Ted Tuesday: The Talks Everyone Talks About

"Google was not the first search engine and Facebook was not the first online social community. Very few TED Talks are about original ideas. Simon Sinek was not the first person to talk about identifying the purpose for your life and work, nor was Amy Cuddy the first person to talk about how your body language and posture shape your self-confidence."

Good Morning Folks,

The TED platform is about “ideas worth spreading.” Watch any TED Talk and you can observe that everything a speaker says is in service of advancing one key idea, and making audience members so passionate about the idea that they want to spread it as well. This is why so many TED Talks go viral. The speaker does not just successfully convey an idea — they make everyone watching excited to share it too.

If you look at any TED Talk, you will discover that the thought leader’s delivery style can be categorized in one of the following five ways. The speaker is either a:

==> Change agent: 
Uses language, stories, and pictures that show what is possible when the change being shared happens

==> Scientific expert: 
Relies on logic and evidence to present an idea

==> Performer: 
Incorporates theatricality into the delivery of a message

==> Vulnerable expert: 
Connects life experience and stories to a message

==>  Inventor: 
Discusses an original idea, product or service and breaks it down into easy to understand, digestible parts

When you look at the most successful companies — such as Google and Facebook, or popular TED and TEDx Talks by Simon Sinek and Amy Cuddy — most are not household names because they came up with something original. Google was not the first search engine and Facebook was not the first online social community. Very few TED Talks are about original ideas. Simon Sinek was not the first person to talk about identifying the purpose for your life and work, nor was Amy Cuddy the first person to talk about how your body language and posture shape your self-confidence.

What each company or person did, however, was improve upon an existing idea. That should be the goal of entrepreneurs. While being first to market is nice, it’s rarely possible. If an idea can be monetized, it likely already has been. Plus, the first incarnation of a product or service often has significant flaws in its design or user experience. Entrepreneurs can and should focus their attention and strategizing on advancing business ideas that already exist by improving upon problems or frustrations for its customers and clients.

Check out our extensive library of Ted Tuesday Talks featuring Simon Sinek and Amy Cuddy and others on life, love and happiness, HERE (scroll backwards).

Thanks to Forbes for today's message and to you for listening.

Have a GREAT day and…. Love Life,

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE. 

Ted Tuesday: Ruth Chang- How To Make Hard Choices

"Imagine a world in which every choice you face is an easy choice, that is, there's always a best alternative. If there's a best alternative, then that's the one you should choose, because part of being rational is doing the better thing rather than the worse thing, choosing what you have most reason to choose."

Good Morning,

Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up — or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about them the wrong way, says philosopher Ruth Chang. She offers a powerful new framework for shaping who we truly are.

Chances are, the hard choice you thought of was something big, something momentous, something that matters to you. Hard choices seem to be occasions for agonizing, hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth. But I think we've misunderstood hard choices and the role they play in our lives. Understanding hard choices uncovers a hidden power each of us possesses.

Far from being sources of agony and dread, hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition, that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect sometimes run out, and it is here, in the space of hard choices, that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are. And that's why hard choices are not a curse but a godsend.

Enjoy the program that over a million people have already seen:

Remember as Ruth says, happiness is a choice. So be happy!

After watching this, how can one not be pumped, super excited and ready to rock.

Have a GREAT day and…. Love Life,

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE. 

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Ted Tuesday: Dr. Michael Norton: What To Do With Your Money?

Dr. Michael Norton shares his research from behavioral economics about ways to spend money to increase happiness. Hint: it is not about buying more for ourselves..

Good Morning Folks,

I'm on the road so I have to be brief but I've found a special treat to inspire you on Ted Tuesday.

Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton's counter intuitive talk challenges the way we think about money. If you think money can't buy happiness, maybe you're not spending it right.

Indeed money can buy happiness — when you don't spend it on yourself. Listen for surprising data on the many ways pro-social spending can benefit you, your work, and (of course) other people. (Filmed at TEDxCambridge.)

OK folks. I have to run or I will be late. Promise me to not let anything get in the way of your passion to succeed. Reach. And to be the best you can be. So go out of your way to smile to everyone. Or to nod. Or to introduce yourself. You are the right people at the right time to make something great.

Have a GREAT day and…. Love Life,

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE. 

Ted Tuesday: Advertising Guru Rory Sutherland— "Perspective is Everything"

"In truth, brand value is not determined by the flagship product or main service of an organization, it is determined by all of the factors that affect perception. What affects perception? Everything and anything that a customer perceives and thinks about your business," says Rory Sutherland. At TEDxAthens, he makes a compelling case for how reframing is the key to happiness.

Good Morning Folks,

What a rare treat we have for you this fine Tuesday morning.

Rory Sutherland is Vice chairman of Ogilvy. He stands at the center of an advertising revolution in brand identities, designing cutting-edge, interactive campaigns that blur the line between ad and entertainment.

From unlikely beginnings as a classics teacher to his current job as Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, Rory Sutherland has created his own brand of the Cinderella story.

He is creative, funny and compelling in this amazing brilliant talk opining why looking at our lives through a different lens may be the key to greater happiness, no matter what challenges we face.

Motivating people, our own key to success at FSO, is often about perspective. Really small changes can make dramatic impact of whether something is boring or interesting, good or bad, safe or unsafe, ... you get the picture.

Rory also gives really strong arguments that:
- when making decision we should base it on technology, economics and psychology
- selling our product is not solely about the quality of product or price but also about perception of our service
- if we have a great service/product but perception of it's quality is that it's bad, don't spend money making it better, spend money changing perspective

All of this is supported by high amount of examples. Rory touches on an interesting topic which is mechanistic innovation and blooms into perception…

‘The london underground cost several billion dollars to reduce commutes by 40 minutes.’ – alternatives would have been to serve free alcohol on the trains or hire supermodels to patrol the aisles. Both would have been cheaper and would have changed perception on the trains being much faster”

This is an interesting distinction, the truth is irrelevant, and in many cases, the truth is more costly than changing the perspective of the user or customer. Several times, the truth isn’t even relevant. When users of the London underground were polled after the 40 minute reduction in time, many didn’t care.

When a problem is solved or an innovation is being created, the truth should not be the end goal, but whatever perception aligns with the business in changing customer perception cheaper. When a company listens to the customer and directly affects the perception, it is a powerful differentiator.

A second point, is thinking from a logical and somewhat economical perspective isn’t always what’s needed. The most difficult things in business to replicate are experiences. Ask yourself if Star-bucks had the goal of being the fastest coffee barista, how difficult would it have been for others to improve and replicate?

Although a customer’s time is important, if Starbucks focused on being fast at delivering coffee instead of their focus on overall experience, it would have become an entirely different company.

A third and final point is the value of brand equity in influencing perception. Rory describes a 5-star restaurant with world class food, yet sewage runs throughout the restaurant. The restaurant could spend a high amount of money on making the food even better, yet no matter how much money is spent on improvement, the sewage has a greater negative affect on perception.

In truth, brand value is not determined by the flagship product or main service of an organization, it is determined by all of the factors that affect perception. What affects perception? Everything and anything that a customer perceives and thinks about your business –  from a negative yelp review to brand confusion caused by mixed marketing messages, to a change in positioning that has not yet affected perception. All of these misalignments are more powerful then truth, and that folks is the truth. 

What a great speech. ENJOY!



After watching this, how can one not be pumped, super excited and ready to rock.

With hat tip and big shout out to the Cleverly Engaged blog for your input.

Have a GREAT day and…. Love Life,

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.