The 5 Best Talent Management TED Talks for Practitioners

The editors at Solutions Review curated this list of the best talent management TED Talks for practitioners in the field.

TED Talks are influential videos from expert speakers in a variety of verticals. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment, and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from business to technology to global issues — in more than 100 languages. TED is building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s top thinkers, and their library of videos is expansive and rapidly growing.

Solutions Review has curated this list of talent management TED Talks to watch if you are a practitioner in the field. Talks were selected based on relevance, the ability to add business value, and individual speaker expertise.

Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume — Regina Hartley, TED@UPS

Regina Hartley is a human resources expert who has been working in talent acquisition, succession planning, learning and development, employee relations, and communications for 25 years at UPS. Currently, Hartley is Vice President of HR supporting IT and Engineering for UPS, making human connections with employees immersed in technology. Additionally, she is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from the HRCI.

In this talk, Hartley argues that given the choice between a candidate with a perfect resume and one has experienced adversity, human resources professionals should give the “Scrapper” a chance. Hartley believes that the more underestimated candidates often have the ability to succeed under difficult circumstances, allowing them to persist in an ever-changing workplace.

Why working from home is good for business — Matt Mullenweg, The Way We Work

Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of the open-source blogging platform, WordPress, as well as the CEO and founder of Automattic. Mullenweg has been recognized for his success and leadership by multiple publications, including Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Inc. Magazine, TechCrunch, Wired, and Fortune.

In this talk, Mullenweg shares his thoughts on the benefits of work from home policies. Remote working allows workforces to collaborate across cities, countries, and even time zones. Mullenweg also shares his secrets that will allow all employees to feel connected when working remotely.

How too many rules at work keep you from getting things done — Yves Morieux, TED@BCG London

Yves Morieux is a senior partner and director of the BCG Institute for Organization. He considers how overarching structural changes can improve employee motivation in the workplace. He refers to his approach as “Smart Simplicity,” and using six key rules, it encourages employees to work together in order to solve long-term problems and maximize engagement through all levels of an organization.

During this Talk, Morieux emphasizes the idea that modern work is about solving new problems every day in a collaborative and flexible manner. Because of this, Morieux posits that an overload of rules and processes can prevent employees from doing their best work, and conversely, that cooperation is the driving force of productivity.

Forget the pecking order at work — Margaret Heffernan, TEDWomen 2015

Margaret Heffernan was formerly the CEO of five businesses and today focuses on human thought patterns that can lead businesses and managers astray. Her book, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril, which looked at how our beliefs, behaviors, and rules can blind us, was named one of the most important business books of the decade by the Financial Times. As lead faculty for the Forward Institute’s Responsible Leadership Programme, Heffernan mentors CEOs and senior executives of major global businesses.

In this talk, Heffernan observes that social cohesion, (when an employee asks another for help, for example), over time leads to a more high-achieving workforce. Instead of placing value on star employees, Heffernan argues that organizations should rethink how their reward systems are structured in order to stimulate growth and motivation in the workforce.

4 ways to build a human company in the age of machines — Tim Leberecht, TEDSummit

A self-described “business romantic,” Tim Leberecht currently runs the strategy consulting firm, Leberecht & Partners, and was previously the chief marketing officer at NBBJ, and Frog Design. Additionally, he co-founded the “15 Toasts” dinner series, which aimed to create safe spaces for people to have conversations about difficult topics. Leberecht also wrote the book, The Business Romantic: Give Everything, Quantify Nothing, and Create Something Greater Than Yourself.

During this talk, Leberecht argues that in the age of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the modern workplace needs to celebrate authenticity rather than efficiency. He also proposes four principles for building what he refers to as “beautiful organizations.”

For more talent management TED Talks, browse TED’s complete topic collection.