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.
