Chris Anderson is the head of TED. In November 2023 he gave an almost twenty-minute TED Talk titled It’s time for infectious generosity. Here’s how. It begins as follows:
“So, tonight I want to share with you 10 remarkable stories and introduce you to the people behind them, because I think collectively they have created a playbook for a truly world-changing idea. It’s a new way to think about generosity.
Generosity? Come on. I mean, surely that’s way too tiny a force to pit against the ugly world we’re facing. Not necessarily. You remember this guy [shows image of COVID-19]? This is so small, it’s invisible. But somehow it still found a way to shut down the world economy. Here’s the thing. You don’t need to be big to be powerful. You just need to be infectious.
So that’s the question we’re going to ask this evening. What would it take to make generosity infectious? Can we actually picture a world where instead of infecting each other with anger and upset and fear, we’re sparking waves of kindness across the planet? So I feel like I’ve been wrestling with this question, in one form or another, pretty much my whole life.
How can you be generous? I think my mother is to blame, I’m going to say, for this. Here we go, that’s … littlun’s me. Um, every day my mother showed us what it was like to be just deeply generous. She’s an extraordinary woman. And also a really hard act to follow, because my whole life I’ve been wrestling with this need to want to be generous, but feeling often like this onerous burden.
In 2006, something remarkable happened. I’d recently taken over leadership of this weird but wonderful conference called TED, and suddenly we were in a position where we could, if we wanted to, give away all our content online because of this new technology, online video. But should we do that? We were worried that it would kill the conference that we depended on. So I think it was my mother’s voice in my head, combined with a very brave group of people around me that gave clarity on this.
We decided to start posting TED Talks and were kind of stunned at what happened. TED went viral. Suddenly our little website was being hit by millions of people. And thousands of volunteer translators took TED into 100 languages. This was really beyond exciting, and it inspired us to double down on generosity and to start giving away our brand. Well, we thought we could let volunteers anywhere in the world run TED events, but just using the label TEDx. Seemed a little risky, it actually was.
But it led to an explosion of incredible events, things like giant theaters, far-flung cities, venues that we never could have imagined actually ourselves doing. We went to churches that they held them in, mountains, prisons several times, a refugee camp, and then football stadiums. This was mind-blowing to us. And if you think about it, we just gave away our brand. And tens of thousands of volunteers around the world gave their time, their energy, their talent, their financial risk to do this. It was mind blowing. It led to 200,000 TEDx videos being produced, a billion views annually.
So it got me thinking that … in this connected era, the rules around what we hold on to and what we give away had fundamentally changed. I mean, think about it. It’s much easier now to give away things that really matter to people at basically limitless scale, and those gifts carry with them the most important currency of our age, reputation. So this made me think that maybe the new mantra for the connected age should be something like this: Be brave. Give what you can, and then be absolutely amazed at what happens next. I don’t think this is just a mantra for TED. I think this is a mantra for every organization and actually for every individual. Well, how so, how so? Well, the first piece of good news is an underreported human trait. Kind of a weird thing when you step back and think about it….”
Back on April 2013 there was an article by Nilofer Merchant in the Harvard Business Review titled When TED Lost Control of Its Crowd.
On the new books shelves in my friendly local public library I found the 2024 book by Chris Anderson titled Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading. His Epilogue starting on page 217 has the following manifesto:
“Every human has the potential to give. The urge to do this is built deep inside each of us, and can be stirred just by our being open to the needs of others. When we share our time, our money, or our creativity, those acts can spark responses in kind. So, once it gets started, generosity can spread like wildfire. As it passes from one person to the next, many lives can be touched. And our collective witnessing of what humans are capable of can overcome today’s prevailing cynicism, bringing people together in common cause.
The internet offers the possibility of a transformational amplification of human kindness. Until now, has too often played on our worst instincts, generating outrage, fear and division. But we can do something about that. Our connectedness allows us to express generosity in ways that were simply impossible before, sharing our best knowledge and creations with potentially millions of people all over the world. And, more than that, it allows us to share stories of generosity in ways that can inspire and delight.
Everyone can play a part here. You don’t have to be rich or a creative genius. If you can adopt a generous mindset, seek to understand people you disagree with, and write words that are kind instead of cruel, you can help turn the tide. There’s no single pathway to a generous life. But everyone can aspire to give more than they take.
Companies and organizations have a key role to play too. Our connectedness has changed rules around what we should give and what we should hold on to. Every organization should take a day to dream about what it may give away that could surprise and delight the world. The bolder and more creative you are, the more likely it is that your generosity will create exciting ripple effects that can transform your reputation.
Generosity starts with gratitude. When we pause for a moment, we can remember countless things we can be grateful for. If we make that a beautiful daily habit, it leads naturally to a desire to give back to the universe, to build generosity into our daily lives. This could be as simple as committing to one simple act of kindness every single day or devoting time to a cause we care about by volunteering, mentoring, or engaging in online advocacy. It could also mean taking a financial pledge – donating annually the higher of 10 percent of our income or 2.5 percent of our individual net worth to the causes we have thoughtfully prioritized. If that pledge were widely adopted, it would raise enough money to tackle every single problem that humanity faces.
Even for the most generous among us, it can be hard to know when and how best to give. This is a task for both heart and head. Commit to spending time immersed in an issue you care about. And at the same time ask the big questions: How big is this? How solvable is this? How neglected is this? Look for organizations that are having an impact. Give them a chance with your money. You’ll never have certainty around what the ‘best’ use of your money is. It’s better to be out there contributing and learning than timidly refusing to take any risks. Most important of all, look for like-minded contributors. The work of change is a lot more satisfying as a team sport. When we join forces, we can achieve so much more, while also getting more joy from it.
This is a moment to reimagine how generosity could transform us. It’s a chance to dream about audacious philanthropy focused on the needs of the whole world. About companies with the vision to get on the right side of history. About a global uprising of ordinary citizens determined to reclaim the internet and make it a force for good in our world. Are we ready to get excited about the future once again? It’s time!
And for you personally, this is about that most elusive, inspiring, and beautiful thing: the quest for meaning. We were born to be connected. So give in any way that you feel able. Give creatively. Give courageously. Give collaboratively. And let the magic of generosity ripple out into the universe.
If you do that, don’t be surprised if one day you wake up and hear a whisper from inside: ‘I have never felt so happy.’ “
An image of spreading surface waves came from Roger McLassus at Wikimedfia Commons.
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