Top 10 TED Talks Every Leader Should Watch
- Nancy Maher
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
TED Talks on leadership styles and empowering your people.
Leadership today calls for more than strategy and performance.
It’s about soft skills, courage, decision-making, empowerment, and emotional intelligence.
The best leaders know how to challenge their own assumptions, recognise their unhelpful thinking patterns, and create a psychologically safe team culture where their employees can develop while driving value.
In 15 minutes, you can learn from some of the world’s best thinkers — psychologists, researchers, and real-world changemakers. To make these more impactful, we've added a 📝 Journal prompt with each TED Talk to spark reflection.
Discover the top leadership TED talks every leader should watch to deepen emotional intelligence, rethink leadership styles, and empower teams through feedback, reflection, and psychological safety. Included are TED talks for new managers, TED talks on empowering your team and TED talks about reflection and self‑aware leadership.
Top 10 TED Talks Every Leader Should Watch
Brené Brown – The Power of Vulnerability
This is a classic and one of the best TED talks on leadership.
Brené Brown's groundbreaking research speaks honestly about courage, worthiness, and the necessity of vulnerability in leadership.
She reminds us that great leaders lead with heart, not armour. Her message: connection is built when we dare to be seen.
Watch it if you want to reconnect with authenticity and the human side of leadership.
Leadership theme: Emotional intelligence, trust, and self-awareness.
📝 Journal prompt: Where am I currently wearing armour as a leader, and what would taking off one small piece of it look like this week?
Adam Grant – The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers
Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist, is a big favourite with us.
In this leadership TED Talk, humour and research are brought together to explore why great ideas often come from those who doubt themselves the most. He calls these people “originals” — thinkers who question, pause, and rethink.
It’s a reminder that taking time to pause and reflect is a strength and essential to creativity.
Grant’s work encourages leaders to embrace different leadership styles and create a psychologically safe space for innovation.
Leadership theme: Rethinking, leadership styles and reflective leadership.
📝 Journal prompt: What idea have I put on hold because of self‑doubt, and what is one low‑risk experiment I could run to test it?
Amy Edmondson – Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace
Psychological safety is the foundation of healthy teams.
Amy Edmondson shows what happens when leaders create environments where people feel safe to speak up. Mistakes become learning moments, and feedback is received with curiosity rather than fear.
It’s essential viewing for anyone leading teams through change, conflict, or growth.
Leadership theme: Feedback, inclusion, and learning culture.
📝 Journal prompt: What's one behaviour I can change this week to make people feel safe to bring me bad news or half‑formed ideas?
Simon Sinek – How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” remains one of the most-watched leadership Ted talks for a reason.
He challenges leaders to think beyond results and inspire others through purpose.
People don’t follow what you do, he says. They follow WHY you do it.
Perfect for reflection if you’re refreshing your company vision or redefining your leadership approach.
Leadership theme: Purpose, alignment, and intentional leadership.
📝 Journal prompt: If I had to explain my “why” in one sentence, what would I say — and would my team recognise themselves in it?
Susan Cain – The Power of Introverts
Susan Cain’s TED Talk changes how you think about leadership styles.
She shows that quiet leaders often bring deep reflection, careful thought, and emotional steadiness — qualities easily overlooked in extroverted cultures.
It’s a reminder that introversion and influence are not opposites.
Watch this to rethink how you lead and how you create balance in your team.
Leadership theme: Diversity of leadership styles, reflection, emotional intelligence and empathy.
📝 Journal prompt: Where might I be rewarding loudness over thoughtfulness, and what change could make things more balanced?
Dan Pink – The Puzzle of Motivation
Dan Pink explores what truly drives people. Spoiler: it’s rarely money.
Through research and humour, he reveals that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are what spark motivation and engagement.
His message challenges outdated performance-driven mindsets and calls for a greater focus on human motivation models.
Leadership theme: Motivation, feedback, and intrinsic drive.
📝 Journal prompt: How much autonomy do my people really have, and how can I empower and keep alignment?
