With a mission to share “ideas worth spreading,” TED (short for technology, entertainment, and design) has become a phenomenon in and of itself. Many turn to TED talks to learn new things, including TED talks about diversity.
Since it was first staged by Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks in 1984, TED has become a behemoth initiative housing its iconic 18-minute TED Talk videos, conferences, podcasts, a collaborative funding project, and more. A look at the organization’s many moving parts is a testament to the power of a fresh idea to help solve prevailing issues—such as the urgency of building more diversity into systems and processes.
The 10 most popular TED Talks about diversity
Tovuti LMS ranked the 10 most popular TED Talks about diversity using data from TED to show the breadth of what addressing diversity issues could mean. Diversity efforts are multi-pronged affairs with myriad options for execution. It can mean teaching AI values and ethics, calling for more representation of different cultures in Hollywood, or seeing the world through the eyes of a person on the autism spectrum.
Data shows the average time of the top 10 most popular TED Talks on diversity has been 11 minutes and 44 seconds—and that nonwhite women led the top four most popular discussions. While the call to action seems to have been rung during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for more differences in perspectives has always been there. Nine of the top 10 most popular TED Talks on diversity took place before 2020.
From women such as Kriti Sharma, an AI powerhouse who built her first robot in India when she was just 15, to Reniqua Allen, an author and producer who writes about Black millennials and issues of race, here are the 10 most popular TED Talks about diversity.
#10. ‘Want to truly succeed? Lift others up while you climb’
– Speaker: Amber Hikes
– Views: 2,241,095
– Duration: 5:34
– Year: 2021
#9. ‘The story we tell about millennials — and who we leave out’
– Speaker: Reniqua Allen
– Views: 2,251,788
– Duration: 11:19
– Year: 2019
#8. ‘How to keep human bias out of AI’
– Speaker: Kriti Sharma
– Views: 2,303,918
– Duration: 12:01
– Year: 2019
#7. ‘What it’s really like to have autism’
– Speaker: Ethan Lisi
– Views: 2,323,276
– Duration: 9:43
– Year: 2020
#6. ‘3 ways to be a better ally in the workplace’
– Speaker: Melinda Briana Epler
– Views: 2,670,006
– Duration: 9:28
– Year: 2018
#5. ‘What baby boomers can learn from millennials at work — and vice versa’
– Speaker: Chip Conley
– Views: 2,712,980
– Duration: 12:13
– Year: 2018
#4. ‘The beauty of human skin in every color’
– Speaker: Angélica Dass
– Views: 2,828,000 views
– Duration: 11:18
– Year: 2016
#3. ‘My identity is a superpower — not an obstacle’
– Speaker: America Ferrera
– Views: 3,231,277
– Duration: 14:02
– Year: 2019
#2. ‘How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them’
– Speaker: Vernā Myers
– Views: 4,561,369
– Duration: 17:40
— Year: 2014
#1. ‘Color blind or color brave?’
– Speaker: Mellody Hobson
– Views: 4,720,330
– Duration: 14:02
– Year: 2014
This story originally appeared on Tovuti LMS and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.