TED Is Your Real World MBA

TED is the Entrepreneur’s Free Pass to Remarkable People

As entrepreneurs, we love the autonomy to build our business the way we want. But sometimes we feel alone. We don’t work for big companies and there aren’t any conversations with fellow employees at the water cooler.

Then there are times when we get stuck and don’t know what our next strategic move should be. We want advice but don’t know who to ask. One time I wasn’t sure whether I should add a new service to my core business.

A few days later, I stumbled on an online video of the famous Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford at the TED website. Steve’s message was about taking steps in life without really knowing how you will get there. He said it’s only after you reach a goal, that can you retrace your steps and connect the dots and see what that path was.

This video really hit home and gave me all of the advice I needed to add this new service to my business.

TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design and is a non-profit foundation that holds strategic learning conferences all over the world. Their website, TED.com has videos from all of their conferences that are free for the public. This is your real world MBA.

My favorite three videos on TED are: Steve Jobs “How to Live Before You Die,” Simon Sinek’s “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” and Roger McNamee’s “Six Ways to Save the Internet.” Steve talks about living your best life. Simon talks about how people buy what you believe. And Roger talks about how the internet is the most interactive thing out there with the new HTML5 coding and tablets created by companies like Apple.

For me, watching thought leaders is one of the easiest ways to take action, make decisions and grow my business. Other times, I need to come up for air and be inspired by thought leaders who have nothing to do with what I do. These free videos give me new ideas, new ways of thinking, new perspectives on how I can be a better person in both business and life, and remind me that there is so much more to experience in the world.

Last week, the TED 2012 Conference took place in Palm Springs and in Long Beach, CA. It was a week where people shared ideas and knowledge, and inspired others to be innovators, change the world, and change how we think. It will all be on their website. So see what you can learn. You may just get an answer or even an idea as to what your next big move will be. Hey, at least you’ll learn something.