We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.
TED is a circuit of highly popular conferences that present "Ideas Worth Spreading" - which have quickly grown to become some of the most well known conferences around the world. TED has attracted presenters such as Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Larry Page, and a large handful of Nobel Prize Winners.
Many of the presentations, known as TED Talks, present ideas that are particularly valuable to entrepreneurs. I put together a collection of TED Talks that all entrepreneurs, including ecommerce store owners, should find interesting and worthwhile. Since a lot of the presenters below have written books, I have included a link to purchase. All of the money earned from Amazon's affiliate program will go to Acumen, a non-profit venture that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Let us know which TED Talk you think should have made the list in the comments.
Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons from an Ad Man
Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action
People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek is an author, motivational speaker, and strategic communications professor at Columbia University. Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership that starts with his famous "golden circle of motivation" and the question "Why?"
If you like Simon Sinek's TED talk, you should also check out his popular blog Re:Focus which is regularly updated with fascinating articles that will help entrepreneurs build businesses. Also check out his book "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action."
Dan Ariely: Are we in Control of our own Decisions?
Seth Godin: How to get your Ideas to Spread
Malcolm Gladwell: Choice, Happiness, and Spaghetti Sauce
Tim Harford: Trial, Error, and the God Complex
Steven Johnson: Where Good Ideas Come From
Entrepreneurs often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. Steven Johnson doesn't think it's that simple and shows us how history tells a different story.
Steven Johnson is a best-selling author of seven books all on the intersection of science and technology woven together by personal experience. Johnson's book, "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" digs deep on the topic introduced in his TED Talk above. Also check out his most recent book which is only available for pre-order "Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age."
Cameron Herold: Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs
Dan Cobley: What Physics Taught Me About Marketing
Jason Fried: Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work
Daniel Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation
Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Sometimes using money as motivation does more harm than good - and people perform far worse when motivated with cash.
Daniel Pink is a best-selling author, journalist, and the former chief speechwriter for US Vice President Al Gore. If you enjoy Pink's TED Talk, check out two of my favorite books by Daniel Pink, "Drive: The Surprising Truth Abou What Motivates Us" and "The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need."
Richard St. John: 8 Secrets of Success
Why do people succeed? Is it because they are smart? Or are they just lucky? The answer is neither. Success Analyst, speaker, and author Richard St. John asked over 500 extraordinarily successful people what helped them succeed. He analyzed their answers and discovered eight traits successful people have in common. His book "The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common: 8 to Be Great" goes into further detail on each of the traits that are briefly outlined in his TED Talk above.
Looking for more great inspirational content? Check out 12 Must Watch "Non-TED" Talks for Entrepreneurs.
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51 comments
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September 12 2012, 11:34AM
Goodbye Morning… :)
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September 12 2012, 11:59AM
And what about us midgets? We are always shortchanged.
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September 12 2012, 12:06PM
I’m sorry is any of this advice less valid because these are men giving it? Did you even watch any of these videos? I for one have seen many great TED talks, in many different fields, made by women, so if you’re making the case that women aren’t represented here, you have absolutely no leg to stand on. Where is your common sense?
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September 12 2012, 12:09PM
I second Kelly
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September 12 2012, 02:53PM
GREAT talk by the great growth coach, Cameron Herold!! Love that he made this list.
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September 12 2012, 03:22PM
No Derek Sivers? -10pts right there.
http://www.ted.com/speakers/derek_sivers.html
how to start a movement is great…
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September 12 2012, 07:52PM
Where are the vietnamese? You can’t possibly post anything anywhere without having all ethnicities, body types, genders, nationalities, etc represented equally. After all, the content and message are clearly not paramount. Only the messenger’s physical traits that they had no control over.
(dripping with sarcasm if you didn’t get that)
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September 12 2012, 10:13PM
Every book link has an Amazon affiliate code. Do you really need that Shopify? So whose code is thebluwes-20?
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September 13 2012, 02:03AM
Mike – What’s wrong with affiliate codes? You have problems with people earning you money?
Well, I bet you have no problems earning other people’s money.
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September 13 2012, 07:00AM
@Kelly, I think that they are all sitting quietly under the glass ceiling!
