Big Think+’s Top 100 Learning Videos for 2018

Every year, companies try to do things better, to find the most effective way to complete some task or to improve overall productivity. Employee learning programs play a massive part in helping organizations all over the world to improve their performance and meet their goals. In particular, online learning videos have proven to be very effective for helping employees meet their learning objectives. Video-based learning benefits not only the employees who engage with lessons, but the organization as a whole by improving learning results.

With this in mind, the team here at Big Think+ put together a list of the most popular and effective learning videos in the BTE library. Here’s a list of the top 100 videos for 2018, separated by category:

Design Thinking

Today’s big challenges require bold solutions. Design thinking taps into innovative potential by trying out different (sometimes unusual) solutions before converging on a single design that works. This process is also iterative, building upon successive stages of trial and error, and learning from previous mistakes. Use this channel to explore the specific processes, tools, and applications that define design thinking.

1) Extending Your Influence: Listen at Scale

with Charlene Li, Founder and CEO, Altimeter Group, Author, “The Engaged Leader” (USA)
Learning Path: Discover & Empathize
In this lesson, Charlene Li discusses how to carefully hone in on your key audience and listen to the people most important to reaching your goals.

2) Win with Red Teaming: A Case Study in Strategic Empathy from Inside the CIA

with Amaryllis Fox, Former CIA Clandestine Operative (USA)
Learning Path: Discover & Empathize
In this video, ex-CIA operative Amaryllis Fox highlights how perspective-shifting exercises demand great humility and curiosity, and how they can pay major dividends.

3) Ask the Right Questions and Measure the Right Things

with Michael Slaby, Chief Innovation Officer, Obama for America 2012 (USA)
Learning Path: Define
It’s not a question of “either/or”, says Michael Slaby, who wrestled with some of the most complex and fast-changing data sets imaginable as Chief Innovation Officer for Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign. In this video, Slaby discusses how to combine human intuition with big data for better analytics.

4) Collaborate Intelligently: Energize Yourself and Others

with Angie McArthur, Co-author, “Collaborative Intelligence” (USA)
Learning Path: Ideate
In this video, Angie McArthur argues that workplace burnout results from pressure to excel in every area. The reality is that people vary drastically in their “thinking talents,” the specific ways of approaching problems that come the most naturally.

5) Forge Fearlessness Using Improv’s “Yes, and…” Tool

with Bob Kulhan, CEO, Business Improvisations and Adjunct Professor, Fuqua School of Business (USA)
Learning Path: Ideate
Improvisation creates “a set of experiences that allow you to fine-tune and hone all of the necessary skills needed to think on your feet and simply react and adapt.” So says improv coach Bob Kulhan, who in this lesson teaches a bedrock improv technique known as “Yes, and….”

6) Create a Culture of Innovation

with Stephen Dubner, Award-winning Journalist and Co-Author, “Freakonomics” (USA)
Learning Path: Ideate
The traditional top-down process of brainstorming and ideation doesn’t always generate good, actionable material. In this lesson, journalist and author Stephen Dubner talks about ways to create a culture of innovation that favors genuinely good ideas over merely loud or popular ones.

7) Breaking the Chains of Old Media: Iterate to Learn from Your Fans

with Oliver Luckett, Technology Entrepreneur and Author, “The Social Organism” (USA)
Learning Path: Prototype & Test
How do you build your brand and keep people engaged with your original content? What does it mean to be “there for” the people who like your organization and want to see it succeed? In this lesson, Oliver Luckett answers these questions using his experience at Disney as a guide.

8) Fall on Your Face: A Case Study in Successful Failure, with Netflix

with Todd Yellin, VP of Product Innovation, Netflix (USA)
Learning Path: Implement & Learn
Innovation cannot happen without an appetite for failure and a commitment to learning from it. That’s the key takeaway from this lesson on “successful failure” with Netflix’s Todd Yellin.

Diversity & Inclusion

We unconsciously respond better to what’s familiar—whether it’s in someone’s appearance, intellect, or approach to getting work done. Collaboration and innovation, however, thrive in an environment where differences are not only tolerated, but valued and encouraged. In this channel, you’ll learn to recognize subtle tendencies to shut down to diversity, and how to overcome them.

9) Build Learning Communities: Harnessing Diversity to Ensure Long-term Growth

with Wendy Luhabe, Founder, Women’s Private Equity Fund (South Africa)
Learning Path: Education and Learning
Wendy Luhabe pioneered the first multi-million dollar Private Equity Fund for women-owned proprietary enterprises in South Africa. In this lesson, Luhabe explores the importance of fostering diversity.

10) Leverage Diverse Talent

with Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab (USA)
Learning Path: Education and Learning
As Director of the MIT Media Lab, Joi Ito sees it as his job to bring the members of many diverse specialist communities together and turn them into a high-performing, functional ensemble. In this lesson, he takes you behind the scenes to show you his approach.

11) Building Mind-Machine Combinations: Welcome Technology as Your Colleague

with Andrew McAfee, Associate Director, MIT Center for Digital Business (USA)
Learning Path: Education and Learning
In this lesson, Andrew McAfee, explores the inspiring leaps machine-learning has made in recent years, paving the way not for our robot overlords, but for intelligent machine colleagues to replace the slavishly literal systems that preceded them.

