The Best TED Talks for Leaders Who Need a Reset

Sometimes you don’t need another leadership book, productivity system or three-day conference. You need 15 minutes, a cup of coffee and somebody to make you think about things differently.

Leadership has a habit of narrowing your world when things get busy. Your attention moves from one problem to the next, your diary fills up and eventually your working week can become a continuous cycle of meetings, decisions, emails and things that need fixing.

That’s when stepping outside your own thinking can be surprisingly useful.

TED has built an enormous library of talks covering everything from psychology and workplace culture to stress, mindfulness and human behaviour. Some are directly about leadership; others aren’t, but contain ideas that can be just as valuable to somebody responsible for leading other people.

We’ve picked seven talks for the moments when you need to stop, reset and perhaps look at work, or yourself, slightly differently.

1. All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes — Andy Puddicombe

Let’s start with one that requires less than ten minutes of your day.

Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe asks a wonderfully simple question: when did you last spend ten minutes doing absolutely nothing? Not emailing, scrolling, talking or planning what you’re going to do next. Just ten minutes allowing your mind to be present.

His talk explores the idea of taking a short period each day to step away from the constant activity happening inside our heads. TED describes the approach as refreshing the mind through mindfulness and experiencing the present moment.

For leaders, there’s something particularly relevant about that idea. Much of leadership happens inside your head long after the visible work has stopped. You’re replaying conversations, anticipating problems and making decisions about things that haven’t happened yet. Ten minutes isn’t going to remove those responsibilities, but it might remind you that your brain doesn’t have to be actively solving something every second of the day.

Watch this when: Your brain has 47 tabs open and you’re fairly certain three of them are playing music.

Watch Andy Puddicombe’s TED Talk

2. How to Make Stress Your Friend — Kelly McGonigal

Most of us have spent years being told that stress is terrible for us and should be eliminated wherever possible. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal offers a rather different perspective.

In her TED talk, McGonigal explores research around how we think about stress and encourages people to reconsider their relationship with it. She also discusses reaching out to other people as an important part of responding to stressful experiences.

That’s an interesting message for leaders because eliminating stress entirely probably isn’t a realistic objective. There will be difficult meetings, financial pressures, deadlines, staffing problems and periods when everything seems to happen simultaneously. Perhaps the more useful question isn’t always “How do I avoid stress?” but “How do I respond to it?”

It’s worth watching with some nuance rather than taking away the simplistic message that stress is somehow always good for you. But as a way of challenging the fear we sometimes develop around feeling stressed, it’s thought-provoking.

Watch this when: You’re stressed about being stressed.

Watch Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk

3. The Power of Vulnerability — Brené Brown

There is a reason this became one of TED’s most watched talks.

Researcher Brené Brown explores human connection, empathy, belonging and vulnerability, drawing on her research and her own experience. TED describes the talk as sharing insights from Brown’s research into human connection and the personal journey that followed.

For leaders, vulnerability can be complicated. You can’t necessarily share every fear with your employees or provide a running commentary on every uncertainty you’re experiencing. Leadership requires judgement and appropriate boundaries.

But there’s an equally unhelpful version of leadership in which the person at the top believes they must appear completely invulnerable at all times. They never admit they don’t know something, never acknowledge mistakes and never allow anybody to see that they’re human.

Brown’s talk is a useful reminder that connection doesn’t generally come from pretending to be perfect.

Watch this when: You feel as though being the leader means you’re supposed to have every answer.

Watch Brené Brown’s TED Talk

4. How to Stop Languishing and Start Finding Flow — Adam Grant

Sometimes you’re not burnt out. You’re not particularly unhappy either. You’re just… meh.

Organisational psychologist Adam Grant explores what he calls languishing: that flat, uninspired feeling where motivation and focus seem to have disappeared. His talk examines signs of languishing and ways of moving towards greater engagement and flow.

For leaders, that middle ground deserves more attention. We tend to notice the extremes, somebody thriving or somebody clearly struggling — while overlooking periods when we’re simply going through the motions.

