TED Business

No matter where you fall on the corporate food chain, you have power at work—you just might not know how to use it. In this new series on Unlocking Your Power at Work, Anne and Frances dig into how to discover, build, and use your power, explore common power dynamics in the workplace, and learn from people who use their full power with honesty and swagger. Kara Swisher is one of the most influential voices in media and has built a career holding the powerful accountable. In this episode, she reflects with Anne and Frances on her own path to power and what she’s learned from watching some people become corrupted by power while others learn to wield it for good. She also argues that people don’t leave jobs early or often enough, and makes the case for pursuing more than just the opportunities that are offered to you.

In the modern workplace, hierarchy and power differences are often viewed as problems to solve. But Deborah Gruenfeld has a different perspective: hierarchy is not only essential to organizations, but we actually crave it in our relationships and communities. Deborah is a professor at Stanford University and a social and organizational psychologist who studies power and powerlessness. In this episode, she joins Anne and Frances to demystify how power actually works at work, why people underestimate their own power, and how to use the power you already have more skillfully. She also offers practical tips for playing your own power up or down, and shares what she has learned studying power dynamics in marriages and long-term relationships. Anne and Frances put their own marriage to the test, exploring whether their partnership truly is—or even should be—equal.

Throughout the Unlocking Your Power at Work series, Anne and Frances have uncovered practical advice for gaining power, building influence, and unleashing the abilities you already have. But once you make it to the top, what do you do with all that power? Hubert Joly is a professor at the Harvard Business School and the former CEO of Best Buy, where he led one of the most celebrated corporate turnarounds of the past decade. In this episode, Anne and Frances sit down with Hubert to dissect his belief that sharing your power and empowering others is the key to strong leadership. Hubert shares the story of how he helped bring Best Buy back from the brink and what he learned from listening to employees on the front lines. He also makes the case for why leadership is more important than ever in a world of AI, and that AI is most powerful when it amplifies “human magic.” Anne and Frances ask Hubert some questions from listeners struggling to share power as leaders, and explore how men and women respond differently to being offered powerful leadership positions.

With great power comes great responsibility… and the chance to reflect on what we’ve learned from people who wield it well. In this episode, Anne and Frances look back on their conversations with Kara Swisher, Deborah Gruenfeld, Mrs. Dow Jones, and Hubert Joly about how power at work really works. They dig deeper into why telling the truth to yourself and others is such a strong power move, revisit Hubert’s “currency converter” framework for understanding how power manifests differently in different people, and celebrate the power of graceful leadership. They also share what they’re doing differently after having these conversations, and return to a message that echoed across the series: you already have more power than you think.

Wealth inequality gets talked about as an economic problem. Writer Xochitl Gonzalez makes the case that it's a civic one, too — a slow, quiet threat to democracy. Drawing on her research into the psychology of social class, she shows how growing up with (or without) money changes how we experience politics, community and society. After the talk, Modupe shares why she thinks the work place is the prime location to talk about wealth inequality.

How does the stock market work? How do you choose stocks? And what causes an economic recession? In this episode, Modupe shares three TED Ed lessons that answer these questions to help demystify the process and help you become more empowered to take control of your finances.Talks featuredOliver Elfenbaum | How does the stock market work?Richard M Coffin | How do investors choose stocks?Richard M Coffin | What causes an economic recession?

If we accept that work-life balance is a necessity, then why are stress and burnout still increasing? Guy Winch is a psychologist and was the first guest ever on the How to Be a Better Human podcast. Guy returns to the show six years later to share strategies on how to stop indulging in unhealthy rumination, start identifying harmful triggers, and why it’s necessary to change your perspective and view problems as solvable.

What if your city could borrow money from its own bank instead of private lenders? TED Fellow Trinity Tran is leading the push for public banks — which are owned by the people through their local governments — and shows how this model could ensure your local tax dollars stay in your community. (Following her story, pulled from a short film she made for TED, Trinity joins Lily James Olds, director of the TED Fellows program, to dig more into how a public bank actually works, why it’s an ideal solution to reinvesting funds into local communities, and why local organizing really works.)