12) Foster Authenticity: Understand the Needs of the Transgender Community

with Geena Rocero, Transgender Model and Activist (USA)
Learning Path: Identity and Belonging
In this lesson, Rocero teaches people how to include and support the transgender, gender non-conforming, and transitioning employees within your work community.

13) Re-Envisioning Inclusion: Understand the Concept of Covering

with Kenji Yoshino, Professor, NYU School of Law; Author (USA)
Learning Path: Identity and Belonging
In this lesson, Yoshino argues that when individuals acknowledge their own propensity to cover (attempt to hide aspects of their own stigmatized identities), they create meaningful bridges with people who appear different from themselves.

14) Tap the Thought Leadership Potential of Your Team

with Dorie Clark, Author, “Stand Out” (USA)
Learning Path: Management and Understanding
Marketing expert Dorie Clark helps companies and individuals identify and leverage their brand. In this lesson, she explores how managers can help develop their direct reports into thought leaders with their own brands of expertise.

15) Understand and Address Unconscious Bias

with Jennifer Brown, CEO, Jennifer Brown Consulting (USA)
Learning Path: Management and Understanding
“There’s not an intent that’s bad that’s behind unconscious bias,” says diversity expert Jennifer Brown. “It is more that we see things through our lens. And really that’s all we know unless we proactively push against that.” But pushing back can be uncomfortable. In this lesson, Brown offers strategies for transforming your knowledge of self and other.

16) Support the LGBT Workforce: Take Actions to Reflect Your Standards

with Evan Wolfson, Founder and President, Freedom to Marry (USA)
Learning Path: Management and Understanding
A commitment to nondiscrimination in hiring and promotion is almost universal in business these days. However, attorney Evan Wolfson suggests that “tolerance” alone isn’t enough when advocating for the LGBT workforce. Companies need to commit, in practice as well as policy, to supporting their most vulnerable minorities and fully integrating them into the life of the company.

Innovation

The term “innovation” is frequently cited as a core business aspiration, but what does it look like in practice? The experts featured in this channel pull the idea of innovation down from the clouds, offering concrete definitions; strategies for adopting an innovative mindset; and tactics for taking incremental steps toward the next big thing.

17) Lessons Learned: Build a Sustainable Brand (Turning Around Gatorade)

with Sarah Robb O’Hagan, CEO of Flywheel Sports, Former President of Equinox and Gatorade (New Zealand)
Learning Path: Building a Brand
When Sarah Robb O’Hagan became president of Gatorade, the company was losing at the sports-drink game. Her job was to figure out why and do something about it. According to O’Hagan, your brand’s guiding star comes back to its origin story. What problem were you originally trying to solve? That’s your mission, and needs remain your focus.

18) Don’t Worry, Be Social: Why Freedom is the Best Social Media Policy for Employees

with Jon Iwata, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications, IBM (USA)
Learning Path: Building a Brand
Jon Iwata, SVP of Marketing & Communications for IBM, has made his fair share of discoveries with regard to what works and what doesn’t in the many realms of company communications. In this lesson, Iwata zeroes in on social media policy, arguing that in today’s plugged-in world your employees are always acting as spokespeople for your brand. Embrace their passion by giving them the freedom and training for success.

19) Use Design Thinking: New Ways of Measuring Value in a Volatile World

with Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO (USA)
Learning Path: Competing Globally
The belief remains that growth can only occur by tapping bigger markets and consuming resources on a greater scale. But the planet is rapidly running out of even the resources needed to sustain life. In Tim Brown’s view, the problem may be that we’re asking the wrong questions. In this lesson, he encourages you to think differently about how you measure success.

20) Diversify Amidst Disruption: Understand the Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends

with James Manyika, Director, McKinsey Global Institute (Zimbabwe)
Learning Path: Competing Globally
The global forces impacting your business must be understood and embraced by your leadership team. In this lesson, James Manyika unpacks emerging markets, the disruptive impact of technology, an aging world population, accelerating flows of trade, capital and people, urging viewers to surround themselves with a diverse group of collaborators to act as “sensing agents” across complex global markets.

21) Lessons Learned: Steve Jobs Resurrects Apple

with Jim Collins, Leadership Consultant, Author of “Good to Great” (USA)
Learning Path: Developing Strategy
In this lesson, Collins walks viewers through a case study of how Steve Jobs brought fanatic discipline back to Apple, Inc. by using empirical creativity and market validation to guide the resurrection of the company. By the end of this video, viewers will have a three-part framework for leading their own organizations toward breakthrough innovation.

22) Embark on a Path to Innovation Success

with Anant Agarwal, CEO, edX (India)
Learning Path: Developing Strategy
EdX CEO, Anant Agarwal, says that innovation is a skill that can be taught. In this lesson, he breaks it down into a three-part recipe: Think big, take baby steps toward your goal, and never give up.

23) How Do You Manage Innovation Product or Project Portfolios?

with Jeff DeGraff, Dean of Innovation (USA)
Learning Path: Managing Capital
In this lesson, innovation guru Jeff Degraff explores why investment portfolios are typically biased toward “blue” innovation –— and how you can correct that bias.

