” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 12 million views
Finally, in most watched TED talks. Inspired by Nigerian history, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novels and stories are very interesting and can inspire us including managers. It is very important to always hear not only from one side’s story but also from the whole other perception. This is so we don’t lose sight of what is really happening. Now this is the same practice for the business world where managers need to analyse the whole situation and try to get information from the whole team, not only from one or two favourite people. Because you will face the risk of not getting the appropriate information to make the right decision.
Honourable Mention: “The Future We’re Building…and Boring” – Elon Musk – 11 million views
Elon Musk is an influential person. He leads Tesla, Space X, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. In this video, he explores the expected future developments and some company innovations and shares knowledge that can make people improve their lives. Now this is a very good video that should be watched by every manager. It can teach you how to imagine the future and develop the future from now. Of course, this methodology can be applied to business life.
Importance of TED Talks for Business Executives
#1: Education at All Levels
TED Talks is a unique and popular show that is very effective in educating the audience including business leaders or executives. Furthermore, this show explores many business topics and ideas that are important to improve the general business principles to be in advanced categories. Here, we will discuss the most watched TED Talks from the business category and other interesting topics that will help business leaders or managers.
#2: Online Access to a Wide Audience
There are few chances only for us to get free online access to special material about business which is presented by many business experts. Hence, it becomes crucial because as managers, we need that knowledge to do the business in the best way we can. Now apart from other platforms or sources that are probably not that easy to get access to, we can get instant access to knowledge from the world’s smartest or most talented business people through TED Talks.
#3: Worldwide Topics Easily Available
Yet another reason these videos are so important is due to the range and variety of worldwide topics that are now available. Before, you needed specialist TV channels or news coverage to get access to certain content. Now TED Talks has made many important worldwide topics more readily available.
#4: Their Length Encourages Viewing
Finally, TED Talks come to you in easy-to-watch short chunks. Gone is the need to invest hours on a given topic to have an overview of the topic at hand. Instead, TED Talks are shorter, more manageable videos that don’t ask too much of the viewer in terms of the time committed to watching them.
Remember, TED Talks are a worldwide phenomenon that inspires people around the world because the experts share their unique ideas and challenge the audience’s ways of thinking with their wonderful methodology system. It has various topics that will attract your attention, from leadership, innovation, motivation, wisdom, and everything that seems to be important in this modern era including the business world.
Tips and Strategies to Choose the TED Talks video to Improve your Knowledge as a Manager
1. Start With Ideas of What You Need:
Firstly, you can choose from a range of different topics. It’s better to choose from what topic you need at the moment or you are interested in.
2. Continue With the Length of the Video:
Now keep in mind the length that you are willing to watch. Some people have different abilities to stay focused on the video for some specific period. Note that many TED Talks videos length range from 6 minutes to more than 18 minutes.
3. It Would Be Better to Decide How Many Viewers the Videos Have:
So another benefit of TED Talks videos is we can know which top videos have many viewers. It can represent how interesting the presenter brings the material, so it can be a good recommendation to put them on your list.
4. If You Have Favourite Speakers or Experts, Then You Can Go for Their Videos:
It is generally known that you will be easy to accept, trust, and understand what your favourite people talk about. So, after considering the three categories above you can go for who the presenter is as the next choice to choose.
5. The Updated Ones
Lastly, some people will be interested in the updated or the freshest videos that probably discuss trending topics. So, if you are okay with that, you can go to choose based on this category.
Examples of Business Situations for Managers’ Daily Life Performance based on the 10 Most Popular TED Talks
Example 1: How to Keep Improving Self-image and Knowledge
Now Angel is a junior manager in one of the famous boutiques in London. She is very talented, however, for some reason, her college didn’t see her in the way she wants to see. To deal with this situation Angel should watch some TED Talks videos that can help her or give her a new perception about what thing she needs to change or develop.
Here are some suggestions:
- Your body language may shape who you are, Amy Cuddy.
- How to speak so that people want to listen, Julian Treasure.
Example 2: Keep Believing and Trying Your Best to Get Whatever Career Position You Want
In this example, Zane is a very talented person in the accounting department. He has all the knowledge to be promoted to CFO. However, after several failures in trying, he starts questioning himself about his capability. What Zane should do right now is try his best again and watch some good videos from TED Talks that can fuel his motivation.
Now these are TED Talks that would help:
- Grit: The power of passion and perseverance, Angela Lee Duckworth.
- The power of introverts, Susan Cain.
- Looks aren’t everything. Believe me, I’m a model, Cameron Russell.
Example 3: Challenges Are Good for Business Life; It Makes You Grow
John is a senior manager in a famous retail company. And, he faced a difficult situation because many new retail companies appear and seem to be so much attractive in their promotion strategy. John gets depressed by the head office because the branch company he leads gets a deficit that month. And at a certain point, he feels like he wants to give up. What John should do at that time is keep trusting himself, try all the possible ways he could, and follow some instruction guidelines from the videos below:
- How great leaders inspire action, Simon Sinek.
- How to make stress your friend, Kelly McGonigal.
Example 4: Take Deep Analysis and Consider All Sides’ Information Before You Make a Decision
Now Dave is an HR manager. He faced a situation that made him seem to need to fire one of the senior employees in the company because of a bad action assumption. There are rumours fast spreading that this employee did sexual harassment to one of the company’s female employees. This rumour became so much of a hot topic in the company. Before making a decision, it is better for Dave to watch this video from TED Talks.
- The danger of a single story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Example 5: Do What You Think is Right, Take All Responsibility, and Keep Moving on
Aaron is a young entrepreneur who leads his family company. He is full of energy and ambition. However, people underestimate him after he makes several decisions that seem very risky and put the company’s financial position in a dangerous situation. However, he knows and believes what he doing is right and he thinks about the future, not just about the current situation. For his supplement, it is better for Aaron to watch the TED Talks videos below:
- The future we’re building and boring, Elon Musk.
- The next outbreak? We’re not ready, Bill Gates.
A Final Thought – Most Watched Ted Talks
Finally, guidance is important in almost every aspect of life, including professional life. As a manager, sometimes we feel lost and need to figure out what and how we can get out of a difficult situation. Luckily, watching and learning from someone expert in the field will be a wise option to choose. And TED Talks present so many good videos that can help managers to survive in such situations. As a result, this has become an alternative solution to getting the right guidance to grow and succeed in professional life.
Updated: February 2024 by Ailish O’Rourke-Henriette
