TED Talks Every Young Professional Should See (We’re Looking at You, Gen Z and Late Millennials)

You're probably no stranger to TED Talks. TED, the nonprofit behind these short powerful presentations, started in 1984 as a conference that covered topics in technology, entertainment, and design, hence TED. Today, however, TED Talks has evolved to cover matters of almost every kind, from culture, health, and ecology to business, activism, humanities, and other global issues.

If you're a young professional who's just starting out on their career or a couple of years along (we're looking at you, Gen Z and late Millennials), then we recommend you check out these TED Talks for some serious brain picking, new insights, or just a break from the daily grind.

But hey, young is relative. If you don't fall under those two categories above, feel free to watch these inspiring TED Talks anyway.

On Not Having a Linear Career Trajectory

How many of us were taught that one's career path should be a linear trajectory that we must absolutely already know prior to even graduating high school? Conventional wisdom tells us that the ideal career path is unswerving, but career development consultants Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper sought to rethink this model in their TEDxLondonWomen talk in February 2021.

Rather than looking at one's career path as a straight ladder, Tupper and Ellis offered to replace this model with the idea of "squiggly" careers, which are by turns full of uncertainty and full of possibility.

"Ladders are limiting," said Tupper. "They limit learning and they limit opportunity, and if organizations don't lose the ladder, they will lose their people, the people that are always adapting, that never stop learning and who are open to the opportunities that come their way.”

On Slowing Down in a Fast-Paced World

In an ever-evolving world where every hour must be optimized and productivized, anthropologist Kathryn Bouskill goes against the grain by highlighting the importance of slowing down in her TEDxManhattanBeach talk in November 2018.

Modern life has brought on faster technologies that were "supposed to free us from drudgery.” Yet, the anthropologist asked, "Why do we all feel so pressed for time?"

"Culture and rituals around the world build in slowness, because slowness helps us reinforce our shared values and connect,” she said. “And connection is a critical part of being human.”

On Asking for Help

Do you struggle when it comes to asking for help? Social psychologist Heidi Grant knows just how tough asking for help can be, but it's something we have to do all the time to get through life. In her TED Salon: Brightline Initiative talk in June 2019, Grant shared four rules one must keep in mind to successfully ask for help:

• "[B]e very, very specific about the help you want and why."

• "[A]void disclaimers, apologies and bribes." An example of this is saying sorry for asking for help in the first place.
• "Do not ask for help over email or text... Email and text are impersonal."
• "[W]hen you ask someone for their help and they say yes, follow up with them afterward."

On Failure and Pursuing Your Passions

In this no- holds- barred talk from TEDxUW in November 2011, the candid and humorous economist Larry Smith from the University of Waterloo laid out all the excuses people come up with when they fail to pursue their passions.

The talk, titled, "Why you will fail to have a great career," sets a dismal tone initially, but its crux lies on the power of this small six-letter word: "unless."

"You're afraid to pursue your passion. You're afraid to look ridiculous. You're afraid to try. You're afraid you may fail. Great friend, great spouse, great parent, great career. Is that not a package? Is that not who you are? How can you be one without the other? But you're afraid," said Smith.

"And that's why you're not going to have a great career. Unless — 'unless,' that most evocative of all English words — 'unless.'"