Management by TED Talk

I really like the fact that we are living in an age where one can get quality information on any topic and mostly free. The world of learning has adapted and become focused on delivering material in easily consumable byte sized chunks. The use of digital media, increasing availability of broadband and falling of data costs have also provided significant momentum to this trend. My 9 year old son can deliver really amazing school projects on his own provided he has an internet connection. Much easier than the days where we would sign out encyclopedias from the library!

Like most things that have a positive outcome there is usually an alternative bad side. Think the benefits of transportation, but the negatives of carbon footprint or the benefits of technology and the negative of excessive screen time. In the case of human learning delivered via technology the downside for me has been that we don’t seem to be building any depth in any subject matter.

I do enjoy TED Talks and I think they have revolutionized our access to new ideas and thoughts. Most of all for me they have provided a useful toolbox of material to use for solving problems. This for me is especially true in matters of leadership. Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. I believe that we are running around speaking as experts on topics we barely understand, basically because we watched the TED Talk.

Yes, I said it! Watching the TED Talk on climate change, obesity or teamwork does not make you an expert in either of those fields. It will take many hours of significant effort, experience, reading and probably research for anybody to credibly call themselves an expert in the field. Unfortunately, many managers are so confident after watching the talk that they try and implement changes in their businesses without fully understanding the subject matter they are dabbling in.

I worked once in a team where our manager would make us watch a TED Talk at the start of every team meeting. It was his way of building capability and influencing our mindsets. The intention was honourable, but many months later and numerous TED Talks later our team was performing worse and had become more dysfunctional. How could this be when we watched so many TED Talks?

The answer is simple really. The manager thought the veneer of bombarding us with all this learning media would somehow make us a better team. If he highlighted our weaknesses weekly and made us watch a video that would solve all our problems. Our team dynamics were very dysfunctional. I was involved in a power struggle with a subordinate, most of the team members did not like each other and our boss used this tension to drive his agenda somewhat. It is likely that if we had spent less time watching TED Talks and dealing with these issues we would have been a better team.

My point of view is that having surface knowledge of leadership via consumption of copious TED Talks will get you the job and dazzle in an interview. However, once you are in the job one better hope that there is more in your toolbox. Someone is better off having significant experience in a field than having watched loads of TED Talks.

And with that in my mind my simple plea is that everybody stop this nonsense of trying treat life like it can be fixed by having surface knowledge gained through hours of video watched on TV.