10 Best Ted Talks for Business Leaders in 2021

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Main topics in this article concern ted talks, best ted talks for business leaders, influential people, habits of successful people, what makes a good leader, business motivation.

TED Talks for Business Leaders

When we are talking about business leaders, business owners, managing directors, CEOs, managers, business analysts, investors, executive directors… we are talking about people who every day have to make decisions that will impact directly not only them and their families but also people working for them in their industry and the relatives of their employees. It is a colossal responsibility mounted on top of the enormous stress caused by unprecedented and risky decisions that have to be taken by the leaders every day. There is no one to step in to rule out their problems, no boss to decide for them… That is why characteristics of a business leader should include such important qualities as resilience, stress management skills, determination, self-start, ability to unite people and lead them towards a common goal.

In our selection of Ted Talks for business leaders and business-related professionals, we attempted to find the best leadership TED talks—those TED presentations and conferences that can help you with business strategy, management, leadership issues not just in a straight academic way but which are talked about with inspiration and which can be entertaining. We believe these business talks will make it much easier to grasp the important concepts of successful business people talked about on ted.com. If you are up for more profound knowledge, check these top business books that reveal even more strategies and secrets. We prepared the TED talks on leadership that fall into the following categories:

Best Ted Talks on Leadership

Leadership is a crucial skill that will help you with starting a business and running it later. These presentations should help you understand whether it is possible to develop this power of leadership, what you should do to persuade and unite people, what determines the best future business leaders of America, what it takes to appear in Harvard Business Review. Use the information provided by these motivational videos to grow your own leadership potential and become one of the famous business leaders.

Rosalinde Torres: What It Takes to Be a Great Leader

Rosalinde Torres is a managing director at the Boston Consulting Group who has observed a lot of business leaders of different companies over her 25-year career span. She knows better than anyone else why companies fail to produce leaders.

In this TED business talk, he dwells on the idea that the world is much more connected, much more globalized, and digital than ever before. This means that traditional isolated leadership is not effective anymore. She explains what it takes to grow leaders in today’s world and points out the questions posed by the famous business leaders of the 21st century.


“Great leaders dare to be different. They don’t just talk about risk-taking, they actually do it.”

–Rosalinde Torres

 David Logan: Tribal Leadership

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David Logan is a business professor at Marshall School of Business in the USC and the author of the book called “Tribal Leadership,” which was a New Your Times Bestseller. He has spent more than ten years studying tribes which he outlines as “naturally occurring groups that occur anytime humans get together.”

In this TED talk business, he points out the five kinds of tribes that humans tend to form in a natural way: in schools, in workplaces, and in other communal settings. If we understand better these tribal tendencies shared by every individual, we will be able to become better individuals. The concept of tribes is important in the business world since all five types of tribes have to interact with society. We recommend this TED talk leadership for business people interested in improving their workplace culture.



Without the leaders building the tribe, a culture of mediocrity will prevail. Without an inspired tribe, leaders are impotent.” 


— David Logan

Business TED Talks that Inform

Nowadays the one who has the information is the one who rules the world. For business professionals, this saying is particularly true since the world is changing at such a fast pace and requires people to adapt to it quicker and quicker and discover business news daily. These TED talks on business strategy will keep you informed so that you can run a profitable business!

 Susan Cain: The Power of Introvert

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Susan Cain is an American writer and lecturer who has become famous after publishing her book “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.” In it, she questioned why the modern Western World undervalues and misunderstands the capabilities of introverted people. She has been a long-time activist focused on introverted children and teens and co-founded a mission-based company Quiet Revolution in 2015 to develop initiatives for parenting and education of children.

In this conference, she brings up again the question of why introverts get overlooked by business leaders. She explains what it means to be an introvert and demonstrates how quiet people can make compelling contributions. This is one of the best TED talks for managers and is dedicated to business people who are missing out seriously if they do not include introverts in their workforce.

Angela Lee Duckworth: the Power of Passion and Perseverance

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Angela Duckworth is an American psychologist and author of the book “The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” issued in 2016. She studied neurobiology at Harvard and later graduated in neuroscience on a Marshall Scholarship from the University of Oxford.

She is the Founder and CEO of Character Lab. While teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, she shockingly discovered that talent and IQ are not the best determinants of future success. Duckworth calls grit the real predictor of success. This Ted talk will inform you in regards to what grit really is and what a difference it can make for goal-driven business leaders.



