This is what makes employees happy at work | The Way We Work, a TED series

There are three billion working people on this planet, and only 40 percent of them report being happy at work. Michael C. Bush shares his insights into what makes workers unhappy -- and how companies can benefit their bottom lines by fostering satisfaction.

Ignoring The Idea Of Failure

"The ability to innovate is at the heart of creativity--

a vital component in success. University of Houston

professor Jack Matson recognized that fact and

developed a course that his students came to call

"Failure 101." In it, Matson assigns students to build

mock-ups of products that no one would ever buy.

His goal is to get students to equate failure

with innovation instead of defeat."

-- John C Maxwell, 

From his book, Failing Forward

Innovation and the concept of being the best we can be is at the heart of my there's-no-such-thing-as-competition philosophy. Who has time to look around at what others are doing when you're so busy doing yourself?

And innovation is always looking at things in different ways, backward, forward, inside out, upside down, up close and off in the distance. Consider this quote by R. Buckminster Fuller about innovation: "Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value." I think that is a fascinating thought.

I love that quote by Mr. Fuller because it is like a Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs way of looking at innovation: people love doing the strangest, but most necessary things that most of us choose to never think about. Pollution is certainly one of those things, and learning to love pollution is a way to find a solution that creates value from something previously with a minus value. Innovation will never occur by ignoring the problem, but looking at it completely differently.

The worst thing to hear is some version of, "that's the way we've always done it." There are lots of versions on that theme. Innovation requires two things: one, a letting go of previously held truths, and two, an opening of the mind to perhaps radically different ideas. Of course, the ideas need not necessarily be radically different in order to be innovative, but many certainly will be, such as the case with pollution becoming of value.

3 tips to boost your confidence - TED-Ed

When faced with a big challenge where potential failure seems to lurk at every corner, you’ve probably heard the advice, “Be more confident!” But where does confidence come from, and how can you get more of it? Here are three easy tips to boost your confidence.

Too Late? Nah!

"A person is limited

only by the thoughts that he chooses." 

-- James Allen 

"No matter how old you are now. You are never too young or too old for success or going after what you want. Here's a short list of people who accomplished great things at different ages

1) Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didn't stop her. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
2) Mozart was already competent on keyboard and violin; he composed from the age of 5.
3) Shirley Temple was 6 when she became a movie star on "Bright Eyes."
4) Anne Frank was 12 when she wrote the diary of Anne Frank.
5) Magnus Carlsen became a chess Grandmaster at the age of 13.
6) Nadia Comăneci was a gymnast from Romania that scored seven perfect 10.0 and won three gold medals at the Olympics at age 14.
7) Tenzin Gyatso was formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in November 1950, at the age of 15.
8) Pele, a soccer superstar, was 17 years old when he won the world cup in 1958 with Brazil.
9) Elvis was a superstar by age 19.
10) John Lennon was 20 years and Paul McCartney was 18 when the Beatles had their first concert in 1961.
11) Jesse Owens was 22 when he won 4 gold medals in Berlin 1936.
12) Beethoven was a piano virtuoso by age 23
13) Issac Newton wrote Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica at age 24
14) Roger Bannister was 25 when he broke the 4 minute mile record
15) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity
16) Lance E. Armstrong was 27 when he won the Tour de France
17) Michelangelo created two of the greatest sculptures "David" and "Pieta" by age 28
18) Alexander the Great, by age 29, had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world
19) J.K. Rowling was 30 years old when she finished the first manuscript of Harry Potter
20) Amelia Earhart was 31 years old when she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
21) Oprah was 32 when she started her talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind
22) Edmund Hillary was 33 when he became the first man to reach Mount Everest
23) Martin Luther King Jr. was 34 when he wrote the speech "I Have a Dream."
24) Marie Curie was 35 years old when she got nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics
25) The Wright brothers, Orville (32) and Wilbur (36) invented and built the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight
26) Vincent Van Gogh was 37 when he died virtually unknown, yet his paintings today are worth millions.
27) Neil Armstrong was 38 when he became the first man to set foot on the moon.
28) Mark Twain was 40 when he wrote "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", and 49 years old when he wrote "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"
29) Christopher Columbus was 41 when he discovered the Americas
30) Rosa Parks was 42 when she refused to obey the bus driver's order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger
31) John F. Kennedy was 43 years old when he became President of the United States
32) Henry Ford Was 45 when the Ford T came out.
33) Suzanne Collins was 46 when she wrote "The Hunger Games"
34) Charles Darwin was 50 years old when his book On the Origin of Species came out.
35) Leonardo Da Vinci was 51 years old when he painted the Mona Lisa.
36) Abraham Lincoln was 52 when he became president.
37) Ray Kroc Was 53 when he bought the McDonalds Franchise and took it to unprecedented levels.
38) Dr. Seuss was 54 when he wrote "The Cat in the Hat".
39) Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III was 57 years old when he successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in 2009. All of the 155 passengers aboard the aircraft survived
40) Colonel Harland Sanders was 61 when he started the KFC Franchise
41) J.R.R Tolkien was 62 when the Lord of the Ring books came out
42) Ronald Reagan was 69 when he became President of the US
43) Jack LaLanne at age 70 handcuffed, shackled, towed 70 rowboats
44) Nelson Mandela was 76 when he became President"

 --Pablo.

