Last month, I discovered an incredible article that has changed my outlook on many aspects of business and life. The article featured 21 videos that are “worth more than an MBA” according to the article’s author Geoffrey James. As he points out in the article, it’s not like you can add “MBA” to your resume or business card or anything like that, but there is much to say about real world knowledge. We highlighted and reviewed each article over the past 7 weeks 3 at a time broken down into categories the first 3 videos on the list were all about motivation. The next 3 videos discussed management techniques. Then we looked at 3 videos on marketing. In part 4 of our series, the 3 videos in our series were all about economics. Our next 3 short new videos were about creativity. Then the series next videos focused on the psychology of business. The last topic focused on success.
I wanted to cover one more recap of these videos to highlight them one last time. I hope you have enjoyed them and learned from them as much as I have. The short videos are definitely worth your time. If you thirst for knowledge, like me, then you will certainly agree. Please do watch all of the videos, but if you are really short on time, hopefully I can help you narrow down which ones to watch first.
The first 3 videos are all about motivation.
Video #1 is about Motivation – ‘Why We Do What We Do’ and it is from famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins. He explains how there are invisible forces that shape what we do.
Video #2 is by Dan Pink and is called The Puzzle of Motivation. It is also a Ted Talk and is 18 minutes long. He explains that social scientists have learned that traditional rewards are not very effective motivators. The new approach is based on intrinsic motivation with three elements: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Video #3 is from Shawn Achor and is called The Happy Secret to Better Work. He explains about reversing the formula for happiness and success. If happiness is on the other side of success, you can never achieve happiness because each success begets another goal. Then he tells us that lens in which you view the world shapes your impression of the world (your reality). If we can change that lens, we can change not only your happiness, but change every single educational and business outcome too.
The next 3 videos were all about management.
Video #4 features speaker John Fried who talks about “Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work”. He has been asking people where they go when they really need to get work done. The answers include places, rooms, times, or certain days but no one ever says “the office”. He explains that because of the interruptions, meetings, and other distractions, most people only get a few minutes at a time to actually get work done. Watch the video to see his 3 suggestions to help ensure that work can get done “at the office”.
Video #5 is from speaker Sheryl Sandberg and she explores “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders” why women reach less leadership and C-level positions than men. She explains the reason why too many women are dropping out of corporate America. Staying the workforce isn’t the right thing for everyone; but if you do want to stay in the workforce and succeed, she has 3 ways for women to get there.
Video #6 is from Any Cuddy and she tells us how “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are”.. She explains how your posture can influence your chances of success.
Then we looked at 3 videos on marketing.
Video #7 comes from Rory Sutherland. He gives us “Life Lessons From an Ad Man”. He explains that what he has realised after years in advertising, intangible value, or perceived value (what is created by advertising and marketing) can be a substitute for using up labor or limited resources in the creation of resources.
Video #8’s speaker Seth Godin and his Ted Talk is about “How to Get Your Ideas to Spread”. He explains that since the advertising landscape has changed so drastically, it is no longer about interrupting people with billions of dollars’ worth of ads. Instead companies have to decide what can spread.
Video #9 is Steven Johnson talking about “Where Good Ideas Come From”. He proposes that instead of trying to protect ideas as intellectual property that we spend time connecting to collaborate on ideas. We can then advance more and the collaboration will bring about more ideas in the future.
The next 3 videos in our series were all about economics.
Video #10 is Richard Wilkinson’s Ted Talk. He discusses How Economic Inequality Harms Societies. He looks at UN data on economic inequality and examines the effects on health, lifespan, and basic values like trust and what happens when there is a large gap between the rich and the poor. There are charts that show that when the wellbeing of populations do not correlate to the average income levels. However, when there is a larger gap between the rich and the poor, countries have more problems in health, mental illness, violence, life values, high school dropout rates, social mobility.
Video #11 is from TV host Mike Rowe, he talks about Learning From Dirty Jobs. He shares insights and observations about the nature of hard work, and how it’s been unjustifiably degraded in society today.
In video #12 Nick Hanauer presents his discussion “Rich People Don’t Create Jobs”. He explains that we have had it backwards jobs are a consequence of an ‘eco-systemic feedback loop’ between businesses and customers and that when the middle class thrives, business grow, hire, and owners profit. In a capitalist economy, the true job creators are middle class consumers.
The next 3 short new videos were about creativity.
Video # 13 is from Sir Ken Robinson and he asks the question Do Schools Kill Creativity? He contends that creativity is as important in education as literacy is. It should be treated the same. “If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.” He said that we are educating them out of being creative for fear of being wrong.
Video #14 is from the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington called How to Succeed? Get More Sleep! We can unlock so much inside us by getting more sleep. She explains that people should get more sleep and they can then lead more productive and happy lives that are filled with smarter decision-making.
Video #15 is Tom Wujec’s Ted Talk video is called Build a Tower, Build a Team. He talks about his research into the “marshmallow problem”, which is a simple team building exercise that involves building a tower from dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. You might be surprised to know that kindergarteners have more success with this than graduate students.
The next videos focused on the psychology of business.
Video #16 is from Dan Ariely. He is a behavioral economist who explores the psychology behind why people (sometimes) think it is OK to cheat and steal. He has done extensive research and testing people to find when they would cheat. He made the following conclusions based on his research:
- We have learned that a lot of people can cheat just a little bit.
- When people are reminded about their morality, they cheat less.
- When actual money is further removed from the situation, people cheat more. (As with the stock markets.)
- When we see cheating as part of our “in group” cheating goes up.
Video #17 is from Pamela Meyer and she tells us How to Spot a Liar. Her talk uncovers the truth about lies. Her goal isn’t about nitpicking to find liars, but use knowledge about deception.
Video #18 is by Julian Treasure and is entitled 5 Ways to Listen Better. Our world is getting louder and louder and we are forgetting how to listen. Treasure has 5 ways to help you re-tune your ears for conscious listening.
Our last 3 videos focused on success.
Video # 19 is also from Julian Treasure. For the opposite of how to listen better, in this video, he explains How to Speak so that People Want to Listen. He gives many pointers, including the foundations and cornerstones of our speech that will help you be heard:
Honesty: be clear and straight
Authenticity: be yourself
Integrity: be your word
Love: wish them well
Video #20 is from Alain de Botton who talks about A Kinder, Gentler, Philosophy of Success. His idea is that we move beyond the competitive and snobby nature in the workplace and find true pleasure in our work.
Video #21 is our last video and you can be happy about that in more ways than one. Dan Gilbert talks about The Surprising Science of Happiness. He challenges the idea that we should be miserable when we don’t get what we want. Instead, he explains how to feel happy even when things don’t go as planned and then you can always be happy.It seems simple enough, but you have to listen to him and his rationale behind the science of happiness.
I hope you enjoyed and gained as much from these videos as I did. Life is always about learning and improving.