24) Dream Big: Evolve Your Organization Toward a Brighter Future

with Salman Khan, Founder, Khan Academy (USA)
Learning Path: Organizing for Agility
In this lesson, Salman Khan discusses the imaginative steps that led him to create one of the world’s finest online education platforms. By the end of it, learners will have a framework for dreaming big as well as guiding principles for evolving an organization over time in service of their vision.

25) Accelerate the Pace of Collaborative Learning: What Surfers Can Teach CEOs

with John Seely Brown, Computer Scientist and Innovation Expert (USA)
Learning Path: Organizing for Agility
In this lesson, innovation expert John Seely Brown discusses what CEOs can learn from young surfers in Hawaii about the power of learning with your peers. You’ll explore how to create a learning community to study best practices, which includes the study of adjacencies.

26) Unite Your Organization: Adapt Quickly, Share Consciousness

with Stanley McChrystal, Retired U.S. Army General (USA)
Learning Path: Organizing for Agility
While fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq, an enemy whose command structure was distributed rather than centralized, retired U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal developed a “team of teams” approach. This new communications strategy empowered disparate working groups to share information — and use it to adapt — more quickly. In this lesson, he explores how to use his strategy to cultivate transparency and adaptability in any large organization.

27) Strengthen Your Emotional Agility: The Case for Emotional Agility in Organizations

with Susan David, Psychologist, Harvard Medical School, and Author, “Emotional Agility” (South Africa)
Learning Path: Organizing for Agility
Technology and globalization have created a business climate composed of rapidly-evolving networks and instantaneous, disruptive change. And, every business knows the solution: Agility. As Susan David points out in this lesson, organizational agility begins with individuals. People need training to cultivate equanimity, flexibility, and clear thinking in the face of complexity.

28) Demonetization: Increasing Access and Transparency

with Katherine Maher, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation (USA)
Learning Path: Winning through Innovation
In this video, Katherine Maher analyzes how Wikipedia owes its success to transparency, openness, and volunteer editors worldwide who eagerly correct errors. In the process, they’ve significantly reduced the costs of accessing ($0) and sharing encyclopedic knowledge as reliable as the Encyclopedia Brittanica.

29) Disruption: Opportunities and Threats

with Vivek Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow of Policy & Research, Singularity University (India)
Learning Path: Winning through Innovation
These days, the rate of disruptive change across industries due to exponential technologies is astonishing and apparently limitless. In this lesson, engineer and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa takes us on a tour of the changes in-progress and soon-to-come that will leave many industry leaders in the dust.

30) Dematerialization: Moving from Ownership to Access

with Kevin Kelly, Founder, Wired (USA)
Learning Path: Winning through Innovation
Dematerialization begins as consumer convenience; rather than having to own and lug around a library full of books, for example, you can store them all in a single, lightweight e-reader. And when streaming and buffering become seamless, why own and store them at all? In this lesson, Kevin Kelly explores how far this can go.

31) Digitization: From Atoms to Bits

with Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Emeritus, MIT Media Lab (USA)
Learning Path: Winning through Innovation
While imbalances currently exist in the digital savvy of different countries, those will gradually vanish, says Nicholas Negroponte. This will leave us with a world in which every idea and thing can be simultaneously present and available everywhere.

Leadership

Research shows that modern leaders are a different breed. They know how to inspire people and build a following. They’re globally aware and collaborative. They’re coaches rather than directors, skilled at developing the talents of their team members. Use this channel to dive into the specific concepts and strategies that define leadership success in the 21st century.

32) Heightening Presence: Perceiving Presence

with Amy Cuddy, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Acting with Integrity
Presence is an ineffable quality — something about the way a person carries her or himself that attracts our attention and (often) our buy-in. In this lesson, Amy Cuddy teaches us to recognize the telltale signs of presence and the “leaks” that give away its opposite — inauthenticity.

33) Identify Candor and Obfuscation in Company Communications

with Laura Rittenhouse, President of Rittenhouse Rankings (USA)
Learning Path: Acting with Integrity
“Words matter,” investor relations specialist Laura Rittenhouse says. In this lesson, she teaches learners how to identify candor and obfuscation in corporate communications — as per her Rittenhouse Rankings systems.

34) Finding Real Happiness at Work: Organizational Vision

with Sharon Salzberg, Bestselling Author and Co-Founder of the Insight Meditation Society (USA)
Learning Path: Acting with Integrity
In this lesson, Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg explores how we can incorporate an understanding of interdependence into our organizational cultures. This includes learning to think beyond the walls of your company by participating in a simple guided reflection that will awaken you to the interconnectedness of all things.

35) Make Room for Innovation: “Little Bigs”

with Lisa Bodell, Founder and CEO, Futurethink (USA)
Learning Path: Energizing People
Lisa Bodell, Founder and CEO of the award-winning management consulting firm FutureThink, understands that overcoming inertia is the hardest part of managing change. In this lesson, Bodell shares several “Little Bigs,” or exercises that lead to small shifts which can lead to big differences in everyday behavior.

36) Create a Culture of Dissent

with Tim Harford, Economist (England)
Learning Path: Energizing People
In this lesson, economist Tim Harford explores how Pixar Animation Studios achieved success by creating a culture in which mistakes could be revealed and fixed quickly. You’ll learn the studio’s “plussing” method, in which criticism is expressed immediately, directly and with positive framing.

