Over the last few years, TED Talks (TED stands for Technology, Education, & Design) have become a veritable Internet pastime. The generally medium to long-form conference presentations have become part of our cultural lexicon, and the topics of discussion—everything from advice on how to spot a liar to developing theories about overpopulation—can spur a change in worldview as much as they might spark a cocktail conversation. If there’s one thing that seems to tie TED presentations together it’s an against-the-grain approach to a common issue. What happens when a brain scientist has a brain tumor and can explain her symptoms in scientific language? Or, what if we look at introverts as having a leg-up instead of as carrying around an uncomfortable oddity?
Given the “big question” nature of many of the presentations there are dozens of TED career talks tailored for millennials and scores more that apply just as readily to anyone on the verge of starting a career (or starting over).
Below you’ll find a shortlist of our favorite TED talks on career advice. Pace yourself and kick back and watch. In the best way possible, there’s a rabbit-hole of even more TED talks awaiting when you’re done with these.
Meg Jay: Why 30 Is Not The New 20
This is kind of scary. Railing against a familiar bit of life advice, psychologist Meg Jay spoke at a TED conference in 2013 and explained why we shouldn’t be throwing our 20s away. “As a culture, we have trivialized what is actually the defining decade of adulthood,” she says (shortly after the 5-minute mark). And later: “The post-millennial midlife crisis isn’t buying a red sports car. It’s realizing you can’t have that career you now want.” Time to buckle down…I guess.
David Brooks: Should You Live For Your Resume Or Your Eulogy?
In this short talk, David Brooks, the famed New York Times columnist, speaks about our career-driven society and wonders about an existential question: how can we balance our career ambitions with our happiness?
Dan Pink: The Puzzle Of Motivations
While this nearly-20 minute presentation argues for a paradigm shift in the way we think about employee reward systems, Dan Pink, best-selling author of books like Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, shares digestible life lessons for all of us on an individual level as well.
Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Ken Robinson is a career educationalist who has stirred feathers with his theories about how a classroom should function. The above video is not only Robinson’s most popular, it’s also one of TED’s most viewed ever. In it, Robinson outlines his general theory on education, which he also spoke about in a recent Washington Post interview, saying, “It’s to make education more personalized for students and more customized to the communities in which they are part of.”
Wingham Rowan: A New Kind Of Job Market
We’ve talked about how millennials are entering a different type of labor market on the site previously, and Wingham Rowan waxes exhaustively about the trend in his talk, “A New Kind Of Job Market.” The gist? Rowan is interested in connecting employees requiring ultraflexible hours with employers who can make the best of the sporadic availability.
Susan Colantuono: The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get
The thesis of Susan Colantuono’s TED talk is simple: there’s a glaring but often overlooked reason behind the lack of women leaders in top level management positions. Here’s a hint: it has to do with missing career advice and it applies as readily to women as it does to millennials or any aspiring leader.
