The View from TUS: TED Talks and We Listen

Sitting in the van for hours, as we occasionally do on those LONG drives in between shows, one can’t help but get a little restless. We need a little stimulation! And hopefully something a bit more interesting than gas stations, rest stops and traffic jams.

Lately, when I’m not sleeping, reading, thinking up little hilarious videos to make with Tom, or tweeting the bizarre things we hear and say (#tourquotes), I am usually watching a variety of TED talks. Much like the Radiolab and other podcasts we love (there are so many!), these are short videos of people speaking about their ideas at various TED conferences around the globe. If you haven’t heard about TED yet, TED is quite beautifully a celebration of ideas. People might speak about their life’s work, some incredible research they’ve done, or about their attempts to revolutionize their field. Musicians might talk about their creative process, artists might talk about their use of technology . . . anything that merits a good listen really. It’s great, especially when you hit that fourth hour of driving and need a hefty dose of inspiration; listening to passionate people share their experiences and ideas is just perfect.

This is an older one but absolutely one of my favorites. Benjamin Zander is a brilliant composer and phenomenal speaker. In this short, he talks about our untapped love for classical music and uses that example to talk about leadership, how we project ourselves into the world and the power of music itself. So many little gems from this twenty minutes—it’s kept me going for many miles . . . hope you enjoy it!