37) Increase Prosperity through Greater Productivity

with Yves Morieux, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group (France)
Learning Path: Energizing People
In this lesson, Morieux explains how to diagnose productivity issues by going straight to the front lines to observe and interview the people actually doing the work.

38) Increase Productivity through Generosity

with Adam Grant, Professor of Management, Wharton School (USA)
Learning Path: Energizing People
Adam Grant’s research has found that not only do our interactions with others greatly determine our success, but givers often achieve “extraordinary results across a wide range of industries.” In this lesson, Grant teaches you how to give well while guarding against the negative energy of perpetual takers.

39) Serve Your Purpose: Redefining Leadership as Service

with Tony Coles, Former CEO, Onyx Pharmaceuticals (USA)
Learning Path: Leading Change
Former Onyx CEO Tony Coles says the philosophy of servant leadership “has influenced almost everything” he has done for the past decade. In this lesson, he introduces you to some of the key tenets of the philosophy and how he applied it in his own work and career.

40) Engaging with a Sense of Purpose: The 6 C’s of a Connected Leader

with Dan Pontefract, Chief Envisioner, TELUS (Canada)
Learning Path: Leading Change
As “Chief Envisioner” at TELUS, Dan Pontefract has been responsible for creating a company-wide leadership model that aligns personal, organizational, and role purposes, giving employees a strong, personal stake in their work and the company’s future. In this lesson, Pontefract describes his Collaborative Leader Action Model (CLAM), which redefines what a leader is supposed to be and do.

41) The Leadership Challenge: What Does a Leader Do?

with Robert S. Kaplan, Chair, Dallas Fed; Former Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs, and Professor, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Leading Change
Over a 22-year career at Goldman Sachs, Robert S. Kaplan had the opportunity to run various businesses and to work with or coach numerous business leaders. In this lesson, Kaplan explores three strategic key questions that strong leaders continually ask themselves: What is the vision? What are my priorities? How do I allocate my time?

42) Influencing Others: Manage Your Network

with Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Negotiating and Resolving Conflict
Harvard Business School Professor Linda Hill studies organizations as inherently political entities. In this lesson, she argues that our success is determined by how well we manage the political dynamics associated with all organizational life.

43) Constructing Powerful Arguments: Play on Your Opponent’s Field

with Reza Aslan, Religious Scholar and Author (Iran)
Learning Path: Negotiating and Resolving Conflict
Human subjectivity means that individually and as communities, we live in constructed realities — frameworks that shape the way we see the world. Because of this entrenched dynamic, Reza Aslan, who frequently engages in fraught debates across ideological lines, suggests that we tailor our arguments to our opponent, first assessing the rules of his or her playing field, and then playing by them.

44) Engage in Dialogue: The Future of Tolerance

with Maajid Nawaz, Author (England)
Learning Path: Negotiating and Resolving Conflict
In this lesson, Islamic reform activist Maajid Nawaz describes how to build a successful, respectful dialogue that can serve a constructive purpose and spur progress. Nawaz is the co-author (with neuroscientist Sam Harris) of a new book called “Islam and the Future of Tolerance.”

45) Practice Uncommon Service: Create Scalable Excellence

with Frances Frei, Professor, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Serving Customers
In this lesson, Frances Frei of Harvard Business School provides concrete tips on how to manage organizational focus, funding mechanisms, employee job design, and customer expectations to achieve sustained, scalable excellence.

46) Get to Know Your Customer in the Digital Space

with Ralph Rivera, Director, BBC Digital (USA)
Learning Path: Serving Customers
In this lesson, Ralph Rivera, former Director of BBC Digital, argues that, to succeed in the new era, leaders need to take advantage of connectivity, gather the right amount of data, and constantly evaluate their product position.

47) Becoming a Fluent Leader: The Art of Flexing in Practice

with Jane Hyun, Founder and President, Hyun & Associates (USA)
Learning Path: Serving Customers
In this lesson, Jane Hyun breaks down the basic principles of fluent leadership needed to effectively manage across gaps in age, gender, power, and cultures.

48) Preparing for the Millennial Takeover: Conversational Don’ts when Communicating Across Generational Divides

with Jamie Notter, Author, “When Millennials Take Over” (USA)
Learning Path: Managing Millennials
In this lesson, Jamie Notter offers advice to both Baby Boomers and Millennials on how to successfully facilitate strategic communication between their groups to enhance collaboration and cooperation in preparation for the next generation’s eventual takeover of the workforce.

Purpose

Yourself, your job, your company –– too often one or more of these things is at odds with the others, leading to disengagement, disillusionment and a survivalist approach to work. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The experts in this channel help guide you to the “sweet spot” where your personal sense of purpose –– and that of the company –– converge.

49) Cultivate a Pro-Risk Mindset

with Steven Kotler, Director of Research for the Flow Genome Project (USA)
Learning Path: Cultivating Your Imagination
The ability to take risks is an essential part of success. In this lesson, author Stephen Kotler teaches you to embrace a growth mindset when going outside of your comfort zone.

50) Understand Multiple Intelligences: Jack of All Trades or Master of One?

with Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University (USA)
Learning Path: Discovering Your Passion
What does it mean when someone calls you smart? In this lesson, developmental psychologist Howard Gardner explores his 10 classifications for intelligence. As you watch, consider which of these intelligences you feel you possess. Which ones do you observe in your colleagues?

