The surprising habits of original thinkers

Adam Grant shares why great innovators procrastinate, feel doubt and fear and have bad ideas.

Success

“So what I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas. and make sure that we own them, that we are truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it’s bad enough, not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of a journey, that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along.”

Alain De Botton, A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

How art, technology and design inform creative leaders

John Maeda, President of the Rhode Island School of Design, delivers a funny and charming talk that spans a lifetime of work in art, design and technology, concluding with a picture of creative leadership in the future. Watch for demos of Maeda’s earliest work — and even a computer made of people.

Interested in John’s thinking on leaderhip? Check out his most recent book Redesigning Leadership (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life).

Sergey Brin and Larry Page on Google

Scott Berkun’s article about Google’s 20% time mentions that the Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page shared during their talk at TED that the Montessori school philosophy influenced their ideas on 20% time. I find it stunning that a school-philosophy triggered what I believe to be one of the most amazing concepts for a work environment.

For those of you that don’t know: Google’s 20 percent time is a well-known part of their philosophy, enabling engineers to spend one day a week working on projects that aren’t necessarily in their job descriptions. You can use the time to develop something new, or if you see something that’s broken, you can use the time to fix it.

Here’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page’s (not so recent TED) talk (jump top 8:50 if you want to hear the Montessori part):

Sarah Kay: If I should have a daughter …

“If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she’s gonna call me Point B … ” began spoken word poet Sarah Kay, in a talk that inspired two standing ovations at TED2011. She tells the story of her metamorphosis — from a wide-eyed teenager soaking in verse at New York’s Bowery Poetry Club to a teacher connecting kids with the power of self-expression through Project V.O.I.C.E. — and gives two breathtaking performances of “B” and “Hiroshima.”

The below video made me tear up:

Sarah Kay has been a performing poet since she was 14 years old. She is the founder of Project V.O.I.C.E, teaching poetry and self-expression at schools across the United States. Full bio and more links.


(Thank you Jessi)

Deb Roy: The birth of a word

The below TED Talk is awe-inspiring:

MIT researcher Deb Roy wanted to understand how his infant son learned language — so he wired up his house with video cameras to catch every moment (with exceptions) of his son’s life, then parsed 90,000 hours of home video to watch “gaaaa” slowly turn into “water.” Astonishing, data-rich research with deep implications for how we learn.

I would give so much to have a map of my very first words in chronological order. What a lucky little boy.

(thank you Jessi!)

How to make work-life balance work

Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. At TEDxSydney, Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity — and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen.

Dale Dougherty: We are makers

America was built by makers — curious, enthusiastic amateur inventors whose tinkering habit sparked whole new industries. At TED@MotorCity, MAKE magazine publisher Dale Dougherty says we’re all makers at heart, and shows cool new tools to tinker with, like Arduinos, affordable 3D printers, even DIY satellites.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?” His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers — and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

Definitely a new favorite on my long list of TED talks.

The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

“Goodbye Hyper-Consumption, hello ‘Collaborative Consumption’. In Rachel Botsman TEDxSydney talk, we learn how the internet is removing the middle man and making it possible to have a sustainable business plan selling peer-to-peer… Collaborative Consumption is a new socio-economic ‘big idea’ promising a revolution in the way we consume.” — ABC Big Ideas

www.collaborativeconsumption.com

The beauty of data visualization

David McCandless shows how design can make sense out of the overwhelming amount of information in today’s world. He turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world.

Teach every child about food

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

Tim Brown urges designers to think big

Tim Brown says the design profession is preoccupied with creating nifty, fashionable objects — even as pressing questions like clean water access show it has a bigger role to play. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory “design thinking.”

Seth Godin on the tribes we lead

Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.

(via thinkingalaud)

John Wooden Redefining Success

With profound simplicity, Coach John Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.

I share, therefore I am.

(via made me look)

Unveiling the “Sixth Sense” game-changing wearable tech

This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.

Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise

Milton Glaser on TED

(via sugardew)

Elizabeth Gilbert: A different way to think about creative genius

TED: Carl Honore: Slowing down in a world built for speed

Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world’s emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there’s a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.