“One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn’t social intelligence, and it wasn’t I.Q. It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” 


–Angela Lee Duckworth

Kelly McGonigal: How To Make Stress Your Friend

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Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist specializing in stress and how it affects us. She teaches at Stanford University and is recognized for her work in the field of “science-help,” which converts psychological insights into practical strategies to support well-being. She became well-known after publishing her book “The Upside of Stress,” where she overthrows our long-term beliefs about stress.

In this TED talk, McGonigal shares her insights about changing your reaction to stress and the way it affects your body and life. She insists that if you stop worrying that stress is not good for your life, you will live a long and happy life! Her words of wisdom and inspirational quotes are particularly encouraging for business people who tend to confront stressful situations on a regular basis.



When we’re stressed, our brains persistently mis-predict what will make us happy.” 

— Kelly McGonigal

TED Talks about Leadership that Inspire

Doing business and coming up with ideas is a creative process and inspiration is a very important part of it. Tune in to these leadership TED talks which will share plenty of insights with you on self-motivation and self-improvement and will let you inspire others with your own example!

Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret to Better Work

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Shaun Achor is a speaker and advocate of positive psychology whose book “The Happiness Advantage turned him into the New York Times best-selling author. He is a graduate of Harvard University and founder of GoodThink, Inc., an organization dedicated to teaching happiness to people.

Using humor and insights from the interaction with his Sister Amy, Achor illustrates in this TED speech how a positive approach can significantly change our view on certain negative events. This can be equally applicable to our workplace: he speaks about outliers, i.e. people who are above average. In his studies of outliers, the author examines how happiness becomes an important factor in success, creativity, efficiency. If you have not yet discovered your formula for success, then you should not waste any more time and start listening to Shaun Achor right now!



“Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it’s the realization that we can.”

–Shaun Achor

Bel Pesce : 5 Ways to Kill Your Dreams

Bel Pesce is a Brazilian entrepreneur and aт MIT graduate in electrical engineering. She used to work in Silicon Valley but chose to come back to her native country, where she has been named one of the “10 Most Admired Leaders in Brazil”.

In Her Ted speech, Pesce uncovers 5 common success myths that might be holding back your success and advancement. If you have just printed your business cards and you are thinking about how to develop and promote your business idea, then Pesce’s presentation might help you identify some faulty thinking that you should avoid at all costs. This way, you will arrive at your successful destination much quicker!



“Your Overnight Success Story is always a result of everything you have done in your life until that moment .”


–Shaun Achor

TED Talks on Business Strategy

If you have set your goals high, that is very good! Now you need to think about the pathway that will lead you to the realization of your goals, and this is what business strategy is about. In the following TED talks about business leadership, you will hear about some of the techniques that might improve your business strategy and make your business more successful.

Linda Hill: How To Manage for Collective Creativity

Linda Hill is a business professor at Harvard and chairs the Leadership Initiative. She is a popular writer including such well-known books as “Being the Boss” and “Becoming a Manager.” Her interest is centered around the role of creativity and innovation for business.

In this engaging TED presentation, she explains why typical management technics will not be efficient if you want to encourage innovation and creativity in your organization. As the author of the book “Collective Genius,” she shares her ideas about the role of teamwork in bringing true innovation to the workplace. Listen to Hill’s talk if you want to know how to stimulate creativity in your own company!


Great success seldom comes from doing twenty things right. More often, it’s the result of focusing on the right one, two, or three big things. What are those?”

–Linda Hill. 

Seth Godin : How To Get Your Ideas Spread

Seth Godin is a well-known blogger, entrepreneur, and popular author. Seth’s Blog is full of insightful posts written on a wide variety of topics. For him, a winning business strategy should start with you spreading your business ideas. According to Godin, those who are successful at spreading their ideas become successful at implementing changes.

In his TED conference, the blogger uncovers the effects of mass media on the spread of ideas and argues that mass marketing no longer works. Listen to this business TED talk to find out how to construct your business marketing strategy and what causes ideas to spread.



“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible”


–Seth Godin

Susan Colantuono: The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get

As the founder and CEO of the consulting firm Leading Women, Susan Colantuono advises companies who are determined to minimize the gender gap in business. She has worked with dozens of companies all over the world with the intention to encourage women’s leadership.

In her TED talk, Colantuono raises such a complex question as to why there are so few women in top management. She identifies the three key elements that the companies look for in leaders and explains how women do not demonstrate one of the main of these qualities. If you are a woman in business, this TED talk on women’s leadership might be your gate to the career of your dreams! Definitely, a must-watch.


“Fussing about the amount of work you have doesn’t make you sound important; it just makes you sound incompetent.”


Susan Colantuono



Iliana K