51) The Science of Receiving Feedback: Seeing Your Blind Spots

with Sheila Heen, Founder, Triad Consulting and Lecturer, Harvard Law School (USA)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
In this lesson, Sheila Heen explains why raising your awareness of how your facial expressions, body language and voice are affecting others could go a long way in improving your working relationships.

52) Mindfulness for Organizations: Simple Strategies for Beginners

with Rasmus Hougaard, Managing Director, The Potential Project (Denmark)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
In this lesson, Rasmus Hougaard, a meditation teacher and Co-Founder of The Potential Project, walks us through a series of simple strategies for integrating mindfulness into our lives to reconnect ourselves to our values and priorities.

53) Strengthen Your Emotional Agility: The Warning Signs of Being Hooked

with Susan David, Psychologist, Harvard Medical School, and Author, “Emotional Agility” (South Africa)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
Susan David refers to the reactive state as being “hooked.” To take in the flood of information in a complex problem set and make wise decisions, you need to be free of predetermined thoughts, emotions, and narratives. You need to be active rather than reactive. Since reactivity is typically unconscious, how can you recognize it in yourself? In this lesson, David points out three telltale signs.

54) The Art and Science of Relating: Build and Monitor Empathy

with Alan Alda, Actor and Author, “If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?” (USA)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
Alan Alda wondered what exercises could help keep his “empathy thermometer” hot regardless of shifting circumstances. In this lesson, he walks you through an exercise he invented, which became the focus of a psychological study showing that the habit of deliberately noticing other people throughout the day can significantly increase our empathy in general.

55) Explore Emotional Intelligence: The Key Distinguisher Between Average and Outstanding Performers

with Daniel Goleman, Psychologist (USA)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
Emotional intelligence (or EQ) is the sum total of a set of skills that can be developed at any point throughout your lifespan. In this lesson, Goleman describes the core EQ competencies you’ll need to master to raise your game from average to outstanding.

56) Paying Attention on Purpose: A Love Affair with Life as It Is

with Jon Kabat-Zinn, Founder, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, UMASS Medical School (USA)
Learning Path: Heightening Presence
In this lesson, medical professor and meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn introduces you to the physical, emotional and relational benefits of mindfulness, or, in Kabat-Zinn’s words, “a love affair with life as it is.”

57) Balance Work and Life

with Ruth Porat, CFO, Google (USA)
Learning Path: Improving Your Health
In this lesson, Ruth Porat, CFO of Google, describes why social connection is one of the keys to having a complete, full life. “If you’re just focused on work, my view is that you’ll never get enough back from any organization, no matter how fantastic the role is,” she says. “You have to have a full life so that you really get enriched in a lot of different ways.”

58) The Path to Personal Fulfillment

with Deepak Chopra, Author and Co-author, “Super Genes” (India)
Learning Path: Managing Your Journey
A radical change affects the fundamental nature of something. As a proponent of “radical well-being,” Deepak Chopra wants to fundamentally shift the way we think about our physical, social, and emotional health. In this lesson, Dr. Chopra invites us to evaluate our way of being — in our bodies, in our relationships, and as citizens of the world.

59) Beat the Competition: Lessons in Personal Productivity

with Shane Battier, ESPN Commentator and former NBA player (USA)
Learning Path: Mastering Self-Knowledge
Former NBA player Shane Battier used performance analytics and a commitment to optimizing his own productivity to become one of the game’s most valuable players. The standout veteran made his teammates better whenever he was on the court and possessed the right attitude to overcome any challenges thrown his way. In this lesson, he unearths the bedrock of any personal productivity regimen — goal setting, habit formation, and a winning mindset — using his own journey to the NBA as a guide.

60) Self-Assess for Procrastination

with Dan Ariely, Behavioral Economist and Organizational Psychologist (USA)
Learning Path: Mastering Self-Knowledge
In creating a daily to-do list, we tend to focus on little things that seem urgent — clearing out our inbox, adding another meeting — neglecting bigger, more important goals. This is called “structured procrastination” — we’re avoiding what’s really important (because it’s challenging) and, instead, are filling our time with things we can easily cross off the list. In this lesson, Dan Ariely offers solutions for addressing this self-defeating habit.

61) Evolve Your Emotions

with Rudolph Tanzi, Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard University, and Co-Author, “Super Genes” (USA)
Learning Path: Mastering Self-Knowledge
Dr. Rudolph Tanzi explains that our emotions and overall outlook on life correspond to different parts of the brain. How you approach your life determines which parts of your brain are activated. These choices have a direct effect on your genetic activity. That’s why practicing mindfulness might be the best gift you can give to your genetic dependents.

62) Extending Your Influence: Share to Shape

with Charlene Li, Founder and CEO, Altimeter Group, Author, “The Engaged Leader” (USA)
Learning Path: Mastering Self-Knowledge
In this lesson, Charlene Li explains how the CEO and CTO of Cisco effectively use technology to share and form relationships with their employees — effectively extending their influence.

63) Reset Your Mindset to Reduce Stress: Awaken Your Strengths

with Kelly McGonigal, Author, “The Upside of Stress” (USA)
Learning Path: Reducing Stress
If you are experiencing stress, it might be better to indulge those stress-causing activities rather than limit them. As health psychologist Kelly McGonigal and author of “The Upside of Stress” explains, the things that cause us stress can actually awaken our personal strengths and allow us to perform better — but they must be viewed in the right light.

