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7 TED Talk Videos That Spark Creativity

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7 TED Talk Videos That Spark Creativity

A simple search on the TED website yields about 1,754 results for creativity. So let me give you a good use of your 20-minute break. I curated 7 TED Talk/TEDx Talk videos for you on the subject. 

You can read the snippets to decide whether it’ll be worth your time to start watching. A few here I’ve already seen over and over. The rest are new but recommended by friends. That said, I should let you go for it now.

Adam Grant: The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers

In this 15-minute talk, organizational psychologist Adam Grant shares what he learned after studying “original” thinkers, or the nonconformists. According to Grant, these are the people who come up with new ideas and take action to champion them. He found three habits common among them. 

First, they are procrastinators. That is, they let an idea simmer at the back of their mind and wait until the last minute to act on it. Case in point was Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” statement, which wasn’t part of his drafted speech. Second, originals doubt the default. Grant uses people who download Chrome instead of settling for the default browser on their computers to illustrate his point.

Lastly, original thinkers generate a lot of ideas, even the bad ones. Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart composed hundreds of music to arrive at a small number of masterpieces.

Jia Jang: What I Learned From 100 Days of Rejection

Jia Jang, a former marketing manager at a Fortune 500 company, tried the Rejection Therapy. It’s a 30-day challenge to seek rejection by asking for something, like money from a stranger or Olympic doughnuts from a Krispy Kreme doughnut maker. He was filming himself throughout the process, and the latter brought him YouTube fame when the lady said yes and made her exactly what he asked.

What did he learn from trying to desensitize himself from the pain of rejection? 

One: that instead of running away after getting rejected, you should consider facing the possibilities. Two, you can turn a “no” into a “yes” by asking “why.” Sometimes, people’s answers can surprise you. So next time you’re pitching your creative ideas, do not fear rejection. It can happen, and you won’t feel that great. But if you persist, you might discover opportunities along the path.

Manoush Zomorodi: How Boredom Can Lead You to Your Most Brilliant Ideas

Do you ever get bored? In our always-connected life, multitasking is the norm. You’re sitting on the couch browsing through Instagram or answering emails. You’re driving the car while taking a hands-free call. Amidst these activities, journalist Manoush Zomorodi encourages people to let their mind wander. Allow yourself to be bored, she says.

Using MRI, a data-backed project, and personal experience, she proposes that we drop our phone and take a break. Something as simple as staring at the window could spark creativity and imagination. It could lead to your next big idea.

It’s “in the default mode is when we connect disparate ideas, we solve some of our most nagging problems, and we do something called ‘autobiographical planning,’” Zomorodi explains. This is the time our brain creates a narrative, sets goals, and makes plans for the future. Why don’t you go ahead and take advantage of it?

Brian Janosch: Lessons Learned from the Onion’s Creative Process

Have you heard of The Onion? You should have. This 30-year-old publication is known for its satirical and comedic take on American society. Just consider the headlines World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent and Archaeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of Skeleton People. Much of its brilliance is attributed to the brainstorming strategy of the staff.

Former staffer Brian Janosch lets on the TEDxWilimington audience in The Onion’s secret to coming up with its killer headlines:

  • Create ideas alone
  • Vet ideas as a group
  • Build on the best ones together 

Janosch highlights the importance of step one: solo brainstorming. The act of creation starts with the individual, he says. Meanwhile, use the team to build on the best ideas. This strategy enables the staff to give an equal voice to its members. And, more importantly, it hits the mark when it comes to understanding that individual creatives often generate their best ideas in private.

Hannah Gadsby: Three Ideas. Three Contradictions. Or Not.

Stand-up comedian Hannah Gadsby’s talk is more of a stand-up set than a talk. She says something, the audience laughs. Which is what you would expect from a stand-up set. But one thing she also does is tell stories. Gadsby is a neurodivergent LGBTQ comedian who doesn’t seem to run out of stories. Yet, she admits she’s not that great at speaking her mind.

Her talk is a gem not because she lays out three ideas (warning: there might be none). Or that she enumerates her contradictions nicely. But while listening, you’d feel that authenticity in sharing her truth. And you can get more of that in her Netflix special Nanette. So, hit the play button and watch Gadsby. Listen to her jokes (or non-jokes). And glean fresh insights from her stories.

Eric Berridge: Why Tech Needs the Humanities

Eric Berridge, CEO of IBM software consulting firm Bluewolf, builds the case for hiring people from the humanities on your team. His company has a thousand people, but fewer than a hundred are computer science or engineering majors. It wasn’t always this way. Back when the business was smaller, it employed mostly those with a STEM background. 

But through a eureka-type experience, they once sent a philosophy dropout slash bartender to a client that was about to fire them. Jeff, the bartender, ended up figuring out how to program the solution. But he also helped the client understand what they were building and why.

Berridge thought about replicating what happened with Jeff in their recruitment process. And he shares the reason for this conversion: 

While the sciences teach us how to build things, it’s the humanities that teach us what to build and why to build them. And they’re equally as important, and they’re just as hard. 

Vittorio Loreto: Need A New Idea? Start At the Edge of What Is Known

Vittorio Loreto’s description of the space of the possible is both beautiful and peculiar at the same time. There is this whole mathematical explanation of how people experience the new. And he encapsulates it well with his Leonard Cohen example. 

Suppose you listen to Cohen’s Suzanne for the first time. That triggers a passion for his work, so now you play his whole production. But then, you also find out that Fabrizio De André recorded an Italian version of the song. And you see here how one thing leads to another. Novelties are correlated, not randomly occurring. 

Stay with him, and you’ll learn about the strategies people use to work out the edge of what is known: exploit and explore. Do you think you know which one are you more inclined to drive innovation and creativity? 

Final Thoughts

These are just 7 of the best TED Talk videos on creativity. If you’ve enjoyed this list, let me know what kind of videos you want me to curate next. Don’t forget to share this list with a friend.

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