These 5 Brilliant TED Talks Will Teach You How to Be a Great Leader

Companies spend a crazy amount of money each year training their employees — on average, $1,208 per employee, as of 2013. A lot of time and resources are sunk into developing better leaders within organizations.

But does it have to be such a process? Not always. Publishing and materials that once would have cost a fortune and been available only to a select few have been democratized by the internet and are readily available online.

We’re not talking low-quality instruction, either. Take online learning portal Udacity. It was developed by Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford professor and the inventor of Google’s driverless car, to make top-quality education available to everyone.

TED Talks are another source of quality, reputable instruction, and inspiration, on everything from entertainment to design to science — and leadership.

1. Simon Sinek’s “How Great Leaders Inspire Action”
Leadership expert Simon Sinek knows his stuff. A strategic communications professor at Columbia, he’s also the author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action and Leaders Eat Last.

In this epic TED Talk that has received more than 24 million views, Sinek explores how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust, and change. If you’re looking for a quick hit on how to be more persuasive and lead people to take the actions you desire, you can afford to invest 18 minutes in this amazing talk.

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