64) Manage Anxiety

with Tara Sophia Mohr, Leadership Consultant (USA)
Learning Path: Reducing Stress
In this lesson, life coach Tara Sophia Mohr offers a mindfulness technique to help you overcome fear. Her advice? Don’t run, and don’t go on the attack. Evaluate. There’s a difference between the fear you feel when your life is at risk, and the emotion you feel while taking a risk.

Risk Mitigation

Well-informed and timely decision making is critical to managing risk, yet many companies acknowledge the need to improve their ability to make good decisions. In this channel, experts discuss the culture and processes that support risk management, and offer practical strategies for defining and evaluating risk

65) Managing Risk: Making Choices

with Timothy Geithner, Former United States Secretary of the Treasury (USA)
Learning Path: Cultivating a Risk Intelligent Culture
In this lesson, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner describes how he, Larry Summers and President Barack Obama structured their decision-making process during the 2008 Financial Crisis. By the end of it, you’ll have a strategy for evaluating the risk action plans proposed by your organization.

66) Set Anti-Goals to Mitigate Risk

with Tim Ferriss, Best-Selling Author and Entrepreneur (USA)
Learning Path: Managing and Mitigating Risk
As an investor and a “human guinea pig,” Tim Ferriss has taken some major risks over the course of his career, yet he considers himself quite conservative. How does he mitigate risk? How does he manage fear and stress? Like everything else Tim does, there’s a system to it.

67) Hire Using Evidence-Driven Processes

with Andrew McAfee, Associate Director, MIT Center for Digital Business (USA)
Learning Path: Managing and Mitigating Risk
Study after study has shown that unstructured interviews and “gotcha” brainteasers result in unreliable hiring decisions. In this lesson, Andrew McAfee offers an alternative strategy for selecting the best new hires for your organization.

68) Select the Right Chief Compliance Officer

with William Clemens, Executive Search Expert, Spencer Stuart (USA)
Learning Path: Managing and Mitigating Risk
In this lesson, William Clemens, managing partner at one of the world’s leading executive search firms, teaches you how to identify leadership potential in candidates for the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) role. By the end of it, you’ll know the key qualities to look for in a risk intelligent compliance officer.

69) Make Room for Innovation: Evaluate Risk

with Lisa Bodell, Founder and CEO, Futurethink (USA)
Learning Path: Understanding and Communicating Risk
There’s no reward without an element of risk. In this lesson, FutureThink CEO Lisa Bodell explains how to evaluate risks, communicate what’s tolerable, and empower people to make decisions on their own with this knowledge in hand.

70) Define Risk: Absolute Risk vs. Relative Risk

with Gerd Gigerenzer, Psychologist (Germany)
Learning Path: Understanding and Communicating Risk
In order to communicate risk effectively, the writer or speaker must distinguish between absolute risk and relative risk. In this lesson, psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer illustrates the key difference between these terms through a case study of risk perception surrounding the contraceptive pill scare in England. By the end of it, you’ll have a three-part framework for evaluating the clarity and strength of your risk communications.

71) Recognize Subjectivity: The Emotional Side of Risk Perception

with David Ropeik, Risk Communication Expert (USA)
Learning Path: Understanding and Communicating Risk
In this lesson, risk communication expert David Ropeik teaches you how human rationality influences our perception of risk. By the end of it, you’ll understand the pitfalls of your subjective risk perception system so that you can avoid these traps in the future.

Sales & Marketing

Data shows that most people spend nearly half of their time on “non-sales selling” — persuading, influencing, and convincing others to adopt their point of view. Whether you’re in the business of selling, or just need to embrace your inner salesperson, use this channel for exposure to the strategies and tactics that allow you to be yourself, analyze impact, and connect with others in service of selling your ideas.

72) Master Content Marketing: Improve the Content Pool for Everyone

with Shane Snow, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder, Contently (USA)
Learning Path: Act Authentically
According to Contently Co-Founder Shane Snow, free, high-quality content is the easiest, most direct way of establishing a relationship with potential customers. In this lesson, Snow offers his best tips for building a loyal audience through strong content offerings.

73) Master the Building Blocks of Digital Culture

with Virginia Heffernan, Journalist and Author, “Magic and Loss” (USA)
Learning Path: Identify Growth Opportunities
Text, images, design, video and music are key features of the new digital landscape, and understanding how they operate is essential to communicating effectively online. For businesses looking to connect emotionally with digital audiences, Virginia Heffernan suggests focusing on each feature separately by first studying the form’s iterations and unique vocabulary.

74) Taking the Leap: Recruit and Maintain Top Sales Talent

with Barbara Corcoran, Co-Founder, The Corcoran Group, Shark Investor, ABC’s “Shark Tank” (USA)
Learning Path: Implement Winning Strategies
Barbara Corcoran’s secret for recruiting top sales talent? Never look at another resume again. By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the no-nonsense approach that enabled her to turn $1,000 into a billion-dollar business.

