Today on Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg two amazing guests who are both not only New York Times’ best-selling authors, but who are at the top of their game in their fields as well sat down to talk shop.
Chris Anderson is the current head of TED. Trained as a journalist after graduating from Oxford University, Anderson launched more than 100 successful magazines and websites before turning his attention to TED, which his nonprofit foundation acquired in 2001. His TED mantra — “ideas worth spreading” — continues to blossom on an international scale, with more than one billion TED Talks viewed annually. And Chris’ New York Times bestseller TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking just came out in paperback.
Also with me is Adam Alter is the Associate Professor of Marketing and Psychology at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and the author of Drunk Tank Pink, a New York Times bestseller about the forces that shape how we think, feel, and behave. He recently released Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked about the rise of behavioral addiction, and why so many of today’s products are irresistible.
ADAM ALTER“People study what they’re worst at and I’m paralyzed at decision making so I decided to study that.”
“Lawyers with simple, easy to pronounce names become partners much faster
“When people struggle with something they pay more attention to it.”
“This pink shade of drunk tank cells supposedly calmed people down.”
“Fast food companies use reds and yellows because they are warmer colors which signify food.”
“People donate more toward hurricanes that share the same letter as their name. We’re leaving donation money on the table by not strategically naming hurricanes.”
“Women in the legal profession become judges more quickly if they have a male named.”
“Stocks tend to do well in the first day of trading but how easy to pronounce their name can help their success.”
“Go for the simpler name, you want people to be able to pronounce it and share it.”
“I got on a flight once with plans to work and ended up playing a game for 6 hours straight.”
“Very little tech has stopping cues. Streaming services play all the shows, there’s no end to reading the news online.”
“There are people who feel happy with their engagement with screens. We could stand to moderate a little bit.”
“The app Moment tells you how much time you spend on your phone. High school students had 6-8 hours. That’s a full time job.”
“Humans want certain rewards. We’re better at sticking at things when we don’t know what the outcome will. Unpredictable is key.”
“Tech is going to save us from tech.”
“1991, Sydney, the Game Boy. It was a revolution.”
“I taught the intro to marketing class at NYU to undergrads.”
“I’ve learned we are the products of our environments. You have some control if you understand what your environment is doing to you.”
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“I was kind of a misfit growing up. I was the plump, shy one in the back of the class.”
“I was a bit of a dreamer, always interested in science.”
“I never really felt part of one country which is probably why I came to America 25 years ago.”
“TED is a global organization. Ideas don’t know borders.”
“I bought a home computer in 1980 and was blown away by it. I never worked on a magazine but I understood what the computer addiction was like.”
“It was so much more expensive to be in publishing back then as opposed to launch a website now.”
“In 1998 I went to TED, people there were dreamers. I got really excited about bold, crazy ideas about the future inspired by technology.”
“I bought TED with my Sapling Foundation so it became a non-profit.”
“Back then television wasn’t interested TED Talks. Talking heads, boring. Go away.”
“When some of the talks went viral it was so curious to see how many people out there were so interested in these topics.”
“When the talks are good, they are tapping into something primal.”
“We had a talk about human behavior, why people do what they do. From hormonal causes, to environmental causes. It was done remotely.”
“I’m meant to be the guy who gets other people to do talks.”
“Public speaking really matters in the future. Online video can carry a talk the same way writing a book can influence people.”
“I’ve had this ringside seat of seeing speakers do their thing so I had a chance to crowdsource information for the world’s best speakers.”
“Tear up most of what you want to say. We’re in attention war. Say one thing, say it well and in depth.”
“You can say something people can remember by starting with a question.”
“Use language that you think the audience has.”
“People see what works and are massively motivated to do a good talk because it might be seen by millions.”
“There’s no formula. Understand what the tools of public speaking are.”
“Monica Lewinsky came on stage a few years ago. She overcame her fear and hit it out of the park.”
“We sprung a talk from the Pope. Even though it was recorded it was electrifying.”
“We invite people who think they have a talk. 25,000 applications come in and only 100 get chosen.”
“We have events held in opera houses to prisons and slums. If you ever want to into a intellectual mine field check out TEDx talks.”
“Give away more than you think you should.”
“I got a letter from a prisoner who went to a TED talk in jail. He said his experience wasn’t the best day in jail, it was the best day of his life.”
“Aimee Mullins made me cry. She spoke of her empowerment with artificial legs and it was incredibly moving.”
“My first time speaking in public was for show in tell talking about my beetle collection.”
“We teach kids to prepare their own TED talk.”
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Join Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg every Wednesday at 12pm ET/9am PT only on SiriusXM Business Channel 111
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