You can still attend meetings, answer emails, make decisions and run an organisation while feeling completely uninspired by all of it. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to resign, reinvent your life or book a one-way flight somewhere tropical. You might simply need to understand what has changed and create opportunities to become properly engaged again.

Watch this when: Nothing is technically wrong, but nothing feels particularly right either.

Watch Adam Grant’s TED Talk

5. The Power of Introverts — Susan Cain

Leadership has traditionally been associated with some fairly extroverted characteristics: confidence, visibility, charisma, networking and being comfortable speaking in front of a room.

Susan Cain challenges the assumption that louder automatically means better.

Her hugely popular TED talk explores a culture that frequently prizes outgoing personalities and makes the case for recognising the abilities and contributions of introverts, including the value of quiet and contemplation.

This is useful viewing whether you’re an introvert yourself or lead people who are. The person who speaks first in a meeting doesn’t necessarily have the best idea. The employee who wants time to think before responding isn’t necessarily disengaged. And leadership doesn’t need to look exactly the same in every person.

It might also make you reconsider how your organisation runs meetings, gathers ideas and creates opportunities for different personalities to contribute.

Watch this when: Your workplace seems to reward whoever talks the loudest.

Watch Susan Cain’s TED Talk

6. Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe — Simon Sinek

What does it actually feel like to work for you?

It’s an uncomfortable but worthwhile question.

In Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe, Simon Sinek argues that strong leaders create environments in which employees feel secure and part of what he describes as a circle of trust. TED’s description of the talk also acknowledges the responsibility involved in creating that sense of safety, particularly during difficult economic conditions.

It’s easy for leadership to become dominated by targets, performance measures, budgets and results. Those things matter. But organisations are ultimately experienced by the people working inside them, and the behaviour of leaders has an enormous influence on that experience.

This is a good talk to watch when you’ve spent so much time managing the organisation that you need reminding what it might feel like to be managed by it.

Watch this when: You need to look at your workplace through your employees’ eyes.

Watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk

7. Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator — Tim Urban

Finally, something for everybody who opened this article while avoiding something else.

Writer Tim Urban’s famous talk explores procrastination through his characteristically funny description of what happens inside the mind of somebody who knows exactly what they should be doing but somehow isn’t doing it.

TED describes the talk as a journey through procrastination habits — from online rabbit holes to staring out of the window — before encouraging viewers to think about what they’re postponing before time runs out.

For leaders, procrastination isn’t always obvious. You can be extraordinarily busy while still avoiding the thing that actually matters. Answering emails, rearranging meetings and completing easy tasks can create a convincing impression of productivity while the difficult conversation, strategic decision or intimidating piece of work remains untouched.

Sometimes procrastination looks remarkably similar to working hard.

Watch this when: You’ve reorganised your inbox, made another coffee and suddenly decided the office stationery cupboard urgently needs your attention.

Watch Tim Urban’s TED Talk

You don’t always need to do more

There is a temptation when we’re struggling at work to immediately add something.

A new system. A new routine. A new course. A new book. A new productivity app. Another objective to improve ourselves.

Sometimes a reset can be much smaller.

Watch something that challenges your thinking. Go for a walk without your phone. Talk to somebody outside your organisation. Sit quietly for ten minutes. Close the laptop earlier than usual. Give yourself enough distance from the problem to see it differently when you return.

None of these TED Talks will magically make leadership easy, because leadership isn’t easy.

But 10 or 15 minutes spent thinking about stress, vulnerability, attention, personality or the kind of environment you’re creating for other people might change the way you approach the next 10 or 15 hours.

And occasionally, that’s exactly the reset you need.

Keep looking after you

Wellbeing looks different for everyone, and sometimes the most useful thing is simply finding the right information at the right time. Explore more from Daily Round with our dedicated Women’s Health, Men’s Wellbeing and Wellbeing for Leaders sections, or head to the Leaders Library for our latest book recommendations, ideas and inspiration for life in and outside work.