75) Use Psychology to Optimize Your Brand

with Adam Alter, Assistant Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern School of Business (USA)
Learning Path: Implement Winning Strategies
So-called “context effects” can have an enormous influence over the way we think and behave. In this lesson, Adam Alter, Assistant Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, explains how you can use these context effects to your advantage — whether you are naming your company or choosing the color of an everyday product.

76) Persuading Others: The 6 Universal Principles of Influence

with Robert Cialdini, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing, Arizona State University, and Author, “Pre-suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade” (USA)
Learning Path: Implement Winning Strategies
In his bestselling book Influence: The Science of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini outlined six principles of influence — elements that, when present, make it much more likely that your audience will accept your message. These are: reciprocity, liking, authority, social proof, scarcity, and commitment/consistency. These same six elements can be used effectively in “pre-suading” yourself or your audience before launching a new project or pitch.

77) Solving Sales Challenges: Ground Rules for Highly Effective Meetings

with Tim Sanders, Former CSO at Yahoo, Author (USA)
Learning Path: Collaborate for Success
In this lesson, former Yahoo CSO Tim Sanders breaks down his framework for “making meetings magic.” By following his ground rules, which include setting a clear meeting agenda and being open to ideas that come from anywhere, meetings can go from time-consuming headaches to productive, fact-based think tanks that result in actionable ideas.

78) Create Brand Evangelists

with Chip Conley, Founder, Joie de Vivre Hospitality (USA)
Learning Path: Nurture Customer Relationships
In this lesson, Chip Conley, Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second largest boutique hotel company in the United States, explores two ways in which you can create evangelical customers to replace traditional advertising.

79) Use Big Data to Optimize Sales and Marketing

with Jeanette Horan, VP & CIO, IBM (England)
Learning Path: Analyze Your Impact
Given the massive amounts of internal and external data available to any company these days, few IT departments are able to fully utilize it. In this lesson, Jeanette Horan, IBM’s Chief Information Officer, suggests redefining the role of the IT department entirely.

80) Making the Shift to Social: Get the Right Message to the Right People at the Right Time

with Mollie Spilman, Chief Revenue Officer, Criteo (USA)
Learning Path: Analyze Your Impact
Mollie Spilman points out that many of the most powerful dashboards for campaign tracking on social media are created by third parties. Another option, she says, is to have your own product person design an in-house dashboard. Her advice? Determine the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will measure the effectiveness of your marketing over time, and keep it simple.

81) Shifting Frameworks: Using Big Data to Inform Social Media Marketing Strategy

with David Edelman, Partner, McKinsey & Company (USA)
Learning Path: Analyze Your Impact
In this lesson, McKinsey’s David Edelman breaks down key implementation strategies for integrating social media metrics into your organization’s marketing strategy. These include: challenging traditional models, finding and participating in conversations, and examining incremental effectiveness.

82) Mastering the Art of Sales and Persuasion: Bounce Back from Rejection

with Dan Pink, Business Analyst and Author (USA)
Learning Path: Learn to Bounce Back
The best predictor of sales success is how people explain failure. In this lesson, Dan Pink stresses the importance of recontextualizing failure: as impersonal, as inevitable but not pervasive, and, finally, as impermanent.

Talent

Managing talent is a multifaceted pursuit, one that requires attunement to individual contributions and group dynamics. The experts in this channel help break it down into manageable steps, integrating the importance of knowing yourself, communicating your vision, and guiding teams in applying their talents toward shared goals.

83) Unite Your Organization: Design a Matrix Communications Plan

with Chris Fussell, Former U.S. Navy SEAL & Managing Partner, McChrystal Group (USA)
Learning Path: Capturing Your Knowledge
Applying strategic lessons learned in the fight against Al Qaeda, General Stanley McChrystal and his partner, Chris Fussell, have designed a “team of teams” at McChrystal Group — a distributed network in which teams have autonomy in their own spheres. In this lesson, Fussell describes the communication matrix used to keep the team of teams connected.

84) Create Consensus: A Case Study in Reinforcing Qualitative Data with Quantitative Data

with Kenji Yoshino, Professor, NYU School of Law; Author (USA)
Learning Path: Capturing Your Knowledge
In this lesson, legal scholar Kenji Yoshino walks you through the process of marrying narrative compassion with statistical compassion to influence the greatest number of people.

85) The Art and Science of Relating: Follow the Three Rules of Three

with Alan Alda, Actor and Author, “If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?” (USA)
Learning Path: Capturing Your Knowledge
Over years of practicing the art of communication, Alan Alda has developed three rules that help him make sure he’s getting his point(s) across. In this lesson, Alda emphasizes that these “tips” are the end result of years of learning. He recommends that you focus, above all else, on trying to connect, as starting with a list of rules can actually have the opposite effect, drawing your attention away from the person you’re talking to.

86) Collaborate Intelligently: Understand How Different Minds Work

with Angie McArthur, Co-author, “Collaborative Intelligence” (USA)
Learning Path: Communicating 360
In this video, McArthur outlines concrete steps for making sure you’re collaborating intelligently – paying attention to and responding to the differing mind patterns of your collaborators.

87) Communicating to Transform: Formal Presentation Techniques

with Nancy Duarte, CEO, Duarte Inc. (USA)
Learning Path: Communicating 360
The most brilliant data set, research project, or groundbreaking proposal in the world is dead in the water if it’s presented in a way that doesn’t resonate with its intended audience. There are two parts to this: clearly and succinctly conveying what the point is and expressing powerfully why it matters. In this lesson, Nancy Duarte offers advice on how to present ideas in the most compelling way.