Angela Lee Duckworth – Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Angela Duckworth studied elite performers — West Point cadets, spelling bee champions, and salespeople. Her message is that while talent matters, grit matters more.
Grit is passion + perseverance for long-term goals.
She explores the Hardship Gap: the gap between your aspirations and reality.
Gritty people close it through deliberate practice, optimism, and how they show up every day. Angela argues that talent is how fast you improve, and effort is what makes skill permanent.
This is good ot watch if you're thinking about how to build resilience in yourself or your team, or questioning if talent trumps effort.
Leadership theme: Resilience, long-term vision, and developing human potential over raw talent.
📝 Journal prompt: What's one goal I've been avoiding because it feels too hard? What would "gritty" effort look like for just one week?
Jamie Woolf & Christopher Bell – Why Good People Become Bad Bosses
Do you suspect your title might be silencing your team? Do you want to stay more human in leadership?
Jamie Woolf and Christopher Bell share practical ways to break the cycle of bad bosses for good.
Authority changes how you see the world. You stop hearing the truth. People laugh at your bad jokes. Feedback disappears. It’s more common than you think!
Having good intentions doesn't ensure effective leadership. Jamie Woolf and Christopher Bell expose power blindness — the subtle way authority can corrupt even the most well-meaning leaders.
Leadership theme: Power dynamics, self-awareness, and breaking toxic boss cycles through radical honesty.
📝 Journal prompt: What armour am I wearing as a leader? What’s it protecting and what’s it costing my team?
Jodi-Ann Burey – The Myth of Bringing Your Full, Authentic Self to Work
"Bring your authentic self" sounds inclusive. It rarely is.
Jodi-Ann Burey exposes how this advice burdens people of colour and underrepresented groups. "Professionalism" often means white cultural norms — straight hair, safe topics, muted pushback.
Show up fully authentic? You risk promotion blocks, "team player" critiques, or isolation. Burey shares the exhaustion: code-switching, hiding grief, softening your voice to fit. Her message is that one person can't fix a toxic culture; it's those with power who must do the work.
Her call: Leaders, make equity real. Stop asking marginalised voices to perform vulnerability.
Leadership theme: Equity, power dynamics, redefining inclusion beyond empty buzzwords.
📝 Journal prompt: What does "professionalism" ask my team to hide? How can I change that this week?
Theresa Haskins – The Neuro-Inclusion Revolution
This made it to our best leadership development TED talks, as we believe that leaders must understand neurodiversity.
Many employees (including leaders) feel they need to mask their true selves.
Theresa Haskins watched her neurodivergent sons excel decades ahead of their peers — yet get punished for not making eye contact. Schools fix "deficits." Doctors prescribe conformity. Talent gets crushed.
Her revelation: Neurodiversity isn't accommodation. It's a competitive advantage.
Neurodiverse teams innovate 30% more. They perform better when teams naturally combine their strengths.
Diagnosis rates are exploding while workplace culture rejects differences.
Haskins argues that deviation is the new normal and encourages leaders to measure pattern-spotting rather than the quality of small talk.
Beware when your "high potential" or talent programmes only cater to one brain type.
Leadership theme: Inclusive leadership, redefining talent, and neurodiversity as an innovation engine.
📝 Journal prompt: What genius is my neurodiverse team member hiding to check our "fit" boxes?
Final Thoughts: TED Talks every leader should watch
Each of these leadership TED Talks offers a fresh perspective on subjects ranging from courage to inclusion, curiosity, and vulnerability.
Together, they offer a picture of human leadership: grounded in empathy, guided by purpose, and strengthened by reflection.
You might watch one during your lunch break or weave them into a leadership circle session. Either way, they spark reflection and dialogue — the kind that empowers teams, creates a healthy workplace culture and sparks innovation.
Leadership development doesn’t have to be complicated, and even busy leaders can find the time. Sometimes it starts with one idea that shifts how you see yourself — and how you lead.
➡️ Interested in Leadership Development?
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