Celebrating All Of It

"The more you praise and celebrate your life,

the more there is in life to celebrate."

-- Oprah Winfrey

Don't forget to celebrate the things that didn't work so well. There are celebrations to be had in every event. Some of our biggest failures may actually have been huge successes once we can see how with more clarity. It is all in the point of view. You get to see what you choose to see and that is our reality. How about choosing to see growth, improvement, fun, love, friendship, helping others?

The Father’s Day Video That Will Melt Your Heart

We asked ten fathers and their children to express to the other why they felt proud. The result? An emotionally powerful Father’s Day video that may bring tears to your eyes--and that will make you want to say you need to say today. #TellThemNow

The Art of Listening

"Most people do not listen

with the intent to understand; 

they listen with the intent to reply." 

-- Stephen R. Covey 

Effective communication is far more about not talking. It's about listening. But, not just listening. It's about listening to understand. This is not something that is learned and done. It is a practice.

It is also very interesting, and even enlightening, to be in a conversation with someone who is a great listener and who knows how to draw us out. That feels great, doesn't it? So imagine then how it feels when we are the great listeners.

"When People Talk, 

Listen Completely." 

-- Ernest Hemingway 

"5 Pillars of Effective Leadership" | Ari Zucker | TEDxGVSU

Every organization, whether they be in business or in government has a central group of leaders that set the tone, create a culture, and work towards a common goal. This speech discusses a foundation for effective leadership around 5 characteristics that inspire togetherness, loyalty, and success.

8 Lessons on Building a Company People Enjoy Working For | The Way We Work

Most companies operate on a set of policies: mandated vacation days, travel guidelines, standard work hours, annual goals. But what happens when a company looks less to control and more to trust? Patty McCord, the iconic former chief talent officer at Netflix, shares the key insights that led her to toss the handbook out the window. The Way We Work is a TED original video series where leaders and thinkers offer practical wisdom and insight into how we can adapt and thrive amid changing workplace conventions. (Made possible with the support of Dropbox) Visit https://go.ted.com/thewaywework for more!

Believe in Yourself - Jack Canfield's Success Tip #4

Believe in Yourself Hi, it's Jack Canfield here with another Success Principles tip for creating the life you want... and this one is... Believe in Yourself If you are going to be successful in creating the life of your dreams, you have to believe that you are capable of making it happen. You have to believe that you have the right stuff, and you are able to pull it off. Whether you call it self-esteem, self-confidence or self-assurance, it is a deep-seated belief that you have what it takes—the abilities, the inner resources, the talents and the skills to create your desired results. Now, believing in yourself is simply an attitude. Believing in yourself is a choice. You have to choose to believe that you can do anything you set your mind to -- anything at all -- because, in fact, you can. It might help you to know that the latest brain research now indicates, with enough positive self-talk and positive visualization, combined with proper training, coaching, and practice, anyone can learn to do almost anything. Now, I have interviewed thousands of successful people, and almost every one of them told me, "I was not the most gifted or talented person in my field, but I chose to believe that anything was possible. And because of that I studied, I practiced, and I worked harder than the others, and that's how I got to where I am." If Ruben Gonzales, a 20-year old living in Texas, hot Texas, can take up the luge, which is a winter sport, and become an Olympic athlete...If Bill Gates who was a college drop-out, can become a billionaire...and Stephen J. Cannal a dyslexic student who failed three grades in school can become a bestselling author and television producer...then you, too, can accomplish anything if you will simply believe it is possible. So, make the decision right now to believe that you create all of your experiences because you do! Let's start creating the ones you want by believing you can.

Sounds a little strange, but accepting this level of responsibility is uniquely and inevitably empowering. It means you can do, change, and become anything at all.

Letting Go Of Lingering Limitations

"There are truths 

on this side of the Pyrenees, 

which are falsehoods 

on the other." 

-- Blaise Pascal 

Truth is a universal idea, but it is only universal in that it may be one truth here, another there, another there, and so on. There is no such thing as The Truth. What truth really comes down to is a belief. If you believe it, then it is true for you, regardless if others agree with you or not.

It may seem that a majority lives in the truth that life is hard, that it is hard to succeed, and that the pie is only so big and there is only so much to go around, and so on. These are among the myriad of ways that we limit ourselves by what we choose to believe from whatever source that belief came to us.

Limiting beliefs can feel very cozy and comfortable, and they can often find agreement with others to help us strengthen our position of outside limitations as being the norm. We can also decide to change those limiting thoughts and beliefs and cross the Pyrenees to the other side at any time.

Maybe it is time to let go of some of those lingering limitations.