Use the Schwartz

I’ve developed a recent addiction to the TED talks, where the TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design) organization invites “he world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).” In 2 and a half days I have watched about a dozen of them, never failing to be riveted. One of my favorites is by psychologist Barry Schwartz, entitled “The Real Crisis? We stopped being wise,” and covers a range of topics all centered around 2 ideas:

1. How rules, convention, and mindlessly conforming (read: meeting the minimum required standards) erodes moral skill and will, as well as original thought.
and
2. How focusing on when people become addicted to and dependent on incentives (ie. Wall Street hustlers), “they stop asking what is right.”

He calls for the need to re-moralize our society by celebrating moral heroes and strive to be moral exemplars to others. Schwartz’s speech is definitely worth a view, not only for it’s content but for how great a speaker he is.

It lays out a simple and impenetrable argument that few can argue against. This, however, is because hardly anybody wants to look like a jerk that is screwing others over, nor appear as the rabid dog whose crusade disregards the need for compassion. Every religious tradition follows some form of the Golden Rule and teaches selflessness. It’s no mystery that this is both the ideal form of conduct and a really taxing way to try to live, conscious of the consequences of every action we take and aware of how leaders, ourselves or others, should uphold this level of morality in order to have the right to lead.

But society is complex, and its great ills can’t be solved by a blog post. So watch the TEDtalks - besides wisdom, you'll gain some really cool knowledge and be entertained.

PS. The audio and video from the TEDtalks can be downloaded free as podcasts for iTunes as well. I've also posted the TED website under Links on the left.