my favorite TED talks

some time in the last few years, i stumbled across TED — Technology, Entertainment, and Design, as i ran out of podcasts to listen to at work and on my daily commute. i instantly fell in love with the talks that inspired, taught, and really just made me think about subject matters and worlds that i had seldom / never considered before.

i started keeping a catalogue of TED talks i’ve particularly enjoyed over the years and thought i would share them with you here. what are your favorite TED talks? or just favorite lectures/podcasts/discussions? i would love to hear from you 🙂

Rick Warren on a life of purpose – a thought-provoking and well-articulated talk by pastor rick warren on the idea of a purpose driven life and stewardship as leadership

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity – how do you define “genius”? liz gilbert, author of eat pray love, explores the idea of creativity and genius

Sirena Huang dazzles on violin – at times, there are voices and rare talents you hear that you know are beyond the ordinary and are truly extraordinary – listening to sirena’s performance has that type of effect. i don’t consider myself a very musically/artistically gifted individual by any means but there is a soulful emotion that sirena’s performance manages to evoke. added with the fact that she was just 11-years-old when this performance was given speaks to not just her dedication, but true artistic virtuoso.

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization – I love data, and more than i love information, i love it when it is organized beautifully. i’ve always been a strong believer in user interface / design (though i’m horrible at technically implementing it myself), and i believe that it only becomes more imperative as we are given more and more information. david mccandless explores the beauty and utility behind data visualization in this informative talk.

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die – this is NOT a TED talk but rather, a commencement speech delivered by apple ceo steve jobs at stanford university. this is a talk that i listen to that reminds me of priorities, the importance of having and pursuing dreams, and that even though life may not always deliver what is expected, we are the ones that are responsible for writing our own destinies

Sheryl WuDunn: Our century’s greatest injustice – i actually didn’t think that this was sheryl’s best talk (her conversation with global fund for women’s ceo kavita ramdas was very compelling) but i do think that this is an important topic to explore. along with her husband, nytimes columnist nicholas kristof, wudunn’s book – “half the sky” – serves as the premise of this discussion and paints a very real picture of how gender equality remains a key challenge for our world today.