88) Present Your Ideas: Overcome the “Curse of Knowledge” to Make Others Care

with Chris Anderson, Curator, TED (USA)
Learning Path: Communicating 360
Successful presenters understand that it’s not about them; it’s about their audience, so says Chris Anderson, the curator of TED Talks. In this lesson, Anderson teaches you simple tips for making your presentations more compelling and persuasive.

89) Heightening Presence: Improving Your Emotional State with Movement

with Amy Cuddy, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Communicating 360
As yoga practitioners have understood for millennia, we can tell the body to do things, yes, but adjusting the body can also influence how we think and feel. In this lesson, Amy Cuddy teaches time-tested kinesthetic techniques for decreasing stress and boosting your mood.

90) Bring the Power of Play to the Workplace

with Jane McGonigal, Game Designer and Author (USA)
Learning Path: Honing Your Craft
Video game designer Jane McGonigal argues that “we need to look at what games are doing for gamers, the skills that we’re developing, the relationships that we’re forming, the heroic qualities that we get to practice every time we play.” According to McGonigal, these skills include resilience, perseverance, grit, determination, epic ambition, and collaboration. In this lesson, she teaches how to bring the power of play to your team.

91) How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes: Education Never Stops

with Maria Konnikova, Writer, The New Yorker (USA)
Learning Path: Honing Your Craft
Overconfidence tends to strike the most competent among us. In this lesson, Maria Konnikova, author of “Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes,” teaches techniques for counteracting this natural bias in oneself.

92) Cultivate a Community of Practice

with Hector Ruiz, CEO, Advanced Nanotechnology Solutions (Mexico)
Learning Path: Honing Your Craft
Hector Ruiz entered his Texas high school struggling with English but graduated three years later as valedictorian. He learned at a young age that there is no shame in relying on others and applied this skill to his business life. In this lesson, Ruiz explores how establishing a community of learning and practice can help you and your business grow.

93) Building a Winning Global Business: Sweat the Small Stuff

with David Stern, Commissioner Emeritus, National Basketball Association (USA)
Learning Path: Honing Your Craft
Former Commissioner of the NBA David Stern stresses the importance of sweating the small stuff, because everything you do has an impact on how you are perceived as a brand. He recommends test borings, or observations with individual workers that provide ground-level views of the business. Use this face time to gather data and motivate employees, who will notice that you care and will feel their work matters.

94) Achieve Mastery: From Seeker to Expert

with Robert Greene, Author, Mastery (USA)
Learning Path: Honing Your Craft
Mozart, Einstein, and Steve Jobs were all masters of their respective fields due to their extreme ability to elevate their minds. In this lesson, Greene demystifies the steps to achieving mastery in your life’s work.

95) Influencing Others: Essential Questions for Hiring Hard So That You Can Manage Easy

with Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School (USA)
Learning Path: Making Decisions
One of the least scientific aspects of running a business, and one that companies often get wrong as a result, is the hiring process. Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, offers a series of questions that can help you prioritize the right things in a potential hire.

96) Work Smarter, Not Harder: Start a Meeting Revolution

with Carson Tate, Author, “Work Simply” (USA)
Learning Path: Managing Projects
In this lesson, productivity expert Carson Tate encourages you to start a meeting revolution whereby you set intentional goals and achieve them in a timely manner. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to be respectful of your team’s time, use design thinking to plan the layout, and evaluate the effectiveness of your meeting overall.

97) Master Execution: How to Get from Point A to Point B in 7 Steps

with Rob Roy, Retired Navy SEAL (USA)
Learning Path: Managing Projects
Using the principles of U.S. Navy SEAL training to forge better bosses, former Navy SEAL Rob Roy makes people’s lives miserable in the hopes of teaching them how to be tougher — and better — managers. Roy teaches leaders, through intense experiences, that they can walk into any situation and come out ahead. In this lesson, he outlines seven SEAL-tested steps for executing any plan — even in extreme conditions or crisis situations.

98) The Science of Productivity: Pair Your Ambition with a Realistic Plan

with Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize–winning Investigative Reporter and Author (USA)
Learning Path: Managing Projects
In this lesson, Charles Duhigg, reporter and author of “Smarter Faster Better,” explains how to maximize your productivity, by instead using Stretch and SMART goals to create your to-do lists.

99) Beat the Competition: Analyze Performance Data

with Shane Battier, ESPN Commentator and former NBA player (USA)
Learning Path: Using Analytics
In this lesson, two-time NBA champion Shane Battier explores how advanced basketball analytics contributed to his personal game plan on the court. “Data allows for a greater competitive advantage,” says Battier.

100) Fine Tune Like an Engineer: Optimize, Model, Analyze

with Guru Madhavan, Author, “Applied Minds” (India)
Learning Path: Using Analytics
When engineers optimize, model, and analyze data for a project, they are always, to a certain extent, groping in the dark toward a solution that does not yet exist. They set goals based on the available information and refine them as they go. They analyze data intelligently to zero in on the best course of action. And, they use models to predict the likely results. In this lesson, engineer and author Guru Madhavan unpacks the engineer’s process.
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