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implementation of TED Talks and the TED Prize. Since their creation in 2006 TED Talks has developed into a
widely successful enterprise. In November 2012, TED Talks achieved the mark of one billion collective views,
and in June 2015, it posted its 2,000th talk (TED). The most viewed TED Talk is Ken Robinson’s talk, “Do
Schools Kill Creativity,” which has received 35 million views (TED).
The careful design of the talk is formatted so that each 18 minutes of the talk that the speaker has is
concise and has a purpose. The inspirational format of the talk begins even before the talk through the
gathering together of curious people who are hungry for knowledge (TED). Then the speaker presents a
problem, a problem that is deeper in its roots and wider in its implication than most listeners are prepared
to admit (TED). But the speaker does not aim to make the audience feel bad; the speaker is simply forcing
the audience to confront the evidence, contemplate the delicate balance of life, and examine the elusiveness
of the solution. The speaker then presents a decision to the audience: will they remain complacent or
change? The beauty of the inspired format as a source of TED’s leadership is in its ability to force nothing yet
demand some form of reaction. In this way the speaker whether discussing activism, body language, drones,
moneys, peace, or vulnerability, has sparked an idea in the audience.
In the breadth of its content, TED has opened this platform of ideas up to anyone. Because the access
to TED talks is widened by volunteers who have translated TED Talks into over 100 languages TED has
created an open access to its greatest ideas and content (TED). In this capacity TED becomes more than
just a conference, TED becomes a platform for dissemination of ideas. In the words of Anderson in an
interview with Charlie Rose, “When you think of how you could make a difference in the world, with limited
resources, one approach is to nurture ideas, to find a way of communicating them and shaping them so that
they take on a life of their own,” and that is what TED Talks and the TED Prize do (Wallace).
TED’s leadership continues to develop through the gathering together of the most interesting people on
Earth. From beatboxer and inventor Beardyman, to cellist Maya Beiser, to wild sex biologist Carin Bondar,
to quiet evolutionary Susan Cain, to lunch lady Ann Cooper, to chef and activist Jamie Oliver, to endurance
runner Ray Zahab, the variety of people who are passionate about what they do and want to share their
passion with the world on TED Talks is endless (TED). TED brings together regular everyday people who
have an interesting idea they want to share with the world. This aspect of TED’s leadership may be the
simplest, but it is what allows TED to be enjoyed by anyone.
From there TED becomes even more valuable because the organizers have created TED by finding people
from all backgrounds, from all interests, and brought them together under one similar desire to share their
ideas. TED becomes the springboard from which people jump off of to communicate and share their idea of
some aspect of the world.
While TED Talks gives snippets of ideas, the TED Prize awards for the whole idea. The TED Prize is
awarded to a nominated individual with “a creative, bold vision to spark global change” (TED). The winner
receives not only one million dollars but the community of resources that TED has, all to fuel a powerful
idea, fulfil one wish, and, in the end, hopefully inspire the world (TED). Some of the recipients include
Jamie Oliver (2010 winner) who wished to “create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child
about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity,” and since
2010, Oliver has established the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation (JOFF), The Learn Your Fruits and Vegetables
program in partnership with Whole Foods Northern California, and the campaign Get Food Education
in Every School, in partnership with Food Day (TED). Another winner is Dave Isay the 2015 recipient,
who wanted to “help spark a global movement to record and preserve meaningful conversations with one
another that results in an ever-growing digital archive of the collective wisdom of humanity” (TED). Isay
has worked to fulfil his wish through his
StoryCorps.meapp, and his first annual Great Thanksgiving Listen
initiative which added an additional 48,000 interview uploads (TED).
In addition to TED Talks and TED Prize there is TEDx, which gives TED the capacity to continue to grow
and develop. TEDx allows communities to independently create their own TED conferences. Anderson
explains that the “x” in TEDx stands for independently organized TED events, but the “x” can also be seen
as a multiplier of TED (Fidelman).The ability TED has to bring people together in one common goal, the
power TED has to evoke change seen through TED Talks, TED Prize, and TEDx, and the capacity TED has in
continued growth is what gives TED the approach it takes to be a great leader.
As Bernard Bass points out in his the book,
The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership through the Ages
,
defining leadership is not an easy task. Leadership is not something that has a universal definition and it
does not have single accepted example. One definition of leadership sees leadership as “a social influence
process shared among all members of a group” (Hughes 43). The definition goes further to state, “leadership
is not restricted tothe influence exerted by someone in a particular situation or role; followers are part of the
leadership process, too” (Hughes 43). This definition fits to the leader that TED is. But so does a definition
given by Bass, “Leadership has been conceived as the focus of group processes, as a matter of personality, as a
matter of inducing compliance, as the exercise of influence, as particular behaviors, as a form of persuasion,