Top-Viewed Business TED Talks of All Time

Here at Cultivate, we believe that marketing creativity is the ability to tap into our mental pool of resources — knowledge, information, insight, stats, examples — and combine them in unique ways. The larger the library of building blocks, the more visionary your ideas will grow to be.

One of the best resources for finding "new building blocks" is the TED Talks archives. Below are 7 thought-provoking videos to get you rolling, followed by a list of the top-viewed business TED Talks of all time. Let's get started...

1. Shawn Achor shares the happy secret to better work

Views: 11+ million

We believe that we should work to be happy, but could that be backwards? In this fast-moving and entertaining talk, psychologist Shawn Achor argues that happiness actually inspires productivity. Productivity = good business.

"If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral, or stressed," he says. "Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves."

2. Elizabeth Gilbert says each of your staff members (or coworkers) is genius

Views: 10+ million

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" genius within. I'm reminded of this quote:

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. — Albert Einstein

The key is to be open to their creativity.

And to all of you creative marketers out there, Elizabeth says, "Don't be afraid. Don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment through your efforts, then "Olé!" And if not, do your dance anyhow."

3. Susan Cain teaches us to open our eyes to the power of introverts

Views: 11+ million

The author of best-selling book "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" argues that charismatic talkers tend to overshadow thoughtful introverts. This can be problematic, since the loudest person in the room is not always the smartest or most creative.

Cain suggests when searching for creative business solutions, that it is, "Much better for everybody to go off by themselves, generate their own ideas freed from the distortions of group dynamics, and then come together as a team to talk them through in a well-managed environment and take it from there."

4. Pamela Meyer shares how to spot a liar in the workplace and everyday life

Views: 10+ million

Did you know people are more apt to lie to coworkers than to strangers? Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, argues that our modern society is awash in a type of lie that is neither truth nor fiction, but more akin to "casual dishonesty." On any given day we're lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lies can be subtle and counterintuitive. Pamela reveals the manners and "hotspots" used by those trained to recognize deception.

5. Dan Pink explores the puzzle of motivation

Views: 13+ million

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. He suggests traditional forms of reward actually "dull thinking and block creativity."

6. Simon Sinek shares how leaders can inspire action

Views: 22+ million

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership, all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" He explores how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust and change.

7. Ken Robinson says we need to nurture (rather than undermine) creativity

Views: 33+million

In this uber-popular talk, Sir Ken Robinson explains that we need to radically rethink our schools, encouraging and cultivating creativity and acknowledging the presence of multiple types of intelligence. Robins states:

If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original -- if you're not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this. We stigmatize mistakes.

We need to build schools AND work environments that nurture (rather than undermine) creativity.

Top Viewed Business TED Talks

 Looking for additional inspiration? Check out the full list of Top Viewed Business TED Talks for additional insights.

Be sure to share your favorite TED Talk with me in the comments below.

P.S. For ongoing creative inspiration be sure to follow Cultivate on LinkedIn and Pinterest. Plus, if you want to keep up to date with new TED Talks, you can find your favorite format here:

• YouTube // Each day they upload the latest TED Talk to their channel on YouTube.
  Watch TED Talks on YouTube
• iTunes podcast // Subscribe to TED Talks special collections on iTunes.
  View TED on iTunes
• Netflix // Watch TED Talks on Netflix as curated shows, on-demand and streaming.
  Watch TED shows on Netflix
• TED Radio Hour // A journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, and new ways to think and create. Based on riveting TED Talks from the world's most remarkable minds.
  Listen to TED Radio Hour on NPR