TED.com

Today a good friend sent me a link to a video from a TED convention (Technology, Entertainment, Design) by hotelier Chip Conley. Chip Conley began purchasing small hotels in his mid twenties and has assembled a collection of over forty, all with unique themes and motifs. He credits his unique philosophy, stemming from Maslow's famous "Hierarchy of needs" pyramid, in aiding him in crafting a business model ultimately based on happiness. Recently, he traveled to Bhutan, the worlds youngest democracy -- only two years old -- to study their one of a kind system for measuring the internal joy, and sheer satisfaction of living amongst their citizens. Where most turn to the cold, emotionless facts of the GDP figures in gauging economic health, Bhutan has set a new standard by concocting a measurable method by which to record and track the pulse of their people, not by taxes, or property, but by satisfaction in life. Conley goes on to explain how it has been this organizational revelation that has enabled him to breathe leadership and life into his Joie De Vivre ( Joy is living ) company that despite being centered in San Francisco -- the heart of the dot com boom & bust -- managed to grow thirty percent when competitors all around him suffered some of the hardest losses in America. He has implemented company wide reforms based on his new satisfaction centered cultural abacus. Yet, it was not only this one particular talk that piqued my interest, but rather the source, TED.com, that really quenched my cranial thirst. 

I had heard of TED before, casually, but never enough so that it would stick securely in my mind. Yet after watching this particular talk, and then another, and another, followed by yet another, it is surely something to be cemented in my mind and routine for many moments to come. Here is a website, void of premiums ( FREE ) that collect and broadcast informative, inspiring and innovative speeches from some of the worlds greatest minds, for all to feast on. TED promotes itself as a non profit organization. Its origins began by hosting two conventions a year, one in Long Beach, one in Palm Springs, and lately has added a third in Oxford, U.K.. At each convening, premier speakers from around the globe descend upon the attendees to share fifteen to twenty minute talks on a collage of topics. There are scientists, ministers, authors, economists, musicians and more. They challenge norms, make extravagant claims -- One of today's speakers argued that we need our ideas to have sex with one another more -- yet do so in eloquent, well prepared, and delivered fashion. The site sorts and filters by genre, topic, emotion, as to ensure almost any visitor can discover a topic of interest. 

Being a self proclaimed non-fiction, "Self-Help" book vagabond, this collection of brilliant minds deciphering and sharing their brilliant, oft-inspiring viewpoints, is tantalizing. The talks are of brief enough nature to not lose or snooze the viewer. The speakers are professionals, more than adept at hooking and intriguing an audience, and all carry the credibility and aura of experience and consequent success. I enjoyed all five particular speeches that I viewed this evening. One by the hotelier, one by a author, another by an economist, an Internet mogul and the last by a minister ( For those who know me and my religious view points, no, that was not a typo ). All shed new light, new angles and new challenges on topics from all corners of life's spectrum. 

I strongly recommend TED.com to anyone with fifteen minutes to spare. The speakers are compelling and educating. You leave with a feeling of refreshment, as if you are showering in wisdom. The stories are varied, the themes equally so, but to have this medium at your command, to access and enjoy the viewpoints and learning's of such accomplished, and distinguished individuals proves more satisfying than any play list, chapter, or sitcom. But of course, you only watch documentaries, right? 

Check it out. It might be worth your while. 

www.ted.com