Lift one corner of your mouth up. Then lift the other corner up. There. You have it. An asana, or pose, for how to face the world. It’s also the “trick” speakers use to connect. Earlier this week, I shared with you the backstage story of nervousness just as I was about to give my [...]
Tag Archives | TED
TED.com releases talk on Walkntalks
The “Sitting is the Smoking our Generation” TEDtalk airs today on TED.com! I can hardly believe it. People always wonder if speakers are nervous. The question is, with enough practice, does this level of professional speaking ever get easy? I myself have had that question, wondering if I was “the only one” who got super [...]
What is it You Love So Much You’re Willing to Fight for It
Many scoff at Larry Lessig. They say he is an optimist, out of touch with reality. But what is it that is said about the people who ultimately change the world? “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”- Ghandi Larry Lessig, if you don’t already know [...]
Savor This Moment
It is so easy to keep push, push, pushing. Well, not easy, really. Maybe the better word is conditioned. Through each achievement (or like, or tweet), there’s a rush of dopamine in the human system, that signals, “things are good”. Which creates a biofeedback loop to keep doing more of the same. As in, as [...]
Lessons from when TED Lost Control of Its Crowd:
Today, Harvard Business Review’s (the premier management magazine in the world) magazine for April was released. (Check out the upper corner, because this is fun news to share!) One of the featured 3,000-word articles is on Leading in the Social Era. It’s entitled, When TED Lost Control of it’s Crowd. In this article, I discuss [...]
TED2013 Talk Coverage
Getting asked to speak at TED2013 was delightful, but especially because I got the chance to redeem myself from my less-than-stellar talk at TEDGlobal. I write about the secrets of getting ready for the “talk of one’s life”, at Linked In… which was a slightly therapeutic moment … a way to work through the nervousness. [...]
The Economics of Generosity
One of the most powerful talks this last week at TED centers on adapting to a new era, the Social Era. Amanda Palmer has been a disruption in the music industry for some time. (By sheer coincidence, I was sitting at the conference next to some senior executives in the music industry and got to [...]
Speaking at TED2013
Keeping secrets is incredibly hard. I lack the poker face. So, most times, I just avoid people or situations so I won’t spill the beans. And for many weeks now I’ve wanted to write and tell you this news but I was sworn to secrecy… I’ve been invited to deliver a talk on the Main [...]
TEDxNewEngland Talk – Nilofer Merchant on Inclusivity
How would you reinvent business, reinvent America, or reinvent the world? This is the question I was asked to answer a few weeks back for a #TEDtalk. TEDxNewEngland’s event was held at the WGBN station, just 3 weeks before the US National Election and the amazing organizers asked a range of politicians, economists, national policy [...]
Connections Creating Value
As I sit on a plane on my way to another event, I am reflecting on what it means to be with one another, in person. What do we get by being together in the same place rather than virtual places, through webinars and such? What does it give us to be in one another’s [...]