TED Talk: Simon Sinek, Noel Bairey Merz

I don't know if you've noticed through some of my previous blog posts, but I'm someone who tend to ponder about issues and often I see both sides of a case and have a very middle stand to arguments. 
And I like to share these thoughts through this blog and bring up little anecdotes I find interesting.
Just now, a friend of mine who is studying abroad for a term in Boston, MA, USA, sent me a link during a Skype conversation saying "Since we're amongst geeks...here's a very intersting video". Of course, the geek that I am, as soon as I realized it was a TED Talk video, I watched it immediately, and it was one of the most interesting videos I've seen on TED.


The Speaker, Simon Sinek had worked out what the difference is between those who are successful and those who aren't. Whether it be individuals, corporations, innovators, these people had a complete opposite approach to others in the same field. Even if you have the perfect conditions for success, funding, the right people, the know-how, people follow those who know "why" they are doing what they do. People follow leaders who believe in what they do. And these people don't follow because it's a good idea/product, they follow because this becomes their belief. Leaders are people with authority and the qualifications to prove it, but people who actually lead just believe in what they do which makes other people believe in what they do. Mr. Sinek gave really great examples using Apple, the Wright Brothers who built the world's first successful airplane, and Martin Luther King.  Another interesting concept he talked about was the Law of Diffusion of Innovation. This determines the how products diffuse through different types of consumers in a culture with the development of market share. 


Here are some good graphs of the two concepts I found on Google Images:

 

Well, rather than me going on more about it, it would really be worth watching the actual video on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

Coincidentally, I was watching another TED talk today, which I was sent the link from one of my old professors at my university. It was by Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Women's Heart Center at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, who talked about how heart disease is far more fatal for females today than breast cancer, and we absolutely NEED to raise more awareness. The statistics given truly surprised me and the nature of the talk had a nice personal touch for a female audience too ;) 

So here it is: http://www.ted.com/talks/noel_bairey_merz_the_single_biggest_health_threat_women_face.html

Weekend soon! Yayyy xD