In all seriousness though kelly, I am not sure of how much ted talks you watch, however, their are very few women compared to men speaking about business. Most of the women speaking at ted talks are Dr.‘s and scientists unless they are speaking about women as entrepreneurs or other topics referring to women only roles, and this collection from what I have gathered is not gender specific. I’m sure however if a female entrepreneur gives a speech which is not conducive only to women, then they would get added to a collection such as this. -
September 13 2012, 09:40AM
Mike: If you read the second paragraph, you’ll see I used Acumen Fund’s Amazon affiliate code. They’re a non-profit venture that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries.
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September 13 2012, 10:26AM
Why are you so angry? I think Kelly poses a valid question that is not necessarily critical of the writers of this article, but just an observation of the field today. Why are there not as many women in entrepreneurship? Why is it automatically assumed that when women want to see more women in a field it’s because they hate men, or they want to destroy family or Western society. Where is your common sense? I don’t think you know how to interpret a simple question or respond to it rationally. How do you function in normal society?
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September 14 2012, 08:34PM
@RE: RE: kelly
Are you serious? You made some pretty bold implications there, my friend. I don’t see how you could possibly make any of those conclusions out of the information presented here.
@Vertically Challenged and @David:
lol
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September 19 2012, 07:51PM
@RE: RE: kelly
Why do you think your interpretation of Kelly’s comment is any more valid than anyone else who has responded to her? If Kelly wanted to make “an observation of the field today” and didn’t want to people to make assumptions as to her intention, perhaps she should have used more than four words to make her point.
Where is your common sense? I don’t think you know how to interpret a simple question or respond to it rationally. How do you function in normal society?
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September 21 2012, 11:07AM
Yeh! Why aren’t there ANY WOMEN on here, was my FIRST take on this, and I DO listen to the Ted Talks!
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October 12 2012, 03:44PM
I love TED! Thanks!
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October 21 2012, 11:30PM
Thanks for the list. I really enjoyed listening again to some of my favs as well as hearing several new inspirational talks.
Hey, here is a startup idea: Ted playlists. Or did someone do it already? That’d be awesome!
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November 01 2012, 08:14AM
Thanks for the list, I love TED talks. I compiled my own favorites list at http://www.arinanikitina.com/best-of-ted-top-41-inspirational-ted-talks.html
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November 03 2012, 12:28AM
The women is making me a sandwich. =) Seriously, who cares. I hope that someday human beings judge each other by color of skin or gender but by character.
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December 06 2012, 05:20AM
Has anybody seen kelly, Kay EE Double yel Wai
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December 06 2012, 07:16AM
I love TED talks.Thank you for inspiration.
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January 13 2013, 10:25PM
I also wish the speakers weren’t all white guys, but that doesn’t discount the quality of the information. Fantastic stuff here, thanks for collecting.
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February 28 2013, 01:23PM
Malcolm Gladwell is white?
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March 13 2013, 03:06AM
How to start a comment war.
Write down a chick name, say KELI,
post “where are the women”,
then watch the fireworks -
March 23 2013, 04:45PM
Seriously, grow up!
go burn your bra somewhere else, this is a place where someone is offering to give you a selection of free information – why are you abusing it? Take what you can get from it, then go find a feminist website somewhere else and have your rant.
Thank you shopify by the way, you are the best website I have ever had the pleasure of working with.- written by a woman. booyah!
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March 25 2013, 01:53AM
Could it be that men are just better entrepreneurs? Men and women should be treated equally but that does not mean they are equally skilled at everything.
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April 09 2013, 08:38AM
HI
Today i came across this amazing new website named nupinch.com…i really think you guys should check it out..
Link: http://bit.ly/XczfI3 -
April 13 2013, 01:51PM
Thanks immensely for this motivational and inspirational ideas, it has metamorphosed my perception about entrepreneurship. I have just watched one of the speakers on Facebook and to be factual it was “SERENDIPITY”. Please! Keep the good work going for the upcoming entrepreneurs. Thanks and God bless.
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May 16 2013, 03:15AM
@Kelly – where are women???
in your mind!!!
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May 27 2013, 12:10PM
Awesome post thanks for sharing this, I love Ted talks, its great to have a post I can check out quick with tons of the best speeches.
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June 07 2013, 01:52PM
While it is good to help fund a new business with the proceeds of this charity. Why not help the little man in this country ? The money could really help a natural born citizen of the US get their business going. Instead the immigrants who do want to start a business here already qualify for many low interest loans and the natural born citizen of the US doesn’t qualify. Lets get our country to help our country first.
