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worries to the TED community in a TED Talk given in 2002 (Robinson). In his talk, Anderson reflected on
his past endeavors that had crumbled, his failures, his struggles, and he then delivered all of his problems
on a foundation of what saved him “were the ideas” (Robinson). At the 2002 TED Fellows Retreat, hosted
in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, Anderson told the audience “the only thing that kept me from going
crazy was immersion in the world of ideas. TED was the only place you could come to where you could hear
people from these different disciplines and understand what they were saying,” and just like that, Anderson
had enraptured the audience in the fundamental reason why TED is a leader, and why TED is worth
investing in as followers (Robinson).
In Anderson’s decision to share his vision for the future of TED, he proved to the TED community that
he would stick to the principles that made TED great: the inspired format, the breadth of content, the
commitment to seek out the most interesting people on Earth, and let them communicate their passion
(TED). After the transition of TED from Wurman to Anderson, TED saw three major additions to the TED
family from 2001-2006: TED Global in 2005, TED Prize in 2005, and TED Talks in 2006 (TED). TED Global
is the sister conference that is held in locations around the world; TED Prize is a one million dollar prize
that grants its winners with monetary support and all of the resources of TED to fulfill one wish to change
the world; and TED Talks is the audio and video podcasts series released online freely and translated into
100 plus languages (TED).
In June of 2006, the first six original TED Talks were released online, and within the next three months,
they had over one million views (TED). Following the release of the first six TED talks, the impact and
power those TED Talks had on the world was astonishing to the TED community (TED). In 2008, TED
launched TEDActive, a miniature conference modeled after the spring TED Conference. In addition, TED
launched the TED Fellows program, which was intended to bring fresh innovators from around the world
to the conference for free (TED). In that same year TED created TEDx, which opened the TED format to
local communities who could create their own independently organized events (TED). In 2012, TED-Ed was
launched, which created access to short video lessons that could be used by educators (TED). Also in 2012,
TED Radio Hour was released, which is a partnership that ties ideas and stories from TED Talks to the public
through radio (TED).
The enormity of TED and TED Talks was realized when in the fall of 2012, TED Talks celebrated its
one billionth video view (TED). The scope and influence of TED Talks can be seen in how on average a
TED video gets 40,000 views within the first 24 hours it is uploaded (TED). From the simple observation
Wurman had back in 1984 of technology, entertainment, and design, to the now millions of viewers,
thousands of listeners, and hundreds of speakers TED has, the history of TED is riddled with perfect timed
moments, strategic moves, and innovative people (TED). While TED has come far in the past 30 years, the
story of TED continues every day, in its people of leadership, speakers, and followers, all of whom play an
active role in the continued forward movement of TED as a leader.
The mission and vision of TED as an organization is what makes it a powerful entity that draws in
millions of speakers, audience members, and followers. TED’s motto, “Ideas Worth Spreading” is not
something that is just slapped on as a motto; it is the glue that holds TED together as an organization (TED).
TED describes itself as “a non-profit devoted to spreading ideas in the form of short, powerful talks” (TED).
And does this mainly through the use of TED Talks in which topics range from psychology to business to
global poverty, and TEDx, independent events which help to spread ideas in different communities (TED).
The mission of TED is an explicit view of TED as “a global community, welcoming people from every
disciple and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world” (TED). The first part of TED’s mission;
“TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper
understanding of the world,” is clear and concise in what is important to TED, how it will serve the public,
and the direction in which TED will take. The mission that TED presents is a goal and an accomplishment
it would like to achieve. TED takes the mission farther by laying out what exactly they believe in: “We
believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world” (TED). This
underlying philosophy, combined with a desire to fulfil the question- “how can we best spread great ideas?”-
are the driving forces behind all of TED’s endeavors, including the TED Conferences, TEDx, TED Books, the
TED Fellows Program, and the TED Open Translation Project (TED).
The mission that TED has is important because it presents to the world the goal of TED, and the
intentions of what TED is achieving (“What is”). This is what a leader does when looking to gather followers.
The leader presents a goal, a destination for the group to move towards, and the role that followers will play
achieving that goal. The vision that TED presents is the role that the followers will take. TED itself is the
leader, not specifically the people within TED, because the followers are the actors in the goal to fulfill the
mission and vision of TED.
What makes TED a serving, transforming, and innovative leader is a combination of creating a careful
design, incorporating breadth of content, gathering together of the most interesting people, and establishing
the tool for them to communicate their passion to the world. The design of TED is most notable in their