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June 10 2013, 01:28AM
Who cares if there are women up there or not! These men have good knowledge to share. Don’t blind yourself on who is giving good knowledge. Listen, learn and be the next women up there giving the talk. Knowledge can be good if you hear it from a man, woman, a midget, or a complete stranger. Knowledge is power regardless of where it comes from! Women’s rights weren’t too long ago and we still have a long way to go, but don’t blame these people who are out to share ideas for sharing knowledge! Kinda feels like your missing the importance of their message. And so what if it is these men that had better ideas over the women this time. Suck it up learn from it and beat them out the next time!
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July 08 2013, 12:23PM
When will we stop leaving “Only Women”, “Only Men” comments? How about, these are the 10 best this guy thought we should know about. If you require one of each Seeing-Impaired, Hearing-Impaired, Handi-Capable, Transgender, Native American, African American, Mentally Challenged, Morbidly Obese, Anorexic, Pacific Islander, Narcoleptic you will have to discriminate by eliminating one from the group. The “Where are the” comments deeply offend me.
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August 05 2013, 12:05AM
I agree that we need more women represented. Let’s fix it!
http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.htmlThis talk above could be totally added to the list, to start. :)
Women are frequently overlooked even though their ideas and thoughts are completely valid and important.
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August 08 2013, 01:27PM
Another great post and inspired me
Thank you very much, -
April 14 2014, 06:47PM
I third Kelly.
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June 29 2014, 02:13AM
Kelly; the message made a request for otger TED TALKS that u think shuld have made the list. I think its fair that we bring those ‘women’ out. I dont think its partriarchy, its rare to associate the Entrepreneur name with women. Let alone those who made presentations on TED TALK. Kelly could help us discover more women
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July 07 2014, 11:31AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmKeSIVpNR8 Do you make decisions, really? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppQUCPJWKOg Are you just listening to zionist white kosher nationalists pretending about semantics of feminism and ruining every culture on the planet, funding all sides of conflict since Napoleon and into total control of realty, resources and monetary systems? don’t understand why over 50% of the world’s billionaires are the tinniest pro-racial and pro-racist gene line who never mix-race for power transfer only love children for some sick gaming? Listen to it all again and hold your GMO food.
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July 30 2014, 07:57PM
I don’t care what size, shape, gender, or color of the speaker as long as the talks deliver ideas worth spreading. That it what TED is all about. Sheesh!
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August 16 2014, 08:34AM
PNC
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September 01 2014, 04:23PM
You will find a good collections of curated videos for startups here as well…
entrepreneurtube.in
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October 24 2014, 09:42AM
Yeah, kind of disappointed not to see women among the selections. Ted has a lot of women speakers, so they are represented. They’re just not represented on this list.
Still, as a regular reader of the Shopify blog, I wish they were.
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February 02 2016, 10:48AM
Yah of course no female representation _ what a surprise :-(
This article should have included: Jade Simmons
Her talk was awesome!! -
April 20 2016, 12:13AM
thankyou…all are best talks
www.lovecircle.in -
August 25 2017, 02:33AM
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November 03 2017, 02:16PM
Thanks for this wonderful post!! These are very much inspiring+ if you plan big for yourself. Thanks for the post!
https://www.adjustproduction.com/ -
December 22 2017, 05:46PM
I agree that the lack of female representation for your subject matter experts throughout this and other posts is noticeable. It doesn’t undercut the value of the information, but it is certainly a bizarre and unfortunate bias.
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April 04 2018, 05:03PM
Hi There! I think my TED Talk about life, love and entrepreneurship certainly applies here. My life was forever transformed through an unexpected mentor who I love with all of my heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxYFzZGxmiU&t=85s
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May 16 2018, 01:54AM
Incredible TED Talks By Women That Will Make You More Productive.How about you switch your game up and get some motivation to soar into the space of limitless achievability? Here are a few TED talks that could change your life and help you become more productive. for more info please check: https://goo.gl/bYBvTS
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December 18 2018, 06:31AM
Hey Mark, I would definitely agree that TED Talks are the best and perhaps one of the greatest sources of motivation :) It boosts your morale and helps to go beyond; breaking the glass ceiling. I think our list will complement yours. Have a look at our recent blog post on 20 Insightful TED Talks that Inspire Corporate Innovation:
https://valuer.ai/blog/20-insightful-ted-talks-that-inspire-corporate-innovation/
where are the women??